A woman in a simple looking business suit of a black skirt and jacket over a white blouse, her hair up in a bun on the back of her head with a couple of strands starting to fall down around her head giving her the look of having a drink at the end of a long day was sat at the bar. She pushed the glasses back up on her nose as she looked at an image of a man on her phone.

Nicole sat at the bar looking at a man in the corner with a girl hanging on each arm who matched the image. She had to wonder why these sorts of men thought it was a good idea to splash their money around and think that having a couple of apes in suits will keep them safe. The whole scene looked like a bad movie script. It almost made Nicole wish she was dressed in a skimpy little dress so when she killed him, he’d remember her and so would everyone else in the bar, but it was Nicole’s job to blend in and not get noticed by anyone.

She would always laugh when the movies had some sexy female pull up in an expensive sports car and then look drop dead gorgeous as they walked in and killed the bad guy, but in real life that would never work. You see Nicole was a hit man, or hit woman in her case, well she is a hit woman these days, but it wasn’t always that way.

Nicole use to be a boy called Nicolas, but he’d always felt different at school, and it wasn’t until he had to go on the run after killing a fellow high school student that he realised what it was that made him feel different. His small size and ability to look male or female soon led to a life changing career.

Thirteen years earlier

Nicolas Johnson lived with his dad, not that they were very close. Nicolas’s dad had lived in a bottle since his wife and Nicolas’s mother had died in a car crash that Nicolas’s father caused. Nicolas was smart and spent most his time studying and keeping out the way of his father’s drunken rages. Nicolas was just making his way from one class to another when he heard the girl calling his name, not having any female friends in the school, and even less male friends made him just keep walking, thinking she was calling to some other Nicolas until she ran up behind him and stopped him dead in his tracks as she grabbed his arm.

“Didn’t you hear me calling you Nicolas?” A girl called Samantha Kaye asked with a frown.

“Wh...What d... What do you want with me?” Nicolas asked looking worried as he looked around for any sign of this being some prank by some of the jocks. It was almost a daily thing for Nicolas to find his head down a toilet, or his books knocked out his hands if it was a good day, but having Samantha want to talk to him for any other reason was unheard of.

“Don’t look so worried Nicolas.” Samantha smiled when she saw how worried he looked. “I’m trying to get my grades up, and I hear that you’re the best one to help me do that.” She explained.

“Since when did you worry about getting good grades?” Nicolas asked, still not trusting what Samantha had to say.

“Not that it’s anything to do with you, but I’ve been getting a little sick of the way Jason is treating you and some of the other students, and I’m worried he’s going to end up killing one of you, so I want to improve my grades and get out of this dead beat town as soon as I can.” Samantha explained in a whisper as she tried to not get overheard by anyone walking past.

Jason was the captain of the football team and Samantha was his girlfriend, and they made a perfect couple. She was even the head cheerleader, just like in the movies.

“Does Jason know any of this?” Nicolas asked with a raised eyebrow as he also had the same idea about getting out of this dead beat town, and away from a dead beat father in his case.

“He doesn’t own me.” Samantha snapped back with her hands on her hips. “So will you help me or not?” She asked.

“Not!” Nicolas said just before he pulled away from her and started walking away.

“Why won’t you help me?” Samantha asked, not wanting to give up on getting his help so easily, as she started walking besides him as he made his way down the hallway.

“I have enough to deal with as it is, and I don’t want to paint a target on my forehead by getting in the middle of whatever this passing faze is between the two of you.” Nicolas said as he tried to get further away from her without much luck. “Give it a couple of days and you will be onto some other trend, and I will be stuck with Jason wanting me dead.” Nicolas added as he finally made it to his next class and walked in without waiting to hear what Samantha had to say.

Samantha was waiting for Nicolas when he got out the class and she picked up where they left off. “This isn’t a trend Nicolas, please will you help me?” She begged.

Nicolas stopped walking and looked her in the eyes to see if she was serious about him tutoring her, and he couldn’t see any signs of this being some set up. So even though every fibre of his being was telling him to walk away and not get involved, he couldn’t help thinking how beautiful her eyes looked. “Okay I’ll help you, but only in the evening and I’ll come over to your house to study.” Nicolas said, not wanting to subject Samantha to his father’s drunken state.

“Thank you, thank you so much.” Samantha said as she threw her arms around Nicolas and hugged him, just like she would one of her friends.

“Don’t do shit like that, not where people can see us, and then let Jason know.” Nicolas warned as he stepped back and looked around at some of the other students now looking at the two of them.

“Sorry.” Samantha said when she realised it wasn’t such a good idea to do that. One of the reasons Samantha had picked Nicolas to help her with her studies was because he looked like no threat to Jason’s macho status, or so she thought. Sadly Jason didn’t think like that and Nicolas was to find this out later in the day.

