Author's Note: I am hoping that you are enjoying my stories so far. If you find yourself liking
this one, please consider leaving me a review? Honest, I love reading them!~Clara.

This version of An Anomoly: 1 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.

Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.

Chapter 1

"Look, Stevie, I don't want to be the bad guy, but you have to get everything you want moved out of here by the weekend or the bank is going to take it all and throw you out anyway." Katie stood looking at her younger brother, her arms folded, looking as mature and rational as ever and that alone irritated Stevie. Some people seemed to just have a natural ability to get their lives together and keep them that way. Katie did. Stevie didn't.

When he didn't respond, Katie continued. "I know that Grandma said she was leaving this place to us when she died, but that guy from the bank made it clear that she'd signed that reverse mortgage agreement and we're not getting a penny. All we can do is pack everything up, keep what we want and sell the rest."

Stevie shook his head, very upset. "This just isn't right. I don't know how that form got signed, but it's dated three years ago and Grandma wasn't in her right mind three years ago. We should fight this."

"How?" She shook her head. She spoke to her younger brother as if she was explaining something to one of her her children. "Stevie... Grandma signed the papers. The bank made payments to her for the past two and a half years. Yeah, they've only paid about fifteen thousand dollars for a three hundred thousand dollar house, but they did it legally, honey, and there's nothing we can do about it. We can't afford a lawyer to fight them. We spoke to the lawyer that helped Derrick and me buy our house, but he recommended we talk to that big firm downtown and we can't even afford a consultation with them. You're right, it's unfair, but the banks help to write the laws and everything is skewed in their favor. There is absolutely nothing... NOTHING, Stevie... that we can do to stop them from taking this house. They've already won, honey. Let's start packing things up, ok?"

Stevie sat forward and let his head fall into his hands in order to hide his tears from his sister. "Oh... what am I going to do, Katie? I don't have a job, I have nowhere to live... God, I only have a GED, for crying out loud! I've spent the last two and a half years in this house taking care of grandma. I can't believe she's gone - I mean, I knew she was sick and wasn't going to live forever, but I thought that after she'd gone I'd have a little time to get my life in order. That the house would be ours. Even if I couldn't stay here for long, that we could sell it and I could go to college, but... I'm so screwed, now."

Katie finally sat next to her brother on the couch and rubbed his back. "Come on, Stevie. I know it's a big blow, but you'll get through it. You're not alone. Derrick and I are here to help you."

"Derrick barely knows my name," Stevie whined.

"That's not true," Katie laughed. "You're just not into sports and that's pretty much all that Derrick knows, so he doesn't know how to relate to you. Besides it was his idea to have you come live with us."

She pushed his thick, dark, wavy hair off of his shoulders and rubbed his neck. "Ugh. When are you going to get a hair cut?"

"I like my hair... so did Grandma."

Kate smiled. "Because you look just like mom looked at your age. Heck, she called you Susan more than Stevie for the last year of her life."

He snickered at that. "I think it made her happy. That's what was important."

Kate laughed, too. "Of course, it didn't help that you wear my old clothes or mom's most of the time."

"Just pants and shirts."

"They're slacks and blouses, Stevie, but it doesn't matter. You're right - it made Grandma happy."

He nodded, then his face melted and he began to cry again. "I miss her so much, Katie. I know it's stupid. She was a sick old lady and I knew she was going to die, but I just miss her so much."

"I know, honey, I know." His sister pulled him close. "She was a good woman and you took good care of her. I don't know anyone else who would have given up school and his friends to take care of his grandmother like you did, Stevie, and I know she appreciated it."

"I know, but... here I am, now. Twenty years old, no Grandma, no place to live, no credit history, no job history, no education... like I said... I’m screwed." He sat and thought for a moment. "If I did come and live with you guys, how would that work?"

"Well," Katie tried to sound as upbeat as she could, "you’d have your own room – the big one between the nursery and Olivia’s room – and you’d help out with the girls while I’m at work... and maybe... you know... maybe help with the housework or something like that."

"So, I could be a live in maid and nanny, then?" He smirked as he asked the question, half teasing, but making a point, too.

Katie sighed. "Look, Stevie, I’m just trying to make everything work, ok? I really need to get back to work... Livy loves you to pieces... you’re great with babies, so Alice won’t be that big a deal for you... come on. It’s a win-win, right?"

He shrugged. "I don’t know, Katie, I mean... I need to make some money and, don’t get me wrong, I love your girls and I appreciate you and Derrick giving me a place to stay, but... I really need to make some money. Not just to save for college, and stuff like that... Katie, I haven’t bought new clothes in years. That’s why I’m wearing this sweater... I think it was yours... and these jeans. They definitely were yours."

"Well, you can keep all the clothes you want," Katie laughed. "I was probably fourteen or fifteen when I wore that size. I left for college at seventeen and never came back here to live. I’ve grown up and, unfortunately, out a good deal since then. What size are those jeans, anyway?"

"Four."

She laughed. "Yeah. That might fit my right leg. I wear an eight now, and after having two kids, that’s hard work to maintain." Her brother was so small and slender that it almost made her jealous.

Her remark made Stevie smile a little. "You look great, Katie, but I honestly cannot remember you ever wearing clothes like the ones you left in the closet. They’re all kind of fun clothes that a kid would wear and I’ve always thought of you as so grown up and looking so professional."

"Hey, I used to be fun... once." Kate laughed and elbowed her brother. "Besides, you were only ten when I went to college. Mom was still alive and we’d only moved in with Grandma a couple of years earlier. After the divorce, I probably started getting more serious. Someone had to."

She thought about that time and how her mother kept saying it was ‘a new beginning’ for all of them. Little did her mother know how little time she had left. Their mother had died at forty two. Heck, their grandmother had only made it to seventy eight. Damned cancer. These weren’t great statistics for the women in her family. Katie took cancer very seriously and she was a confirmed health and fitness nut. Cooking healthy and getting to the gym had become increasingly more difficult with the arrival of a second child. She needed help and she knew it.

"Ok, look, Stevie," she said, "I’m going to be very honest with you. Grandma’s passing took a toll on Derrick and my savings. We thought she had life insurance and that the house could be sold and all that stuff, so we covered all of the costs for the funeral and everything. That was almost twenty thousand dollars that we thought was going back into our account – and it isn’t. Except for our income, we’re broke, Stevie."

Stevie looked surprised. "But... that big, beautiful house and the pool..."

"Yeah, all of which we COULD afford before, honey, but this wiped us out. I need to get back to work on Tuesday when my maternity leave ends – not just for the sake of my career, but to start making some real money again. Derrick has been taking extra duties wherever he can – doing traffic details, or construction details, whatever the station has to offer – but he can’t keep that up forever and I don’t want him working while he’s exhausted. That’s a sure fired way for a police officer to make a mistake and get hurt, or worse, hurt someone else."

"Wow," Stevie whispered. "I had no idea, Katie..."

"Yeah, well, listen... I’ve been thinking and to be very honest, I can’t afford to pay you anything for the first two months. Now, I know that’s a terrible thing to say, but it’s the truth. If I had to put the girls into day care, I just couldn’t afford to go back to work right now. So, if you could come and live with us, take care of the girls, do what you can to keep the place clean and maybe make some healthy meals a few nights a week, that would be a HUGE help. Then, after two months we’ll sit down and figure out a fair salary for your services. By then, Derrick and I should be back on firmer financial footing. Until then, you’re still getting paid Room and Board. Now that sounds fair, doesn’t it?"

It sounded very fair, and Stevie was happy to move in with his sister’s family if he could be of some service to them. His biggest reason for not wanting to move in was just because he didn’t want to be a burden to them. If he could help... well, that was a different story.

"Ok,"he finally agreed. "I’ll pack everything up here this week, then."

Katie gave him a big hug. "That’s a very grownup decision, Stevie. I’m proud of you. And I promise, as soon as we’re over this financial speed bump, Derrick and I will help you with college."

"No, Kate, I can do that on my own."

"Don’t be silly. No one can do that on their own. You have no idea how much college costs. Besides, we owe you a lot for taking care of Grandma for so long."

She stood up and looked around the house. "There’s a lot to go through. I’ll come by tomorrow and help you. I’ll have to bring Livy and Alice with me. Livy will be thrilled to help. I’ll set up a playpen for Alice."

"Ok."

"Hey, I know this isn’t easy, but you’ll get past it and, as Katy Perry says, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ Right?"

Stevie stood. "That was Kelly Clarkson and I’m pretty sure that she wasn’t the first to say that," he smiled and accepted a hug from his sister.

"Whatever," she giggled as she hugged him, burying his face in her shoulder. "Ohhhhh, I do love you, you know?"

"I know. I love you, too. And I love the girls."

Katie reached for her pocketbook. "And Derrick?"

"I like Derrick just fine. I’m just concerned that Derrick doesn’t like me."

"You’re crazy," she smiled and gave her brother a kiss on the cheek. "I bet that two weeks from today, you two will be best friends. Gotta run. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Stevie said as he opened the front door for his big sister.

After she’d exited and was getting into her car, he looked around at the old wallpaper and beautiful woodwork in the century old house he’d called home for over a decade. He thought about how many times he’d gotten on his knees to scrub those beautiful Southern Pine floors clean, how many times he’d washed every one of those windows, how many times he’d dusted the elaborate chandelier that hung over the main entrance, how many times he’d done the same to the less elaborate one that hung over the formal dining room table, and then he sat on the perfectly waxed wooden stairs and cried and cried and cried.

The next morning, Katie arrived a little after nine. Stevie ran out to the driveway to met her and to help with the kids.

When the back door slider opened and he could see his oldest niece, Olivia, in her car seat, Stevie made a big show of being thrilled to see her. "There she is! The prettiest four year old niece I have!"

The child giggled uncontrollably at the show. "Hi, Auntie Stevie," she was barely able to say through her giggles.

Stevie made a shocked face and immediately began tickling the child. "Auntie!? Auntie!? I’ve told you a million times... I’m UNCLE Stevie." He was smiling broadly as he played Olivia’s favorite game.

"If you want to be ‘Uncle Stevie,’" Katie said from the open door on the opposite side of the minivan, "then get a haircut and look like her uncle."

"No," Stevie smiled as he lifted Olivia onto his hip. "Livy likes my hair like this, don’t you, Livy?"

"Yes, I do," the little girl said in a happy voice. "Auntie Stevie’s hair is too pretty to cut."

"See," Stevie laughed as he met his sister at the back of the minivan and took the collapsed playpen in his other hand, "my hair is too pretty to cut."

Katie shook her head. "I went to the movers and got all these boxes, packing tape and some bubble wrap. If we get everything ready, they’ll come and move it all on Saturday morning. Derrick rented a storage unit for all of Grandma’s furniture except for one bedroom set that we’ll put in your bedroom at our house. We’ll wait a few weeks to get past all of this, then we’ll go through everything and figure out what we want to keep and what we want to sell. Ok?"

"Ok."

They got to work downstairs first, packing up all of their grandmother’s nice plates and cups in bubble wrap and placing it all carefully into boxes. Then they made piles of things that they didn’t need to move. Dozens of old paperback novels and some hard covered books that held no value were placed out on the side of the road with a sign reading ‘free.’ They were gone in an hour or so.

The furniture to be moved was all placed in the middle of the downstairs rooms.

The whole time that they worked, little Alice slept comfortably swaddled in her playpen and Olivia worked at Stevie’s side, offering help with each and every item that was handled.

As they were wrapping the everyday plates and flatware in the kitchen, Alice woke and cried for attention.

"Someone’s hungry," Katie laughed.

She retrieved the infant and sat at the table, opening her shirt and lowering the cup of her nursing bra, unabashedly displaying her engorged nipple for her older daughter and brother to see. It was nothing new to either of them, though.

"Why don’t we take a break, too?" Stevie asked his niece, as he took a seat across from his sister.

"Yeah," Olivia agreed, "let’s take a break." She crawled up into her uncle’s lap.

As the baby latched on to her nipple, Katie sighed. "I’m actually going to miss this. Some women hate breast feeding, but I love it. It’s sooooo much nicer than pumping. I just feel like a cow on a dairy farm when I’m hooked up to that machine."

"Well, I can help with a lot," Stevie joked, "but I’m afraid I can’t make breast milk. You’ll either have to pump or move her onto formula."

‘I’ll pump," Katie smiled. "It’s too early to stop the breast milk. She’s only ten weeks old. I’ll leave a supply in the little refrigerator in the pantry. I had a nice system going with Livy when she was little. It’s easier to use that refrigerator. It keeps the bottles in order so you always use fresh milk. It’s my own stock rotation system."

"Cool," Stevie nodded.

A few minutes passed when out of the blue, Olivia asked, "How come?"

"How come, what, baby?" Her mother asked.

"How come Auntie Stevie can’t make breast milk for Alice?"

Stevie smiled broadly and opened his eyes widely as he looked at his sister. His look said, ‘Do you want to handle this, or should I?’

"Well, honey," Katie explained, "because only mommies make milk for babies. That’s why it’s called ‘mother’s milk.’ Do you understand?"

"Yeah..." they could tell that the wheels were still turning in that little head, though, "but you said that when I grew up, I could make milk for babies, too, right?"

"That’s right, honey," Katie smiled. "When you’re a mommy, your breasts will make milk for your baby, too."

"So I can take care of her, right?"

"That’s right, honey. So you can be a good mommy and take care of your baby."

Olivia looked at her mother and then at Stevie, and then looked back at her mother and the baby at her breast. "But Auntie Stevie is going to take care of me and Alice, right?"

"I am," he said, giving her a hug.

"Then... if Auntie Stevie is going to take care of Alice, why can’t Auntie Stevie make milk to feed Alice."

"Yeah, mommy," Stevie laughed. "Why?"

Katie was thrilled that Olivia was asking such insightful questions, but a little ticked at her brother’s glib attitude. "Because, Livy, despite the fact that Auntie Stevie looks like a pretty teenaged girl, Auntie Stevie is really a twenty year old man – and you know that. You know that Auntie Stevie is really your Uncle Stevie and that you just started calling him ‘auntie’ because you heard your great grandma call him ‘Susan.’ Remember."

The little girl nodded, then turned to look at Stevie. "You don’t look like a man."

"I don’t?" Stevie sounded shocked, but he wasn’t, neither was he in any way offended. Even before he’d let his hair grow long, people had always assumed he was a girl. He was smaller than all of the boys he grew up with, most of the girls, too. He was used to it.

"No. Daddy and his friends look like men. They’re all big and have real short hair and their faces have prickly hair. You’re smaller than mommy and your face is soft." She rubbed his cheek. "Besides, you’re pretty. Men aren’t pretty."

"I guess some men are," Stevie smiled, just a little sadly. He knew he’d never be handsome, but he’d been called ‘pretty’ most of his life. "I’m a man and people say I’m pretty, so I guess some men ARE pretty."

The little girl shook her head. "No. You’re a girl." She turned away from Stevie. As far as she was concerned, the matter had been settled.

Once Alice’s meal was complete, her diaper was changed and she was back to napping, they finished packing away the kitchen.

Katie pulled out a box of large trash bags she’d brought with her and she checked the time. "Alright, we have about an hour and a half before we have to go home. Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the attic and all the bedrooms."

"Sounds good," Stevie agreed.

"So, to end the day, let’s of into Grandma’s walk-in closet and start going through all the stuff in there. I figure most of it can go into these bags to go to charity, but let’s check the sizes. There might actually be some things in there you can wear."

He blinked at her. "In Grandma’s walk-in? It’s mostly thirty year old dresses, I should think."

"Who knows. Maybe there’ll be some slacks. Just check the sizes to be sure. Any size four tops just put aside and we’ll go through them at home."

They were about to head upstairs, but Katie stopped and grabbed something from the diaper bag she carried. There were two pieces of colored fabric, one yellow and one blue – men’s western style handkerchiefs, actually. She took the blue one, shook it out, then folded it once and tied it onto the back of her head, making a head covering for herself.

Then she looked at Olivia. "Come here, Livy. That closet is probably dusty. Let’s put one on you, too, so that we keep the dust out of your pretty hair."

"Ok." The child bounced to her mother and let her fasten the fabric in place.

"There. Don’t you look beautiful?" Katie praised the girl when her head was covered with the yellow fabric.

"Do I?"

"You sure do," Stevie said. "Like a princess." Why was it little girls loved to be called princesses, Stevie wondered. He’d never once heard someone tell a little boy he looked like a prince.

"Let’s go," Katie said, and attempted to guide her daughter towards the stairs, but Olivia stopped.

"Wait! What about Auntie Stevie’s hair. It’ll get dusty without a hat on."

"I’ll grab a baseball cap," Stevie tried to say, but his sister kind of enjoyed putting him on the spot.

"No, no, Livy is right. You can’t put all that pretty, wavy hair into a baseball cap. Come here. I have another hanky." Her smile was much more playful than Stevie had seen in a long time, and he didn’t love it.

Regardless, he walked over to meet his fate.

"Sit on the arm of the chair," Kate instructed. He did so and he felt his sister tie the material under his hair, behind his head. "There. Now your pretty hair is protected, just like ours," Kate smirked, then kissed his forehead. "That makes you look really young," she snickered. "Wearing my old concert tee shirt and jeans, that flat chest, your pretty face and all of that hair in that hanky, you look like a middle schooler or high school freshman, Stevie. I’m not kidding."

"Your hanky is pretty, Auntie Stevie," Olivia gushed. "It has flowers on it."

Not knowing which oddly feminine compliment to react to first, Stevie stood and looked at himself in the mirror that used to hang on the wall over the fireplace, but now sat on the sofa waiting for the movers.

Katie was right. He looked like a kid. A cute kid. A female kid. Maybe a bit of a tomboy, but a female kid. At five five, no one ever assumed he was twenty, but... this was very different. He looked like a girl defying the onset of puberty.

"Shit," he whispered.

"Hey," Kate scolded, "language. Remember what Grandma always said, ‘Little pitchers have big ears.’"

"Sorry, but..." he looked at his reflection some more. The handkerchief that his sister had put in his hair was undoubtedly more feminine than either of the other two. He doubted that she’d planned that. After all, she couldn’t have foreseen her daughter’s request to have him wear one, could she? No. The handkerchief was a very pale pink, nearly white, but was covered with little bouquets of flowers, each tied off with a frilly pink bow.

"Come on, Snow White," his sister teased. "The magic mirror will be there when we’re done and you can go back to asking it ‘Whose the fairest of them all,’ then, but right now, let’s go upstairs."

"Yeah," Olivia bounced to him and took his hand. "Let’s go."

The walk-in closet was dusty. It was an area of the house that his grandmother had preferred Stevie to leave alone. So, while the rest of the house had been kept almost obsessively clean by the young man, this closet was neglected and dusty.

After a half an hour of removing clothes, Katie had made three piles in their grandmother’s bedroom. One pile for charity. One pile for the trash. One pile for Stevie – and that pile seemed a little bigger than Stevie would have assumed.

As Kate loaded the trash pile into a trash bag, Stevie looked at the clothes she’d set aside for him.

"Ummm... I don’t know about some of these clothes, Katie," he said, holding up a antique white, silk blouse with lace on the button holes. "I don’t think I’d ever wear something like this."

"Well, not like that," Katie scowled and took the blouse from him, holding it up to his torso, "but if you wore a sweater over it and a neck tie, it’d look like a really nice dress shirt. You could wear it to an interview if you needed to."

Stevie looked dubious.

"I think it’s a pretty shirt," Olivia said.

"Well, there you go," Kate shrugged. "Put all of those things into a trash bag and write ‘keep’ on it with that silver marker I put on the bureau."

"Fine," Stevie agreed, figuring he’d throw everything away when he was unpacking at his sister’s house.

After a long and tiring few hours, they were finally finished for the day.

"Why don’t you come home with us and have some dinner?" Kate offered.

"Nah," Stevie said as he buckled Olivia back into her car seat. "I think I’ll stay here and enjoy the house while I can. I still have my TV in my bedroom, so I’ll order a pizza and eat it in bed.

He kissed his niece’s cheek. "Thank you for all of your help today, Livy. You were a big help."

"You’re welcome," she bubbled, thrilled to have been a helper.

"Bye bye." He closed the slider and walked back around to the other side of the car to say goodbye to Katie.

"We’ll be back in the morning," she said. "Now, don’t go getting all emotional when you’re alone, ok?"

He smiled and accepted a hug. "Don’t worry. I cried myself out last night."

"Ok. Remember I love you. See you in the morning." She hopped into the minivan and backed out of the driveway.

It was four thirty on a warm, early June evening, so Stevie did something he loved doing at this house. He sat in a rocking chair on the front porch and enjoyed his neighborhood for what might be one of the last times. He really would miss this house.

He breathed in the smells of the neighborhood. He listened to the sounds of the neighborhood. He closed his eyes and just felt the familiarity of the neighborhood move around him. He wanted to remember it all.

At five thirty, he called the pizza place around the corner, North Side Pizza, and ordered a small, plain pizza, something he hadn’t had in almost a year. He added a soft drink and a piece of homemade baklava to go with it, not just because he was hungry, but to get the total up to the twenty dollar minimum for a delivery. He knew it was a huge extravagance under his current financial circumstances, but he wanted to taste that pizza one more time before he left. He paid for the pizza over the phone and was told it would arrive within thirty minutes.

Then he closed his eyes, again, and enjoyed the feeling of his home before he fell asleep in the rocking chair.

"Hey," the voice said. "Hey, Miss. Hey." It was far away, but Stevie could hear it.

Someone touched his hand and he woke with a start to find a young man standing over him and looking startled himself.

"Geez, I’m sorry, but I rang the bell and no one came. I didn’t want to wake you but... I have your pizza." The boy seemed flustered by the situation. So was Stevie.

"Oh, the pizza, yeah," he said, shaking out the cobwebs. "I’m sorry. I must have..."

"Fallen asleep, yeah, I noticed," the kid laughed. "Anyway, here’s your pizza... and all the rest of it."

Stevie stood and took the pizza box and plastic bag. "Thanks. I... umm... I paid for it on the phone."

The kid looked surprised. "YOU paid?"

"Yeah, why?" Stevie asked, confused by the question.

"Oh, nothing," he smiled. "I guess I just thought... well... You just look too young to have a credit card. That’s all."

"Oh," now he understood. "Yeah, I get that a lot. I’m older than I look."

"Cool," the boy said and started to leave, but then he stopped. "Hey, you like Dusty Rose?"

Again caught off guard, Stevie muttered. "Dusty Rose? The band? Sure. Why?"

"Your tee shirt," the boy smiled. "My mom has that same shirt with the big rose on it. It’s pretty."

Stevie looked down at the tee chart he’d been wearing all day and realized what the boy was talking about. "Oh... thanks." This was a very odd conversation for Stevie. Usually, delivery guys just dropped off the food and went away. Why didn’t this kid just leave?

"So, do you go to Coolidge?"

Another weird question. This time about where he went to high school. "No... no. I went to St Leo’s, but not anymore."

"Oh, yeah, I saw that you guys had a lot of boxes in there. Moving, Huh?"

Stevie just nodded.

"Yeah..." the kid seemed to be searching for more to say. "Ok, I should go. My name is Tony, by the way." He extended a hand.

Stevie took his hand and shook it. "Stevie."

"Nice to meet you, Stevie. Sorry it’s right as you’re moving. You seem... nice."

Stevie blinked, caught off guard by the compliment. "Oh, well... thanks. You seem nice, too."

"Hey, who knows... maybe we’ll run into each other again." The boy stood on the stairs for a long time with neither of them saying anything. Finally, Tony looked around and gave Stevie a self conscious wave. "Well... Bye."

"Yeah..." Stevie shrugged, still flummoxed by the whole scene. "Bye."

Tony smiled and jogged down the stairs and then the walkway to his delivery car. As he pulled away, he waved once more.

‘That was weird,’ was the thought that passed through Stevie’s head as he headed back into the house. He locked the door and headed up to his room to watch a little TV and eat his meal in bed.

As he passed the mirror on his bureau, he caught a glimpse of himself and stopped. He was still wearing the flowered handkerchief on his head and Katie had been right. The way that it gathered his hair and pulled it away from his face left little doubt that the wearer was female and the effect of it on his face was to make him look several years younger. He put down the pizza and looked at himself more closely.

"He thought I was a girl," he said aloud. "That’s why he was chatting with me like that." He looked more closely. "Katie was right. I look like a kid like this. Huh. That is weird."

Then his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was Katie calling. He answered. "Hey."

"Hi, Stevie," she sounded harried. "Look, sweetie, I just realized that I have to take Alice to the doctor’s at nine tomorrow. I should be there by ten thirty or eleven, though, ok?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," he said, knowing how busy the mother of an infant always is. "Everything’s ok with her, though, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Just a check-up. As long as the doctor’s office isn’t busy, I should be there pretty quickly. Gotta run. Love ya."

"Yeah, love you, too," he smiled and ended the call. Then sat down and ate his pizza while watching an old movie on a basic cable network.

The next morning, after showering, Stevie went into Katie’s old room to look for something to wear that day. Something old that could get dirty without worrying about it. He’d rummaged through her clothes dozens of times before, looking for gender neutral things that he could wear and never gave any thought to the other, gender specific, clothes he found there. This morning was a little different, though. That incident with that kid, Tony, had stuck with him. He not only had confused Stevie for a girl, he’d thought that Stevie was kind of attractive. Maybe even... cute.

That was weird... wasn’t it?

These drawers and closets had always just been a clothes reserve for Stevie. Someplace to grab a piece of clothing to wear around the house. Usually something no one would mistake as a piece of women’s clothing, but sometimes, usually on laundry day, that couldn’t be avoided and as long as he changed into something else before going out, the outside world was none the wiser.

But today...

Today, these clothes offered something different.

Today they offered Stevie a glimpse into something new. Something daring. Something he’d never considered before. Something... girly.

It made his heart beat a little faster as he looked at the drawer full of tops and noticed that some of them had lace and other feminine decorations on them.

What would it hurt to try something on? Just this once.

He started with a pair of panties. Nothing fancy, just a pair of white, cotton panties with little circles, each a different color, all over it. Nothing very different from a pair of his own briefs, really.

He slid those up his legs and settled them on his hips. They actually fit pretty well and his rather small member was held snuggly in place, not at all uncomfortably, in the very soft cotton. Much softer than the cotton in his briefs.

Then he pulled out a top that was essentially a V-necked tee shirt with lace all over it and he slipped that on. Again, it was softer than the clothes that he typically wore and it’s touch was a bit exciting because of that softness, but it wasn’t that different than the shirts he’d borrowed from Katie’s old bureau before. Just decorated with lace.

But when he looked in the mirror, he definitely found it exciting. His hair was wet and stringy, but he already looked different just because he was wearing the top.

And that was... exciting, too, but... in a whole new way.

Intrigued, he hurried down the hall to his mother’s old bedroom and into her lavatory where there was a blow dryer. He plugged it in and bent over so his thick, wavy hair hung freely and he let the dryer do its work. Soon, his hair was dry and, once brushed, it was full, neat and full of waves.

He went to the tall mirror that sat on a stand in his mother’s room and looked at himself. His nearly hairless legs led to the cute panties with the differently colored little circles and only a tiny bulge to give away his secret. Then the pretty top with its lacy trimmings and finally his luxurious hair that he loved so much.

It was him, but it wasn’t a very manly him, that was for sure.

And it was exciting to be someone different. It made a nice change from being plain old little, mousy, forgettable Stevie.

He went back to his room and found the handkerchief he’d worn yesterday. The one with the little flowers all over it. He tied that into his hair that same way that Katie had done the previous day and... the results were the same. His hair look classically feminine in that manner and his face looked surprisingly younger with the hair pulled away from it.

This was interesting and... very exciting. He couldn’t stop. He had to find out what he’d look like if he added something else feminine to it.

He returned to Katie’s old room and rummaged around in the closet for a few minutes until he found a blue, pleated skirt with an elastic waist. He pulled that on and then slipped on a pair of inexpensive, blue plastic shoes that were in the bottom of the closet. The flat soled shoes also appeared to be made of lace, but that lace was made of plastic. Olivia had shoes like this and Katie referred to them as ‘Jellies.’ ‘Get your Jellies on, Livy, it’s time to go,’ his sister would say. That must be what these were called, too.

Regardless of what they were called, they looked very pretty and they fit perfectly, so he hustled back to the mirror in his mother’s old room and took in the whole vision of himself dressed, for the first time, in clothing that was undeniably made for a girl.

And he liked what he saw.

"I look cute," he said, shocked. "I actually look cute."

He swayed to feel the skirt twirl around his legs. He jumped a bit to feel the skirt flounce around him in a way that nothing else ever had. He curtsied to himself just to do something, anything, that a guy would never do.