Nicolas was just making his way to gym class in the afternoon when he was slammed into the lockers by two of Jason’s friends. He was then dragged into an empty classroom where Jason was sat on a desk waiting to talk to him.

“I’ve been hearing some rumours about you and my girl getting close to one another. Please tell me this isn’t so.” Jason said as he got up off the desk and walked over to where the two guys had just pushed Nicolas down into a seat.

“Samantha was just asking me for some help to get her grades up.” Nicolas tried to explain. “Do you really think she’d be interested in me when she’s got you?” Nicolas asked as he tried to play on Jason’s ego.

“You do have a good point, but I still don’t like the idea of you being anywhere near my girl.” Jason said as he kicked the chair out from under Nicolas.

Nicolas’s head slammed into the floor making him see stars as he lifted his hands to his head trying to stop the pain. Jason took the chance to kick Nicolas in the stomach while he was holding his head.

“Keep away from my girl, freak.” Jason said just before he kicked Nicolas again before leaving the classroom with his two friends following close behind laughing at Nicolas curled up on the floor groaning in pain.

Nicolas was still curled up on the floor when a teacher came into the room a couple of minutes later. The teacher asked what happened and Nicolas said he fell over, which the teacher didn’t buy for a second, but on seeing that Nicolas wasn’t going to say what did happen, he just sent Nicolas to see the school nurse. This did get him out of doing gym, but he looked worried when he left the nurses’ station later in the afternoon when he saw who was waiting for him.

Samantha was stood waiting outside the nurse’s station when Nicolas got the all clear to go to his next class after missing gym.

“I heard what happened, are you alright?” Samantha asked as she started walking beside him.

“No! And it’s only going to get worse for me if you don’t keep away from me.” Nicolas said as he walked into the boy’s toilets to get away from her. He waited in the toilets until he thought it was safe to leave. Samantha was gone when he left again. Not wanting to risk bumping into her again, or Jason, Nicolas left school for the day and hoped his dad had passed out from too much drink, so he could do some studying in his room.

Nicolas’s life didn’t get any better the next day when he got to school and found out that Samantha had ended things with Jason over what he did to him in a very public way, so Nicolas decided to skip school for the day and let Jason cool down a little, as he knew that Jason would be looking to take out his anger on someone, and Nicolas hoped it would be someone else and not him getting the worst of it.

He left school grounds and made his way back towards the library and the one place Nicolas didn’t expect to find Jason or any of his friends. Nicolas did look worried when he heard a car pulling up at the side of the road. He let out a sigh when he saw it was just Samantha in her car.

“Will you please just leave me alone! Why do you feel the need to make my miserable life even more miserable?” Nicolas asked as he started walking down the road again.

Samantha pulled up on the sidewalk blocking his path and leaned over to open the door. “Please just get in and let me explain.” She said.

“Only if you promise to have a word with your boyfriend and get him to keep away from me.” Nicolas said as he stood just outside the car.

“He’s not my boyfriend anymore.” Samantha snapped.

“You may want to rethink that if you want me to tutor you.” Nicolas said as he got in the car.

“You want me to keep dating Jason so you can tutor me?” Samantha asked looking confused.

“I’m not telling you to do anything, but Jason is going to see me as the reason for the two of you breaking up, so if you talk to him and clear the air for now, you can then end things with him later, when I’m not the main factor in you ending it with him.” Nicolas explained.

“You’re pretty smart aren’t you?” Samantha said as Nicolas’s idea made sense.

“I thought the fact you came to me in the first place kind of proves that.” Nicolas pointed out.

Samantha had a talk with Jason, and they got back together after he had to promise not to lay a hand on Nicolas. So with everything sorted out, Nicolas started his tutoring of Samantha and Jason kept his word, even if he still didn’t like the idea of Nicolas spending so much time with Samantha.

Over the next several months Nicolas tutored Samantha and her grades came up, but she was also spending less and less time with Jason, and she also quit the cheerleading squad to take some extra credits. In all this time Samantha found herself becoming closer to Nicolas, and Nicolas found himself becoming closer to Samantha.

Samantha found she liked the softer side she saw in Nicolas, where as Jason was all macho and alpha male. Nicolas would sit and listen to what Samantha had to say. She couldn’t remember one time Jason showed any interest in anything that wasn’t football related.

Things got serious one evening when Nicolas went around too tutor Samantha, he found her in tears after she’d had a big argument with Jason earlier over her quitting the cheerleading squad.

“What’s wrong Sammi?” Nicolas asked using his nickname for her as he stepped in and wrapped his arms around her.

“Jason found out about me quitting the cheerleading squad, and he says that you’re to blame for it all, and he’s going to make your life a living hell.” Samantha sobbed.

Nicolas looked Samantha in the eyes and was trying to think of something comforting to say, but he just ended up kissing her instead. Samantha didn’t fight him off and soon they were up in her room making love.