Then he role played with his own reflection. "Do you really think I look pretty?" He asked an imaginary someone, not really thinking about who might have posed that question. "Oh, this old thing? No I didn’t buy it special for tonight. I just found it in a drawer at home. Why, thank you! I think it’s pretty, too. Yes, I have a lot of clothes similar to this, but this is my favorite. It’s very comfortable."

He swanned and paraded in front of the mirror and inspected his face, wondering what makeup could do for his face. He looked at his fingers and wondered if, maybe, if he put a little clear nail polish on his nails, if anyone would notice. Not today, he decided, but another day for sure.

Then he did a little dance he’d learned on Tik Tok, just to watch his skirt sway and wrap around his hips in that very girly way.

Then, once more role playing, he smiled and spoke to his reflection, again, "My name? My name is Stevie – you know like short for Stephanie. Yes, that’s right. I agree, Stevie is cuter, besides I think that Stephanie sounds so stuffy and grownup. No, I’m a nanny. I care for two beautiful little girls. They are a handful, but they are SO ADORABLE! I just love dressing them in frilly little dresses and teaching them how to be perfect little ladies and..."

What was that?

What time was it?

"Stevie?" Katie called from downstairs. "Stevie, I need some help here, please. Are you upstairs?"

Up to that point, Stevie had just stood frozen. She’d caught him! It was the first time he’d ever done anything like this and she’d caught him! What was he going to do?

Then he realized that she was still downstairs. He still had a chance!

"Ummm... yeah! Sorry! I’ll be right there!" He shouted over the railing and bolted back to his room as quickly as he could.

"Well, hurry, please. I need help getting the girls out of the mini van."

He closed his door and pulled the skirt down as quickly as possible, then kicked off the Jelly shoes. He grabbed them both and tucked them into a drawer in his own bureau and then grabbed Katie’s old jeans that he’d worn the previous day and pulled them up as quickly as he could. He grabbed the old Converse sneakers and pulled them on without socks and in seconds was running down the stairs as quickly as he could.

"Hi," he said, as casually as possible as he meandered out the door to the driveway.

"Hi," Katie replied, speaking quietly and without glancing up. "Can you grab Livy? Alice is out like a light and I’m just going to bring her inside in the car seat."

"Sure," Stevie smiled at the sleeping baby and hurried to the other side of the vehicle. "Hi, princess!" He said to his older niece in a hushed voice. "Ready to help?"

"Ready, Auntie Stevie!" Olivia said with excitement, but also keeping her voice down, obviously aware of her infant sister’s need to sleep.

"That’s my big girl," Stevie said as he lifted her onto his hip and followed his sister up the stairs into the house.

As they entered, Olivia said, "Auntie Stevie looks pretty today."

"Does he?" Katie said, without turning for a moment, but when she did, her eyes opened very wide. "Well, well, well, I guess he does, doesn’t he?"

It was at that moment that Stevie realized that he was still wearing the lace covered, V-neck tee shirt. There was a moment of panic, followed by a moment of frozen anxiety, followed by a series of nervous laughs and stuttered words. "Oh... this... shirt, you mean? Oh, that? Oh, I was just... you know... putting things away and I thought this would be fine to wear today for packing, and such. I mean... it’s pretty light weight and it’s kind of warm, so... you know... it’s probably going to get thrown out after today, anyway, so what difference does it make..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, ok," Kate held up a hand to stop his blathering. "I get it. Too bad, though. It’s a pretty top and it fits you really nicely. Although I did have A LITTLE more of a chest when I wore that." She smirked. "I was a late bloomer, too. Just like you, Stevie. One of these days you’re going to shoot up like a weed and get all manly on me."

"Oh, yeah, sure," he laughed. "That happens to guys in their twenties all the time."

"It does," his sister smiled. "You’ll see."

That day, they set up the playpen upstairs, but for the time being, they left Alice in her car seat and placed her in Stevie’s room while they finished off their grandmother’s room. Most of her clothes that weren’t in that special walk-in closet were pretty well worn and out of style, so they were put directly into trash bags to be disposed of. Once her clothes were dealt with, they stripped her bed and dismantled the canopy bed fame, placing it and the box spring and mattress aside. Then emptied the night stands, putting them by the bureau.

"You know," Katie said, "this is the biggest and prettiest bedroom set. You should use this one at our place. It’s a queen sized bed and the bureau is massive. That’ll give you lots of storage. Your little twin bed set will be lost in that big bed room."

It was true that Stevie’s new quarters at Katie and Derrick’s house were larger than his current room. See, the previous owner of their house, which was the kind of structure that most people referred to as a McMansion, had added a very large wing onto the house that included a huge master suite. So the room the Stevie was moving into had originally been designed as the master bedroom. It was quite large and had its own en suite lavatory.

Not a bad place for a kid with nothing to land, really.

"It’s a little ‘old lady-ish’ isn’t it? I mean, the canopy and all."

"Maybe," Katie smiled, "but I guarantee you that you’re going to have a little visitor watching TV with you some evenings and a big bed will be more comfortable than a small one."

Stevie looked at Olivia, who was placing stray pieces of clothing into the trash bags, and smiled. "Good point. Ok, I’ll use this set."

The next two rooms to tackle were their mother’s old room and then Katie’s old room. Either room could have been cleared out years earlier, but that had just never been a priority, so it had never gotten done.

"God, there’s too much to go through," Katie lamented as she pulled open drawer after drawer of clothes. "Just throw everything into trash bags and mark them ‘save.’ We’ll go through them methodically when we unpack everything and figure it all out at home."

As they were cleaning out Katie’s room, she let out a laugh at one point and said, "Look at this," and she threw three packages of something to her brother.

He caught them and said, "What’s this?" He looked at them and read what the packages said. "Fruit of the Loom four pack cotton bikini brief panties?"

"Brand new in the package!" Katie smiled. "Lucky you."

Embarrassed, Stevie sputtered, "Why lucky me?"

Katie turned and looked at him, genuinely baffled by his question. "Because you’re wearing my old bikini briefs right now, aren’t you?"

Of course, he was, but he just looked at her and tried to find a way to deny it.

"Oh, come on, Stevie. Every time you bend over I can see them peeking out of your jeans – well, my old jeans. I don’t care. I’m just saying that – until we can afford to get you some proper boys undies – at least you have some nice, clean, new panties. That’s all. Don’t be embarrassed."

That didn’t seem possible.

They packed everything into bags as quickly as possible and soon were in the attic, passing down furniture items that had been unused for decades and holiday decorations that hadn’t been used in their memory.

"That just leaves your bed room and bathroom," Katie said.

"I’ll do that in the morning," Stevie said with a little sadness. "It’s getting late and Livy is getting tired."

It was already past four and the brother and sister were both exhausted and taking a much deserved break on the porch, Olivia resting on her Auntie Stevie and Alice nursing at her mother’s breast.

"Are you sure you can do it alone?" Katie asked. "The movers will be here at ten thirty. I’ll come and help if you want."

"No, you can organize everything at your house," Stevie smiled. "I’ll take care of everything here."

When the baby had finished her meal and settled back into her car seat/carrier, Kate said her goodbyes and headed home.

When she arrived at her large, brick faced house, Derrick, her police officer/husband was watering some newly planted flowers in the beds along the front walk. He put down the hose and came to help his wife.

"Hey," he smiled and kissed his wife as she closed the driver’s door of the minivan. "How did it go?"

"Pretty good, I guess," she shrugged. "Everything is packed up except Stevie’s room and he say’s he’ll have that all taken care of before the movers get there in the morning."

"Should I go over and help him?"

"No," Kate opened the back slider on the left side of the van. "You just meet the movers at the storage facility and I’ll meet them here. Stevie will oversee things at the house."

Derrick nodded. "Ok. And... he’s ok with all of this? I mean... moving in here to help you out and all?"

"To help US out," Katie corrected, "and yes. He’s sad, of course, and as disappointed as we are about the house going to the bank, but he’s a grownup. He’ll get past it, just like we will."

"Daddy, I wanna get out!" Olivia called from the other side of the mini van.

"Sorry, baby," Derrick said. He hurried to the other side of the vehicle and opened the slider. "There’s my big girl!" He said to the delight of his adoring daughter. "Did you miss your daddy?"

"I did, daddy," she giggled as he undid her restraints.

"Were you a big help for mommy and Auntie Stevie?" He asked as he lifted her from the car and placed her on the ground.

"I was! I helped a lot!" She turned and ran towards the front door.

"That’s a good girl!" Derrick called after her.

"You really need to lay off the ‘Auntie Stevie’ stuff," Katie said, quietly, when Derrick and she were walking side by side. "Livy calls Stevie ‘Auntie’ now because of you. I told him it was because my grandmother called him ‘Susan’ when she was not in her right mind and that Livy just picked up on that, but it really comes from you."

"Oh, come on, Kate. I’m just teasing, and I would never say it to his face."

"Yeah, well, Livy picked up on it and I think she’s actually confused about whether Stevie’s a man or a woman."

Derrick snickered as he picked up the discarded hose. "To tell you the truth, I’m a little confused about that as well, and I don’t think you can blame me for that. I mean, when was the last time he visited a barber shop, Kate? And he wears your old clothes around the house all the time... If he wants to be recognized as a man, he has to start acting like a man."

Kate just shook her head. "There are a lot of different ways to be a man, Derrick, but... just don’t pick on him, ok? Be like... like a big brother to him, ok? Help him get past taking care of my Grandma. Ok? He could use a good male presence in his life."

Derrick smiled and gave his wife a peck on her lips. "That’s me, babe. A good male presence."

Back at the house, Stevie was getting ready for bed, but had to stop and sit on the edge of the bed. He had that pain in his abdomen, again. He had it a few times before over the last year or so and it really hurt when it happened and it always seemed to happen when he’d over exerted himself, like he’d done today. His grandmother had called it ‘a stitch in his side,’ but this wasn’t in his side. It was dead center of his core and it always hurt like hell when it happened. He sat and breathed through it, which seemed to be the only way to get past it when it happened. Nothing else seemed to work. He loosened the button on the jeans he wore and sighed a bit. That helped a little, too.

Finally, the pain passed and he could stand again. He stood, took some steadying breaths and went into the bathroom, where he brushed his teeth and peed, noticing, as he always did when one of those pains over took him, that his urine was darker than usual and had an odd, thick smell to it.

Finished in there, he returned to his bed, turned on his TV, pulled back the bed clothes, sat against the headboard and began to brush his hair – one hundred strokes on each side as his grandmother had insisted when she’d mistaken him for his mother. At first, he’d tried to beg off doing the extra maintenance on his hair at night, but she had been insistent. So, in the end, it was easier to just brush his hair than argue and, truth be told, he liked how it looked when it was well brushed every morning and night.

When he was done, he put in his hair band and went to sleep in his bedroom at his grandmother’s house for the last time. He would miss it.

In the morning, Stevie hustled to get his clothes all packed into garbage bags. He cleaned out his bathroom, grabbing all of his toiletries and hair brushes and he packed all of that into a small, child-sized backpack that he found in Katie’s room the day before. Then he pushed his empty bureau away from the wall to check behind it. He pulled the twin sized mattress and box spring off of his bed frame, then collapsed that down and rested the pieces against the wall.

He took his TV off of the wall and removed the wall mount as well, placing all of the pieces in a plastic bag and tying that bag to the mount. He put the TV and mount into his grandmother’s room so that it would be delivered, along with the bedroom set, to Katie and Derrick’s house.

While he was in there, he looked around for the silver marker to use on the trash bags with his clothes. It wasn’t in that room, so he went into Katie’s room and found it just as he heard the sound of a horn beeping outside, followed immediately by the sound of someone knocking on the front door.

"Shoot!" Stevie muttered, looking at his watch. He didn’t realize how late it was. He bolted down the stairs and opened the door.

"Hi," the burly man at the door said. "I’m looking for..." he consulted his notes, "... Kate or Stevie?"

‘Hi. I’m Stevie. Come on in," Stevie smiled and stepped aside.

"This is the place!" The man yelled to the truck. "Pull it into the driveway!"

Stevie gave the man a quick tour of the house, explaining which things would be going to Kate’s house and which would be going to the storage facility. The man nodded and suggested that Stevie spend some time emptying the refrigerator and taking out the trash, while the movers took care of all the heavy lifting.

"We’ll be loaded up before you know it." He assured Stevie.

Within seconds, the house was overrun with a swarm of equally burly men who set about removing everything that Stevie had always assumed was permanently a part of that house and his everyday life. Stevie took the foreman’s advice and retreated to the kitchen to deal with the things that needed to be thrown away.

"We’re all done," the man said, much sooner than Stevie could have ever expected. "The pieces going to your sister’s house are in that pickup truck to be brought over there. Everything else is in the big truck and is already on the way to your storage unit. We have another pickup truck loaded with your trash. Your house is empty."

Stevie nodded. "Thank you. Could you give me a ride to my sister’s house?"

"Oh, gee, I’m sorry but I can’t do that. Company policy... insurance... things like that. You understand."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Stevie nodded. "Thanks."

The foreman walked out the door and Stevie took one more lonely walk through the house before grabbing the small backpack with his bathroom supplies in it, locking the door for the last time and sitting on the porch steps. He took out his phone and looked at it. He’d never called for a Lyft or an Uber or a taxi before, but it looked like he had to do it now.

He did a Google search to see how to go about doing any of those things and found that he’d have to download an app to hire an Uber, which seemed like the easiest thing to do. So, he went to the App Store on his phone and was in the process of doing just that when he heard someone calling his name. "Hey! Stevie! Hey!"

He looked up and saw a fluorescent green motor scooter pulled up to the curb by his walkway. Unable to see who was calling his name through the driver’s helmet, Stevie waved, uncertainly.

The driver realized his mistake and raised the visor. "Sorry. It’s me. Tony. You know...? Tony? The pizza guy? We met right here... the night before last. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Stevie smiled. "Hi."

"Hey, I thought you were moving."

"I am." Stevie indicated the house. "The movers just left. I thought they were going to give me a ride to my sister’s place, but they couldn’t. So I was just looking up how to hire an Uber."

Tony laughed a little, then seemed to have a brilliant idea. "Tell you what. I’ll take you to your sister’s."

"Oh, ummm... that’s nice of you, but..." this was weird, wasn’t it? A boy he didn’t know making this offer? "You don’t even know where she lives."

"That’s ok. I’m not doing anything." He smiled. "Where does she live?"

"Over by Billings Park... near the lake."

"Ohh, fancy," Tony said, sounding impressed. "I can take you."

Stevie thought for a moment. It would be cheaper and faster...

"Come on. I won’t bite," the boy smiled, and his smile seemed really sweet.

What the heck.

"Ok. Thanks." Stevie stood and grabbed his little backpack and hurried down the stairs and up the walkway. "Thanks. This is nice of you."

"No problem," Tony smiled. "Here you go. I have an extra helmet."

Stevie put the helmet on and strapped it under his chin.

Then, Tony got onto the scooter. "Jump on behind me and put your arms around me," he instructed.

Stevie did as he was told, although it seemed kind of odd.

Tony started the motor, then looked over his shoulder and said, "Hold on and make sure that you don’t lose your bag."

"Ok,"

~^~

"Just sign here," the foreman said to Katie in her driveway. They’d made very short work of bringing the bedroom furniture in and setting it all up in Stevie’s new room. Now, they were leaving. Katie was very pleased with their work, but she was concerned that Stevie hadn’t been with them and he hadn’t called. "Sorry we couldn’t drive your sister over," the foreman said, as if reading her mind, "but the company has a ‘no passengers’ policy."

"Brother, you mean," Katie said.

"Oh, yeah?" The burly man said, shaking his head. "Go figure. Well, have a good day, missus." He climbed into the pickup truck and the vehicle immediately began backing out of the driveway.

Just as it headed south down the street, a neon green scooter carrying two people came north up the street and surprised Katie by pulling into her driveway. When the engine stopped and the passenger got off, and pulled off their helmet, Katie was even more surprised to see Stevie’s head and face appear.

"Auntie Stevie!" Olivia shouted, releasing her mother’s hand and running to where Stevie was just starting to thank Tony.

Stevie’s attention, instead, was diverted to his niece. "Hi, Livy!" He said, bending to catch her at full gallop and raising her to rest on his hip. "Livy, this is Tony. Tony gave me a ride. Wasn’t that nice of him?"

"Yes," the little girl said, but then she immediately wriggled free of Stevie’s grasp and got to the ground, grabbing him by the hand. "Come see your room. It looks SO GOOD already!"

"Ok, just a minute..."

"No, now!" She insisted, pulling as hard as she could.

"Alright, alright," Stevie said. Then, as he was being pulled away, he looked at Tony and said, "I’m sorry. Can you wait one minute? I’ll be right back." And he followed Olivia into the house.

Very perplexed by what was happening, Katie walked over to the scooter. "Hi. I’m Stevie’s sister, Kate. And you are...?"

"Oh, I’m Tony," the boy said, with a smile and an extended hand. "You have a beautiful house. Nice neighborhood, too."

"Oh, thank you. Are you a friend of Stevie’s?"

"Ummm..." the boy gave an impish smile. "‘Friend’ may be too strong a word. ‘Acquaintance’ is more like it. I delivered a pizza to your sister’s house the other night and we met."

"Oh... to my SISTER’S house?"

"Yeah," Tony nodded, wondering why Stevie’s sister was being so odd. "I... ummm... I saw her calling for an Uber just now and told her I’d give her a ride."

"Really? All the way from the other side of the city? Huh. That’s awfully nice of you."

"Yeah... I guess." Tony looked down at the ground and saw that Stevie had put his backpack down when taking off his helmet. He picked it up and handed it to Katie. "Oh, umm... here. Stevie dropped her pocketbook."

Katie took it and smiled. "Oh, yes she did. Thank you."

At that point, Stevie came back out of the house carrying Olivia on his hip. "Wow, they did a nice job setting everything up," he said to Kate. "So... you two have met, then?"

"Yes we have," Katie smiled. "Oh, and Tony picked up your bag for you."

"Oh, great. Thanks," Stevie smiled. He looked at Tony and, still holding Olivia and now swaying a little to keep her moving, he said, "Thanks for the ride, Tony. I really appreciate it."

"My pleasure. Really."

There was an awkward silence until Tony finally said, "Umm, hey, could I get your number? Maybe we could, you know, hang out... or see a movie some time."

"Sure," Stevie nodded and recited his cell phone number.

"Ok," Tony smiled and nodded as he entered the number into his phone. "Let me give you mine." He recited the numbers, then took Stevie’s phone from him and where the contact information asked for a name, he typed in ‘Tony The Pizza Guy.’

Stevie laughed when Tony handed the phone back to him. "That’s your last name? The pizza guy?"

"Kinda," he smiled. "Well, I gotta go. Nice to meet you, Katie." He got on his scooter and pulled away.

Kate crossed her arms and looked at Stevie. "What’s in your bag?"

He shrugged. "Tooth brush, shampoo, hair brush... stuff like that. Why?"

"Any makeup or tampons, maybe?"

"What?"

"Stevie, how oblivious can you get? Honey, you wear your hair like a girl, you wear girl’s clothing, you’re little and have a pretty face... Tony thinks you’re a girl."

Stevie tsk-ed. "No he doesn’t."

"Stevie, Stevie, Stevie... he does. That’s why he drove you all the way across town. That’s why he asked for your phone number and that’s why he told me he had delivered pizza to MY SISTER. Come on... You had to know."

Stevie shrugged. "Maybe... I don’t know, Katie. He seems nice. I could use a friend. Maybe he’ll think it’s funny when I explain it to him."

She shook her head. "You be careful, Stevie. You could really upset people playing a game like that." She took Olivia’s hand. "Come one, Livy. Let’s go check on the baby."

Stevie looked back down the street where Tony’s scooter had disappeared and he thought about what his sister said – AND – he thought about his fantasy from the previous day, when he’d worn Katie’s skirt and flirted in the mirror. What did he really want from this boy?

"Are you coming?" He heard Katie calling from the front door.

They spent the next couple of hours dumping out the bags of clothes that had come over with the furniture and organizing things. Katie’s unwillingness to part with anything was baffling to Stevie, but he shrugged it off to her being frugal. He’d sort through it all eventually.

"My usual, day to day clothes aren’t here," Stevie said, finally, when everything had been sorted.

"Did you pack them up?"

"Yeah. I dumped everything into trash bags first thing this morning. Then I dismantled the bed and took down the TV."

"Did you put the bags in Grandma’s room with the other stuff that was coming here?"

Stevie thought for a moment, then put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the marker he’d finally found. "Shoot. No. I was looking for this when the movers showed up. I don’t think I labeled the bags."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Well, they may be in storage or they may have been thrown out. I’ll text Derrick and see if he’s still there. If not, you still have plenty to wear."

She sent a text as Stevie and Olivia picked up the debris in his room. After a few minutes, Katie’s phone chimed. She checked it and shook her head, "Sorry, Stevie. No unmarked bags in the storage area."

"Great," Stevie shook his head. "That had most of my own clothes and most of your normal tee shirts."

"Oh, well," Katie shrugged. "You still have lots of slacks and shorts and tops. They’re just a little prettier than what you had before. No big deal." She smiled and patted his arm.

Finally, Stevie’s room was organized, except for a few pictures to be hung and his TV to be mounted on the wall.

"It looks nice, doesn’t it?" Katie said, pleased with the look of the room.

"It does," Stevie smiled. "Thank you for taking me in."

She tsk-ed at him. "I’m not ‘taking you in,’ Stevie. You’re family. This is your home for as long as you need to be here. No, I take that back... For as long as you WANT to be here. Ok?"

"Yeah, ok. Thanks," he smiled. "I do wish they hadn’t hung the whole lace canopy over the bed, though. It’s kind of old-lady-ish, don’t you think?"

"I like it," Olivia offered. "It’s pretty."

"There you go," Katie laughed.

"Well, if you like it, then that’s all that matters," Stevie laughed. Then he sniffed himself. "Wow. I think that I need to shower. I’m smelling a little ripe."

Katie nodded. "Good idea. I’ll take one after I get the girls ready for bed." She checked her watch. "Tell you what – I’ll text Derrick to bring home some chicken and lentil soup from D’Ericco’s for supper. You shower now. Then we can all have dinner together and you can help me and the girls with their baths after that. Sound good."

"Sounds great!"

Stevie went off to the shower while Katie and Olivia headed downstairs and Katie sent Derrick a text.

Just as she was passing the front door, it opened and Derrick entered carrying a brown bag. "Hi," he said with a smile.

"Oh, hi," Katie smiled. "I just sent you a text. I was going to have you pick up some soup at D’Errico’s for supper."

He held up the bag and and smiled more broadly. "Way ahead of you. I got minestrone and chicken lentil. How’s everything going here?"

"Great," Katie laughed at Derrick’s unflappable demeanor. "Stevie’s room is all set up except for mounting his TV."

"And is he ok with everything?"

"Yeah, I think he’s really good. He’s taking a shower now."

Derrick nodded. "Tell you what. You take the soup and I’ll go mount the TV for him. That way he can make himself at home when he goes to bed tonight. Alright?"

"Aren’t you nice?" Katie took the soup and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for being so nice to him."

"Hey, family... right?"

"Right."

Derrick took the stairs two at a time, as he always did, and grabbed his upstairs toolbox from the hallway linen closet on his way to Stevie’s room. He knocked on the half opened door, but got no response. He peeked in and could hear water running in the shower in the en suite lavatory, so he went to work installing the TV Mount. It took less than ten minutes to properly install the bracket and by that time, he could hear a blow dryer being run in lavatory. Plenty of time to hang the TV.

In the lavatory, Stevie used the blow dryer to dry his hair and the large brush he’d long ago usurped from his mother’s vanity table to brush out his wavy hair. He took his time and made sure that his hair was properly brushed away from his face as it had been for the last few days. He liked the way it had looked with the handkerchief in it, but he didn’t think it was a very ‘manly’ thing to wear and, since Derrick was kind of a man’s man, he probably should be aware of that kind of thing while he was living in Derrick’s house.

Finally satisfied with his look, he took the can of hairspray that he’d brought from the old house and gave his hair a light spraying, just enough to hold everything in place, although his hair did have enough body to do that by itself. Satisfied, he turned to leave the bathroom.

Derrick was just stepping back to check his work, turning on the flatscreen to make sure that he could see it well from the canopy bed when the bathroom door opened and his brother-in-law stepped into the bedroom... stark naked.

Both men stopped doing what they were doing and stared in disbelief for a moment before speaking.

"Umm..." was all that Stevie could manage.

"Oh, Geez, Stevie, I’m sorry," Derrick finally managed. "I just installed your TV for you. I didn’t expect you to... you know what... my fault... not yours... it’s your room and I shouldn’t have just come in. I’m sorry. I’m leaving. It won’t happen again." He dropped the remote on the bed and headed out the door, stopping only briefly to say, "Oh, by the way, welcome to our home and, please... think of it as your home." Then the door shut.

"Well, that was awkward," Stevie muttered.

Derrick stopped at the linen closet and put his toolbox away, then looked back towards Stevie’s room and thought for a moment before hurrying down the stairs.

When he reached the kitchen, he found his wife seated at the kitchen table, breast feeding his youngest daughter. He paused for a moment and then sat opposite her, looking for the right words.

"Umm, Katie... ummm... I just saw Stevie... and..."

Kate looked up from the baby and smiled. "And what?"

"Look, honey... there’s something... wrong with Stevie."

Kate scowled. "What do mean? What’s ‘wrong’ with him?"

He sighed. "Honey... I see guys naked all the time..."

"You saw Stevie naked?" Katie half laughed.

"Yeah, he walked out of the shower naked. It wasn’t on purpose. That’s not the point, though. The point is... when was the last time you saw his chest?"

Kate shrugged. "I have no idea. Why?"

He looked towards the stairs to be sure that Stevie wasn’t coming into the kitchen. "Honey, I think Stevie needs to see a doctor."

Being the health conscious person that she was, this really caught Kate’s attention, "A doctor? Why?"

He paused. "Look, honey... he doesn’t have breasts, per se, but... he has big nipples and the area around them... Katie, they’re really big. Like a girl’s. And honey... there’s something not right... down there, too. He really needs to see someone."

To Be Continued...

An Anomoly - 2

Author:

Clara

Audience Rating:

Mature Subjects (pg15)

Publication:

Genre:

Transgender

Character Age:

College / Twenties

TG Themes:

Age Regression

Other Keywords:

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

An Anomoly: 2

by Clara

Stevie finds himself exploring more and more of his feminine side as he settles into
his sister's home and begins caring for her family. Thank you to everyone who
commented on the first installment. I do love knowing that you are all well and
hearing from you. I appreciate your support. A word or warning, though - I do try
to explore the feelings, emotions and motivations of my characters and that
requires using words.

Author's Note: I am hoping that you are enjoying my stories so far. If you find yourself liking
this one, please consider leaving me a review? Honest, I love reading them! ~Clara.

This version of An Anomoly: 2 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.

Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.

Chapter 2

"You saw Stevie naked?" Kate half laughed.

"Yeah, he walked out of the shower naked. It wasn't on purpose. That's not the point, though. The point is... when was the last time you saw his chest?"

Kate shrugged. "I have no idea. Why?"

He looked towards the stairs to be sure that Stevie wasn't coming into the kitchen. "Honey, I think Stevie needs to see a doctor."

Being the health conscious person that she was, this really caught Kate's attention, "A doctor? Why?"

He paused. "Look, honey... he doesn't have breasts, per se, but... he has big nipples and the area around them... Katie, they're really big. Like a girl's. And honey... there's something not right... down there, too. He really needs to see someone."

Now, Katie looked towards the staircase. When she spoke, she spoke quietly. "What do you mean 'something wrong down there?' I changed his diaper when he was a baby. He was normal down there."

He sat back and shook his head. "Look, honey, I'm not a doctor and I certainly didn't stare at it or anything, but... it doesn't look... right... I mean... normal... I mean... Geez, honey... I want him to go see a doctor, is all I'm saying."

Katie shook her head. "And I suppose you want ME to be the one who brings this up, right?"

He shrugged. "It would probably be less embarrassing than having me say something to him. I mean... I will if you want, but..."

"No," Kate sighed. "I should be me, but... what do I say?"

"I don't know." Then a thought occurred to Derrick. "Does he even have insurance?"

She shrugged.

Derrick pointed at the table, as if pointing at a document. "Well, there's a good start to a conversation. Ask him if he has health insurance. Then maybe talk about finding a GP if he doesn't have one. Etc..."

They both heard movement on the stairs. Katie gave her husband a look of warning. "Ok, I'll talk to him, but not tonight. Whatever it is, it'll wait until tomorrow. I'll talk to him when you're not around. He's had a hard day already. Ok?"

Derrick nodded. "Agreed." He stood and busied himself with warming the soups.

"Hey," Stevie said as he entered the kitchen, tentatively.