“That was wonderful” Samantha said as they lay in her bed sometime late in the evening.

“You were wonderful Sammi, and I think way to good for the likes of Jason Ackles.” Nicolas sighed as he played with a lock of Samantha’s hair.

Samantha was just about to say something nice about Nicolas when her bedroom window smashed into the room and Jason was stood in the broken remains of the frame with murder in his eyes.

“Jason!” Samantha screamed out with fear for Nicolas in her voice.

“You are so dead you little freak!” Jason snarled as he dived straight for Nicolas as he tried to get out his way. Jason was too fast for him though, and he soon had Nicolas pinned on the floor with his hands around Nicolas’s throat.

“Jason! Get off him; you’re going to kill him!” Samantha screamed as she tried to pull Jason off Nicolas who was turning blue from lack of air.

“That is what I plan to do, and then I plan to do the same to you.” Jason snarled as he back handed Samantha, knocking her off her feet with a hand print on her face where Jason hit her. Samantha got to her feet and staggered from the room in search of help.

Nicolas tried even harder to make Jason get off him, but he was only half Jason’s size, and all Nicolas’s fighting did was make Jason even angrier as he started to punch Nicolas in the chest and head. Nicolas felt his ribs break and he knew it was the end, but then Samantha was back in the bedroom with her father’s pistol and she fired a shot that just missed Jason’s head, making him let go of Nicolas and dive back across the room to keep some distance between him and Samantha.

“Calm down babe.” Jason said trying to calm Samantha down as she pointed the pistol at him in shaky hands.

Nicolas managed to get to his feet and went to stand behind Samantha as he held an arm around his chest as he felt the sharp pain in his side where Jason had possibly broke his ribs.

“Calm down? Calm Down?” Samantha screamed at Jason. “You break into my bedroom and try to kill us, and you want me to calm down!” She screamed some more. “I’m going to kill you.” Samantha said in a calmer voice that made it sound like she’d just made her mind up about something. She knew that neither she nor Nicolas would be safe while he lived.

“Sammi, no!” Nicolas gasped out as he reached out and took the gun out of Samantha’s hands to stop her doing something she’d have to live with for the rest of her life. “He’s not worth it.” Nicolas added with pain in his voice.

Once Nicolas had the gun in his hand, Jason saw his chance to get hold of the gun as he could see that Nicolas was having trouble staying on his feet. Jason dived at Nicolas and felt a searing pain rip through his chest. As he saw Nicolas point the gun in his direction and pull the trigger.

Jason fell to his knees at Nicolas’s feet and lifted his hand to his chest then looked down at it and saw all the blood. He looked up at Nicolas and Samantha just as he coughed out some blood and then he fell back dead on the bedroom floor.

“What did you do Nic?” Samantha asked in shock as she looked at Jason dead on the floor.

“Tell the police it was me that did it all.” Nicolas said as he staggered over to the door.

“We will tell them it was self defence.” Samantha said.

“No one will believe that, not with how well known Jason is, and I’ve always been labelled an outcast.” Nicolas said as he winced in pain. “Tell them I shot him and ran away with the gun.” Nicolas added as he held up the gun just before he staggered off down the hallway and out into the front garden where some of the neighbours had ran out to see what the noise was.

Two of Jason’s friends were also stood out on the front lawn, one of them ran towards the house and Nicolas when he saw him leave the house, so Nicolas shot him in the leg. The other friend stopped his advance and held up his hand to let Nicolas know he wasn’t a threat. Nicolas shot him in the leg as well, just to make it look like he was the one that did it all, which in a way he did.

Nicolas waved the gun around as he made all the neighbours back up so he could make his getaway. None of them followed, but he gathered they told the police which way he’d gone as he heard sirens and dogs hot on his heals

Jason Ackles father owned half the town and all of the local police force, so Nicolas knew he would never get a fair deal with the local police, so he hoped to make it to the state line, so he could hand himself over to the state police.

Nicolas made it through the woods and out to the truck stop just of the highway. He was in a lot of pain from his ribs, so he looked for a place to rest, and saw a truck getting ready to leave the truck stop. Nicolas slipped under the cover at the back of the truck and crawled his way deep into the steel he found under it. Sleep got the better of him and he didn’t wake again until he felt the truck coming to a stop, worried that it might be a road block, Nicolas crawled out to see where he was, and was shocked to see that he’d made it two states over. The truck was parking up for the night and Nicolas slid out and went to find someplace to hide out until he could get to the state police and explain what happened.

Not having any idea where he was going, Nicolas staggered off down the road in search of some safe place. He found an old garage and let himself in through a broken back door and then found a place to get some more rest.

Nicolas was woke with a start when he heard the main garage door being opened just before he heard a car pulling in. He crawled behind some old tool boxes to hide until the person left again, but he could see the person from where he was hiding, and also what the person was doing. It was a man, and he looked to be doing something in the trunk of his car before he started removing the number plates on the car and replacing them with a new set.

Finding the hiding place to be hurting his already painful ribs, Nicolas tried to move and ease the pain, but in doing so he knocked over a jar making a noise that soon found him looking down a barrel of a weird looking pistol which Nicolas soon realised had a silencer on the end of it.

The man stepped back when he saw Nicolas to be no threat, and he put his gun away again. “Sorry to bother you kid; I’ll finish this up and be out your hair again.” The man said as he went back to changing the plates on his car.

Nicolas saw his chance to get a lift away from this place, and not thinking straight due to all the pain and confusion, he pulled the gun he’d used to shoot Jason and his friends.

“I don’t want any trouble mister, but I need you to drive me to the nearest police station.” Nicolas said as he pointed the pistol at the man.

The man looked over at Nicolas before he went back to changing the plates on his car like Nicolas wasn’t holding a gun at all. “You have a funny way of proving your point kid.” The man said. “Never point a gun at someone unless you plan to use it.” He added.

“I just need a lift, and then I’ll be out of your hair.” Nicolas said with some pleading in his voice.

“You ever shot anyone with that thing, or does it just make you feel like a big man to point it at people?” The man asked as he stood up and turned to face Nicolas, as he looked him in the eyes like he was looking for something. “You have killed someone haven’t you? I can see it in your eyes.” The man added as he stepped back and started to reach behind him where Nicolas had seen him put his own gun.

“Keep your hands where I can see them.” Nicolas said seeing what the man was about to do. “Put that fancy gun of yours on the floor as well.” He added as an afterthought.

“Which do you want me to do kid, not move or lose the gun?” The man asked.

“Lose the gun.” Nicolas decided as he kept a close eye on what the man did.

The man pulled the gun out of some special holster strapped to his back and placed it down on the floor using a finger and thumb. Then the man started to rise to his feet again with a screw driver still in his other hand from where he’d been changing the plates on his car. Before Nicolas had time to react, he saw the man throw the screwdriver at him. The handle of the screwdriver hit Nicolas between the eyes and knocked him off his feet long enough for the man to sit on top of him and then stab him in the arm with something that made Nicolas feel a little weird just before everything went black.

“Sorry kid, but you really did pick the wrong place to hide out.” The man said as he rolled the body of the young man over to get a better look at him. He lifted Nicolas’s t-shirt and jacket to see what was causing all the pain that was showing on his face, and he soon found the reason when he saw the bruising on the ribs down his left side.

Feeling sorry for the kid in a moment of weakness, the man grabbed a first aid kit out his car and wrapped Nicolas’s ribs before loading him into the car and then finishing off the work on the car before leaving again.

Nicolas woke to the feel of a man in his head with a large hammer and the feel of an elephant sat on his chest. He felt that he was in a bed, but the last thing he remembered was being hit in the face with a screwdriver. He tentatively moved his arms around to see if he was handcuffed to a hospital bed, but he wasn’t, so he opened his eyes and looked around. It looked like he was in a log cabin from the look of the walls. Sitting up made his head hurt even more, and his chest was protesting as well, but he needed to find out where he was and how he got here, where ever here was.

Trying the door and finding it not locked, Nicolas opened it and stepped out to find himself on a landing with a flight of stairs leading down to a ground floor living area and kitchen.

“How you feeling kid?” The man from the night before asked as he stepped out the kitchen with a mug of coffee in his hand. “Take a seat and drink this.” He added as he placed the mug down on the table close to where Nicolas was stood holding onto a chair.

“I feel like someone hit me in the face with a screwdriver.” Nicolas said trying to be sarcastic, but the man just chuckled.

“Better than a bullet between the eyes, or I could have just stuck the other end of the screwdriver in your skull and left you in that garage.” The man pointed out.

“Thanks for not killing me then, and for doing this.” Nicolas said as he pattered the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest.

“Looks like someone already had a good go at doing that kid.” The man said as he pointed at first Nicolas’s ribs and then the bruising around his neck. “Care to tell me what happened?” The man asked.

“Call me Nic, and I’d rather not talk about it.” Nicolas said as he sat down and took a sip from the mug.

“You the Nic that tried to kill that boy and girl in a town called Westville? Killed the guy and shot a couple of his friends before escaping.” The man said like he already knew everything. “Call me Max by the way.” The man said as he poured himself a mug of coffee out before joining Nicolas at the table in the living room.

“I wasn’t trying to kill anyone, it was self defence.” Nicolas tried to explain. He then went on to tell Max what happened and how he ended up in that garage.

“Do you really expect to get a fair trial after you ran out the house and shot them other two lads in the legs?” Max asked once Nicolas had finished his story. “You’d be shipped straight back to that town and locked up, or just die in some prison accident. Max added with a sick sounding chuckle.