"Hi," Katie smiled, moving Alice to her shoulder to burp her. "I hear that you and Derrick shared a moment upstairs." She made light of what she knew was an embarrassing moment for both men.

"Yeah," Stevie laughed. "Sorry."

"My fault," Derrick said without turning away from the stove. "It's your room, Stevie, and I shouldn't have gone in without your permission. I'm sorry."

"No, problem," Stevie said, still embarrassed by the encounter. "Thank you for setting up the TV. I appreciate it."

"No problem," Derrick still didn't turn around to face his brother-in-law.

"Can I set the table?" Stevie asked, wanting not only to feel useful, but to divert attention away from the awkward event.

"That would be great," Katie smiled.

"I'll help," Olivia entered the kitchen from the living room where she'd been watching TV, and joined her uncle as he opened the silverware drawer.

Katie watched her brother and daughter as they worked. She took note of the fact that her brother was wearing a pair of Hello Kitty lounge pants that she'd worn when she was in high school. Granted, his choices were limited, but these were a pretty girly choice. His top was a soft blue, scoop necked top with cap sleeves. Again, maybe his choices were limited, but... Also, his hair looked as if he'd spent some time on it. That was commendable, but it did look... female.

Kate decided that all of this needed addressing, but in private. She also spent a lot of meal time scrutinizing the material of Stevie's top, particularly in the area of his chest, looking for signs of his nipples and she had to admit... she could detect impressions of nipples through the cloth. Not big nipples, but nipples. Derrick was not imagining things, but come on... men have nipples, right? No... his did look bigger than one might expect a man's to be.

Soon, they were all enjoying a warm meal of good soup and hearty bread from the farm-fresh store that Kate and Derrick frequented.

After dinner, Stevie got his first lesson in bathing his nieces. First, Alice was bathed in the kitchen sink with Katie giving instructions regarding how the baby liked to have the water poured onto her. Alice actually loved her baths and, according to Katie, loved the heated pool they had in the back yard, too.

After Alice was washed and snuggled into a warm onesie and set into her crib, Stevie got a tutorial on bathing Olivia in the tub. That was a wholly different operation. Livy also enjoyed her baths, but her bath time included toys and playing and games - which meant - splashing. Within five minutes, Stevie's top was soaked, but he was still laughing and playing with his niece, regardless.

"You must be uncomfortable in that wet shirt," Katie said. "You can take it off it you'd rather. I frequently bathe Livy topless."

"Oh, it doesn't bother me," Stevie laughed. "A little water never hurt Uncle Stevie."

"Auntie Stevie," Olivia insisted. "Auntie Stevie."

Stevie just laughed it off as he pushed a yellow boat around the tub as part of Olivia's game.

Soon enough, Olivia was in her nightgown. She'd chosen a Hello Kitty gown to match Stevie, and cuddled on the couch between Stevie and Katie, watching an episode of My Pretty Pony before going to bed. Stevie had changed out of the wet tee shirt and put on the tee shirt that matched his lounge pants, so both he and his niece were covered in images of Hello Kitty.

"When you wake up tomorrow morning, Auntie Stevie will still be here," Katie explained to the girl.

"I know," Olivia said. "Auntie Stevie lives here now."

"That's right. Does that make you happy?"

"Yes." The little girl's attention barely shifted from the TV screen.

"It makes me happy too," Katie said, looking at her little brother.

"Thanks," Stevie smiled. "I'm happy to be here." He thought for a moment. "Where's Derrick?"

"I think he's in the garage," Katie sighed. "A couple of our neighbors are cops, too. They sometimes sit in the open garage on nice nights. They sit and talk sports and have a few beers. You can join them if things are too girly in here for you."

Stevie laughed. "Sports and beer. Two things I know nothing about."

"Oh, and you know so much about girls?" Katie teased.

He shrugged. "More than most guys, I suppose. I had to take care of Grandma, after all. At the end, that included bathing her and changing her diapers, too. Just like I'm doing now."

Katie's head turned to face him. "Not really?"

He nodded, surprised that she was surprised. "Yeah. Of course. Why?"

"Well... we had that nursing service coming to the house everyday. Didn't they take care of all of that?"

Stevie laughed. "Katie... they came for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Grandma didn't wait around for them to show up to have an accident. She went when she went and I dealt with it. What did you think I was doing all day and night with her?"

In fact, a part of Kate had kind of felt that her brother had used their grandmother's infirmity as an excuse to dropout of high school and not go to college. She'd really never considered that he'd had to deal with the intimate maintenance of the sick old woman.

"I didn't think you had to do things like that," Kate said, quietly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I assumed you knew," he said, dismissively. "What difference did it make? You had a family and career to deal with. I didn't. Grandma needed help... end of story."

Kate reached over and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, Stevie. I guess I should have been more involved."

Stevie looked at her, a little baffled by her attitude. "Why? I didn't mind. She took care of me until she couldn't... Then I took care of her. That's just how life works. Right?"

The show ended at that point, diverting Katie's attention. "Ok, Livy, it's time for bed."

"Ok," the girl half bounced to her feet. "Come on, Auntie Stevie. I want you to read me a story."

"A short story," Kate insisted, "and I'm coming too to make sure you don't take advantage of your uncle."

"Auntie!" Olivia insisted as she dragged Stevie down the hallway.

It was a short story, but Stevie acted out all of the character voices and turned a six or seven minute story into a twenty minute extravaganza, much to the delight of the little girl. Finally, he tucked her into bed and kissed her cheek.

"I love you, Auntie Stevie," Olivia whispered, already starting to get drowsy.

"I love you, too, Livy," Stevie whispered back, feeling more loved than ever at that moment.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Katie asked, quietly, as they stepped out into the hallway.

"What?"

"Being a mom."

Stevie chuckled. "I'll settle for being an uncle."

Katie let it go, but the way that Stevie behaved with the girls... there was a mommy somewhere inside of him. She could feel it.

It was almost three hours later that Derrick and Kate were laying in bed together, Katie's head resting on Derrick's chest, that she asked her husband if he could explain why he'd been concerned about Stevie's genitals.

"Like I said, honey, I'm not a doctor. Let's just get Stevie to a doctor and make sure he's ok. Alright?"

"Agreed, but can you give a little more information? I mean... you know how I am about illness, Derrick. What did you think was wrong?"

"Please, Kate, let's just leave it..."

"I'm not going to get any sleep unless I know what you think is wrong." Kate sat up.

Derrick let out a frustrated huff and pulled himself up so his back was against the bed's headboard. "Alright, look... his... thing... his dick... is like... it's like a boy's. Ok?"

That made Katie chuckle a bit. "Ok, but not every guy has a big penis, Derrick. I mean, just because you and you testosterone driven cop friends are always comparing the size of yours doesn't mean that every guy has a monster between his legs. Stevie's a little guy. Little guys have little penises, right?"

Derrick shook his head and looked at the ceiling in frustration. "It's not just little, Kate. It's... underdeveloped... if you know what I mean."

Kate shook her head. "I don't."

He sighed. "Kate... I shower with guys every day of the week and there's no way to avoid seeing their junk. Some guys are big and some guys are small, but we all have the same parts. Stevie... doesn't."

This made Kate sit up straighter. "Meaning... what?"

"Now... I only saw him naked for a couple of seconds, Kate, but I'm pretty sure that Stevie - man this sounds weird to say..." he took a breath, "...doesn't have any testicles."

"What?" Kate half laughed, but her laugh was from nervousness. "That's crazy. Of course he has testicles."

"Does he?" Derrick looked at his wife. "When was the last time he saw a doctor, honey? I bet it was before your mom died, and that was before he would have entered puberty."

"No, no," Katie was pondering the absurdity of what she'd just been told. "He's a grown man. If he had a problem like that, he would have seen someone about it."

"I don't know, Kate. I mean... think about it. Catholic school - no health or anatomy classes, right? No man in the house. No male friends. No brothers or male cousins. I think he might not know that he's missing something down there."

Katie jumped out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Her husband asked.

"I'm getting my iPad."

"Great," Derrick muttered under his breath.

Moments later, she was Googling reasons for testicles to not descend in a pubescent males and becoming more stressed out by the minute.

"Honey, come on. WebMD isn't going to tell you what the problem is," Derrick said, trying to calm her down. "Monday morning we'll make an appointment for Stevie to see a doctor and we'll take it from there."

"That's easy for you to say," Kate snapped in a frenzy of concern, "he's not your brother. I should have been taking care of him this whole time. God Almighty, I left a kid alone to take care of an old lady! He had to change her diapers, for crips' sake, Derrick. She didn't even take him to see a doctor! Do you know how many of these possible diagnoses involve cancers? My God, Derrick..."

"Ok, ok, ok," Derick put his arm around his wife's shoulders and pulled her close. "First off, yes, we BOTH should have been more involved with your grandmother, but Stevie never told us how difficult it was for him, so we didn't know. Now, we'll make it up to him. Second, I know how you feel about health and how much cancer scares you. That's exactly why we need to get Stevie to a doctor. If he doesn't have insurance, we'll get him onto public health assistance right away. Whatever is wrong with him - and it probably ISN'T cancer - we will deal with it with a real life doctor - not an iPad. And finally... you're wrong. Stevie IS my brother. I'm not going to say that I love him like a brother, exactly, but he's important to me because he's important to you. So, please, don't ever think that I'm not concerned. I am. And if we need to dig a little deeper to find a little more money to help him through this then... well, we can tap into our 401K if we need to. Whatever Stevie needs, WE are going to provide. Ok?"

Finally, she relaxed against his chest. "Ok." She took a few breaths. "Thank you, Derrick."

"Never thank me for being a part of my own family, babe." He kissed her and shut off the bed-stand lamp.

The next morning started bright and early. It was a Sunday, but Derrick had to work, so the house was bustling early. Stevie came down stairs holding onto Olivia's hand.

Katie saw him and not only thought that he looked adorable in his Hello Kitty pjs, but that he and Olivia, still in her Hello Kitty nightgown, made a perfect picture. They looked more like sisters than Uncle and niece, though. Like a fourteen or fifteen year old girl taking care of her four year old sister.

"Well, look at you!" Katie squealed at her daughter. "Did Stevie brush your hair already?"

Olivia smiled and nodded. "We brushed each other's hair." She said proudly.

"Really," Katie smiled. "Well, you both look beautiful." She kissed her daughter's forehead, and then did the same to her brother. "And you look so sweet in your matching pjs."

"Haha," Stevie said, accepting the ribbing.

"Seriously, Livy's hair looks great. She always fights me when I try to brush it."

Stevie lifted his niece into a booster seat and pushed the chair into the table. "Well, she didn't fight with me, did you, Livy?"

"Nope!" The girl said with pride. "I brushed Auntie Stevie's hair then she brushed mine."

"He," Stevie corrected. "I'm a boy."

The little girl just giggled.

"I'm making Derrick an omelette," Kate said. "I hate it when he has to work on Sundays. Can I make you one?"

Stevie shook his head. "No thanks. I'm not a big breakfast person. I'll just make myself some toast and tea if that's ok."

"Sure." She handed him a small plate with scrambled eggs on it for Olivia and a small cup of orange juice.

Stevie placed the food on the table and made sure that Olivia was all set before he stepped away, intending to make some tea. Instead, the kitchen came to a stand still with sound of the baby's cry coming through the monitor on the counter next to Katie.

"Perfect timing," Katie said with a frustrated laugh. "I was just about to start Derrick's breakfast."

"That's ok," Stevie said with a smile. "I'll take care of the baby."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course," he laughed. "I have to start earning my keep, right?"

He hustled up the stairs and into the nursery where Alice was fussing in her crib.

"Hi, Angel," he cooed to her. "Good morning. Are you looking for mommy? Let me get you changed and we'll go downstairs, ok?" He took the baby to the changing table and undid her onesie. Then removed her sodden diaper and, following his sister's instructions from yesterday, neatly cleaned her, prepped her, re-diapered her and closed up her onesie again. "There you go, Princess. All ready to go see mommy."

As he took her down the stairs, he marveled at the child. Ten perfect fingers, ten perfect toes. Bright eyes. Everything about a child this young was just so miraculous. He was happy to be a part of this one's life - and Olivia's too, of course.

When he reached the kitchen, Derrick was in full uniform and seated at the table eating his omelette. He smiled and held up a hand of welcome to Stevie. After he'd swallowed, he said, "Morning. Did you sleep ok?"

Stevie nodded, always a little uncertain as to how to act around Derrick. "I did. Thanks."

"Good," Derrick smiled again, nodded and returned to his breakfast.

Stevie walked over to the stove expecting his sister to take Alice from him, but instead she handed him a warm bottle. "Would you mind feeding her? I heated the bottle up while you were upstairs. I'll make you your toast and tea."

"Oh... ok," Stevie sputtered a little surprised. Katie had stated quite clearly that she was going to miss breast feeding Alice when she returned to work, so he'd just assumed that she'd want to breast her that morning.

He took the bottle and sat at the table opposite Derrick. He had actually bottle fed both of his nieces a few times, so this was nothing new, just a bit awkward in front of Derrick. He put that out of his mind, though, got Alice into the proper position in the crook of his arm and teased the nipple on her lips until she accepted it and began to devour Katie's milk from the bottle.

"Look at that," Derrick smiled, "he's a natural."

"I told you," Katie said from the stove. "Stevie's going to make a great mommy someday."

Before Stevie could respond to her jibe, Derrick's phone rang. He glanced at it. "It's the precinct. I'll take it in the mud room."

He stood, took his plate with him and went into the mud room off of the kitchen, closing the door behind him.

Katie sat beside her brother and whispered, "He doesn't take work calls in front of the girls."

Stevie nodded. That made sense. When it came to police work, who knew what might be said over the phone. Better to be sure that the girls didn't hear anything.

Derrick came back into the kitchen in a rush. "There was a bad accident on the cut-off. I'm going directly over there to help divert traffic."

He put his dish in the sink and grabbed his hat and belt before heading towards the door. "I'm sorry I have to rush, honey."

"Don't worry," Kate smiled. "Just be careful."

"I will," he smiled. Then he bent and kissed Olivia's cheek. "Bye, bye, honey. Daddy loves you."

"I love you, too, daddy," the little girl smiled at him.

As he strapped on his gun belt, which had no gun in it, Derrick said, "You be a good girl for mommy and Stevie, ok?"

"Ok, daddy," she smiled at him.

His phone chimed and he glanced at it, reading a text. "Shoot, I have to run."

He hurried to the other side of the table and kissed his wife on the cheek. "Love you."

Then, as if in one practiced movement, he bent and kissed Alice's forehead, then, as he rose to stand, he paused kissed Stevie on the cheek and repeated the same words. "Love you." Then disappeared out the door.

Stevie watched him leave, his mouth agape and his voice unable to make a sound. Finally, he turned and looked at his sister who's face was turning red as she tried to keep from laughing.

"Your husband just kissed me!" He said, shocked.

"I know," Katie said, struggling to keep the giggles controlled.

"Why?"

"I don't know!" The dam finally burst and she laughed uncontrollably.

"I don't want your husband kissing me," Stevie said, half laughing himself.

"Oh, come on, Stevie. He was in a rush, it's usually just the girls and me here... he just wasn't thinking."

"Not thinking? Does he usually kiss men?"

Katie got control over her giggles. "Let's be honest, honey... most men that have visited my house haven't had hair that looks as nice as yours, none have ever sat down at the table to feed our baby and none have ever worn a Hello Kitty pj set while doing it. He just kissed another one of 'his girls' goodbye. And, besides... he does care about you, Stevie. He really does."

"Well, it was weird," Stevie said, returning his attention to the baby. Then a thought occurred to him. "How come Derrick's holster didn't have a gun in it?"

"Because we don't want a gun in the house where it'd be near the girls. He leaves it in a gun safe in the garage. He doesn't leave his belt out there, though, because he says the heat and cold isn't good for the leather."

That made sense.

"Mommy, can we go in the pool today?" Olivia asked, changing the subject.

"Sure, baby," Katie said with a smile. "Why don't we get our chores done this morning and then, after lunch, when it's warmer outside, we'll all go swimming."

"I'll have to take a rain check on that," Stevie said, finishing up with Alice's feeding and putting a cloth diaper over his shoulder before burping her. "I don't have any swim trunks."

"Oh, we'll find you something," Kate said, off handedly.

Soon the baby had brought up some wind, and just a little milk, too, and she was nestled on Stevie's lap while he ate his toast, with the best orange marmalade he'd ever eaten on it, and sipped his tea.

"Can I have some tea, too?" Olivia asked.

"Not yet, sweetheart, but in a few years you can." Katie assured the girl.

"But my dolls drink tea. We have tea parties all the time."

"That's special tea," Katie smiled. "Tea from your imagination. This tea has caffeine and you're still a little young for that. In a year or so I'll let you try some weak tea, baby, but for now, we'll stick to imaginary tea. Ok?"

"Ok," Olivia agreed, but she sounded dejected.

They spent the morning cleaning the downstairs, not typically a Sunday morning activity, but since Katie had not been home for a few mornings, it had to be done. Katie realized quickly that her idea of a clean house and Stevie's idea of a clean house were two very different things. Apparently, all of this time she'd only been going for 'the appearance' of clean, while across town Stevie had been cleaning their grandmother's house from top to bottom and making sure that it was spotless. She marveled at his attention to every inch of woodwork, carpet and hardwood floor. He even cleaned some of the windows before she told him that they were quitting for the day to have a light lunch before going into the pool.

"Ok," Stevie said, slightly disappointed at leaving the windows streaked, "I'll get to those when I clean this room this week."

"Ok," Katie smiled at him. She certainly wasn't going to discourage him if that's what he wanted to do, but she was pretty sure that once he found himself alone with the two little girls to take care of, a few streaks on the windows wouldn't bother him nearly as much.

White bean salad for Katie and Stevie and Cheerios with mixed berries for Olivia made up their lunch menu. Alice was breast fed while Katie snatched a mouthful of salad here and there.

"So, you think you're going to be ok staying here with girls during the day?" Katie asked while they ate.

"Sure," Stevie smiled and watched as Olivia meticulously took one Cheerio or one berry at a time and chewed it thoroughly before taking another. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you've never really done it before, is all, but... you do seem to really have a knack for taking care of them."

That made him smile a bit. "Do I? I like taking care of them. I think I'll be ok."

"I'm sure you will," Katie smiled.

She let a few moments pass before she asked, as casually as she could, "Ummm... Stevie... when was the last time that you had a doctor's exam? You know... a regular check up?"

He thought for a moment or two. "I don't know. I guess I was about nine or ten... It was before mom was really sick because I remember that the doctor who saw me told mom that she looked a little yellow and that's why she went to see her own doctor. Then... well, it turned out she had liver cancer and she was gone a few months later."

"Grandma never brought you to a doctor for a checkup?"

Stevie thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Nope."

"Do you have health insurance?"

He nodded. "Of course. You have to have it to file taxes. I've never used it, but I have it."

"That's good," Katie gave a relieved sigh. "Look, Stevie, tomorrow, I'm going to call my doctor and see if she can see you sometime, ok? Just to be sure that you're healthy and all, ok?"

"Yeah, I think that might be a good idea," he agreed.

"Why? Are you concerned about something?"

He shrugged again. "Nothing serious. It's just that, sometimes, when I've been working hard, like yesterday, I get this really intense pain right here... like just below my stomach. Other than that, I think I'm good."

"Ok," Katie smiled, but that answer did concern her.

"Mommy, I'm done. Can we go swimming now?" Olivia asked.

"Ok, sweetheart," Katie smiled at her daughter. Then she looked at Stevie. "Livy's swimsuit is in the laundry room. If you get her dressed, I'll take care of Alice and I'll find something for you to wear, too."

"I could wear a pair of those cotton shorts that were in with all of your old clothes, couldn't I?"

Katie shook her head. "'Fraid not. The filter got messed up once because one of Derrick's buddy's wore jean shorts and the fibers got into the filtration system and it cost us a pretty penny to get fixed. Since then we've had a strict 'swimsuits only' policy. Don't worry, I'll find you something."

Soon, Olivia was decked out in a cute, little, aqua one piece bathing suit with a picture of The Little Mermaid on it, and Alice was wearing a similar suit with Sebastian the Crab on hers, with her diaper making the whole suit look that much more adorable.

When Katie entered the nursery wearing a flowered one piece swim suit, Stevie was struck by how good she looked for someone who'd given birth just a few months earlier. "You look amazing!" He said.

"Oh, thanks," Katie smiled, appreciating the compliment. "I have a Peloton bike in the bedroom. Derrick and I both use it. You can too, if you'd like. I'll show you how to sign into classes and all that, but... here." She handed him a white piece of material with blue palm leaves printed on it.

"What's this?"

"It's a high-waisted swimsuit bottom. It should fit you. I wore it in college."

"But... this is for a girl."

"Yeah... and so are all the clothes you're currently wearing, Stevie. They don't make a lot of Hello Kitty pjs for men - and I know you're wearing bikini cut panties under those, too. So, what's the big deal?"

"Well... people will see me outside." He sounded genuinely nervous. "I'll just sit on the patio and..."

"No, no, no," Katie wasn't having it. "The girls both love the pool and as it gets hotter, they're going to want to go in it everyday." She sighed. "Tell you what... I have a tankini top that will go with that. Yes, it's made for a girl, obviously, but with your hair done like that, at least you'll look normal. I mean... you won't draw attention. Besides, the poll is all fenced in and no one can see us. Does that work for you?"

"I guess..."

"Ok. Put that on. I'll be right back."

He stepped into his own room for just a moment, slipped off the pj bottoms and panties beneath them and pulled on the high-waisted swimsuit bottoms. They fit just fine and were tight enough to hide what little package he had down there.

"Here," Katie said, opening the not quite closed door and handing him the tankini top. It was the same color blue as the high-waisted bottom. Basically just a circle of material with two spaghetti straps, a smocked area around the bust that continued to the arm pit, then smoothed out for the back, and a ruffled area below that.

"It's pretty... girlish, isn't it?"

"Well, I'm sorry, Rambo, but I didn't have time to go buy a butch tankini before you came over. What difference does it make? No one knows you, you'll look fine and we'll get you some men's swim trunks when we can. Alright?"

He shrugged. "Alright."

For a few moments, the two of them just stood there.

"Well?" Katie finally asked.

"Aren't you leaving?"

"Have you ever worn a suit like that before?"

"No. Of course not."

"Then let me help you put it on. I don't want you to rip off one of the straps."

Stevie huffed and took a step back into the room to allow his sister in. He pulled the Hello Kitty pajama top over his head, being careful of his hair and turned to face Kate.

Thank goodness Derrick had given her a warning about Stevie's chest, or Kate would have let out a shocked gasp. Derrick had been correct. As much as Stevie looked like a high school freshman girl when wearing Kate's old clothes, when shirtless, he looked like an eleven year old girl. Puffy breasts with wide, darker areolae and prominent nipples. How could he not be aware of how wrong this was!?

She glanced down at the front of the swimsuit bottom and could barely discern the outline of a very small penis. That disturbed her as much as what she saw on his chest. Derrick was right - Stevie needed to see a doctor and soon.

She slipped the top over his arms and shoulders, settling it onto his small breasts. Unfortunately, the smocked design of the front of the top did nothing to minimize her brother's breast development.

A thought occurred to her and she needed to ask a question. "Stevie... you never took any medication that wasn't meant for you, did you?"

He looked up and shook his head. "This barely reaches the waistband of the bottoms."

"Yeah, that's how it's supposed to fit," Katie confirmed. "What I'm asking is... You never took any... female... medication did you?"

Stevie looked up at his sister, confused. "No. Why?"

She sighed and walked him to the mirror. "Look at yourself, honey. You kind of look like..."

"Yeah, I know... like a girl. So what. You keep telling me that I'll out grow it." He looked at himself more closely and shrugged. "Maybe I SHOULD cut my hair, huh?"

"That's not what I'm talking about, Stevie." Katie didn't want to push things too far too quickly so she just asked, "Do you shave, Stevie?"

"Nope," he said, almost proudly.

"Never?"

"Nope."

"Well, see, that's what I'm talking about, honey. At your age, you should. And you should have hair on your arms and legs and... See, this is why I want you to see my doctor. I think she might be able to kickstart some of that for you."

"Yeah? You think that might be able to make me grow a couple of inches, too?"

Katie smiled. "Who knows, Stevie. Maybe."

"Moooooommmmmmmyyyyyyyy, I want to go swimming!" Olivia whined from the hallway door.

"Ok, sweetheart," Kate replied. "We're coming."

She turned to leave, but Stevie asked a question. "Katie... I don't look stupid in this, do I?"

Kate looked at her twenty year old brother who looked more like her fourteen year old sister at the moment and she told the truth. "No, Stevie. You look adorable in that. As cute as a button."

He really did, but the truth was that he was scaring her to distraction as well. What the heck could cause a full grown male to look like this and how is it possible that she hadn't even noticed that he was so under developed - or at least so under developed as a male. God, this was concerning.

They spent almost three hours in the pool with Olivia showing off everything she knew how to do. How to dog-paddle, how to dive from a kneeling position, how to hold her breath and touch the bottom in the shallow end, how to swim from one side to the other with her head above water, and, of course, how to climb onto Stevie pretty much constantly. That was ok, though. For Stevie, it was nice to feel special.

"What time does Derrick get home?" Stevie finally asked as he sat drying on a lounge chair. "Should I be thinking about getting dinner ready?"

"You?" Katie laughed. "I haven't gone back to work yet. I should probably be thinking about getting dinner ready, but the truth is, I'm just not that interested. I know it's not the right thing for a mother of two to say, but I really don't love cooking meals every night."

"I'll do it then," Stevie said, brightly. "Honestly, making dinner for Grandma and me was always the high point of my day. When she got to the point that she couldn't eat the meals I was making, I had to simplify. I miss cooking. I'm looking forward to cooking for you guys."

Katie squeezed his hand. "Oh, you're a Godsend, Stevie. Sunday evenings are usually leftover time, but since we've had a lot of take out this week, there are no leftovers. I don't want to make you work hard, or anything, but if you want to take a look in the fridge and see what's there, you're welcome to take a peek."

"I think I will," he said, popping out of the chair. "Do you need help with the girls?"

"Not if you're making dinner, I don't."

It was almost five thirty when Olivia shouted, "Hi, daddy!" from the island counter where she was standing on a chair.

"Hi, baby. What are you doing?" Derrick asked.

"I'm helping Auntie Stevie. I'm putting these berry tomatoes into the salads."

"Wow! I think those are cherry tomatoes, honey, but you're doing a great job."

"Oh, yeah," she said, but kept working.

Derrick looked at his brother-in-law working at the stove and wondered what his wife had been thinking dressing him in a woman's two piece bathing suit and putting him to work as a cook. He'd discuss that with her later, though. But for now... nonchalance.

"Gee, something sure smells good," he said, coming up beside Stevie.

"It's Chicken Tikka Masala," Stevie said, stirring the rice in rice maker. "Nothing fancy."

"Nothing fancy?" Derrick laughed. "It sure smells fancy."

"That's the ginger and garlic." Stevie inhaled deeply. "Smells delicious, doesn't it. I hope it tastes as good as it it smells."

"I bet it will," Derrick chuckled.

"You know, supper won't be ready for about twenty minutes. You could change or even shower if you want. I can keep it warm for ten or fifteen minutes after it's ready if you need more time."

He smiled. "That's very nice of you, Stevie. Actually, I showered at the precinct, but I would like to get changed. I'll go do that. Where's Kate?"

"Upstairs nursing Alice."

"Great. We'll be down in twenty minutes."

Derrick bounded up the stairs, as he always did, and found his wife in their bedroom, Alice attached to her breast. "Well," he smiled and kissed her cheek, "you'll never guess what I just saw."

"Stevie making dinner?"

He sighed. "Stevie making dinner in a women's bathing suit that he looked a little too damned good in if you were to ask me. Now, why would he be wearing that?"

"Because we were in the pool with the girls and he needed a suit. That one fit."

He nodded, then quietly asked, "Did you see his chest?"

"I did. I'm calling Jane O'Leary tomorrow to see if she'll see him this week."

He nodded. "That suit makes it look worse."

"Please don't say that to him, Derrick."

"Of course not. I'm just... I'm just sharing my concerns with you. That's all. The truth is, he looks great. He just doesn't look like a guy and I find that concerning."

"Me too," Katie said as she stood. "Let's see what Jane has to say."

Monday was a stressful day for Katie. She knew she'd be leaving her girls in good hands on Tuesday, but she'd still be leaving and that made her feel terrible. She loved her job, but she loved her girls, too. The thing was, though, she needed the money from her job to create a secure life for her girls. So - End of story.

And then there was Stevie.