“And how would you know all this?” Nicolas asked.

“Let’s just say I’ve had some experience in these matters.” Max said just before he took a sip from his coffee.

“Okay then Max” Nicolas said sarcastically. “What do you think I should do?” Nicolas asked.

“Go off the grid and let me train you to be like me.” Max said.

“Like you?” Nicolas asked, “And what is it you do?”

“I fix other people’s problems, for the right price.”

“A fixer of problems.” Nicolas said it like he’d heard that term somewhere before, then it hit him where he’d heard it. “You’re a hit man?”

“I like the term fixer more than hit man, but yes I am a hit man.” Max confirmed.

“What makes you think I could be a fixer?”

“You already are like me. The first kill is the hardest, and you’ve already got past that.” Max reminded him.

“He was going to kill me, so that was self defence.” Nicolas argued.

“Yes you killed this Jason Ackles in self defence, but what about his two friends that you shot in the legs? Was that self defence?” Max asked.

“No, I did that because it felt good to get some revenge on them, for all the torture they put me through at school.” Nicolas said as he made Max’s point for him. “And it helped me to get away.” He added.

“And that is why I think you could make the perfect hit man. You used your anger to plot an escape instead of just killing them as well.” Max pointed out as he slapped his hand down on the counter top. “Let me teach you to use that gift, and you will earn a lot of money.”

Nicolas sat thinking over what Max was saying for a bit as he drank his coffee. By the time the mug was empty, Nicolas had made up his mind. “Teach me to be just like you.”

Modern day

Nicole saw the man get up from the table and make his way over to the gent’s toilet, and saw this was her chance to kill him. One of the first things Nicole learned was that size wasn’t an advantage when trying to protect someone. Nicole smiled as she walked down the hallway and saw a couple of men get thrown out the toilet so her target could have the restroom to himself and his two apes.

“You got the wrong room darling.” One of the apes grunted as he stepped over to where Nicole was stood just inside the door to the restroom.

“No, I think I got the right room.” Nicole said as she pulled a pistol with a suppressor attached and put a bullet through the first ape’s head, and then she quickly did the same with the second one. This left her and her main target in the room alone.

“Please, don’t kill me.” The man begged as he backed up into the corner with his hands in the air looking scared to death.

“Did that ever work when people begged you not to kill them?” Nicole asked in a sweet musical tone as she smiled at the scared looking man. “Did that family beg for their lives just before you burned down their home with them all tied up in the basement?”

Nicole had taken this job because she’d found out that he’d been a hired thug that liked to burn his victims alive because he liked to hear them scream, so she wasn’t swayed by his begging.

“Name your price? I’ll pay you double whatever they’re paying you.” Was his next idea to stop Nicole killing him.

“Sorry, but once I agree to a job, I finish it, and to be honest with you. You’re not a very nice man.” Nicole said as she lifted the gun up to take the shot.

The man deciding he’d got nothing to lose, so he decided to have a go at overpowering Nicole, which she was ready for as she smashed a small glass vile over the man’s head as she stepped out his way when he dived at her. The room was suddenly filled with the smell of fuel and the man tuned just in time to see Nicole throw a lit match at his head. The man screamed as his head became a ball of fire. Nicole shot him in each knee to stop him running away, and then she left the restroom and slipped out the fire exit without being seen.

Nicole dropped the gun in the dumpster in the alley and then made her way over to her car and drove away. The car was just your standard family saloon that thousands of other people owned, so it blended in and Nicole got away clean, just like Max had taught her. Just another girl in the crowd.

Thirteen years earlier

“Where do we start?” Nicolas asked as he looked at Max.

“We start with you getting well again. And that means taking it easy and letting them ribs heal.” Max ordered.

“Where are we anyway? Won’t the police come calling?” Nicolas asked as he looked out the window over the sink in the kitchen and saw nothing but trees for as far as he could see.

“You’re safe enough here. The police don’t call in here, due to them not knowing about the place.” Max said as he got up and offered to show Nicolas around.

Nicolas was right about it being a log cabin, but it looked much bigger than he’d expected it too from the outside. “Wow, nice view, but I still don’t know where I am.”

“For now, safe will do.” Max said as a final word on the location they were currently at.

Over the next three months Nicolas’s ribs healed and Max started training him to fire a gun and hit the target with every shot. Max also started teaching Nicolas to throw knifes and to blend in.

Max got back with groceries one day after Nicolas had been on the run for almost a year, and he slammed a paper down on the counter. “It’s been almost a year, and Ackles family are still fuelling the fire to find you.” Max said as he pulled a newspaper out the grocery bag and slid it along the counter for Nicolas to see.

Nicolas picked up the paper and looked at the front cover and saw a picture of himself taken from one of the year book photos, and a picture of Jason looking like the innocent victim. “How am I going to be this hit man you want me to be if I can’t set foot out in the world?”