Around eight thirty that morning she called her college friend, and now her general practitioner, Dr Jane O'Leary, and left a voice mail on her cell phone. "Hi, Jane. It's Katie. I feel odd calling on your cell, but my brother needs to see a doctor. He hasn't seen anyone in like ten years and I'm worried. Can you see him sometime soon? I know that's a big favor to ask, but he's my little brother, you know? Give me a call when you can."

It was less than ten minutes before Jane called back and confirmed that she'd definitely see him and she had an opening on Thursday at one pm. She also asked about Katie's concerns.

Katie found it hard to be blunt for some reason. "I think he may have had some developmental problems during puberty that no one noticed." That was the best she could do.

"Such as?"

"Well, he's very petite - not just small... petite. He's got some traits that seem rather feminine to me..."

"Such as?"

"You know what," Kate finally decided, "I think it would be best if you just saw him. Maybe I'm imagining things. I do t want to sound like a hysterical sister. You'll know better than I, anyway."

"Ok," Jane said with a small chuckle. "Can you have him come by the lab in the lobby of my building on Tuesday at anytime to have some blood drawn? I'll do a complete panel of tests and I should have the results back by the time I see him on Thursday."

"Oh, ok," Kate said, figuring out her schedule. "I'll bring him by during my lunch, I guess."

"Great. Talk to you soon. Bye."

That morning, while Katie spent as much time with the girls as she could, Stevie did the laundry, washed the windows he'd been dissuaded from doing the day before, and even changed the sheets on all the beds.

"Are you crazy?" Katie asked when she saw him adding the sheets to his already heavy laundry load.

"It's Monday," he shrugged. "I always changed the sheets at home on Monday."

"Stevie, I do appreciate your help, but you're not an indentured servant or something. You don't have to work this hard all the time."

"I'm not working hard," he laughed. "I like a clean house and I like cooking. That's ok, isn't it?'

Kate shook her head. She liked a 'clean' house, but she tended to change the sheets when it occurred to her to do so, she washed the windows when they annoyed her and she cooked when she had to. Her brother was ten times the homemaker she'd ever be.

The day warmed up quite a bit and afternoon was spent in and by the pool again. Everyone's swimsuit had been washed, of course, but the sun was a lot more oppressive than it had been the day before. Katie insisted on sunscreen for everyone and coverup's when not in the pool.

"Here," she smiled and handed a soft cotton garment to Stevie when he'd dried off. "Now, before you complain, I know it's a bit girly, but it's just a coverup to keep the sun off of you. You can get cancer from the sun, you know. So, just put it on and wear it out here. We're completely fenced in. No one will see you."

"Ok," Stevie said, without much resistance. It was a just a very loose fitting, sheath-type coverup. Sleeveless, low scoop neck, a kind of natural looking white-ish, with no decoration except for a border of a cutout lace pattern around the hem that ran around his mid calf. Except for that last detail, it looked like an oversized version of a men's tank-top shirt.

"Not too bad, right?" Katie smiled. "It actually looks really nice on you."

He shrugged, a little embarrassed, but the truth was, he enjoyed trying on these female clothes and wanted to experiment with some of the many dresses and skirts that had been hung in his closet. That wasn't really a possibly at the moment, though. "I guess it's ok."

Katie suspected he thought it was better than ok.

"I was able to set up an appointment for you with my doctor on Thursday." She said, out of the blue, not knowing how to introduce the topic any other way. "It's at one. I'll work it out with my coworkers to take a little time off and take you. I'll make up the time by going in a little early that morning or Friday, whatever works best for them."

"That was quick," Stevie said, inviting Olivia onto his lap so he could brush her damp hair out.

"Yeah, well, the doctor is an old college friend. Also, you're going to need to have some blood work done before you go see her, so tomorrow I'll come by during my lunch hour and pick you up. I'll keep the girls in the van and you can just run into the lab and have the blood drawn. It only takes a few minutes. Ok?"

He brushed his niece's hair gently for a few moments, then asked, "Will it hurt?"

"What? The blood work? No. It's just a little pinch. That's all. I have it done a couple of times a year."

He nodded, but he still looked a little pale to Katie. "Livy, when you got your shot last month did it hurt?"

"Just a little," the child said. "Like a mosquito bite."

Katie snickered. "See, Stevie. Like a mosquito bite."

He nodded and sighed. "I hate mosquito bites."

To change the subject, Katie said, "Livy, why don't you go get your hair clips and Stevie can put some in your hair for you."

"Ok," the little girl said, and she climbed down off of her uncle's lap and disappeared into the house, returning minutes later with a small basket overflowing with small plastic bows, butterflies, bees, kittens, etc.

"Oh, these are pretty," Stevie said with mock excitement as he selected a few to put into his niece's hair.

"Oh, you look so nice," Katie complimented her daughter, as Stevie added a few too many clips.

"Thank you," Olivia smiled. "Let me brush your hair," she bubbled as she took the brush from Stevie and maneuvered herself behind her uncle's back on the lounge chair. She brushed and brushed his damp, thick hair for a good ten minutes or more before reaching for a bright yellow, bow shaped hair clip and attempting to set it into Stevie's hair, but, due to its thickness, she failed.

"Here, let me help you with that," Katie said, sitting up straight and leaning over to help.

Being a good sport for the sake of Olivia, Stevie allowed his sister and niece to clip the small, yellow bow into the hair on his right temple, then he turned his head and they placed a similar pink bow into the hair on his left temple.

"Auntie Stevie looks pretty, too." Olivia giggled with joy.

"Auntie Stevie always looks pretty," Katie said, smiling at her brother.

"Thanks," he smirked.

Katie touched his cheek and smiled, but looked serious at the same time. "It's true, Stevie. You really do look pretty. You always do."

Not knowing how to take any of this, Stevie pulled Olivia back onto his lap and sat back in his chair. "Well, I'll never be as pretty as Livy." He kissed her head.

"Well, that goes without saying," Katie laughed.

At five thirty, Derrick walked into his home and stopped short at the sight of what appeared to be a small, young woman in a short, off white dress with a bathing suit visible through the material busying herself at the stove in his kitchen. Was this getting out of hand, or was this where things were going to need to go? He did wonder.

He glanced at the table and saw that it was set beautifully, with fresh flowers in a small vase at the center. He shook his head at the domestic perfection of the scene and continued into the kitchen to see what to expect for dinner.

"Hi," he said, surprising Stevie.

"Hi!" Stevie laughed. "You startled me."

"Smells good. What's for dinner?"

"Well," Stevie said with some pride, "I am sautéing some vegetables right now, then I'm going to grill up those salmon steaks. Katie ran out and picked them up for me while I watched the girls. I was waiting until you're ready to sit down to do that, though. You go ahead and get changed and give me a five minute warning. I'll have them ready for you when you're ready to sit down."

Derrick shook his head. "You are something, Stevie."

Stevie just smiled.

"Ummm... you look... nice, by the way," Derrick said, uncertain as to what else to say.

"Oh," Stevie laughed. "Blame your wife. She said I needed to cover up outside and this is what she gave me to wear."

Derrick nodded. "I like your hair bows, too."

Stevie's hand shot up to where the bows sat in his hair. "Oh, Geez. I forgot about those. Those are Livy's doing. I put some in her hair, so... turnabout is fair play, I guess."

"I guess," Derrick smiled, then left to get changed.

When he spoke to his wife, Derrick was relieved to hear that Stevie would be seeing Jane O'Leary on Thursday. At least they'd get a handle on why Stevie had developed the way he had and find out if there was anything that could be done to remedy that issue.

Dinner was better than either Derrick or Katie had expected. It was fresh and flavorful and tasted as if it had been prepared by a professional chef. They both complimented Stevie on his great work, something that Stevie really appreciated. His grandmother had also been his cooking instructor, so any compliments were also accompanied by critiques. Derrick and Katie just seemed to like his cooking.

After dinner the dishes were washed and the girls were bathed. Derrick was sitting on their bed watching ESPN and Katie was laying out her clothes for her first day back at the office when there was a quiet knock on their bedroom door.

"Come on in," Derrick said with a little laugh to his voice. He knew it had to be Stevie. Olivia would just burst through the door whenever she had an inclination. "You must be exhausted," Derrick said to his brother-in-law. "I understand you did the laundry, changed the sheets, did a whole lot more, then made us a gourmet meal and cleaned up afterwards. You're going to spoil us, Stevie."

Stevie blushed a little as he stood by the door wearing a peach colored set of pajamas that bore the impression of dozens of pandas all over the top and bottoms. "I'm glad you enjoyed supper. I like cooking for you guys."

"I'm going to have to watch what I eat around here," Derrick continued to tease. "We have periodic, unannounced weigh-ins at work. If I continue to eat like I have for the last two nights, I'll weigh-in at three hundred pounds the next time they call me in."

"Well, you know, everything I've made you is really healthy and you should be able to eat a good amount of it without gaining any weight..."

"Stevie, Stevie," Katie laughed. "He's teasing."

"Oh," he blushed more deeply. "Sorry."

"So..." Katie smiled at him, "what's up?"

"Oh, ummm... can I talk to you in private for a second?"

Kate looked at her husband and raised her eyebrows, then turned to Stevie and said, "Sure. Let's go to your room."

When they were in Stevie's room with the door closed, Katie asked what was wrong.

Stevie held up his phone to display a text. "I got this and I don't know how to respond."

Katie took the phone and read the text. 'HI STEVIE. IT'S TONY THE PIZZA GUY. HOPE YOU'RE DOING GOOD. JUST WONDERING IF MAYBE YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO SOMETHING THIS WEEKEND. LET ME KNOW.'

To Be Continued...

An Anomoly - 3

Author:

Clara

Audience Rating:

Mature Subjects (pg15)

Publication:

Genre:

Transgender

Character Age:

College / Twenties

TG Themes:

Age Regression

Other Keywords:

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

An Anomoly: 3

by Clara

A suitor and a trip to the doctor's office keep Stevie on edge. Once again, I am
a wordy writer, so only read if words are something you enjoy. Also, if you complain
that you don't understand a character's motivation while also admitting you skipped
parts of the story, then... never mind.

I hope you're all remaining well. These are such stressful times. God bless.

Author's Note: Thank you again for the comments and reviews. If you find yourself liking
this story, please consider leaving me a review?
There is nothing better than reading a review. ~Clara.

This version of An Anomoly: 3 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.

Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.

Chapter 3

Stevie held up his phone to display a text. "I got this and I don't know how to respond."

Katie took the phone and read the text. 'HI STEVIE. IT'S TONY THE PIZZA GUY. HOPE YOU'RE DOING GOOD. JUST WONDERING IF MAYBE YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO SOMETHING THIS WEEKEND. LET ME KNOW.'

"What should I do?" Stevie asked her.

"What do you want to do?" Katie asked as supportively as possible. "You realize that this boy thinks you're a girl, right? So, if you go out with him, then he'll think he's going out with a girl. Now, that's fine, if that's what you want, but you need to figure out... if that IS... what you want. Is it?"

Stevie sat on his canopied bed in his peach, panda pajamas looking as weak and vulnerable as any girl that Katie had ever seen. "I don't know. It's just... no one's ever asked me out before. Who knows if anyone will ever ask again." He looked at his phone. "What if I told him I was a boy?"

She sat next to him and held his hand. "That might be best, but is telling him in a text the best way to do that?"

Stevie shrugged.

"How about this?" Katie suggested. "What if you were to say you wanted to meet him for coffee or something like that? You know, something in the afternoon, maybe on Saturday. Then you could sit face to face and have a real conversation and explain everything. Do you think that would work?"

Stevie nodded, but Kate could tell that he was disappointed by her rational response.

"Can I ask an obvious question?" she said.

He nodded, again.

"Do you want to go out with this boy?"

"Are you asking me if I'm gay?"

Katie let go of his hand and wrapped both of her arms around him in a hug, pulling his head into her breast. "Stevie... 'gay' is just a word for someone who loves someone else. I can see how scared you are and I just want to help if I can. So, in a perfect world, if there were no labels, and this boy were to ask you out... would that be something that you would want him to do?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "I'm being honest, Katie... I've never really thought about guys OR girls. He does make me feel a little special, though. I kind of like that."

"Oh, Stevie, you ARE special, honey. You're smart, you're kind, you're a great cook, the girls adore you... look what you've done to this place since you've gotten here. Honey, you're practically Mary Poppins."

He nodded and stood up. Over in the corner of the room, the tall, free standing mirror that had been in his mother's room now stood alone, not matching the rest of the bedroom set. He walked over to it and turned the mirror so it faced him and he looked at himself.

"Do you know why I like my hair this way, Katie?"

"Why, honey?"

He looked at himself for a moment, his hair brushed straight back, with no part, just full and rich. "I know it's stupid for a guy to grow his hair out like this and then brush it this way, but... when I look like this... like a girl... at least I look like... something. Like... someone. Without that, I just look... weird and young. I don't even look like a boy anymore, Katie. Even with shorter hair. I just look... weird."

"You never looked weird, Stevie," Katie said, sounding very sad, but also unsure of what else to say.

"Yeah... I did... I do." He turned and faced his sister, again. "Why don't I look like a man, Katie? I don't understand it."

"I'm hoping the doctor might be able to help us with that, Stevie."

He nodded, finally understanding why his sister was so eager for him to get an appointment. "What if she can't?"

"Stevie..." Katie sighed. "... I don't know the answer to that. Let's talk to her first and go from there." She took his hand and had him sit beside her again. "Now... what about this boy, Tony? Maybe, under the circumstances, the best thing is to say you're too busy right now and ask for a rain check until you have the opportunity to get your head together. What do you think?"

The young man's lower lip quivered and his eyes glistened with a few tears as he nodded and held up his phone and typed out 'SORRY. I CAN'T RIGHT NOW. REALLY BUSY. RAIN CHECK?' and hit 'send.' "Well, that's that. I doubt that I'll ever hear from him again."

"Stevie..."

He shook his head. "I'm really tired all of a sudden, Katie." He let out a long, sad sigh. "Thanks for your help."

She hugged him, but he didn't reciprocate. "I love you, Stevie."

He nodded.

She kissed his forehead.

"Night." She stood and left the room, closing the door behind her. She listened for a moment, but couldn't hear anything inside, so she went back to her room.

"Everything alright?" Derrick asked, glancing away from Sports Center.

Katie shook her head and gave him a thumb nail summary of what she'd just learned.

"Wow," Derrick said, shutting off the TV. "First, let me say that 'Tony The Pizza Guy' is a great name. I mean he could be a character on 'The Sopranos.' But, regarding Stevie going out with him... I mean... why not?"

Katie blinked at her husband. "Because Stevie doesn't know if he's gay or not."

"What!?" He sat up straighter. "Babe, I walked into this house tonight and found Stevie in the kitchen wearing a dress with bows in his hair. How can he not know he's gay!?"

"Shhh," she warned, concerned that Stevie might hear. "That wasn't a dress. It was just a coverup."

"With lace around the bottom."

"Ok, yeah, but I gave it to him."

"And why, exactly are you dressing him up that way if you don't think he's gay?"

Katie sighed and shook her head. "Look, Derrick, there are no clothes that fit him in this house that aren't women's clothes and let's face it - Stevie can't be out in the pool without something covering up those little girl boobies of his, so he needs a woman's swimsuit. Right?"

"Ok, I'll give you that."

"Alright, then I needed to make sure he had a cover up, too, because the sun was bright today and he's already gotten tan lines from the sun - and those aren't going away any time soon. So... I gave him what I had. And besides... I'm really afraid that he may NEED to start wearing women's clothes full time, Derrick. I mean, have you noticed how his butt looks in that swimsuit?" She shook her head. "I can't believe that I didn't notice his problems before. What kind of a sister have I been to that boy?"

"Hey," Derrick put his arm around her shoulders, "you're a great sister. Come on. Who could have anticipated that he could have possibly had problems like he does?"

She shrugged and shook her head. "A great sister would have noticed."

Derrick kissed her and said, "Come on. You're just beating yourself up, now. Let's get some sleep. You have a big day ahead of you."

She let put a sigh very similar to the sigh Stevie had let out earlier. "Ok."

In his room, Stevie laid on his side and looked at the screen of his phone as 'Tony The Pizza Guy' replied, 'SURE. NO PROB. MOVING SUCKS. I GET IT. I'LL TEXT AGAIN NEXT WEEK. IF I GET TO BE A PEST TELL ME TO GET LOST. LOL. JK. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT.'

Feeling relieved that he wasn't outright rejecting him, Stevie text back, 'THANKS FOR UNDERSTANDING. PLEASE DO TEXT ME AGAIN NEXT WEEK. MAYBE I'LL HAVE THINGS FIGURED OUT BY THEN. YOU HAVE A GOOD NIGHT TOO.'

Katie woke well before her alarm, her work-related-anxiety combined with her mother-abandoning-her-children-anxiety making it impossible to sleep. She slipped into the shower with a shower cap on and used the warm stream of water to refresh herself and prepare herself for her first day back. She dried off and did her hair and makeup, then went back into the bedroom where Derrick was just stirring.

"Morning," he muttered through dry lips and bleary eyes.

"Hi," she smiled.

"Up and at 'em, I see."

"Yeah. Lots of nervous energy, I guess. I figured I needed a few extra minutes to get the girls fed before I leave, too."

Derrick stood and spoke through a yawn. "I bet Stevie can handle the girls."

"Yeah, but it's his first day doing it himself," Katie kissed his stubble covered face and started dressing for work. "I'll see you downstairs."

Derrick mumbled something as he disappeared into the bathroom.

Katie checked her look in the mirror. White silk blouse. Grey silk suit jacket with matching straight skirt. Two inch heeled black pumps. A classic, nearly sexless, office look for a woman. She shook her head at the plain-Jane way she had to dress for work. Oh, well. It's all part of the job. Some women she worked with pulled this look off better than she did, others not as well, but all in all, they all kind of blended in together, which was kind of the point. 'The Woman In The Gray Flannel Suit' kind of thing.

Oh, who cared. Time to get her butt in gear.

She hustled down the hall and into the nursery where she found an empty crib with it's blankets neatly folded at the foot of the mattress and a new trash bag in the diaper pail.

Hmmm.

She peeked into Stevie's room. Bed neatly made and not a thing out of place.

Next came Olivia's room, which, until two days earlier had been a mine field of toys and clothes that needed to be put away, but now was, as it had been the previous night, perfectly organized and everything had been put in its place.

"Mary Poppins strikes again," she chuckled to herself, then headed down the stairs.

"Hi, mommy!" Olivia smiled as she sat at the table, a small bowl of Cheerios and berries in front of her. She was still in her nightgown, but her hair was brushed and her face scrubbed.

"Hi," Stevie said from the kitchen island, Alice nestled in his arm, a bottle in her mouth. "I made you a kind of a yogurt parfait for breakfast," he smiled, indicating a drinking glass with berries and yogurt in it. "I mixed some blueberries and strawberries with some plain yogurt in the blender and then layered them in the glass for you. I made one for Derrick, too, but I know he'll want some Eggo's too. Alice should be done by the time he comes down."

Katie shook her head. "I take it back. You're better than Mary Poppins. How can you possibly get all of this done so early?"

He smiled and looked at the baby in his arms. "This is easy. Grandma was a lot more work than you guys."

Ohh. A shot to the gut for Katie. Of course she was. Grandma was a tough old bird when she was healthy. She must have been impossible as she got sicker.

"Thank you for this," Katie smiled. "I'll eat this, then I'll pump before I leave. Remember that I'll be by at noonish to take you for your bloodwork. I'll text when I'm on the way. Make sure you're ready and the girls are, too."

"I will be," he nodded, looking a bit trepidations about the needle.

"I don't mean to harp on it, but it's my first day back and I don't want to come across as unreliable right off the bat." Katie pulled a tall stool up to the island and spoke quietly. "So... did you hear back from Tony?"

Stevie nodded. "He said he understood that moving sucked and he'd text again in a week and that I should tell him if he's being a pest."

Katie smiled. "Well, that's great. That gives you some time to think, right?"

Stevie blushed and nodded again. "Yeah... To think... I really do need to think."

As Katie was scraping the last of the yogurt out of her glass, Derrick entered the kitchen with a great deal of bravado. "GOOD MORNING, LADIES!" He said. "And how is my big girl?" He said to Olivia, kissing her cheek.

"I'm good, daddy," she smiled at his demeanor.

"And how's my beautiful wife?" He asked kissing Katie's cheek.

"What's gotten into you?" Katie laughed.

"I just found out that I Jerry has tickets to see The Red Sox play The Yankees at Fenway Park on Saturday, my dear, and one of those tickets has my name on it. Saturday afternoon - at Fenway! Box seats! My life just got better by two thirds! That's what got into me."

Katie applauded. "Well, congratulations! That's great."

"It is great," her husband smiled, walking around the island taking the baby's little hand in his and kissing it. "And how is my littlest girl?" He asked.

"She was hungry, that's for sure," Stevie said.

"But you took care of her, just like you take care of all of us," Derrick smiled down at his brother-in-law.

"Look what Stevie made you for breakfast," Katie said, pointing to Derrick's yogurt parfait. "I just finished mine. It was delicious."

Stevie put down the bottle, threw a clean cloth diaper over his shoulder and moved Alice to his shoulder to bring up some wind. "If you want to start on your yogurt, I'll make you your Eggo."

"No Eggo this morning," Derrick said with a smile as he rubbed his stomach. "All of this good food is going to make me fat." Then he leaned in and kissed Stevie on the cheek. "You're too good to us, Stevie. Thank you."

Stevie looked at Katie as if to say 'Say something.'

"Umm," Katie said, "you realize that you just kissed your brother-in-law for the second time, right?"

Derrick nodded. He looked at Stevie. "That's ok, isn't it?"

Stevie looked at Katie who shrugged at him.

"I guess," Stevie finally said.

Derrick tasted the parfait. "Great. Mmmm this yogurt thing is delicious. Thanks. I'll bring the glass back after work. Gotta run. Bye, girls." He hurried out the door.

Kate grabbed the pump that she kept by the cabinets and prepared to pump.

"He knows I'm not a girl, right?" Stevie asked, taking Katie's glass to rinse it.

"I don't know, Stevie. I just don't know. Right now, he's in a Red Sox stupor, so... who knows what he knows, right now." She sat and plugged in the device. "Besides, you just told him it was ok. To tell you the truth, I think it's sweet that he's accepting you as one of the family so quickly."

After pumping and a slightly tear-filled goodbye, Katie headed out the door and back to work for the first time in several months.

"Come on," Stevie said to Olivia with enthusiasm, let's get the kitchen cleaned up and then, after we get Alice down for her nap, you and I can look for something for each of us to wear for our trip with mommy later. Ok?"

"Ok!" Olivia said, climbing down and following her Auntie Stevie to the sink where Stevie set up a chair so Olivia could stand on it and 'help' wash, rinse and dry the dishes, cups and utensils.

Soon, Alice was settled into a bouncer and Stevie was in Olivia's room with his oldest niece, discussing what she should wear. "Now, we're just taking a ride, and you'll probably stay in the car while I run into the building to have my blood taken, but it's mommy's first day back to work, so you want to look nice for her when she comes to pick you up, right? So let's find something that looks nice, but isn't too fancy, ok?"

"Ok." The child set her mind to the challenge and began pulling out outfits, all dresses, and explaining why each would be perfect, finally settling on a very pretty, green dress with roses printed on it. It had a three inch silk ribbon border around the hem of the skirt and a one inch velvet collar with a perfect little bow that sat dead center. It really was the perfect compromise between casual and dressy. Olivia even chose a lovely little pair of shoes to go with the dress. Nothing too fancy, either. A pair of black flats with a bow across each toe-box. Just dressy enough to go with the dress. She even asked if she could wear a green hair band which was just a little too light to actually 'match' the dress, but was certainly close enough.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" Stevie praised her, and he really was. Actually, he was pretty proud of himself, too. He'd given her the opportunity to think her way through picking out the proper clothes and, yes it had taken a while, but she had done it and done it well. A big achievement for a little girl.

"Now, let's see if we can find something for me to wear," Stevie suggested.

This was a much bigger problem.

Of course, Olivia had very firm ideas on this subject, but all of her ideas for Auntie Stevie involved Auntie Stevie in skirts or dresses. There was one dress on which she was particularly fixated that had big red flowers in it, which, of course, Auntie Stevie had to veto.

They looked through all the drawers and all the closets and could not find any jeans. They did find some slacks, but they were either very stylized, and therefore very short or very flared, or they were made from material that left no doubt that they were meant to be worn by a woman. Flowered patterns were most common, but some plaids and geometric patterns were dead giveaways as well.

Finally, Stevie settled on a pair of linen shorts that he thought may have belonged to his mother. They were a pale shade of olive green, and they hung a lot looser than men's shorts typically hung, but at least they didn't scream 'women's department.'

He paired them with a simple dark blue tank top which also hung loosely and he looked in the mirror. Not too bad. Definitely not manly, but still androgynous.

He rummaged around a little and found a pair of simple sandals to complete his ensemble.

"What do you think?" He asked Olivia.

The girl shrugged. "I liked the yellow dress a lot better."

"I know, honey, but I can't wear a dress," Stevie explained.

"But why not?" she whined.

"Because I'm not a girl," he explained.

"Yes, you are," she pouted.

"No, I'm not, honey. I promise, I'm not," he laughed.

"Well, you should be," the child said, dejected.

"Oh, don't be like that. Come on, I look ok, right?"

She nodded.

"Am I pretty?"

She nodded again.

"Ok. Let's get something pretty for Alice. You can pick it out. Not too fancy, though."

It only took a few moments for Olivia to pick out Alice's dress. It was a white dress with red flowers and a matching diaper-covering panty. She chose it because the red flowers matched the roses on her own dress. At was at that point that Stevie realized why Olivia had been so focused on the dress with red flowers that she'd wanted him to wear. It was because it would have 'matched' hers too.

"Oh, this is perfect, Livy. You are a very good big sister. Let's get her dressed and ready for mommy."

As they changed the infant's diaper and prepared her for their trip to the clinic, Stevie said, "I'm sorry my outfit doesn't match yours."

"That dress would. You could still wear that."

"Honey... boys don't wear dresses."

Olivia let out a huge sigh. "That's stupid. Why do you have to be a boy?"

Well, there was a the question of the day. "I just am, Livy. I'm sorry."

Olivia looked very sad and that bothered Stevie, so he thought for a moment and then he came up with an idea. "Hey! Tell you what. Why don't we get mommy's iPad and I'll look up a video on how to do a fancy braid in your hair to surprise mommy? How would that be?"

Olivia thought that would be a great idea, so she scurried down the hallway to her mother's room and was back moments later with Katie's ipad in her hand. They spent a few moments looking at tutorials on YouTube until they found one that not only met Olivia's approval, but Stevie figured he could handle. It was called, 'French Braids Made Easy.'

Stevie started by separating a quarter of the hair at the front right of Livy's head and braiding that, then repeating that on the front left. Then the hair on the back of her head was combed straight back and the two braids were swept back, connected at the back of her head and then hung side by side back there. Very neat. Very pretty.

"Do you like it?" Stevie asked, rather proud of himself.

"Yes! I love it!" Olivia declared.

"I'm glad."

"Now do yours," Olivia said.

"Oh, I don't think I could do that to my own hair," Stevie laughed, but Olivia immediately looked sad.

"Please... We won't match unless you do. You wouldn't wear the dress that matched mine. Please make your hair match mine. Please!"

Stevie wanted more than anything to say 'no,' but it was a pretty simple request. He doubted he could do it, anyway, but he'd try. "Ok. I'll try, but if it comes out looking bad, I'll have to brush it out. Ok?"

"Ok."

It was twelve fifteen when Katie turned onto her street. Her first morning back had been fine, but hectic and she didn't want to be late getting back to work after lunch. She'd sent a text to Stevie telling him that she'd be at the house in two minutes about two minutes earlier. She'd hoped that he and the girls would be ready for her, but it was his first day dealing with the girls all by himself, so...

Then the unexpected occurred.

Before she even pulled into the driveway, Stevie was very casually walking down the walkway with Alice in her carrier and holding Olivia by the hand. They were all dressed as if they were going on an outing and both Olivia and Stevie had their hair up in braids. Olivia's thin hair looked casual and playful, but Stevie's thick, dark hair made for thick, dark, formal looking braids that made him look very dressed up, even though he was wearing a pair of dressy shorts and a nice tank top.

"Hi," Katie said, sounding a bit shocked, as Stevie first helped Olivia into the van, then began securing Alice's carrier to the car seat. "You all look lovely."

"Say thank you to mommy, Livy." Stevie instructed.

"Thank you, mommy."

"I'll be right there to buckle you in."

Within a minute or two, the girls were secured and Stevie was in the passenger seat.

"Why are they all dressed up?" Katie asked.

"I wanted them to look pretty for you," Stevie smiled. "Livy picked out their outfits."

"Did you, Livy?" Katie asked, looking into the rear view mirror.

"I did, mommy." The child was very proud.

"Oh, what a good girl you are."

"And your hairdo?" Katie asked, smirking a little.

Stevie sighed. "I did Livy's and she wanted mine to match, so... Laugh if you want, but it was easier than wearing the dress with the red flowers on it that she wanted me to wear."

"Oh?" Katie did laugh at that. "I think I would have liked to have seen that."

"She would have looked pretty," Olivia said from her seat.

"I'm sure SHE would have," Katie smiled at her brother.

"You're not helping." Stevie shook his head.

The blood work took just moments and soon they were back home and saying goodbye to Katie.

"Let me bring home dinner," Kate said before she left.

"Absolutely not," Stevie smiled. "Livy and I have already talked about how we're going to make Auntie Stevie's eggplant parmigiana tonight, haven't we, Livy."

Olivia nodded. "And we're making brownies."

"And we're making brownies." Stevie smiled at his niece and then at his sister.

"Ok," Katie shook her head. "You make an awfully good mommy."

"I'm trying," Stevie smiled as he stepped away from the minivan, one child holding onto his right hand, the other hanging from his left in a carrier. He looked far too young to be a mommy, but he definitely looked like a very competent babysitter.

Even though Wednesday was just her second day back at the office, as she got ready to leave that morning it seemed like everyone had gotten into a pretty good routine already. Nothing seemed to faze Stevie in the household. He seemed to love to cook and clean and the girls both seemed to adore him almost as much as he adored them. It almost seemed like homemaking was his calling.

He even enjoyed sitting on the floor and watching Olivia's TV shows with her in the evening, both of them in their cute pjs.

Thursday did present a bump in the road, though.

Katie arranged for the afternoon off to go to see Dr Jane O'Leary with Stevie. This seemed necessary not only because Stevie had never gotten a license, but also because she was concerned about him being alone when the doctor gave him the bad news - and she had to assume that whatever news the doctor gave him, it was going to be bad.

Derrick arranged to swap shifts with a colleague so that he could watch the girls that day, but he did warn everyone not to expect a home-cooked meal like they got from Stevie. Besides, no matter what, he would have to run out at four thirty to be on traffic duty at five.

Despite his prowess in the home, though, Thursday morning was difficult for Stevie. He got the girls up and fed and had Katie's breakfast ready when she came down, but Stevie himself looked a bit of a mess. His hair was brushed straight back, but not very well, and his eyes were puffy and red from having not slept and possible having cried a bit.

Rather than just sit at the island, Katie went around to where her brother stood feeding Alice and spoke quietly so as not to upset Olivia. "Are you worried about going to see the doctor today?"

Without looking up from the baby, Stevie nodded.

"Why?"

"Because there's something wrong with me, Katie, and I don't think I want to know what it is. I had more of those pains I told you about last night and I'm scared and I don't want to go see the doctor."

Kate sighed. What he said was completely irrational, yet made perfect sense. "Stevie... Jane's a good doctor and a good friend. She'll be able to stop those pains, I'm sure, and maybe even help you develop more, then isn't that what you want?"

He looked at his sister with a defensive expression. "Why? Is there something so terrible about the way I am?"

"No, of course not, but don't you want to be as healthy as possible?"

Now, it was Stevie's turn to sigh. "I guess. I don't know... I guess I'm just scared. What if it's something really bad?"

"It won't be, honey. I promise."

He shook his head. "Ok, but... remember when Grandma went to see her doctor and she knew things weren't going to go well and she me me promise that I would make sure she came home? That I wouldn't let them put her in a hospital or a nursing home?"

"Yeah."

"Well... You promise I'm coming back here, right?"

"Well, yeah, honey, of course. If there's something wrong, I'm sure that it isn't so serious that they'll need to put you into a hospital."

He pondered that as he swayed and bounced gently with the baby in his arms.

"So you'll be ready when I come by at noon, right?" Katie checked before walking away.

He sulked a bit, then finally nodded.

When she arrived at noon, he was waiting, wearing the same shorts he'd worn to have his blood drawn, but a different tank top, this one a pale yellow, making him look even smaller and more vulnerable. His hair wasn't braided this time, but he had managed to brush it more nicely and he presented a better picture than he had at breakfast.

It was a quiet ride to the medical arts building, as was the ride in elevator to the third floor where Jane O'Leary had her suite of offices.

Katie walked to the reception window with Stevie in tow and gave his name to the receptionist.

"Oh, yes," the receptionist said, "the doctor would like Steven to go up to the ultrasound clinic on the fifth floor before seeing her today."

This meant nothing to Stevie, but Katie balked. "Ultrasound clinic. Why on earth would Stevie need to have an ultrasound done?"

The woman seemed nonplussed by the question. "I'm sure I don't know, but those are the doctor's instructions."

Kate took Stevie by the arm and led him back to the elevator. "I've never heard of a man needing an ultrasound," she muttered.

"What?" Stevie asked, bothered by her unease.

"Oh, nothing," she said. "It's just that an ultrasound is typically something a woman has when she's pregnant. I just never heard of a man having an ultrasound before."

As they waited for the elevator to return, Stevie fiddled with his phone. "Google says that an ultrasound can be used to diagnose issues with blood flow and gall bladder things. You think maybe that's why I have to have this done?"

"Oh... probably," Katie relaxed a little. "I guess that makes sense."

The people in the ultrasound clinic were very welcoming and efficient. They invited Stevie into an exam room and had him change into a hospital gown, telling him to get comfortable on the reclining chair when he was ready. They also gave Katie permission to stay with him.

When the technician came in and smeared the jelly all over Stevie's belly, Katie became curious. "So... what exactly are you trying to find?"

"Well," the tech said, smiling, but sounding evasive, "Dr O'Leary requested an abdominal scan of your brother. We'll send a video and a complete set of photos to her so she can see everything that we..." she stopped and stared at her screen, then turned it slightly as if to keep Katie and Stevie from seeing it. Her eyes narrowed and she began moving the wand in her hand more slowly.

Then the tech looked out into the hallway and caught the attention of another tech, waving her in as well. The second woman came in and looked at the screen as well and, just like the first tech, her face seemed to become a screwed up ball of concern and confusion.

"What do you see?" Katie finally asked.

"Well, that's for the doctor to determine," Tech Number One said, "but we just want to be sure that we give her the best pictures we can."

Kate stood and started to come around to take a look.

"No, ma'm, please," Tech Two said. "The doctor will go over everything with your sister..."

"Her brother," Tech One interrupted.

"... your brother... when you see her."

Reluctantly, Kate sat back down.

It was a frustrating half hour of waiting while the two techs spoke spoke quietly and made faces at the screen until finally Tech One grabbed some wipes and cleaned off Stevie's belly and told him he could get dressed. By then, Katie was more anxious and frustrated by the techs than ever and her attitude was upsetting to Stevie. So, it was two very concerned siblings who finally met with Dr Jane O'Leary in an exam room on the third floor of the medical arts building, two and a half hours after their scheduled appointment. By then, nurses had weighed, measured and taken Stevie's blood pressure and temperature.

"Hi," Jane said, a professional smile plastered on her face as she entered. "I'm sorry things have taken so long, but when I saw Steve's bloodwork, I felt that the ultrasound was necessary and, as it turns out, it was."

"It's 'Stevie,'" Katie said, peeved, "and I have to say, Jane, those techs upstairs were pretty darned rude. They wouldn't tell us anything and..."

"Ok, hold your horses, Katie," Jane said with a mix a friendliness and professional detachment. "First off, Steve... I'm sorry... Stevie... is an adult, so anything they find is confidential and unless he specifically asked them to share it with you, then, by law, they couldn't. Secondly... I doubt they had any idea how to explain what they saw to you."

"What?" Suddenly Kate was very scared. What the heck had they seen?

"To tell you the truth, I'd never seen anything quite like it either." She looked at Stevie and said, "You, my friend, are an anomaly. I've read about this condition, but I'd never seen it until now. That's why I had the ultrasound done. Frankly, ever since I saw your blood work results, I have been on the phone pretty much non-stop trying to figure you out. You are truly a conundrum. Stand up and let me take a look at you."

She wasted no time, first checking Stevie's groin and then his chest before remarking, "You may want to consider a training bra for his comfort, Katie. These must be sensitive, aren't they, Stevie?" She smiled and seemed to almost teasing him.

Stevie failed to see the humor in her glib words. "So... I'm sick."

The doctor sighed. "Not sick, per se, but yes, you do have a rather unusual health issue."

"Well, what is it?" Katie asked, impatient for answers.

"The name for your condition is Persistent Müllerian Duct Syndrome, or 'PMDS.' It's a fairly uncommon condition, but the way in which it has manifested itself in you, Stevie, is really quite unusual." She made a few notes on her computer, then looked at the very nervous patient. "Like I said: An Anomaly."

Stevie just looked scared, but Katie pushed forward. "Ok, so you gave us a label. What exactly is PMDS?"

"Well, as you may have guessed, it is a sexual development syndrome. See... all human fetuses begin as female, but then some become male. Sometimes, though, when those fetuses become male, they retain female characteristics. Typically, those are little things like feminine hips, or lower testosterone production, but sometimes those characteristics are... more... pronounced... more... important."

"Like those little breasts that Stevie is growing?" Katie asked, causing Stevie to slowly fold his arms tightly about himself in embarrassment.

Dr Jane crossed her legs and spoke quietly. "Those are a small part of it, yes, as are Stevie's undescended testicles."

Stevie's eyes shot open and he glanced at Katie who seemed to be in no way surprised by the doctor's remark.

"The biggest problems are not visible, I'm afraid. Let me ask you this, Stevie... have you ever experienced abdominal cramping?"

"Like... pains here... below my stomach?"

"Yes," the doctor said.

"Sometimes... yes." He admitted.

The doctor nodded. "See... inside Stevie there are female organs that his body is trying to use, but the male exterior structure of his body won't allow it."

"Oh, dear God," Katie gasped. "You don't mean that Stevie has a uterus, do you?"

The doctor nodded. "And Fallopian tubes, and everything else that a woman has and they are struggling to be of service to him. Think of it this way - Stevie has a body that is both male and female and they have been at war with each other. For the first part of his life, the male parts were winning and that's why Stevie's primary sexual
characteristics are male. That's why Stevie has a penis and why you and the rest of your family assumed he was a boy. But deep inside Stevie, his female parts have been conspiring to take over for, well I would suspect, the last eight to ten years or so."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute," Katie finally stopped her friend and physician. She looked at Stevie and then back at the doctor. "Are you telling me that Stevie is actually a girl? I mean... a woman?"

"Well, that remains to be seen," the doctor says. "Stevie needs to make a decision about that. Stevie, you can decide to start taking massive doses of testosterone which would encourage your testicles to develop and drop, your body hair to grow, and then we can schedule a radical hysterectomy to remove all of your female organs, which is a pretty massive surgery - or - you can begin taking massive doses of estrogen which would encourage your breasts to further develop, your reproductive cycle to begin and we'd schedule an appointment with a surgeon who specializes in restructuring your male sex organ into a female sex organ, which, to be honest, is a less drastic surgery, but may be more traumatic psychologically."

"Oh, dear God," Katie said, turning to the window and completely missing her brothers first expulsion of vomit onto the floor of the examination room.

The doctor grabbed a small plastic pan from a nearby counter top and caught most of the second expulsion in it. She rubbed his back and said. "It's ok, Stevie, it's ok. I know this is a lot to take in, but we need to talk about it."

Finally realizing what was happening behind her, Katie turned and assisted in comforting Stevie. "Oh, baby, calm down. It's going to be alright."

"Alright!?" Stevie gasped between spews. "You promised me that everything would be alright, but it's not! It's never going to be alright! It can't be alright! How can it be alright when I'm some kind of a freak!?"

"Now, Steven, please calm down..." Dr O'Leary tried to get a handle on the situation.

"Calm down!" He screamed. "You want me to decide if I want to be a man of a woman!? That's nuts! You want me to chose how I want to be carved up and put back together like some kind of Frankenstein's monster! I don't want to do that! I can't do that! I just want to be left be alone!"

The doctor took a breath and looked at Katie. "Give him a minute."

Katie nodded, but couldn't help but ask, "What would be the harm in not doing anything, Jane?"

The doctor shook her head. "You can't ignore those internal organs, Katie. Eventually, one of two things is going to happen. Either they will atrophy and need to be removed anyway, or they will eventually start their monthly cycle and they'll be no outlet for that waste, so one will need to be created - or the organ will need to be sterilized. There is no non-surgical option here, I'm afraid, and the fact that Steven has gone so long without medical treatment makes delaying a decision extremely dangerous. Those pains that he is feeling are warnings, not unlike the tremors before a volcano erupts. I suggest that you take a day or two, but you need to make a decision by the beginning of next week so that something can be scheduled soon. Judging by the look of his breasts, it won't be long before his body tries to kick start his first cycle."

Katie looked at her brother's tear stained face and just wanted to hug him forever.

'Katie, I just want to go home. Please. I just want to go home," he begged.

Kate looked at the doctor with resignation on her face and sighed. "Well... Jane... oh, God, this is unbelievable... we'll be in touch by Monday... I guess... Thank you, Jane."

The doctor nodded. "Call me any time, Katie. Day or night. Really. I know I threw a lot at you, but Steven needs to make a decision soon."

"Stevie," Katie said, then choked on her words as she stifled and tried to be strong, then repeated. "It's Stevie."

Between information pamphlets that Jane gave them, websites she had the staff print out for them, nurses making sure that Stevie was ok, lists of councilors, psychologists, surgeons, urologists, etc, etc, etc, it was well past six o'clock when Katie and Stevie got home that evening and Katie dreaded what awaited her in her kitchen. Not an understanding Derrick who would be be welcoming and loving. No, that was too much to ask. He'd texted her at four and told her he had to leave at four thirty no matter what because he absolutely had to report to his duty at five. What she dreaded was the person he'd called to babysit until she got home.

Her mother-in-law.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," the heavy-set woman said with a smirk, her arms folded and her entire body setting in judgement over everything around her. "You do know that Derrick expected you at three, don't you."

Katie sighed, exhausted, and put her pocketbook and keys on the table. "Hi, Karen. Yeah, I know, but that's not how things worked out. Thanks for coming over. This is my brother, Stevie..."

Stevie didn't acknowledge the woman's presence at all. He simply blew straight through the kitchen and up the stairs to his room.

"Your 'brother,' you say?" she snickered. "I just don't get it. Boys these days acting like girls... you know, in a few years, we're all going to have to pay a steep price for all this nonsense. We'll have a generation of girly boys who don't know how to be men traipsing about like girls and not being able to..."

"Please, Karen," Katie held up her hands, her palms facing her motherin -law in surrender, "it has been a long, hard and exhausting day. I honestly cannot take another confrontation. I'm sorry if that seems rude, but..." She took a deep breath to regroup and calm down. "Thank you so much for watching the girls. I really do appreciate it, but we got some very tough news at the doctor's today and I need to deal with Stevie right now. Ok?"

Karen looked up the stairs to where Stevie had recently disappeared and shook her head. "He looked healthy enough to me. You know, this is all because of the Liberal Democrat agenda. They are undermining traditional society and..."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Karen, I'm sorry, but please just stop. Stevie may look healthy but, there's more to it than just how he looks and I cannot listen to this Tucker Carlson fear mongering nonsense right now. Please... I'll explain another time. Ok? I really need to check on the girls and make sure Stevie's ok."

Her nose was obviously out of joint, but Derrick's mother chose to leave without engaging in a fight. She would certainly tell Derrick how rude his wife had been to her, though. These low class people, like Katie and her family, were all the same. You went out of your way to help them and this was the thanks they gave you. It's like they always say - no good deed goes unpunished.

"Alright, then... I'll get out from under your feet." She said sounding like a martyr.

Kate knew that this was going to be an issue later, but at that particular moment, all she wanted was for her mother-in-law to leave. "Thank you, again, Karen. You've been a huge help."

The woman grunted something on the way out the door.

Katie knew that what she was about to do wasn't a solution, but so what. She reached up into the top shelf of the corner cabinet and pulled down the bottle of Jack Daniels that was kept there for cookouts and the few parties they had throughout the year. She took a juice glass and poured much less than a finger of Jack into in, replaced the cap, put the bottle back, then downed the burning fluid in one gulp.

Then

Finally

Alone

In the privacy of her own quiet kitchen

She let out a torrent of silent tears for her brother. She shook and sobbed and despaired and hated herself for letting things get to this point and she prayed and prayed and prayed that he'd be ok and she did all of this without making a sound. Not a single sound.

Derrick was on a traffic patrol that evening, a duty he didn't love, but one he took on that evening to accommodate his wife's need to take Stevie to the doctor. He was surprised that he'd not heard anything from Katie about the doctor's visit, but he'd hear plenty eventually, he was sure. He felt bad for the kid, being so small and... well... Whatever was wrong with him, Jane would figure it out.

Just then, a ten year old Toyota Corolla took a right turn at a red light with a clearly posted 'No Turn On Red' sign visible on the light pole.

Derrick turned on the blue lights and pulled up behind the car and noticed the triangular plastic sign on its roof, but he couldn't read it from behind the vehicle.

He typed the plate number into his computer - no problems, nothing outstanding, fully insured. He got out of the patrol car and approached the vehicle with care, as he always did.

"Evening, officer," the kid driving said, nervously. "Did I do something wrong?"

"License and registration," Derrick said, sternly.

"Yes, sir," the kid said and held out both documents.

Derrick took a quick look at the license and registration. Everything seemed in order. "You took a right turn on red back there and it's not allowed in that intersection, Anthony," he told the kid.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, Officer. I didn't know that. I guess I didn't see a sign."

"It's clearly posted, Anthony. Let me just check on your license and registration and if everything is ok we'll get you going again in a few minutes, alright?"

"Yeah, ok, officer," the boy nodded. "I'm really sorry. I'm sure everything's ok with my license."

The kid was scared, but no more so than any other good kid who got pulled over because he made a stupid mistake. Chances were that everything would check out and Derrick would be sending him on his way. He was on his way back to his squad car when he noticed the sign on top of the kid's car again and realized it read 'North Side Pizza.'

It took a few moments to run the license and registration and everything came back clear. The kid didn't have so much as a parking ticket on his record. Chances were that this was his first encounter with a cop ever.

Derrick returned to the window and handed him the registration, then leaned over and looked at the boy's license and said, "Anthony, huh?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you work at North Side Pizza?"

"Yes, sir."

"Tell me, Anthony..." Derrick sounded very imposing, as if he was questioning the boy in connection with a crime, "do you ever call yourself 'Tony The Pizza Guy'?"

The boy blinked and stuttered. "No sir... well... but... no... I mean... I kind of called myself that to this girl the other day, but that was only because I met her when I delivered her pizza. It's not like an alias or anything."

By now, Derrick was chuckling. "Relax, Tony. Let me ask you... What are you doing Sunday afternoon?"

By the time Katie had the strength to make it up stairs, more than an hour had passed. She peeked in on Olivia first and she was asleep, so was Alice. Stevie was on top of his bed, still in his clothes and looked like a mess, but at least he was asleep. That was a plus. If he was asleep, he wasn't crying.

She went down the hall to her room and took a hot shower. This was all so surreal. How could it possibly be real? Her brother had female parts? Who had ever heard of something like that? Geez, leave it to Stevie to have something this weird happen to him! To her, the obvious solution was to have him become her sister. After all, he already looked more like a girl than a boy. But then again, imagine what it would be like for her to go to the doctor one day and have the doctor tell her that she would have to make a choice between living a life as a big hairy woman or growing a penis and living as a man. It would be earth shaking. God, the poor baby. No wonder he was a mess.

After her shower, she brushed her hair dry and sat on her bed. She called up a couple of the sites she'd been given by Jane, but it was just too much to even think about right now. She turned on the TV in the their room and half-watched a bit of a costume drama on PBS, but it didn't hold her attention. She thought about texting Derrick, but, Lord, how did you text him something like this!? Finally, she found herself watching a Disney musical cartoon that she's watched at least twenty times with Livy. It wasn't all that interesting at the moment, but it was comforting to hear the songs and have the warm colors flashing around her.

She knew that she was going to be drifting off soon, so she got up and checked on the girls once more. Alice was still asleep in her crib. Katie stared at the perfect little child for a good long while and kept thinking over and over again, 'Please, God, keep her healthy. Please, God, don't ever let something like this happen to her.' She could remember looking at Stevie when he was that little, too. He looked so perfect, then. Who could have ever expected something like this was in his future.

Eventually, she tore herself away from her youngest child and walked past Stevie's room to Olivia's where her heart stopped at the sight of an empty bed. She looked about the room frantically for a moment before running to the attached lavatory - no one there, either.

"Oh, God, Livy," she whispered. In four years, not once had Olivia ever gotten out of bed and wandered away.

She turned on the room light and looked in the closet and under the bed - no Olivia.

Her heart raced as she bolted out of the room. She turned on the hallway light and looked down the stairwell, hoping against hope that her daughter's body wouldn't be balled up at the bottom. Thank God it wasn't.

She took a breath and, leaving the hall light on, cracked open the door to Stevie's room and peeked in. Stevie was still on top of the bed clothes and still in his street clothes, but he had a small, blue 'Frozen' blanket with the images of Elsa and Anna emblazoned on it covering his shoulders - AND sitting beside Stevie in the shadows was the tiny form of Olivia who looked at her mother and held a finger to her lips and made a very quiet 'shh' sound.

Kate took a deep breath and gained control of herself once again. Once she'd steadied herself, she tiptoed into the room and, with a smile that she struggled to maintain, she whispered, "What are you doing in here, Livy? It's very late."

"Auntie Stevie was crying in her sleep," she explained. "I'm making her feel better."

'Auntie Stevie.' Well... that may have been more appropriate than anyone had ever anticipated. Katie sniffled a little. "You're a very sweet girl, baby. Auntie Stevie really needs your love right now."

"Why is Auntie Stevie so sad?"

"Auntie Stevie had a very hard day, Livy. I think Auntie Stevie is going to have a lot of hard days for a while. Auntie Stevie is going to need you to give her a lot of love, ok?"

"Ok, mommy." Olivia cuddled up next to Stevie's shoulders and put her little arm over him in a protective gesture and she closed her eyes. How could Katie do anything but leave her there to take care of Stevie? God knew that if anyone needed to feel her little embrace upon waking, it was Stevie. So, she tiptoed out of the room and gently shut the door behind her.

To Be Continued...

An Anomoly - 4

Author:

Clara

Audience Rating:

Restricted Audience (r)

Publication:

Genre:

Transgender

Character Age:

College / Twenties

TG Themes:

Age Regression

Other Keywords:

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

An Anomoly: 4

by Clara

The doctor's prognosis left Stevie with a lot to process. Now, he has to figure
out how he's going to live his life. Thank you all for your amazing support and
kind words. I am so happy that so many of you are enjoying the story.
This has been a very tough week here.

Author's Note: Thank you again for the comments and reviews. If you find yourself liking
this story, please consider leaving me a review? I read every review! ~Clara.

This version of An Anomoly: 4 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.

Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.

Chapter 4

The next morning, when Katie came down, she expected to find a broken Stevie, but instead, she found Olivia, fully dressed and seated at the table with her Cheerios and berries, two yogurt and berry parfaits on the counter, both with a little cup of granola on the side, and a well put together Stevie at the counter in a pair of casual shorts and a sleeveless tee shirt leaning against the counter, feeding Alice from a bottle.

"Hi, mommy," Olivia greeted her.

"Hi, big girl," Katie smiled then kissed her. "You look pretty this morning."

"Thank you."

She moved to the counter and looked at Stevie. "Good morning."

"Morning," Stevie said quietly. "Guess who slept in my bed last night."

Katie smiled. "I know. She heard you crying and she was worried about you. You didn't mind, did you?"

Stevie shook his head. "No. It was nice."

Katie nodded. "So... are you ok?"

Stevie laughed a little. "No. Not at all. I just had to stop crying."

"Honey, I'm so sorry..."

"I know, Katie, it's just... how can I possibly be this weird? You know? I mean... I always knew I was different, but this?" He shook his head. "This is too much."

"I know, Stevie, but we need to talk about it."

"No, we don't. After you and Derrick leave, I'm taking the girls down to the park by the lake for a couple of hours. We're going to feed the ducks and Livy's going to go on the swings and the slide. Then we'll go in the pool for a bit and we'll figure out dinner for everyone. Tonight, we'll bathe the girls and watch some TV and go to bed, but we are NOT talking about this."

"Stevie, honey..."

"No."

"Good morning!" Derrick burst into the kitchen, happy as could be. "I got my next week's schedule yesterday and guess who has Sunday off!"

"Oh, that's great!" Katie said, very happy to hear the news.

"So, YOU," he pointed at Stevie, "don't have to cook, because I am going to get some nice, thick steaks and grill them up with some baked potatoes and some summer squash. How does that sound?"

"Great," Stevie smiled.

"So," he clapped his hands, "how did things go at the doctors?"

"Fine," Stevie lied, a fake smile on his lips. "I'm fine."

"Really?" He didn't mean to sound as shocked as it came out. He glanced at Katie who shook her head 'no,' but didn't say anything. He returned his attention to Stevie. "So... no problems at all? All your bloodwork was good? Blood pressure? Cholesterol? All good?"

Stevie smiled and moved Alice to his shoulder. "All fine."

Katie shook her head again, but again offered no information.

"Well... great, I guess. Ummm... hey... ummm... I need to run this morning, so..." confused by the mixed messages he was receiving, he picked up his yogurt parfait, "I'll take this with me, ok?" He kissed his wife's cheek and whispered, "Call me." She nodded.

Then he looked at Stevie and could see he was upset. "Hey, Stevie... come here." Stevie stepped closer and Derrick wrapped him in a tight hug. "You know we all love you, right?"

A bit shocked and still holding the baby, Stevie nodded. "Yeah... yeah... I know. Thanks."

Derrick then very gently kissed his cheek. This time it wasn't a mistake. He wasn't distracted by anything and he wasn't thinking about sports. He was looking straight at Stevie and thinking about him. Then he put his big hand on Stevie's little cheek, right where he'd just kissed him. "Never forget that, Stevie. We love you. We ALL love you. Katie... the girls... and me. We ALL love you and we're all here for you."

If he'd spoken, Stevie's voice would probably have cracked with emotion, so he just drew his lips tight and nodded.

"Ok," Derrick said, still confused and still worried. "I gotta run." He kissed both of his daughters, grabbed his yogurt and a spoon and hustled out the door.

"See," Katie said, while eating her yogurt, "no matter what happens, you have us, Stevie, and all four of us love you, don't we, Livy?"

"Yup," the child smiled. "I love you, Auntie Stevie."

"I love you, too, Livy." Stevie smiled through watery eyes.

"It must have been nice to wake up with her arm around you this morning." Katie said.

"Well," Stevie smiled at his niece, "when I woke up, she was kind of burrowed into the blankets and nestled into MY arms, but yes... it was nice. Very nice. Very nice, in fact."

"Well, she was very worried about you." Katie finished her yogurt and put her glass in the sink. "Oh, look at the time. I have to run. I pumped earlier. It's in the little fridge in the nursery if you need it."

"Ok," Stevie nodded.

Katie grabbed her briefcase, pocketbook and keys, kissed the girls, then kissed Stevie and asked, "You're going to be ok today, right?"

He nodded. "I'm fine."

"Ok," she said, warily. "We still need to discuss things..."

"No, we don't. Go to work."

"Yes, we do, Stevie. Jane said that if you don't make a decision, then your body is going to make one for you..."

Stevie had started talking over his sister as soon as she said the name 'Jane.' "Say goodbye to mommy, Livy. Let's get ready to go to the park. Ok? Bye mommy. Bye bye. Have a good day at work, mommy. Bye bye."

Katie wasn't at all happy with this attitude. She would need to talk to Derrick about it to see if he could help and also look into a councilor of some kind for Stevie. She understood that this wasn't easy for him, but he had to understand that he couldn't just ignore it, right? She shook her head in frustration as she climbed into her minivan and started it up.

It wasn't long later that Stevie and Olivia were walking down the street with Alice in very expensive all-terrain stroller. They took some old buns that Stevie found in the bread box to feed to the ducks, something that Olivia claimed to have never done before and something which seemed to excite her tremendously.

It turned out that the ducks found it exciting, too. Stevie made sure that the pieces of bun that he gave to Olivia to feed the ducks were small enough that the buns lasted a good long while, so they enjoyed the ducks and the lake's shoreline for well over an hour before heading to the playground.

On the playground, Stevie pushed Olivia on the swings for a while before a thirty-something mother with a girl about Olivia's age showed up and put her child on the swing next to Livy.

"Hi," the woman smiled at Stevie. "I'm Pat."

"Hi," Stevie smiled, feeling the same nervousness he always felt when he met someone new. "Stevie. Your daughter is very pretty."