“I have a couple of ideas, but you may not like them.” Max said with a sigh as he sat down at the table to explain it to Nicolas.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m really not going to like this idea of yours.” Nicolas frowned as he took a seat at the table facing Max.

“Given your small size and fine features, I was thinking that maybe disguising you as a girl for the time being would be a good way to stop people spotting you.” Max said like it was a really simple choice for Nicolas to make.

Nicolas sat looking at Max for a couple of seconds like he was waiting for him to start laughing like it was a joke, but the longer they sat looking at each other, the more Nicolas realised Max was being serious.

“You’re not kidding are you? You really want me to dress as a girl?” Nicolas asked with his mouth hanging open. “I don’t know anything about being a girl, and I doubt you can teach me.” Nicolas pointed out.

“It won’t take much to change the way you look, and you already have a lot of feminine actions already. As long as we can make you look different enough, then we can move to a location where I can get you some help in perfecting a look.” Max said, like he’d been giving it some serious thought for some time. “I have some jobs in California, so that would be a good place to make you look like a convincing woman.” Max added in a tone that made the decision final.

Nicolas thought Max was going mad, but he was sick of being cooped up in the cabin, so he agreed with Max and then packed up what they needed in a camper van Max owned, and they were soon on the road, but not before Max helped Nicolas dye his hair and style it to look even more feminine. It had grown quite long over the past year, so by the time they finished working on the hair, Nicolas looked like a girl from the shoulders up. Some girl’s clothes and a padded bra took care of the rest of it. Nicolas stepped in front of the mirror, but it wasn’t Nicolas looking back, it was a girl.

“I don’t look much like a Nicolas anymore do I?” Nicolas said as he looked at Max stood off to one side.

“What female name do you want to use then?” Max asked.

“Nicole or Nikki for short.” Nicolas said as he looked at himself, or herself.

Nicolas thought dressing like a girl would bother him, but truth be told he liked what he saw in the mirror. He thought he looked cute as a girl, where he’d looked like a wimp as a boy. The clothes felt nicer, nothing he’d ever worn as a boy felt as nice and soft as these girls clothes did.

“Nikki, I like it.” Max grinned as he tried to hide his surprise at just how good he looked as a girl. Not even Max could see Nicolas in this feminine creature stood before him.

That was the last time Nicolas saw the light of day, as he soon came to realise that being Nicola, or Nikki for short, was the real her. Max found a plastic surgeon willing to do some work for cash. Nicole soon had her own breasts and for a short time she was fine looking that way, but soon Nicole wanted to be a complete woman and Max helped make it happen.

Max sat at the bar by the pool side and smiled at the beautiful creature he’d help create, He’d given Nicola the Fixer name of Ice, because of her ice cold blue eyes, the only part of Nicolas that still survived. Max looked at Nicole sunbathing, while men fell over themselves as they tried to get an eye full of her. It had now been two years since that night in the garage, and the girl sunbathing looking nothing like the boy that had gone on the run. Nicole was a new person, and a master of disguise, able to play sexy female, or geeky looking male when she strapped down her breasts and tied her hair back in a low ponytail. Being male once helped with the voice, and she could do an impressive job of changing it to sound like lots of different people. So started Nicole’s new life as a woman, and a hit woman.

They found a john doe that looked to be the same size and build as Nicolas, and they messed up the body before half burning some ID that belonged to Nicolas and left it on the body. The police said that it was the body of Nicolas, so they closed the case and ruled that the body was that of Nicolas Johnson.

Modern day

Nicole parked up in the parking lot and then walked down the road to another parking lot before getting in another car and finishing her trip back to her apartment, which happened to be an old warehouse.

Once there she stripped off the disguise and then took a shower before logging onto one of the web sites she looked for her work on. She didn’t take on as much work these days, and she avoided going after potluck targets that had more than one Fixer on the job, which is when you risked getting shot by the competition.

“Let’s see who wants who dead.” Nicole said as she started scrolling through the names on the first site. Nicole stopped scrolling down the list when she saw a name that jumped out of the screen at her. “It can’t be. There has to be another girl with the same name.” Nicole said as she looked at the screen and brought up another site where she could find out more about this target.

The name on the screen was Samantha Kaye. She had become a target after she witnessed a drug deal gone wrong, and had picked a couple of the dealers out of a line up. Nicole brought up her photo ID and was shocked to see that it was the same Samantha Kaye from Westville that had once been a part of Nicolas’s life. Nicole had never looked into what Samantha did after Nicolas went on the run. Max had said nothing good would come from it, and Nicole had no real ties to the place, other than the one time Nicolas had had sex with Samantha, which led to him killing Jason Ackles in the first place.