"Oh, thank you. Yours, too."

"She's my niece."

"Oh, thank goodness," the woman laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry... I mean... you just look so young to have a child, especially one this old. Oh, and look, you have a baby with you, too. Awww... she's gorgeous."

"Thank you."

The woman seemed eager to chat. "So... why aren't you in school?"

Stevie hated that question, so he fibbed - it was none of her business anyway. "I am doing some online classes for college this semester."

"Really? So early? Well, good for you. Through VHS or a college?"

Stevie stared at her. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh. Sorry. I'm a teacher at a high school - well, I was before Elise was born - and I have had students take classes through VHS... you know... Virtual High School?"

Stevie shook his head. He had no idea what she was talking about nor how to respond.

"Are the classes through a college, then?"

"Oh... yes... yes," he nodded. "They're through Bunker Hill Community College."

He only chose that school because he'd passed it about a year ago and knew it's name. The only other college he could think of was Harvard and that seemed too ostentatious.

"Very nice," the woman smiled. "And what would you like to be when you grow up?"

'When I grow up...' there was a term that irked Stevie. He'd never 'grow up' at all. He was grown, end of story. He'd asked the doctor about that specifically and she stated that substantial growth was probably out of the the equation at this point. Still, the woman was just being kind and asking a simple question. He should respond.

"I'm not sure. I have considered teaching. I liked school. Maybe I'd like teaching, too."

"Well, speaking from experience," the woman smiled, "I think you'd find it very rewarding. AND when you have children, your schedule is easier to work around. It's kind of a perfect job for a mommy. I will be going back into the classroom when Elise starts kindergarten."

That sent a wave of confusion and a little fear over Stevie. 'A mommy.' God... that was actually a possibility, wasn't it? "Oh... I don't think I'll ever have kids of my own."

She laughed. "You say that now, but I said the same thing when I was your age. But a pretty girl like you... in a year or two, you're going to start dating and someday... someday not too far down the road... you're going to be sitting across the table from a cute guy and all of a sudden, out of the blue, you're going to start thinking about how cute your babies would be. That's how it happened to me. I never even considered being a mommy and then, about three weeks after meeting my husband... POW... all I could think about was being a mommy. Silly, I know, but it happens. Our wombs are powerful things."

'Womb.' There was a big word to consider. 'Womb.' He had a 'womb,' didn't he? Not just a uterus... a womb. An almost magical concept. Something that gave life. A womb. God. A womb.

As if on cue to rouse him from his thoughts, a huge clap of thunder sounded and both Stevie and his new companion looked at the sky and realized that, while they'd been chatting, dark clouds had rolled in.

Pat looked at her phone. "Oh, my... I have a severe thunderstorm warning. We should get the kids home. Do you live far?"

"About six blocks," Stevie answered as the first fat rain drops started to fall.

"I'm right across the street," the woman said, pointing to a very nice house. "Stay with us until the storm passes." She stopped he daughter's swing. "Come on, Elise, we have to hurry. It's staring to rain."

Stevie was in the process of getting Olivia off of her swing, too. "Oh, that's ok. We'll run home."

Another bang of thunder crashed and caused both little girls to shout in fear.

"No you won't!" Pat said with authority. "Not with two little ones in tow. Come on. Argh, here it comes. We'll be soaked by the time we get to my place."

Seeing few options, Stevie threw Alice's diaper bag over his shoulder, positioned the stroller on the walkway, took Olivia's hand and ran as fast as he could behind his new friend and her daughter, across the street and into an open garage door. It was a bonafide downpour by the time they were under cover.

"I'm all wet, Auntie," Olivia said, laughing heartily about it.

"I know, Livy, but it's only water. You'll dry off, soon." Stevie kissed his older niece, but was more concerned with his younger who'd been upset by the running and the rain, and was shrieking to let the world know about her discomfort. "Oh, come on," Stevie cooed, lifting her from the stroller and bouncing her. "You're ok, Alice, sweetheart. You're ok. You're ok."

The older woman smiled at Stevie's maternal behavior. "See, you have 'mommy' in your DNA."

He just smiled in response. She was right, but he wished that she wasn't.

"I'm wet, mommy," Pat's little girl said.

"Alright, Elise. You take your new friend up to your room and get some dry clothes for both of you. I left the clothes I took out of the dryer this morning on your bed. You can each wear one of those dresses, ok? Leave your wet things in the upstairs bathroom. I'll be up to get them in a few minutes, then I'll put them in the dryer." She opened the door and Elise took Livy by the hand and they both scampered through.

"Oh, that's ok..." Stevie started to protest, but Pat would hear none of it.

"Don't be silly. It'll only take twenty minutes or so to dry their dresses." She waved off Stevie's concerns as she grabbed Alice's diaper bag and motioned for Stevie to follow her into the house. "Come on in and relax until the storm passes."

It was a lovely house. Similar to Derrick and Katie's house in the choice of modern furniture and paint colors.

"Why don't you take care of the baby while I get out of these drenched things and I'll find something for you to put on," his hostess said, headed to the stairway.

"Oh, no, I'll be fine," Stevie said, but he was pretty sure that Pat wasn't paying attention.

His attention was drawn back to Alice's roars of discomfort, though. So, he opened her diaper bag, spread a changing pad on the floor and took off the dress and onesie that were soaked from the outside and the diaper that was soaked from the inside, wiped, dried and powdered her, put on a dry diaper and and a dry onesie and pulled out a bottle of Katie's breast milk, wrapped Alice in a warm, dry towel, then sat crossed legged on the changing mat and began to fed the baby.

"That's better, isn't it, sweetie," he cooed to her. "Shhhhhhhhhh. Hush little baby, don't say a word. Mommy's going to buy you a
mockingbird..."

Pat came down the stairs and saw the young, teenaged girl sitting on the floor, her own clothes and hair dripping wet, singing, rocking, caring so well for the infant and her heart melted. What a perfect sight! What a sweet girl. She took it in for a good long moment before continuing on and interrupting the scene.

"She's settled down now," Stevie smiled up at her.

"You have a way with her. She senses that you love her. That's very sweet."

Stevie hoped that was true. He certainly did care a great deal for his nieces.

"Let me take her so you can get out of those wet things," Pat said, gently and skillfully taking the baby from Stevie, not interfering with her feeding at all.

Stevie surrendered her and stood, putting away all of the diapering accoutrements. "That's ok. I'll just sit on a kitchen chair. I'll be dry in no time."

"And you'll be sick before you get dry," Pat said with a sound of incredulity. She had the kind of voice that came from years of teaching, too, and seemed to broach no challenges to its authority. "I'm sorry, but I won't hear of it. I found you something that should fit you fine. It's right there on the back of that chair. You can get changed in the downstairs bathroom, down the hall on the right."

Stevie looked at Pat, a woman at least several inches taller than him and with substantial curves, and doubted that anything of hers would fit him, but Pat seemed determined, and besides, it was only for a half an hour or so. So he picked up the pile of pale yellow material on the back of the chair and shook it out to reveal it to be a dress. Of course, it would be a dress.

"Umm..." Stevie tried to get out of wearing it. "I'm not really the kind of person who wears dresses..."

"Really?" Pat said. "That surprises me. You seem so... I don't know... maternal, maybe... with your nieces. I mean, you had both of them dressed so prettily in such nice dresses. I thought you'd like it. I'm sorry that you don't, but it's all I have that'll fit you, I'm afraid. It's only here because my husband's sister left it here last summer when she stayed with us. She was about your age, then. Please, just wear it for now so you don't get sick. Think of it as... as a robe or something like that. Please. I'll make us some tea and we can relax while my Elise and your Livy get to know each other... look... it's still raining cats and dogs out there and, to be very honest, I am desperate for a conversation with someone over the age of five, so... I know I look like an old fart to you, but I'm only thirty one. Please... I can't stand the thought of you sitting around, getting a chill in those wet things."

"Ok," Stevie gave in. "I'll be right back."

"Use as many towels as you need!" Pat called down the hall behind him. "You should try to dry your hair a bit, too."

When he'd removed his shorts and tank top, Stevie was actually surprised by how wet they were. He twisted his top over the sink and wrung out a good amount of water. Luckily, his panties seemed pretty dry.

The yellow dress had no zipper or buttons. It just pulled on like a shirt. When it settled over him, he looked in the mirror and saw that the sweetheart neckline had just a little bit of lace, probably to add some modesty to a girl who had a more developed bust than he did. The sleeves were just tiny puff-balls at the tops of his narrow arms, making them look even more tiny than before, and the little bit of elastic at the waistline created the impression of hips before the very wide, loose skirt fell to his knees. The dress couldn't have been simpler and could not have been more simply feminine than it was.

He sighed, thinking back to the game he'd played in front of a mirror at his old house just a few days ago. This wasn't a game though. This was all very real. As far as Pat was concerned, he was a girl. And who knows... maybe she was right.

When he exited the lavatory, he was very nervous, but Pat, who was standing just down the hall where a sliding door had been opened to reveal the washer and dryer, was dropping the wet clothing into the dryer.

"See, you look lovely," she smiled. "How does it feel?"

"Fine, I guess," Stevie said, smiling a little. "A little weird, but not bad."

Pat looked serious for a moment, then grimaced a bit. "Oh, honey, you really should be wearing a bra at your age. I know they're uncomfortable at first, but your poking right through that dress."

Stevie looked down and saw that she was right. His nipples were actually visibly poking through the thin material that comprised the top of the dress. "Oh, shit," he muttered. "Oh, sorry," he said looking at Pat.

"Your mom never warned you about going out without a bra?" Pat asked, again with that incredulous sound in her voice.

"My mom's dead," Stevie said with less tact than he'd intended. "I lived with my Grandma and took care her until she died a few weeks ago. Now I live with my sister and my brother-in-law."

"Oh, honey..." Pat stood straight up and looked at Stevie with nothing but pity. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be harsh. I... here... give me those things and I'll put them in the laundry. I think I might have a camisole you can wear under that dress."

Stevie handed over his wet things. Pat looked at the tag on the tank top and dropped it in, then looked at the tag on the shorts and stopped. "Uh oh. These can't go into the dryer." She showed the tag to Stevie. "See? 'Air dry only.' I'm afraid you're wearing that dress home, but don't worry. Sheri won't be looking for it. I'm sure she's out grown it by now and it looks adorable on you - I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's true."

She started the dryer and said, "Go have a seat in the living room. I'll run back upstairs and I'll be down in two shakes. Then we'll have some tea."

Moments later she reappeared with a shining, delicate, spaghetti strapped, nylon, beige camisole. "Here we go. This should calm down your girls," she smiled. Stevie stood and turned to go to the bathroom, but Pat said, "Turn your back to me and I'll help you take your dress off."

He turned away from her and his dress was off in seconds. Pat lowered the camisole over his arms from behind for him, which probably was pretty helpful, then his dress was back on a few seconds later. Pat had been a very helpful friend, in deed.

While she heated the water for tea, Pat and Stevie chatted. Pat told Stevie about being a teacher at the local technical high school and taking a break to raise Elsie and how she planned to return the next year when Elise started kindergarten. Stevie told Pat about leaving school to help his grandmother but went to great lengths to avoid ever mentioning his age or sex.

"That's just terrible," Pat said as she brought the tea to Stevie. "A young thing like you having to leave school to take care of her grandmother."

Stevie shrugged and checked the window. The rain was still coming down in torrents. It was still early, though.

Soon, Pat suggested that she make grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for the girls and them for lunch. "Elise doesn't care for tomato soup, which I know is the traditional accompaniment to a grilled cheese sandwich. Would chicken and stars be ok with you and Livy?"

"Sure," Stevie agreed.

The girls, both of whom descended the stairs dressed as princesses, with tiaras and brightly colored costume skirts over the dresses that they'd changed into, seemed to be having a great time together.

"Do you like how I look, Auntie Stevie?" Olivia asked, a big smile on her face.

"I do," Stevie said with exaggerated enthusiasm. "You look so beautiful. So do you, Elise. I love your dresses."

"I like your dress, too, Auntie Stevie," Olivia smiled, then hugged him. "I told you you'd look pretty in a dress."

"Well, I hate to say I told you so," Pat laughed as she guided Olivia to the table, "but... I told you so. You need to get used to wearing dresses, Stevie. You're a very pretty girl."

"Thanks," he smiled, but felt as if the universe was crashing down on him. He really didn't want to think about being a boy or a girl or a goat or a monkey or anything else right now. He just wanted to exist without thinking about it - like everyone else did.

Stevie watched Olivia interact with Elise during lunch. It was clear that she loved having someone else her own age to play with. That was nice.

He kept checking out the window, but the rain was still falling as hard as it had been. Finally, after he'd finished his lunch, he went looking for his phone and found it in a pocket of Alice's diaper bag. His intent was to complete setting up the Uber account he'd started the other day so that he could get the girls and himself home at some point.

"Can we go play some more?" Elise asked her mother.

"Of course," Pat said.

"For just a little while," Stevie said. "We have to leave soon. We have dinner to make."

"Awwwwwww," Olive whined as she followed her new best friend up the stairs.

"You make dinner, too?" Pat asked.

Stevie shrugged. "I'm kinda like an au pair, I guess. I like helping out, though."

"You're like a complete 'mommy package,' aren't you?"

He laughed, looking at his phone. "Hey, I'm kind of stuck on this. Do you know how to set this up?"

He handed the phone to Pat. She fiddle with it for a moment, then handed it back. Just enter your debit or credit card and you're done, but you won't need that today. I'll drive you home."

"That's really too much to ask..."

"No, it's not and besides..." she sighed. "... look, Elise doesn't have a lot of kids her age to play with and," she looked up towards the stairs, "... this is kind of unusual... Elise is usually kind of standoffish, but she seems to get along really well with Olivia. And to tell you the truth... I've enjoyed talking with you, too... so... to cut to the chase... I'd really like it if we could get the girls together sometimes. What do you think?"

"Oh... sure," Stevie said, feeling on the spot. "Livy seems to be having fun, too. So, I guess that would be nice."

Pat seemed to breath a bit easier. "Great. Thank you, Stevie."

The rain was still falling when Pat's car pulled into Katie and Derrick's driveway. Stevie pushed a button on an app that Derrick had installed on his phone and the garage door opened. Pat pulled into the garage just so Stevie and the girls could be unloaded in a dry spot.

"So, I'll text you about Monday, then?" Pat said.

"Sounds great," Stevie smiled. "Remember, we have a nice pool here, too, if Elise would enjoy that."

"I'm sure she would, but I'd feel more comfortable if I spoke your sister before we invaded her house."

Stevie laughed. "Ok, I gave you her number. You can call anytime..." he said as he started to lift the stroller out of the back of Pat's minivan, but suddenly a stabbing pain cut into his abdomen and he let out a big groan as he grabbed the location of the pain, just below his belly.

"Are you ok?" Pat came running around the back of the vehicle.

"I'm fine," he said, but he had a hard time standing straight again. "This happens every now and then."

"Stevie, you need to see a doctor."

"I have. I saw one this week."

"And what did they say?"

"There's nothing wrong with me. She said that I needed to make a decision about something, but... I'll be fine."

Pat shook her head. "Honey... you are not fine."

"I will be."

"Stevie, if you are having monthly cramps that double you over, something is very wrong."

"No, it's not that," Stevie smiled and stood straighter. "See. I'm ok, now."

The older woman looked concerned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Stevie smiled. "I'm good. It never lasts more than a second or two." He breathed easily for a moment. "Thank you for the ride. I really appreciate it."

"Maybe we should stay with you until your sister gets home," Pat was very concerned. "You look a little pale."

"Honestly, it's nothing," Stevie assured her. He took a few deep breathes and stood straight once again. "See? I'm fine."

Reluctantly, Pat left Stevie, who she still thought of as a teen girl, and his two nieces and drove home, but she made it clear that she'd be checking in with Stevie's sister later to be sure he was alright and that she was aware of his cramping issues.

Derrick was on his way home when he got a text from Katie. 'I'M GOING TO SEND YOU A PICTURE BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU TO REACT AT ALL WHEN YOU COME INTO THE HOUSE. OK?'

He took a second to use voice to text to respond. 'OK, I GUESS. SEND ME THE PIC AND I'LL TELL YOU IF I'M GOING TO REACT WHEN I GET HOME.'

A few seconds later, Katie sent him a picture of Stevie wearing a yellow dress while working in the kitchen.

'OK. I WON'T REACT, BUT WHY ARE YOU CONTINUING TO DRESS STEVIE UP AS A GIRL IF YOU'RE NOT LOOKING FOR A REACTION?'

'I DIDN'T DO IT. THIS CAME FROM SOMEONE ELSE. I TRIED TO CALL YOU EARLIER, BUT YOUR PHONE WAS OFF. WE HAVE A LOT TO TALK ABOUT TONIGHT, BUT JUST DON'T MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF THIS. OK?'

Derrick shook his head. 'OK. I'LL BE HOME IN TEN MINUTES.'

As Stevie placed a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs on the table in front of Derrick, apparently for him to serve, he said, "I'm sorry, but I didn't really have time to make a 'homemade' meal. We were at the park when the storm began and we ended up meeting a mom with a daughter who is the same age as Livy. We ended up staying with them until mid afternoon because Livy made a good friend."

"Really?" Katie smiled and rubbed her daughter's back. "What's your new friend's name?"

"Elise," Olivia said, happily accepting a plate of pasta from her father. "She has a whole bunch of princess costumes and she let me wear some."

"Wow!" Derrick joined in as he passed out the food. "I bet you looked pretty."

"She certainly did," Stevie smiled at Olivia.

"So does Auntie Stevie," Olivia said, smiling broadly. "Don't you think she looks pretty in a dress mommy?"

Katie looked from her daughter to her brother to her husband and back to her daughter again. "I think that Auntie Stevie always looks very nice, Livy, so... yes, I do think Auntie Stevie looks very... nice."

Derrick leaned towards Stevie and handed him a plate of pasta and said, "I think you look very pretty, Stevie." When he received a kick to his left shin under the table, he let out an 'ouch!' and looked at his wife. "What!? Look... I have no idea what the hell is going on here..."

"Language!" Katie said calmly, but firmly.

It didn't stop Derrick, though. "... but come on... Stevie, I don't know quite what's going on, but if you want my opinion, I think you look very pretty like this." He glanced at his wife, then back at Stevie. "May I ask you a question?"

Stevie shook some grated cheese on his spaghetti and nodded.

Derrick glanced at his wife again, then took a second to phrase his question in a way that would possibly keep his daughter from understanding him. "Are you... considering... changing... and pursuing life like this?"

Stevie looked at Katie and then back at Derrick. "You guys haven't talked about what the doctor said?"

Katie shook her head. "We haven't had the chance."

Stevie rolled his eyes, then rolled some spaghetti onto his fork.

"What am I missing?" Derrick asked.

"After the girls are in bed," Katie said.

"Ok," Derrick shrugged.

"Alright...," Stevie sighed, "but I do need to tell you that you're probably going to get a call from a woman named Pat pretty soon and..." he sighed again and shook his head, "she thinks I'm a girl. She's the one who gave me this dress."

"She's Elise's mommy," Olivia contributed through the tomato sauce on her face.

"Oh," Katie nodded, as if this all made sense.

Stevie leaned over and wiped his niece's face. "Anyway..." he continued, "she'd like to get Livy and Elise together, but she'd like to talk to you before she makes plans."

Derrick made a gesture with his hands that indicated that this was a perfectly logical request. "That seems fine. Whatever you want to do is fine with us, Stevie. We trust you."

"Well, thank you, but..." Stevie looked at his plate, "... like everyone else, she thinks I'm a kid. So she wants you guys to give your permission. I gave her your cell numbers."

"Ok," Katie said. "Maybe it would make sense for me to meet with her at some point so she feels comfortable about our arrangement."

"One more question," Derrick said, then looked at his wife and warned, "and I do not want to get another kick. I understand that you look kind of young and a bit girlish with your hair and all, but you said your were with this woman most of the day. So... why not explain that you are a guy?"

"Because I'm not," Stevie said flatly.

"Later, please, Stevie," Katie said, but Derrick just looked confused.

"I'm not a guy, I'm not a girl, I'm not a man, I'm not a woman... it's hard to explain what you are when you only know what you aren't." Stevie said without emotion while spinning spaghetti onto his fork.

"Oh, lord," Katie closed her eyes and lowered her head.

Derrick nodded and paused to think for a moment. "Stevie... after the girls go to bed... I'd really like to talk to both you AND Katie, please."

Stevie shook his head. "No. I think I'm done talking about it today."

Derrick cleared his throat. "Stevie... I want to be supportive and I want to help you in anyway that I can, but..."

Katie reached across and touched her husband's hand and looked from him to their daughter who was paying way too much attention to what was happening.

He nodded and looked a bit more peeved than Stevie had ever seen him look. "After the children are in bed, the three adults will be assembling in the living room and I will be brought up to date on what is going on so that I can help. End of story."

Just then, Katie's phone rang. She looked at the name on the screen. "Patricia Whitman. Is that her?" She asked Stevie and he nodded. Katie pressed the green button and her voice suddenly sounded much more upbeat. "Hello? Oh, Hi! Yes, my sister was just telling me all about her time with you today..."

A couple of hours later, the girls bathed and in bed and the dishes done, Stevie sat pensive and quiet in the living room as Katie completed her summary of Dr Jane O'Leary's diagnosis. Derrick was looking at a site on his iPad that Katie had forwarded to him and he nodded as he thought. He closed the tablet and stood, his hands in his pockets and paced for a few moments before crossing the room to sit in the couch beside Stevie. At first, he just sat there, then he put his arm around Stevie and pulled him in tight. Derrick's forehead rested on Stevie's temple and the bigger man closed his eyes and hugged him tighter.

When he released his brother-in-law, Derrick sniffled and when his eyes opened, they were red rimmed and watery. "Jesus," he muttered. He shook his head a few times to clear it, then, being Derrick, he took a practical approach to the matter. "So..." he sniffled again and pinched the end of his nose, "do you know what you want to do?"

Stevie stared at the floor for a long, long moment before shaking his head.

Derrick nodded. "So, this woman... Pat?... she said that you had abdominal pains when she left you today."

Stevie just shrugged.

"Pat thinks that Stevie is having some menstrual issues, and it's possible that he actually is," Katie explained. "Jane warned that a decision needed to be made soon or his body would make a decision for him."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Stevie said in an irritated voice.

"Then don't just sit there acting like a zombie and join the conversation!" Katie snapped back.

"Alright!" Derrick held up both hands, one palm to each sibling. "Calm. Please. We need to keep calm."

Derrick stood and paced some more. He looked out the window and thought for a moment or two, then turned back to the others. "Stevie... please don't ignore me. I need you to answer this question."

Stevie looked up at his brother-in-law.

"What do YOU want to do?"

He got no response - not because Stevie was being belligerent, but because he had no idea how to respond.

Katie sighed and shook her head, but Derrick seemed to understand Stevie's hesitance. "I know that's a hard question, but... Look, Stevie, you're a great guy. You're smart, and gentle and sensitive and loving, but... geez, this is going to sound so sexist, but... those aren't really traits I associate with a guy. When I look at you, I don't really see... a guy. I see a girl. A smart, gentle, sensitive, loving girl. I'm not saying that to be an asshole, Stevie, I'm saying it because... well, I said you're a great guy, but you're an incredible girl, Stevie. You really are. Now, having said that, I'll never say it again unless you choose to become a girl. I just thought you should know how I see you."

Stevie sniffled. "Did you ever think of me as a guy?"

Derrick shrugged. "I don't know, Stevie. I really haven't known you all that well until this week and... Stevie, you're almost like another mother to my girls. It's hard to see you as a guy when I see you that way. I'm sorry." He was silent for a moment, then said, "You are very pretty, though, Stevie."

"Ok, that's enough," Katie said, standing, obviously unhappy.

"Why? What'd I say?" Derrick was very confused.

"You just told my brother he's pretty, Derrick!" Katie scolded.

"Kate... you just told me that he has a uterus. I'm just trying to say the right thing. Besides that, how could you not have noticed that everyday that he's been here, he's gotten more and more feminine - and that's partially your doing! And now, you're mad at me!?"

Katie put both of her hands on her forehead and let out a noise that started as a groan and ended as a scream of frustration. "Alright, YES, he has a uterus, but he has a penis, too and he's still my little brother, Derrick, and YES I gave him the swimsuit and the coverup, but that was just so he could be in the pool with the girls and me and it wasn't supposed to... he wasn't supposed to... Jesus Christ, this is all so..." she shook with frustration. "Derrick, what the fuck is going on!? I'm going out of my mind and you're acting like this is the natural thing in the world! Christ Almighty, you've even kissed him a few times recently! One minute I'm thinking of him as my brother, the next I'm thinking of him as my sister... now, I don't know what to think any more." She was convulsing, breaking down and collapsing into tears.

Derrick hugged his wife. "Calm down, honey, calm down. This isn't going to help anything."

"Oh, God. This is all my fault," she wept. "I should have seen this. How could I have let this happen?"

"No," Stevie said in a tiny, sad voice from the couch. "It's all my fault."

Derrick reached down and took Stevie's small hand in his big hand. "Stevie... this is no one's fault. It's just how things are."

Katie pushed herself off of her husband and wiped her face. "That's right, honey. It's no one's fault. I'm sorry I said all of that." She took a deep breath. "Oh, God, I'm such a jerk."

Stevie just shook his head and lowered his head to look at the carpeted floor, focusing on nothing.

Katie looked at her husband. "Can I have a few minutes with Stevie, honey?"

"Sure," he said. He kissed his wife, then touched Stevie's cheek and headed for the stairs, but he stopped when Stevie called to him.

"Derrick."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for saying I'm pretty. That was nice of you."

Derrick smiled. "I'm just telling the truth, Stevie." He went up the stairs.

Katie sat on the couch next to her baby brother and the two just looked at each other for a good long moment without a sound. Eventually, she raised her hand and ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair, then pulled his head towards hers and leaned forward at the same time until their foreheads were touching.

"I'm so sorry, baby," she whispered.

"It's ok."

"I just don't know how to help you."

"I know. I don't know what to do, either."

They sat there, forehead to forehead, looking into each other's eyes for another long moment before Katie whispered, "I'm a little jealous of you, you know."

Stevie scoffed. "Why? Why would anyone be jealous of me?"

"Because you look so much like mom."

"I do?" Stevie found that oddly comforting.

"Yeah." She smiled at him. "You do. A lot."

"Why would that make you jealous?"

"Because to me, mom was the most beautiful person in the world... except for you. Whatever you decide to do, Stevie, you'll always be mom's baby and that means you'll always be my baby, too. My baby brother... or my baby sister... it doesn't matter, you'll always be my baby."

That brought a sad smile to Stevie's face. "Thank you, Katie. I love you. I sorry I brought all of this into your house."

"I love you, too, honey. And this is our house. Your house. Let's figure this out. Together."

And then they talked. And talked. And talked. Well into the night.

Saturday was a hectic day. Stevie was up early with the girls. Katie was late to come down, but she was up early and on the phone with Dr Jane O'Leary, asking lots of questions about Stevie's condition and reading page after page of information on website after website. Derrick was out in the yard early, mowing and raking so that it was neat as a pin, and up to his high standards, so he could get going early and meet up with his buddies to go to Fenway Park to enjoy as much time in Red Sox Heaven as possible.

"Honey, I'm leaving!" Derrick yelled up the stairs at eleven o'clock that morning.

"Ok," Katie called as she hurried down the stairs to kiss him goodbye. "Enjoy yourself, honey. Don't drink too much. Remember how beer hits you when you're sitting in the sun, ok?"

"Yes, mother," he smiled and kissed her. Then he whispered, "Are you and Stevie going to be ok?"

"I think so," Kate whispered back. "We talked a lot last night."

"You're sure it's ok if I go, then?"

"What? You want me to say that you should stay home and then have you sulking around the house all weekend? I don't think so."

Derrick chuckled and kissed her cheek. "Seriously, babe... I'll stay home if you want me to."

She gave his butt a swat. "Go on. Get out of here. If anyone deserves a day at the ball park, it's you."

He smiled like a little boy. "Thanks, babe. Love you."

"Love you, too."

He trotted over to where Stevie and Olivia were seated on the floor with Alice seated between them being entertained by her sister and her uncle.

"Give daddy a kiss goodbye," Derrick said to Olivia, who jumped up and raised her arms to be lifted.

"Bye, daddy!" She said after planting a big kiss on his cheek. "Your cheek is prickly."

Derrick laughed and lifted her high in the air and spun her around. "You be a good girl for your mommy and Auntie Stevie, ok?"

"Ok, daddy," she giggled.

"That's my girl." He put her down, then kissed his fingers and touched Alice's head. "Bye, Angel," she smiled.

Then he smiled at Stevie and knelt on one knee next to him. "You ok, today?"

"No," Stevie admitted, "but I'm better than yesterday."

"Well, that's a step in the right direction," he said and winked. Then he leaned forward and kissed Stevie's cheek. "One step at a time, Stevie. Ok? One step at a time." He stood and headed out the door.

"Come see," Stevie said to Katie. "Alice is sitting up on her own."

"Is she!?" Katie came over, happy to see her child developing. "Oh, my goodness! Look at what a big girl she's becoming."

"I taught her, mommy," Olivia smiled. Stevie had been encouraging Livy to model the proper way to sit up for the baby.

"Well, no wonder she learned to sit up so well," Katie smiled and kissed her oldest child.

"Oops!" Stevie said, as he caught Alice tipping out of her seated position, but then fighting herself back upright a second later with a big, droolly smile and a giggle. "What a smart baby you are."

Katie looked at her little brother and realized that he was wearing a fairly plain, white, buttoned shirt that he'd paired with a dark purple, knee length skirt. Interesting. This seemed an affirmation of some sort.

"You look nice today," she smiled at him. "I think I wore that skirt when I went to New York City to see 'Wicked' with my Theater Class in my sophomore year of high school. It's pretty. It looks nice on you."

"Thanks," he smiled a little embarrassed. "I thought I should try one and see how it feels." He shrugged and looked shy. "Ummm...could you..." he thought better of his request. "... never mind."

"No... what?" Katie prodded. "What were you going to say?"

He shrugged. "I was just wondering if... maybe... after lunch... could you maybe show me how to do... some makeup? Not really fancy, or anything... I just mean... simple... you know? Like... everyday? So, maybe if I try this... female thing... I could maybe look more natural... and maybe a little older."

Katie was smiling fondly at his discomfort. "Of course, Stevie. I'd be happy to. It'll be fun."

Once Alice was settled down for a nap, Katie sat Stevie down in a chair in front of the elaborate vanity in her master suite and began his first makeup tutorial. Katie explained every step. How to chose colors, how to apply them, how to blend them, etc., and she had Stevie repeat each instruction and practice each step as well.

"Can I ask you something?" Stevie asked as his sister fussed with his face.

"Of course."

He sighed. "What's it like to be a girl?"

Katie smiled a bit and shrugged. "I'm not sure how to answer that, Stevie. I've never been anything but a girl - or a woman. I mean... what's it like to be a guy?"

Stevie pondered that for a second or two. "I'm not sure really I know. I'm not sure I've ever really been a guy."

Katie gave him an understanding look. "Well... I liked being a girl and I love being a woman. I like being the one who cares for the family - which you do very well, already, too. I love being a mom. I'm not sure men can love their kids the way a woman can. Derrick adores me and the girls, but... it's different. There's a little distance there and there always will be. I love being with Derrick... you know... as a woman. It's a wonderful feeling to become one with someone you love. I don't think that's the same for a man either. I mean... how could it be?"

"What about periods and mood swings and all that?" Stevie asked. "Isn't all that awful?"

That made Katie chuckle. "Spoken like a true man. Sure, periods are an inconvenience, but, Stevie, something like fifty two percent of the earth's population is female and of that, some percentage is of childbearing age and that means that a few million people are menstruating every single day. Obviously, you get used to it after a few months and then it's just part of life. Then you just don't think about it all that much. It's a minor inconvenience every twenty eight days, that's all. I guarantee that if you chose to be a woman, you'd be used to it in a few months, just like the rest of the women in the world."

"I wish I didn't have to choose."

"I know, sweetheart. It's all so unfair, but it's just the way things are."

"If I could choose whether to be a boy or girl," Olivia said, watching her mother blend the colors on Stevie's face, "I'd still want to be a girl."

"Why's that. Honey?" Katie asked.

"Because boys are stinky and no fun. Girls are pretty and like pretty things. They're much better than boys. Besides, they can be mommy's and feed baby's. Daddy's can't do that."

"No, they can't, sweetie," Katie smiled. "You are right about that."

She looked at her little brother, who was looking more and more like her little sister everyday. "You know, there's no shame in wanting to be a woman, Stevie. Your body needs your help. No matter what you decide, you can't make a wrong decision."

"If... and I'm only saying 'if'... if I were to chose to be a woman... would you think any less of me? You know... because I was a guy before?"

"Oh, honey... how can you ask that? I'd never think that."

"And Derrick?" Stevie asked.

"Honey... I am really surprised by how sweet Derrick has been towards you. I think he's genuinely concerned about you and wants what's best for you. He really didn't know you as his brother-in-law, you know, but... I think that, now... he kind of thinks of you as his little sister - or maybe even as another daughter. So, whatever you decide, boy or girl, Derrick will be your staunchest supporter and most fervent defender. I promise you that."

Stevie nodded. He'd been very surprised by how welcoming Derrick had been from the get go. Until the day he'd arrived at this house, Stevie didn't think Derrick even knew who he was.

"There," Katie said, with a smile. "Look in the mirror. What do you think? You look pretty, right?"

Stevie looked in the vanity mirror and his reflection was still recognizably him, but... then again... it wasn't. The face that looked back wasn't ever a 'Steven,' that was for sure. The light, casual makeup made him look... well, he wouldn't say beautiful, because that was such a grownup word and the face in the reflection didn't really look grown up. She looked young. She looked... cute. That was the word. She looked cute. Very cute. That cute girl in your sophomore English class that you might have a little crush on. That was the face that looked back at him. Still just a bit tomboyish, but... becoming girly, too. Not yet womanly... just girly.

That kind of summed up Stevie too, when he thought about it. Boyish, but becoming girly.

"Don't you like it?" Katie asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh... no... I mean... yes, Katie. I do like it. I'm just... it's all so new to me."

"I know, honey," she kissed the top of his head. "I know. I think you look great, though. Tell you what - Derrick is gone all day, so when Alice wakes up, we're all going to take a quick trip to the mall. We'll have dinner in the food court - we can't have anything fancy with the girls with us - and we'll get you a couple of bras. Dr O'Leary was right. You really do need one."

Stevie snickered. "Pat said that, too."

"Well, let's take care of that tonight so that when she comes over tomorrow to talk to me she doesn't think I'm an woman who neglects the needs of her kid sister." She kissed Stevie's head again. "Let's go water the plants."

The three of them, Katie, Olivia and Stevie tended the outside flower beds and watered the flowers. They prettied up the yard that Derrick had mowed so well and when Alice woke, she was changed and fed and they all went to the local mall, which had a combination of the usual mall stores and some very high-end places. Stevie was surprised when Katie led them not into one of the huge anchor stores, but rather into a very expensive store with a very fancy lingerie department.

"May I help you ladies?" A lingerie saleswoman asked as they entered the department.

"Yes," Katie smiled. "My little sister needs to be fitted for a bra. She's never worn one before and I'm not sure what she should be wearing."

"Oh, of course," the saleswoman smiled. "Come with me." She led them through the department towards a fitting area in the back.

"Will I have to show her my chest?" Stevie whispered to his sister.

"Yes, but don't worry. She's seen a million developing girls and your chest looks no different than any other girl's," Katie whispered back.

"If you'd step in here, young lady," the saleswoman said to Stevie, as she indicated a small changing room, but he balked and looked at Katie.

"Oh, ummm, if you wouldn't mind," Katie smiled, "I think that Stevie would feel more comfortable if I stayed with her."

The saleswoman looked at Katie and the two children and didn't look too thrilled, but she rallied. "Oh, of course. Please step in here." She indicated a different, much larger room which could easily fit all of them.

"Take off your top, dear," the saleswoman instructed. Stevie complied, reluctantly. The saleswoman smiled sympathetically. "No reason to be shy, dear. Believe me, I've helped many late bloomers - many who bloomed much later than you. Just let me take a couple of measurements."

She worked quickly and efficiently, using her cloth tape measure, and within a moment or two, she excused herself to retrieve some items.

"Not so bad, was it?" Katie asked.

"I was never self conscious about it until we went to the doctor's," Stevie explained. "Everyone there seemed so interested in my breasts... it's was just so embarrassing."

Katie nodded. "I know, but they all knew you were a boy. This lady doesn't. Don't worry."

"Here we go," the saleswoman nearly sang as she reentered. "Now... you may not believe it, but you are nearly a full 'A' cup, so that's what we'll try, but some brands run smaller than others, so I'm going to suggest that we try some of those smaller running brands. Now, I've brought in some with a little bit of padding - not a lot, dear, don't panic - and you can see how she looks with a little shape, too."

Immediately upon the first bra touching his breasts, Stevie felt a relief he didn't know he needed. The incredibly soft material in the bra's cups soothed his slightly sore nipples like he never expected material could. It was a true revelation!

"How does that feel, dear?" The woman asked.

"Amazing," Stevie replied honestly.

The saleswoman smiled and looked at Katie. "Let me guess - A tomboy who all of a sudden is discovering she's a girl. Am I right?"

Katie smiled in return. "She's suddenly discovered she's a girl, yes. That's comfortable, Stevie?"

"Very," Stevie smiled. "I can't believe how good it makes my... well..."

"Your nipples," dear," the saleswoman said with just the slightest indication of impatience. "They're called nipples."

Stevie blushed. "Yes. I can't believe how good it makes my... nipples... feel." That word just seemed weird to say in front of others.

"Put your top back on and look in the mirror," the saleswoman instructed. "See... this bra has almost no padding, but as you can see, it still gives her a slightly more grownup shape."

'Grownup!' There was a word that Stevie liked a lot. He wanted to be perceived as being more grownup.

The saleswoman continued, "See, she has enough shape now to break the line of her top as it hangs here in front, as long as she's wearing a bra, but I could show you a bra with just the tiniest bit of padding that will break that line more significantly without making her look like Dolly Parton. It'll just enhance her bust a bit and add just a touch of presence. I promise, she won't suddenly look like she developed over night. It's a very natural look."

Katie looked at Stevie. "What do you think, Hon? Do you want to try something a little bit more grownup?"

Stevie nodded and smiled, in spite of himself. "Yes, please. I think I'd like to try that."

The saleswoman smiled and had him remove his top again. Then she removed the first bra and eased the second onto him. "So, this bra will gather up what assets she has and push them forward while also adding a little extra. And listen, sweetie, as you get older, you'll learn that there's nothing wrong with adding a little extra to enhance the beauty of the package. Men are visual creatures. They react to what they're looking act. There, now doesn't that look beautiful on her?"

Stevie was still trying to digest everything the saleswoman had said. 'Adding something extra?' He certainly had lots of extra parts, no matter what sex he was imitating and, let's face it, he was imitating one sex or another at any given moment.

Katie, though was looking at Stevie and her eyes were glistening because with this bra on, she could not deny that this person was not her little brother. This person was her little sister. No brother could look this adorable in his first bra. His perky little breasts were real and the sweet, delicate lace of the bra looked so girlish as they framed them.

"What?" Stevie asked her.

"Nothing..." she smiled, but a tear rolled down her cheek. "I just wish mom was here to see you. You look so grownup and beautiful, Stevie."

"Mom?" Stevie's eyes were wide with surprise at that remark.

"Oh, honey, when we get home, look at the picture of her on my dresser. You look just like her in high school. She'd be so proud of you."

Stevie looked at himself in the mirror. He knew that picture. He did look a bit like his mother in it, but...

"Why would mom be proud of me just because I look like her?" He asked, confused.

"Honey," Katie put her arm around him and looked at his reflection, "mom would just be proud of who you've become. Of how you cared for Grandma so well when she needed you. How you care for Livy and Alice and Derrick and me. Stevie... you are a wonderful person and mom would be so, so, so proud of you. The fact that you look like her would just make her so happy."

"Really?"

Stevie... I remember the day you were born. Mom always adored you. You know that."

He shook his head. "I barely remember mom." He laid his head on his sister's shoulder. "Grandma raised me more than mom."

Katie nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. I never really thought about it, but you're right. She did love you, though, Stevie. And she'd still love you. I wish she could see what a great person you've become."

Stevie sniffled. "Thank you, Katie."

"I really hate to interrupt," the saleswoman said, "but I do have other customers to deal with. If you wouldn't mind trying on your top again, dear, and seeing if you like this look, then we can figure out what you'd like to purchase."

"Oh, of course," Katie nodded and picked up the top that Stevie had worn and helped him to put it back on. "I like it, Stevie," she said. "You definitely look more... womanly. Less... girlish."

That was enough for Stevie, but just to be sure, he turned to Olivia. "What do you think, Livy?"

The girl smiled. "You look nice."

"Ok. I guess I like this, then," Stevie confirmed, nervously. It was kind of a big step for him - his first bra and it was an enhancing bra.

"Can we get three more of this brand, please?" Katie asked the saleswoman. "At least one plain enough to wear under a tee shirt, please."

"Of course," the saleswoman smiled. "Should I remove the tags so she can wear that one home?"

Stevie looked at Katie and nodded.

Katie looked at the saleswoman and said, "Yes, please."

Soon, they were headed out the door, with Stevie feeling, oddly, both self conscious and quite pretty in his new bra, presenting a new look to the world.

They were nearly to the food court when Katie stopped in front of an Old Navy story. She looked at a mannequin in the window wearing a pretty sundress and thought for a moment. Yes, she'd already spent more than she'd intended, but boy it would be nice to get Stevie something new to make him feel special. She sensed that he really needed something like that. Besides, she had a lot of coupons on her phone and Old Navy was priced well... Oh, what the heck.

"Let's go in here for a few minutes," she said with a broad smile.

Stevie, along with Olivia's help, guided the stroller into the store and followed Katie into the 'Juniors' department.

Assuming that she was shopping for herself, Stevie mostly ignored the clothing Katie was looking at and instead focused on discussing pretty colors and patterns with Olivia and Alice.

Finally, Katie pulled out a pretty, beige dress with big, bright pink flowers on it and said, "Ok, girls, let's go to the dressing rooms."

When they reached the back of the store, Katie handed the dress to Stevie and said, "Try this on and then step out so I can see it. There's a zipper in the back. If you need help with it, I'll pull it up for you."

"Me?" Stevie looked at the very pretty, but very, very girlish dress and asked, "Why did you pick that for me?"

"Stevie," Katie said with a great deal of love and patience in her voice, "I know this is hard for you, but you keep on just sticking your toes in the water. Honey, you are my wonderful, wonderful brother, but you can tell by looking in the mirror that nature is turning you into my wonderful, wonderful sister."

Stevie took a glance around to see if anyone else could have heard that. No one else was nearby.

"I'm just trying to help, honey. Really. Just try it on and see if you like how it looks. If you don't like it, we'll just put it back and go have lunch. If you do like it, then we'll buy it and... you can wear it tomorrow when Derrick is doing all the cooking. Your friend Pat is coming over, so you can just relax in your pretty, new dress and be a lady of leisure for the day. Ok?"

Stevie was very conflicted. The more he thought about the possibility of become a woman - a real, honest to goodness, functioning woman - the more it intrigued him, but the more it scared him, too. He'd never particularly WANTED to be a man, but he'd never particularly NOT WANTED to be a man either. Except for that one little role play fantasy a few days ago, he'd never thought of the clothes he wore as male or female clothes. They were just... clothes. Hand-me-downs, in a way. He was just getting by with what he had handy.

This was different. It was another BIG step.

"Did you have to pick one with such bright flowers on it?" He asked Katie.

"I think it's pretty."

"Well, I do too, but it's just..."

"Just what? Too girly? Stevie, please relax and go with this, ok? First of all, just like the bra and panties you are wearing, there are no dresses that aren't 'girly.' That's what they are meant to be. Secondly..." she took a breath and looked around to make sure she could speak privately. "I don't want to sound mean and we talked about this last night, too... You have a girl's body, Stevie. Little breasts, little hips, soft skin, no facial hair, very little body hair..."

"You're forgetting," he interrupted, "that I still have a penis and that still makes me a man."

"No, baby," she smiled. "A penis might have made you a boy, and that's what fooled us, but you don't have anything that goes with it, Stevie. No testicles, no musculature... nothing, honey. What you do have is the same plumbing that I have, sweetie. And that plumbing is shaping you the same way that it shaped me."

He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. His always soft facial features looking back, but this time those features were slightly more emphasized be the use of makeup. His hair, thick and dark and long, that he was always kind of proud of, betrayed him now and made him look so very female. Then his breasts caught his sight. The way they now were more visible in the way that his top, which had hung loosely from his shoulders, now hung loosely from his modest, new attributes.

Sure, the person in the mirror wore a skirt, a tank top and sneakers and made some meaningless attempts to look androgynous, but those attempts just succeeded in making the girl in the mirror cuter and more girlish. That was unquestionably a girl in the mirror. He'd been denying it, but his reflection was staring back at him and saying, "Try on that pretty dress."

He looked at Kate and nodded, then took the dress into the changing room.

To Be Continued...

An Anomoly - 5 Final

Author:

Clara

Audience Rating:

Mature Subjects (pg15)

Publication:

Genre:

Transgender

Character Age:

College / Twenties

TG Themes:

Age Regression

Other Keywords:

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

An Anomoly: 5 Final

by Clara

The final part of Stevie's story. I hope you enjoy this installment. Once again,
thank you all for your kindness and support throughout the posting of this
story. I truly do appreciate it! Now, on to the story!

Author's Note: I am always taken by your kind words and comments. You truly do amaze me with what you think of my humble words. But if you are so inclined, please do leave me a review? I promise I don't bite.~Clara.

This version of An Anomoly: 5 Final has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.

Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.

Chapter 5

He looked at Kate and nodded, then took the dress into the changing room.

In his bra and panties, his reflection seemed to tell him that his fate was already decided. He just didn't know quite how to deal with that information.

He unzipped the dress and stepped into it. It had a soft nylon lining that felt cool against his skin. He pulled the spaghetti straps over his arms, noticing that his bra straps were now exposed. That would be a problem, wouldn't it? Girls weren't supposed to have their bra straps showing, right? On the back, towards both sides of the top of the dress, there were small areas of that were smocked, which he realized would allow the dress to cling to his chest more fashionably. It seemed to have a high waistline, then hang loosely, but the dress only came to his mid thigh - much shorter than the knee length skirt he'd been wearing, but longer than some of the shorts he'd worn around the house.

That was when the abdominal pain cut through his body. He gasped, but held back any noise to avoid having Katie come in while he has doubled over in pain. He shivered, bent forward and clenched his hands into fists to try to divert the pain away from his midsection. This was worse than the previous pains. This pain was searing. Cutting. Torturous. He panted and took shallow gulps of breath until the pain passed. Finally, he let out a long, hissing breath and felt as if he'd regained control of himself.

He reached behind himself and managed to pull the zipper up a couple of inches, but that was all. How did girls dress themselves? Were they all that much more flexible then men that they could pull a tiny zipper like that up their backs?

After a few moments of struggling, he opened the door and asked Katie to assist with the zipper.

When the zipper was closed, the dress fit snugly up above and hung nicely, if a bit too short, down below.

"That's pretty, Auntie," Olivia said. "Come look!" She grabbed Stevie's hand and pulled him to the mirrors. "I told you you'd look pretty in dresses."

The doubt was gone. The androgyny was gone. The tomboy was gone. What remained was a very pretty, young girl. Not yet a woman. A girl on her way to womanhood. It made Stevie quiver a little.

It also made his eyes watery and he didn't know why. He tried to wipe them clear, but that just made it worse, because it forced some of that water to flow out as tears.

"Are you ok?" Katie asked, very concerned.

He nodded and sniffled.

"I didn't mean to make you cry, Stevie..." she started to say, but he cut her off.

"I'm not crying. I'm just..." he took a deep, steadying breath and spoke more calmly. "...What about my bra straps? Grandma used to always shake her head and comment on girls wearing dresses that showed off their bra straps."

Katie blinked at her brother in amazement. "Is that way you were crying? Because your bra straps are showing?"

"No," he said with a tone that indicated that her question was foolish, but he made no attempt to explain why he had become so teary.

"Well," Katie chuckled, "one of your new bras is designed so that the straps can be removed easily, so you could wear that with this. Of course, the dress is lined, so someone with a bust as small as yours could probably get by without a bra if you wanted."

"I think I need the bra," Stevie said, swaying from side to side, just a bit, and taking a critical look at the dress' deep neckline. "See, I have a little cleavage, now, but without the bra, I'll go back to being a flat chested boy."

Katie nearly pointed out that, although Stevie's breasts were small, he was far from flat chested. Instead, she adjusted the dress on him and said, "I agree with Livy. You look really pretty in this."

"See!" Olivia jumped in. "I told you!"

Stevie smiled and took the child's hand. "Thank you, Livy. I needed that."

That evening, after the girls were in bed, Katie and Stevie talked about his future. He was still very tentative about making a decision, but he found the prospect of being a woman less frightening and less foreign than he had a day or two earlier. Katie suggested that perhaps it was time to take a step in how he referred to himself.

"Change your pronouns, I mean," she explained. "Be a 'she.' A 'her.' That might help."

Stevie shook his head. "No. Not until I'm sure. If I then decided to stay a guy, I'd just look like an idiot for having changed for a while."

Katie just shook her head and smiled. What weird thing to have to deal with.

Derrick got home just as Katie and Stevie were shutting off an old movie and were about to head to bed. He was far from drunk, but he'd had a few beers and was very happy and relaxed.

"How was the game?" Katie asked.

"Awesome!" Derrick said with a huge smile, as he locked the back door behind him. "Six to two Sox. Great pitching and two home runs in the same inning! Can you believe it!? Two! The Yankees are headed back to New York with their tails between their legs, I'll tell you, that, my good wife!" He kissed Katie on the lips. "And my good sister-in-law!" He kissed Stevie's hand, then bowed in a mock courtly manner.

"Brother-in-law," Katie insisted.

"Oh, please,"Derrick scoffed. "Look at her. She's almost as pretty as you are. That skirt is cute on her and... did your breasts grow?"

Stevie looked down at where his new bra forced his breasts to protrude a bit more than before and laughed at his loose lipped brother-in-law.

Katie was not amused, though. "DERRICK!"

"What?" He looked at his wife, confused by her shock. "I'm only asking because they look bigger."

"Since when is it polite to ask someone a question like that!?" She asked, keeping her voice down, but keeping her anger in it.

Derrick blinked at his wife, "Wait... are you mad at me?"

Katie folded her arms. "Yes. That was rude."

Derrick looked at Stevie. "Are you mad at me?"

Stevie smiled and shook his head. "No. I probably would have noticed, too."

Derrick looked back to his wife. "My dear... I sincerely apologize for offending you," he gave that same courtly bow, again, "however my remarks seem to have not offended the charming and lovely Miss Stevie." He nodded to Stevie, who was amused by his play acting. "I think that my best choice of action at this point may well be to put myself to bed before I say anything else to irritate my good wife."

"That's the first intelligent thing you've said since you came home," Katie scolded.

Derrick nodded, then hugged his wife and kissed her cheek. "Good night, my love. See you in the morning."

"Good night," Katie huffed. "I'm glad you enjoyed the game."

"I did, I did," he smiled, then turned to Stevie and winked. "Good night, Stevie. You look more lovely everyday." He hugged Stevie and kissed his forehead in a very big-brotherly way. Then he bounded up the stairs, two at a time, as he always did.

"You were kind of hard on him, weren't you?" Stevie asked.

Katie looked at him and shook her head. "I honestly have no idea how to deal with some of this, Stevie. I ask about pronouns, you say no. Derrick uses the wrong sex and you're fine with it. He calls out the most female change you've gone through and you're fine with it. Is it just ME that can't say anything right?"

"No, no," Stevie said and hugged her. "I'm not trying to be difficult, Katie, I'm really not, but you just... you want me to make a decision and formalize everything and... I just can't, Katie. It's such a big thing to do. Derrick was just being casual and relaxed and being kind of funny about everything. It didn't bother me."

Katie nodded. "I get it. I'm coming on too strong, but... Stevie... it's because I love you and you need to make a decision."

He nodded. "I will... but not right now."

Katie heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright. Let's call it a night. We'll talk again in the morning."

Stevie went to his room and changed into the pjs he was wearing to bed. They were just a pair of loose fitting shorts and a matching sleeveless tee shirt. He was in the lavatory, washing his face, when the pain cut through his abdomen again. This time it was more painful than ever before and it felt like he was being torn in two. He wanted to scream to release the pain, but that would have brought help and that help would have demanded that he go to the hospital and he couldn't handle that. Not right now. He just wasn't ready for that. Not yet. So, he gripped the edge of the sink and fought against the pain. He controlled his breathing as best he could and he let himself weep until the pain began to subside. Then he slowed his breathing until it had returned to normal.

Just as he thought everything was over, he heard a tiny voice ask, "Are you ok, auntie?"

Stevie turned and saw Olivia standing in the doorway of the lavatory wearing her Pocahontas nightgown.

"Livy... what are you doing here? You should be in bed."

"I heard you crying," she said, looking sad and concerned. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Livy. I just had a pain in my tummy. It must have been something I ate. I'm sorry if I woke you. Come on, honey. I'll take you back to bed."

"No," she said, quietly. "I'll sleep with you. You need me."

Stevie smiled and took his niece's hand. "Maybe I do."

When Katie woke up on Sunday morning, she was surprised that Derrick was already up and out of the bedroom. Afraid that he might have been angry about the previous night, Katie sent him a text. 'WHERE ARE YOU?'

'DOWN STAIRS WITH ALICE. I'M FEEDING HER A BOTTLE.' Came the reply.

That was odd. 'WHERE'S STEVIE?'

'STILL ASLEEP.'

'LIVY?'

'WITH STEVIE.'

Huh. Of course she was. She'd need to speak to Stevie about this bunking up together stuff. She didn't want to see it become a habit.

She got up and got changed, did her hair and makeup and headed towards Stevie's room and the nursery. When she peeked into his bedroom, Stevie was asleep on his side and Olivia was sitting up against the headboard.

Katie tiptoed into the room and whispered, "Hi, honey. What are you doing in here?"

"Mommy," the little girl seemed concerned, "I think Auntie Stevie is sick. She's had a tummy ache all night. She groans and rubs her belly a lot."

"Really?" Katie sat lightly on the bed. "And you've been taking care of auntie all night?"

Olivia nodded, a very serious expression on her face.

"You must be exhausted. Maybe you should go get some sleep and I'll watch over auntie until she wakes up."

Olivia looked at Stevie and thought for a moment. "You'll stay here till she's awake?"

"Of course I will, honey. I promise. I'll just tuck you in and then come right back. Then I'll stay right here."

She thought that through and finally nodded. "Ok."

Seeing as the sun was out and Derrick was already downstairs, Olivia agreeing to going to bed meant that she really had been awake worrying about Stevie for a good chunk of the night. This was not a good thing. A four year old should not be loosing sleep worrying about an adult.

After tucking Olivia into bed, Katie came back into the room and sat in a chair beside her brother's bed. She sent Derrick a text to tell him what was happening and that she'd be down as soon as she knew Stevie was ok.

It wasn't long before Stevie rolled over and saw that the sun was shining into his room.

"Oh, shoot," he muttered, pulling down the covers and was about to hurry to get ready, but Katie jumped up and pushed him gently back down, then sat beside him on the bed.

"Hold on, now, Stevie," she said, putting her arm around his shoulder. "We need to have a chat."

"But it's late," he said, in a rushed voice. "I have to get to the girls."

"Derrick has Alice and I just put Livy to bed in her own bed."

"To bed?" Stevie rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "It's morning."

"And she spent the night in here worrying about you because she said you were in pain all night. Is that true?"

Stevie sighed. "A little... for a while. Livy heard me in the bathroom. I'm sorry."

Katie shook her head. "Stevie... this can't go on. Dr O'Leary told you..."

"I know. I know..." he said, defeated. "I'll call her office tomorrow morning. Ok?"

Katie was taken a bit aback by this, but glad to hear that her brother was being somewhat mature. "And tell her what?" She asked calmly and cautiously.

"That I'm having these pains more frequently," Stevie said, "and they're getting more intense. And that... I think... my body wants me to be... a woman."

Katie had hoped that when Stevie reached this conclusion that he'd be happy, but he just seemed so defeated, now. "Is that what you want?"

He shrugged. "I don't know... what difference does it make?"

Katie shook her head. Had she been pushing him too hard? "It makes a lot of difference, Stevie. I mean... do you think you'll be happy as a girl?"

He shrugged again. "I'm miserable as a guy, Katie. Being a girl can't be any worse, and I need this pain to stop."

Katie checked her watch and saw that it was already after ten o'clock. "Stevie... I don't even know what to say to that, but... I want the pain to stop, too. I wish I'd known that it had gotten this bad. I would have come to sit with you. I can't help you if you don't tell me you need help."

Stevie just nodded, feeling a bit guilty about Olivia losing sleep the previous night. "I'm sorry. She was just so sweet and concerned... I didn't think she be here all night. It won't happen again."