Samantha had moved away from the town just over twelve years ago, and was living in California now, which wasn’t far from where Nicole was at the minute. Nicole found some photos and brought them up on the screen and looked at the screen in shock when she saw her eyes looking back from a twelve and a half year old boy stood at Samantha’s side with the foot note saying it was her son, father unknown.

Nicole slammed the lid down on the laptop and walked away, but she stopped and looking up at the ceiling as if to ask god why he was doing this to her. She walked back to the screen and logged back onto the web site, so she could take the job on, and then do what she could to get Samantha and the son she never knew she had to safety. Nicole let out a groan when she saw the job was a head hunt, which meant that the first person to hand over Samantha’s head got the money. This sort of job brought out all the crazies, so Nicola would have to act fast if she stood a chance of saving them both.

The drug dealers must have had someone from the police on their payroll because the address of the police safe house was in with the other details, as well as her son’s school address and her old work address, once Nicole signed up for a shot at Samantha.

Nicole soon had her car loaded up with most her weapons and ID’s before she left. Nicole had no idea what she was going to do when she got there, or even if they would still be alive, but Nicole had a feeling that said she had to give it a go.

To Be Continued Next Sunday

Story by SaraUK

Edited and Posted by SamanthaK

EDITORS NOTE: Please Comment and/or leave Kudos and let Sara know you like her work please, Any comments on spelling, grammar or the layout of the story please PM me “Samanthak” not Sara. Thank you

Lipstick And Lead Part 02

Author:

Sara UK

Caution:

CAUTION: Violence

Audience Rating:

Mature Subjects (pg15)

Publication:

Genre:

Transgender

Character Age:

TG Themes:

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

Part Two of Eleven

Chapter Two: Samantha and Nicolas

Nicole found the location of the safe house where Samantha and her son, who Nicole had found out was called Nicolas was being held. The safe house was a room at a rundown motel with more entry points than Nicole could count, so she knew she’d have her work cut out trying to stop other assassins attacking.

“You got any more info on who else took on this job Ferret?” Nicole asked the guy she had on the other end of her phone.

“I’ve hacked the site, and it looks like all local talent, no one to really worry about.” A man called Ferret answered on the other end of the phone. “What’s got you taking on a job like this Ice? You know the pay isn’t that good, and it could get risky if you get to her at the same time as one of the others.” Ferret asked with some confusion in his voice.

Ferret had been saved from being shot when he got caught up in a shoot out between Ice and another hit man on another head hunt, just like this one, but he knew nothing about Nicole’s past, or the fact she was once a boy called Nicolas Johnson. Ferret had been the one being hunted along with his sister and her daughter. Nicole didn’t like it when children got mixed up in hits. Ferret had a feeling that Nicole wasn’t taking this job to kill the mother and her son, but to keep them safe, and he was more than willing to help her do that, even if she was playing the reason close to her chest.

The reason Ferret became a target in the first place was because he was a hacker that found his way into the accounts of a mob front company, and then he was foolish enough to steal from them, and left enough evidence for them to track him down. The mob took out a hit on him and his family. This turned out to be Ferret his sister and her daughter, there was no other family. The job had been offered to Max, but he turned it down when he saw a kid was one of the targets. Not happy to just turn down the job and just walk away, Nicole had tracked Ferret down and then killed two different hit men before getting Max’s help to make Ferret and his family disappear.

Max had contacts that helped him fake people’s deaths, and that is what they did with Ferret. It did cost him a little finger and a couple of toes, but it was a small price to pay for keeping his sister and niece alive. Ferret felt he owed Nicole a debt he would never be able to repay, so Nicole knew she could trust him with her life.

“I could tell you Ferret, but then I’d have to kill you.” Nicole said with an edge to her voice that left Ferret wondering if she was joking or not, so he stopped asking questions and just gave her the info she’d asked for.

“I get the message Ice.” Ferret said as he started filing her in on Samantha’s life from just after Nicolas shot Jason and went on the run.

Twelve and a half years earlier

Samantha had let the police and all the locals make up their own story while she pretended to be in shock from the shooting. Everyone had thought Nicolas had lost his mind after becoming obsessed with Samantha and broke into her parent’s house and stolen her father’s gun before shooting Jason as he tried to save Samantha from being shot by Nicolas. The fact that Nicolas had left the house and then shot two of Jason’s friends helped sell the story Samantha went with it at the time. The troubles started to get worse later; when Samantha found out she was pregnant. Having never slept with anyone but Nicolas, she knew the child was his.

Her parents didn’t take the news of her pregnancy well, and they took the news of Nicolas being the father even worse. They shipped Samantha off to live with an aunt on her mother’s side before anyone in Westville found out. Samantha gave birth to a baby boy and named him Nicolas. Her parents tried to make her give him up for adoption, but Samantha refused to, and she started raising him while doing evening classes and working part-time. Samantha’s parent’s wanted nothing to do with her while she raised the child, but the aunt had always had a soft spot for Samantha, so she let Samantha stop with her and she helped her to raise him by babysitting while Samantha went to work and college.