Katie nodded. "Ok, well... let's get you dressed and ready. Remember, your new friends, Pat and Elise are coming by to meet me and Derrick. She's coming by around noon, so go take a shower and get dressed and let's have a nice day. Ok?"

"Ok."

When noon rolled around, Stevie was out on the patio with Katie and Olivia, while Derrick prepared his massive grill for his afternoon of chef-man-ship, if that was in fact a term. Actually, Derrick loved being the grill master, but his work schedule made that difficult. So he was excited about this opportunity.

Stevie was wearing his new dress and looked very lovely. Katie was dressed in a pretty sun dress and she and Stevie had dressed the girls up nicely, too.

"I think I might be underdressed to be in the company such gorgeous ladies," Derrick said with a smile and a wink. He was wearing khaki shorts and a gray polo shirt.

Katie gave him a sweet kiss. "I think you look very handsome," she smiled. "I always think you're the best looking man in any group of people."

"Oh, aren't you nice," he laughed, "but I don't look nearly as nice as you all do."

"Hello!" A voice called from the gate in the fence that surrounded the yard. "Can we come in this way?"

"Of course!" Katie called. She turned to Stevie and said, "Is this your friend?"

Stevie looked past her and nodded. "Yes. That's Pat." He waved to the approaching mother and daughter. "Hi, Pat. This is my sister, Katie, and my brother-in-law, Derrick."

Everyone said their hellos and Katie took Pat aside to get acquainted. Stevie took Olivia and Elise over to the sandbox beside the pool and engaged them in some games in the sand.

"I have to admit," Pat smiled, looking towards the sandbox, "your sister is surprisingly bright for a girl her age."

"She's older than she looks," Katie nodded. "She's just a late bloomer. But, yes... she is very bright."

"And she tells me that she's a kind of au pair around here for you."

That made Katie snicker a bit. "No, not really. I mean, she's my sister, not my employee. She has no where else to go right now, and we're happy that she's living here and... yes, she is helping me out, but honestly, she's doing twenty times more than I ever asked her to do."

"Boy, your daughter is certainly smitten with her, isn't she?" Pat laughed as she watched Olivia stop playing to hug Stevie.

"She is," Katie laughed, "but I couldn't ask for a better role model for my little girl."

"So," Pat smiled and took a sip of the wine that Katie had served her, "would it be ok with you if we were to set up play dates for Olivia and Elise on weekdays while you're working? I know that Stevie has other responsibilities here as well, but Elise has always been rather standoffish with other children and she seems to get along well with Livy, and, to be very honest, even though Stevie is a lot younger than I am, it's nice to have a conversation with an adult - or at least a person who knows about things other than Sesame Street characters and My Little Pony names - every now and then."

"Of course!" Katie laughed, knowing full well what Pat was talking about, having been in the same situation not long ago.

With that settled, the two women turned their conversation to choices of kindergartens, stores with good quality clothes for little girls, activities for children, their husbands, their jobs, music, movies, books, etc., and the girls played happily with Stevie.

Then, unexpectedly, the front doorbell rang.

"Huh," Katie said, as she stood. "I wonder who that is. I'll be right back."

She walked back into the house and to the front door. She opened it and found a neatly dressed young man carrying two small bouquets of flowers that were obviously purchased at a grocery store. The young man looked vaguely familiar, but Katie couldn't place him.

"Hello..." she said, leaving the welcome hanging like a question.

"Hi," the young man said with a big smile. "Oh... these are for you," he smiled even more broadly as he handed one of the bouquets to Kate.

She accepted the flowers with a look of confusion on her face. "For me? Well, thank you, I guess..." She stared at the young man trying to figure out who he was, but nothing came to her. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but... you are...?"

It took a moment for the young man to realize that she wanted him to identify himself. "Oh... I'm Tony. You know... Tony the pizza guy? I drove your sister here last week? On my scooter?" Each of his sentences were statements of fact, but they came out sounding like questions as he hoped that each would act as a prompt to guide the lady at the door to understand who he was and why he was there.

"Oh, Tony!" Katie finally made the connection. "I'm sorry, you caught me off guard. Ummm... is Stevie expecting you?"

Suddenly, the boy's smile faded a bit. "Oh... well... I hope so. I mean... your husband... the police officer, right? He invited me to come to lunch today."

"He did, did he?" She tried to put all of this together. "And just where did you meet my husband?"

"Well, he pulled me over the other night and..."

Katie shook her head. Why would Derrick do something like this? "I'm sorry, Tony, I just wasn't expecting you. Here, step inside. Let me just touch base with my husband for a moment, ok?"

"Oh," Tony felt very much on the spot, now, "look... if this isn't a good time, I can just leave..."

'No, no," Katie gave him her hostess smile. "Let me just talk to my husband for a moment, ok? Oh, and thank you for the flowers. That's very thoughtful of you."

Tony nodded and waited in the foyer of the house. He heard Katie leave through a sliding, patio door, then a few moments later, heard that door open and close again. Then he heard hushed voices in another room.

"What are you thinking, inviting that boy over and not telling anyone about it?"

"Ok, I'm sorry," a man's voice said, quietly. "I completely forget about inviting him or I would have mentioned it. It was just a passing moment and I took the opportunity to invite him. I thought it would help Stevie to have someone the same age here."

"Yeah, but, Derrick, with everything that Stevie's going through right now, do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Well, maybe not, but in fairness to me, I didn't know anything about what the doctor said until the next night. Had I known that..."

"Well, it's too late to do anything about that, now. The boy is here. I think you need to talk to him."

"I will," the man's voice said, then the police officer who'd pulled him over the other night walked into view with a big smile on his face. "Hey! Tony The Pizza Guy! How are you?"

"I'm ok," Tony nodded, but he looked defeated. "Look, I think I should probably get going. So, if you could just give these to Stevie..."

Derrick was going to let the kid down easily, but he just looked so sad. "Oh, hey, no... you can give those to Stevie yourself."

"Well, it seems like this might not be a great time..." Tony started to say, but Derrick waved him off.

"Nah... it's the perfect time." He winked at the young man. "Come on. Let's go surprise Stevie."

He put his arm around the young man and led him through the house, past Katie, who shook her head in disbelief at her husband's ability to just keep moving forward, regardless of how bizarre the situation was about to become.

They exited to the patio and Derrick led Tony straight to the sandbox. "Stevie, look whose here!" He said as if this was all just a coincidence. "You remember Tony, don't you?"

Stevie actually froze, seated on the edge of the sandbox with the two little girls around her.

"Hi," Tony said, with a small wave and a big smile. He'd been hoping to get together with Stevie and was really looking forward to that afternoon and, boy did she look different than the last time he saw her. She was wearing a really pretty dress, and he was pretty sure she had on some makeup, and... her boobs were nearly unnoticeable last time, but in this dress... wow. She looked hot!

Stevie looked from Tony to Derrick to Tony to Katie and back to Tony again trying to make sense if the situation. Finally, he muttered, "Hi."

Derrick nudged Tony and then pointed at the bouquet in the boy's hand. "Oh," Tony sputtered, "these are for you." He held the flowers forward.

Stevie stood, wiping sand from his hands and the skirt of his dress. "For me...? Thank you... They're very pretty." He sniffed the flowers and smiled self consciously. "No one's ever given me flowers before."

Tony shrugged. "I thought I should bring something." He smiled. "I... I brought some for your sister, too. I hope you don't mind."

Not sure how to respond to that, Stevie just looked at Katie, who reached out and said, "Here, let me put those into some water for you. Tony, why don't you join Stevie here and entertain the girls a bit. Dinner will be ready soon." Then she looked at Derrick. "Come help me get a couple of vases down, will you?"

Derrick knew that tone. He was in trouble. Not a lot of trouble, that was a whole different tone, but a little trouble, and he was going to hear about it in no uncertain terms.

On the way into the house, Katie excused herself from Pat, assuring her that she'd be back in just a couple of moments.

Once in the kitchen, Derrick immediately opened the pantry cabinet and reached up for two vases.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Katie snapped. "Stevie is as confused as a person can get and you go and throw an infatuated boy into the mix!? Not very bright, if you ask me."

"Again," Derrick sighed, placing the vases on the counter and closing the pantry cabinet doors, "when I asked Tony to dinner, I had no idea that Stevie was a genetic female..."

"He's not just a genetic..."

"...and even if I had... Katie, look out there. Stevie and Tony are talking. When was the last time you saw Stevie talking to anyone her age?"

Katie shook her head. "How old is that boy, anyway?"

"Nineteen," Derrick smiled. "He's a senior in high school. Going to college, locally, in the fall."

Katie shook her head some more. "I would just rather not have piled on more this week, Derrick. Stevie is..."

"Laughing," Derrick pointed to the sandbox where Tony was showing off a little for Stevie and the girls. "See. Everything is fine. Tony's a nice kid, he's nuts for Stevie, Stevie is laughing and happy... Life is good, Katie. Don't be mad at me; just enjoy the moment."

Katie looked at the scene in the sandbox and smiled. "He does look happy, doesn't he?"

"'She, Katie. You need to get past that 'he' stuff. She does look happy, though. I think she may have her first boyfriend, though."

Katie nodded. "What if she turns out to be a lesbian, though."

Derrick shrugged. "I pull over a lot of nice young women, too."

Katie snickered and elbowed her husband in the side.

Out in the sandbox, Olivia stood and whispered, not very quietly, to Stevie, "Is Tony your boyfriend?"

Stevie blushed and said, "We only met the other day. We're just friends."

Tony waved Olivia over to him and whispered, not very quietly, to her. "I really like your Auntie Stevie and I want to be her boyfriend. If you could tell her to like me more, it might help."

Olivia looked at Stevie and said, "Auntie, you should like Tony more. He's nice and funny and he brought you flowers."

Stevie laughed at the little girl. "Oh, is that what you think?"

"I think so, too," Elise said, with a smile. She leaned up and said to Stevie in a loud whisper, "He's really handsome, too."

"Oh, you think so?" Stevie laughed even harder, partially from embarrassment and partially from amusement.

"Out of the mouths of babes!" Tony smiled. "What more could you ask for?"

"We're not babies!" Olivia said to Tony.

"No, no, you're certainly not," Tony smiled. "You are very beautiful young women."

That made the little girls giggle.

Soon they were back to playing in the sand and Stevie and Tony were talking and getting to know each other.

"You're twenty!?" Tony said, shocked. "Honestly, when I first saw you asleep on the porch, I thought you were like twelve, but after I woke you and we were talking, I figured you were seventeen or so. I never expected you were older than me, though."

"You we're going to ask out a twelve year old?" Stevie asked, teasing.

"No, of course, not. I didn't find you attractive until you woke up and we started talking. I just..." he smiled and looked at Stevie more closely. "You know, you look older and much prettier today. You look nice in a dress."

Stevie blushed a bit more. "Thank you. I've never really worn dresses before. It's kind of new for me."

"You should wear them more often," Tony smiled so sweetly. "You make them look nice."

"Come on everyone!" Derrick called out. "Soup's on!"

"Yay!" Olivia shouted, grabbing Elise's hand and heading towards the patio table.

"We're having soup?" Tony asked, confused after watching Derrick grill steaks for the last half hour.

"No," Stevie laughed. "That's just Derrick's way of calling us to the table."

Tony nodded and followed Stevie to the table.

Dinner conversation was pleasant with everyone getting to know each other. Pat was a gifted conversationalist and Tony was charming enough to hold his own with the older people. Stevie joined in here and there, but mostly dealt with the little girls and their meals. The meal was delicious, Derrick was very proud of his work.

After dinner, Tony suggested that he and Stevie take a walk.

"Sure, I'd like that," Stevie answered, hoping for a little private time in which to explain some things to Tony. Not tell him outright that he had a penis, but rather just to tell him that there were some medical issues that he needed to deal with before he could have a relationship with anyone.

Unfortunately, a private walk was not to be. When they headed down the block, Tony and Stevie were accompanied by two four year olds who were bouncing around them and an infant in a stroller. So, instead of discussing a lot of personal things, Stevie and Tony just chatted about the neighborhood and commented on the properties they were passing.

"That's a very impressive house, isn't it?"

"I don't like that color yellow on a house. It looks like a big yield sign."

"What a great place for kids to play. The yard is so nice and flat."

They were walking for about twenty minutes or more when the first abdominal pain slammed into Stevie.

"Ugg," he groaned and grabbed his middle, doubling over as the pain sliced through him like a machete.

"Are you ok?" Tony asked, putting a hand on Stevie's back to keep him from falling.

"I'm..." Stevie started to say, but another pain slammed into him. "I get these pains, sometimes and sometimes, they hit me really hard."

"Wow," Tony said with concern. "Maybe we should head back to your sister's house, huh?"

Stevie nodded and smiled through the pain. "Yeah. I guess."

They reversed their direction and headed back towards the house, but another bolt of pain wracked Stevie's midsection. "Ahh!" He gasped, bending nearly to the ground.

Now, the children, particularly Olivia, were starting to become alarmed. "Auntie? Are you ok? Is it your tummy again?"

"I'm fine, sweetie," Stevie assured his niece. "Yes, it's just a bad tummy ache."

"I don't mean to be indelicate," Tony said with as much tact as possible, "but is this a 'ladies' thing? Like... monthly cramps or something?"

Stevie shook his head. "I have this... disorder. I was going to tell you about it on our walk, but..." he looked at the little girls.

Tony nodded that he understood. "Maybe you should call home and have someone come pick you up."

"No," Stevie took a deep, steadying breath and started walking, again. "Let's just head home."

"Ok."

They had walked about a half block when suddenly Tony, who had been watching Stevie closely, noticed that Stevie's face had gone very pale. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"I don't know," Stevie said, as he stopped walking. "I feel... funny."

"Funny, how?"

It was hard to breath. There was a feeling of being very lightheaded. There were dark purple clouds forming at the edges of sight. There was ringing in the ears. The world felt distant and odd.

"Stevie!? Stevie!?" Tony spoke, trying hard to keep his own panic in check so as not scare the girls. "Stevie, take out your phone. Stevie, unlock your phone for me. Come on, Stevie... unlock your phone. Stevie, I don't have your sister's number. Come on, Stevie."

Stevie couldn't think straight, but this seemed like a good idea. He pulled his phone from the diaper bag that hung on the stroller and looked at the screen, but it was hard to see through the gathering dark purple clouds that were growing in his sight.

"Enter your code," Stevie," Tony said with a level tone.

Stevie nodded and entered the six numbers that unlocked the phone just as his vision disappeared and nothingness enveloped him.

There was just black silence for a long time.

~^~

And then there were sounds. Odd sounds. Strange voices talking. People moving around. An annoying beeping. Then there was touching. People touching her arms. People shifting her in some way. Then there were smells. Awful smells. Hospital smells. Smells that she'd smelled when her grandmother died. Smells she'd smelled when her mother died. Smells of... a hospital.

No!

No, she could not be in a hospital! People died in hospitals! That's what hospitals were for!

She had to wake up. She had to wake up! SHE HAD TO WAKE UP!

She struggled against the foggy unconsciousness that held her down. It may have been minutes or hours or days, but as her struggles became stronger, her senses began to find their roots in reality again until, finally, she opened her eyes and lifted her head and tried, but failed to sit up.

The room was empty and clinical. She looked around, no one was with her. Maybe she was already dead! She looked out the window that made the entire wall of her 'room.' There were people going about their jobs out in the hallway and at the desk area that made up the center of the ward. No, she probably wasn't dead. This wasn't what she envisioned Hell would look like and it certainly wasn't heaven. She was just... alone.

"Hello!?" She called out, but her first attempt didn't go well. Her throat was dry and her voice was broken. She cleared her throat and called out louder. "Hello!?"

This time, her voice carried better and a woman at the counter that surrounded the desks turned and smiled, then walked into his room. "Well, hello! Welcome back to the land of the living. You gave us quite a scare, you know, young lady."

'Young lady?' That was odd, wasn't it. Certainly, a nurse would have seen that she had a penis and was more male than female, wouldn't she have?

"How do you feel?" The nurse asked.

Stevie blinked. "I don't know. Why am I here?"

The nurse seemed amused by the question. "Because you're a very sick girl," she said. "You passed out and the ambulance brought you here on Sunday."

'Sick girl.' What had happened? Wait! Sunday! The walk with Tony!

"The girls!" Stevie screamed.

"What?" The nurse finally seemed concerned. Stevie's scream had startled her.

"Livy! Alice! Elise! Where are they? Are they ok?"

"Shh, honey, Shh... lay back. I don't know what you're talking about. Are those your friends?"

"No," Stevie was near panic, "my nieces and another little girl I was watching! Are they ok?"

"I'm sure they are, sweetheart. Now, you just lay back and relax. The doctor will be in soon to talk to you."

Stevie nodded. "Is my sister here?"

"Pretty lady, about so tall, with brown hair?" The nurse asked and Stevie nodded. "She's been here nearly everyday. It's only five in the morning, now. She's probably at home in bed. I'm sure she'll be in later."

"Everyday!?" Stevie was trying to get a grip on things. "What day is it today?"

"It's Thursday, sweetheart. You've been here since Sunday afternoon."

"Four days!?" Stevie gasped. "I've been unconscious for four days?"

"Nearly," the nurse smiled. "Like I said, it's still early. I will notify the doctor and then I'll call your sister and tell her that you're awake. Ok?"

Stevie nodded and fell back onto the pillows. She didn't know why, but she looked at the ceiling and started to cry. Maybe it was because she'd left Olivia and Alice alone. Maybe it was because she'd not been home to take care of Katie, Derrick and the girls for the last few days... she didn't know, but she felt scared and guilty and lost and she cried.

The nurse's phone call didn't wake Katie. She'd been laying awake in bed, only dozing from time to time. It had been like that every night since Sunday.

"Hello!" She nearly shouted into the phone when it rang.

"Hi," a calm voice said, "this is Tracy, one of the nurses at Saint Vincent's Hospital. I believe we met the other day."

"Yes, I remember, Tracy," Katie said as Derrick sat up next to his wife.

"Well, I'm just calling to let you know that Stevie just woke up and seems to be doing fine."

"Oh, thank God," Katie said and then her body started to quake with emotions. "Have you spoken to her and told her what the doctor said?"

"No, ma'am," the nurse said. "That is something that either you or her doctor should do."

"Yes, of course," Katie sputtered as she shook and held back tears. "Have you notified Doctor O'Leary?"

"Yes, ma'am. The doctor said that she'll be here within the hour to see her patient."

Katie nodded and said, "Ok. Thank you for calling. I'll be there as soon as I can."

She ended the call and saw that Derrick was already pulling on a pair of pants and using his phone. "I'm calling my mom," he said. "I already told her that Stevie was in the hospital. She'll come stay with the girls so we can go be with her."

"But you have to work," Katie said.

He waved that thought away. "Family first, Katie. I'm calling out. I'm going with you. There's no way that I'm letting you drive on your own. You're way too emotional right now."

By the time Katie was ready to leave, Derrick's mother had arrived, dressed in a housecoat and pajamas, and Derrick already had his pickup truck in the driveway, ready to go.

"Thank you, Karen," Katie said, "I'm sorry we woke you."

The older, pudgier woman was cool to her daughter-in-law. "What's wrong with your brother, anyway?"

Katie sighed as she gathered her purse and keys. "Well, it's a lot to go into, but... he has a developmental issue and, well, suffice it to say Stevie is not really... male... and that's causing a lot of physical problems for him."

Karen let out a noise that could only be described as a judgmental scoff. "I could tell that he wasn't really a man when he pranced through here the other day."

"Alright, we don't need that right now, mom," Derrick said from the doorway. "I appreciate you getting out of bed and coming over, mom, but you need to understand that Stevie is as much my sister as she as Katie's and you need to be respectful of her."

"Her?" Karen chuckled.

"Yes, her, and we will discuss this later. Not now. Come on, Katie, let's go."

Katie walked out the door and Derrick kissed his mother goodbye. "Thanks, mom. Be nice."

It took twenty minutes to get to the hospital and as they arrived on the fifth floor, where Stevie's room was located, and they ran right into Dr Jane O'Leary.

"I'm glad you're here," Katie's doctor and longtime friend said. "There's no telling how someone may react to something like this kind of announcement.

"That's why we hurried," Derrick said. "We wanted to be here to hold her hands and let her know we're here for her."

The doctor nodded. "Ready?"

They nodded and headed into Stevie's room.

"Hi," Stevie said as they entered. "Are Livy and Alice ok? And Elise? I'm so sorry! I just couldn't make it home."

Katie hugged Stevie. "They're fine, baby. Tony called us. We were there in plenty of time to take care of the girls. Pat took them until we got home that night."

"Oh, Tony," Stevie suddenly remembered the boy who'd come to visit. "He must think I'm some kind of a freak."

"Yeah," Derrick half laughed. "That's probably why he calls us three times a day to see if you're ok."

"Really?" Stevie was shocked.

"Really," Katie said, with a little laugh. "He's been very concerned. You really scared him. I sent him a text on the way here so he'd know you're awake."

The doctor cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "If I might interrupt... Stevie, we need to talk."

Stevie looked at the doctor and swallowed hard. "I think I might know what you're going to say."

"Oh?" The doctor raised an eyebrow. "What am I going to say?"

"I'm a girl, now... aren't I?"

The doctor cracked a little grin at the simplistic way that Stevie had put it. "Well... yes and no. See, Stevie, your body has made a decision that from here on out, you are going to have consider yourself to be a female unless you want to undergo some pretty dangerous surgery and then spend the rest of your life injecting yourself with hormones that won't really make you much more manly than you currently are. Right now, we have had to make a small incision in your lower abdomen and insert a tube to allow your female organs to release its monthly fluids and waste. Do you understand what I mean? Your body has begun to menstruate and the pain you were feeling and the way that your body shut down was due to a very large amount of internal bleeding. Honestly, if this was forty years ago or if you hadn't been with someone who was able to call for help, you most likely would be dead right now. So, yes... you're body has made the decision to be female, but I want you to think of that as a good thing. After all, Katie and I are both female and we're doing fine. And in your case, being female isn't the opposite of being a man, it's the opposite of being dead."

Stevie barely blinked. "Ok."

That was it. Just 'ok.'

"You're ok with being a woman?" Katie asked.

"Sure," Stevie gave a weak smile. "I mean, I think I was going to pick being a girl, anyway, but... I guess I kinda knew that my body had already made its choice. I'll be a girl. That's fine."

Derrick let out a relieved, nervous laugh, then leaned down and kissed Stevie's cheek. "You're very brave, Stevie."

Stevie shrugged. "You are what you're supposed to be. Right? That's all I'm doing - becoming what I'm meant to be."

"Ok," Jane said, relieved that the patient was accepting things so well. "There are a series of surgeries that we need to discuss. None are as radical as you would have faced in a female to male surgery, and usually they require a lot of psychological preparation, but your physical issues will certainly be taken into consideration. We'll move forward as quickly as we can. That can all wait for a few hours, though. Right now, I think it would be best if you got some rest and talked things over with your family."

"Can I come in?" A young man's voice came from the doorway. "I know it's too early for visiting hours, but I wanted to make sure she was ok."

Stevie looked up and saw Tony standing in the doorway. The boy looked concerned, but when he and Stevie made eye contact, both of them smiled.

"Hi..." Tony said.

"Hi..." Stevie returned.

"Jane?" Katie turned to her friend. "Can we give the kids a few minutes alone?"

The doctor looked at the two young people and smiled. "Yeah, I suppose so. Stevie, we'll talk again later. Young man, make sure she doesn't get too tired. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Tony said, very seriously.

As they exited the room, Derrick stopped and whispered into Tony's ear. "You're a good kid, Tony The Pizza Guy, but..." he looked back at Stevie, then whispered again, "... be understanding. Ok?"

Tony looked at the older man, confused. "Yeah. Ok. Of course."

~^~

"Stevie!" Derrick yelled up the stairs.

"Yes?" Stevie leaned over the railing a looked down at her brother-inlaw.

"Katie says that she left the Christmas dress you and she picked out for Alice on the foot of our bed."

"Yes, I found it," Stevie smiled. "We'll all be down in a minute."

"Of course you did," Derrick laughed. "I told her you had it all under control. Don't be long, though. The guests are all arriving."

"Ok," Stevie smiled, then turned and hustled back into the nursery to finish getting Alice ready.

"Her dress is just like mine, but smaller," Olivia said.

"That's right," Stevie smiled. "And your dresses match your mom's. They're mother/daughter dresses. You're going to look so pretty in all the Christmas pictures!"

That made the little girl smile.

"Are you excited about Santa coming tonight?" Stevie asked.

Olivia nodded. "Elise and I asked for matching dresses and Princess crowns."

"Ooh, I hope Santa can get that for you. There. Look, Alice is all dressed. Doesn't she look pretty? Let's go downstairs."

They went down to meet the guests. Pat and Elise were there, so was Pat's husband, who Stevie had become acquainted with over the past few months. Some of Derrick's police officer buddies and their
spouses/dates, Derrick's parents, some of Katie's friends from her office and their significant others, and of course, Tony, who had become a semi-permanent fixture in their house since the early summer, were all in attendance too.

"Well look at these beautiful ladies," Jane O'Leary said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Then she looked at Stevie in his pretty, green, velvet dress, hair done beautifully in thick French braids that matched little Olivia's style, and smiled. "Are you feeling well, Stevie."

Stevie smiled. "I feel great, Doctor. Thank you."

"I'm glad," the doctor smiled and kissed Stevie's cheek. "You've dealt with all of this very well. You still have a long way to go, but you have an excellent attitude and that helps a lot. Are you feeling any soreness down below?"

Before Stevie could answer, Tony arrived and looked at Olivia and made a dramatic gasping noise. "Oh, my goodness! Is that really my very good friend Olivia!? How could that little scruffy girl I know look this pretty!?"

Olivia put her hands on her hips and looked playfully angry. "I'm not scruffy!"

"No, you are not," Stevie laughed.

"Here, let me take Alice. Katie wanted to show her off to her office friends," the doctor said. "Why don't you come with me, Livy. I'm sure that your mommy wants everyone to see how nice you all look together."

Stevie handed over the infant with a kiss on the baby's head. Then she warned Olivia to be a good girl all night or Santa wouldn't be happy. Then they went to find Katie with the doctor.

Tony hugged his girlfriend and looked at how pretty she looked that night. "You look amazing!" He smiled.

Stevie blushed a little. "You always say that."

"Because you always do," he laughed. "So... have you made any Christmas wishes?"

"After the year I've had, what more could I ask for?" Stevie said. "I'm finally healthy and I have you. What more is there?"

"How about this?" Tony asked as he held a small jewelry box out to Stevie. I wasn't a ring box. It was a flatter box and about three inches square.

Stevie looked at it and took the box tentatively. "What's this?"

"Open it," Tony smiled.

Stevie opened the box carefully to reveal a small, gold pin with a small gold flower that had a little Diamond chip in the center of it. "Tony, it's beautiful." Stevie said, very taken aback by the item.

"It was my great aunt's. She left it to me. I'm hoping you'll think of it as a pre-engagement ring kind of thing. You know... kind of a symbol of our commitment." He took the pin out of the box and pinned it to the bodice of Stevie's dress.

"Thank you," Stevie smiled. "I love it."

"Good," Tony said, then he kissed her cheek, "because I love you. Merry Christmas."

"I love you, too," Stevie smiled and looked at the pin. "Merry Christmas."

Because of the little ones, they had dinner a bit earlier than usual and Derrick took that opportunity to make a toast. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, a big smile plastered on his face, "I'd just like to take a moment to acknowledge some of our reasons for being joyous at this time of year. First - we have each other and thank the Lord for that."

"Hear, hear!" A few people shouted out, holding their champagne glasses a bit higher.

"And then, for me, there is my family. My mom and dad are happy and healthy," he raised his glass towards them, "and then there are my girls - My wife, Katie, my daughters Olivia and Alice, and of course, my sister-in-law, Stevie, who - we just learned today - will be starting at the community college in January to earn some prerequisite credits to prepare her to attend State in the fall as an elementary education major."

"Ooo," came from supportive voices and Pat rubbed Stevie's shoulder in support. She had been working with Stevie to make sure she had the credits she needed to go to a four year college in the fall and become a teacher.

"So..." Derrick headed towards his conclusion, "... it has been a year of gains and losses, but I thank you all for the love and support that you have given to my family and me through it all. To all of us: Merry Christmas and a happy new year!"

"Merry Christmas!" came the happy response.

"Are you ready to start your classes?" Pat asked Stevie. "It's been a while since you've been in a classroom."

Stevie shrugged. "I figure I'm starting a whole new life. It's a good time to get things started at college, too."

Pat smiled and held up her glass of champagne. "To a new life!"

Stevie clinked her red cup of Diet Coke against her friend's crystal flute. "To a new life!"

The End