While doing her studies and working, Samantha found out that Nicolas’s body had been found, and it looked like he’d been living rough for some time. Samantha was sad he would never get to meet his son, or her son the chance to meet his father.

Samantha was forced to move away from her aunt’s home when Jason’s Parent’s found out about Nicolas. They thought the child belonged to Jason until they saw him, then they got angry and threatened Samantha with the police if she didn’t hand him over to them to raise as their child because of what Nicolas had done to their son. Samantha managed to put a stop to them doing this when she told them what really happened, and what a complete psycho their son had been, and how Nicolas had shot Jason in self defence. Not wanting to see their son’s name dragged through the mud, they let Samantha live her life with the child that had the same ice blue eyes as the boy who shot their son.

Once all the trouble with Jasons parents was behind her, Samantha found a small apartment for her and her son to settle down in. Samantha hadn’t had any contact with her parents since the argument about her giving her son up for adoption. Samantha was getting back on her feet and even though she didn’t have much in the way of money, she still made sure Nicolas had plenty of love, and they had each other.

Samantha noticed there was something different about Nicolas as he grew up and acted distantly from the other kids, and he seemed to like the company of girls to that of other boys. Samantha noticed that he would act and giggle like a girl. Then Samantha got a shock one evening when she got home early from work when Nicolas was eleven, to find Nicolas dressed as a girl playing tea parties with all his stuffed animals.

Nicolas was bright for his age, so Samantha felt safe to leave him to get home from school and look after himself until she got in from work. Their next door neighbour was a nice little old lady that sometimes joined them for dinner, and was always willing to help Nicolas if he had any trouble while she was at work.

“I think we need to sit and have a talk.” Samantha said as she sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her for Nicolas to come and sit down.

Nicolas walked over and brushed the skirt of the dress he was wearing under himself before sitting down and nervously smiled at his mother.

“How long have you been dressing like this, and where did the clothes come from?” Samantha asked when she saw that Nicolas wasn’t going to start the conversation.

“Mrs Slain asked me to take a couple of boxes down to the basement for her about a year ago, one of them fell open, that’s when I found it to be filled with girl’s clothes, and most of them fit me.” Nicolas said looking down at his hands in his lap. “I just felt the need to try them on, and I’ve been dressing like this when on my own ever since.”

“Why did you never tell me anything about it?” Samantha asked looking hurt with the secret. “I always thought I was an understanding parent you could talk to about anything.” She added.

“I’m sorry I’ve made you feel that way mum, but I was scared you would stop me dressing and make me throw away all the clothes I have.” Nicolas explained.

“Is it just the clothes you like, or do you feel like you’re a girl?” Samantha asked as she tried to understand where Nicolas was coming from.

“I do like the clothes, but I couldn’t answer the question about being a girl, I just feel like me, and it feels right to be dressed like this.” Nicolas tried to explain.

Samantha felt that she had known about this side of Nicolas for some time now, and she could understand the answer he’d just given her. She couldn’t say she felt like a girl either, he just felt like he should have been born with different body parts.

“I think you look very natural dressed like that.” Samantha smiled.

“I’ll go and get changed.” Nicolas said as he went to get up.

“Please don’t do that, if this is how you want to dress, then please stay like that.” Samantha said as she stopped Nicolas standing up. “I can’t keep calling you Nicolas while you’re dressed like that though.” Samantha added. “Do you like the name Nikki?” Samantha asked.

“Actually I’ve always liked the name Sara, but without the ‘H’” Nicolas said looking hopeful that his mother would let him be Sara.

“Hello Sara.” Samantha smiled as she held out her arms and showed Nicolas that she accepted him as her daughter.

“You don’t mind me dressing like this?” He asked as Samantha hugged him.

“No matter how you dress or feel sweetie, you are still my child, and as long as you’re happy, then I’m happy.” Samantha said.

“I love you mummy.” Nicolas said as he enjoyed the hug.

Samantha smiled as she hugged her child even tighter. She’d not heard him call her mummy in some years, and it felt nice to hear it again. Nicolas wasn’t a large boy, and he had his father’s gentle features which Samantha knew to cause him trouble in school with the larger boys, she remembered the trouble his father had, and what it led to. Samantha wondered if Nicolas might not be better off as a girl, he looked so natural and happy in the way he acted now he was dressed as a girl.

“Will you show me what clothes you have, so I can see what you need to carry off this look more often.” Samantha said as she got to her feet and held out her hand to help Sara get up.

Nicolas, now Answering to the name Sara, smiled as she let her mother help her up, and then Sara showed her to the box in the back of the closet in her room where she kept all of Sara’s things.

“Sara doesn’t have many clothes mummy.” She said as she laid it all out on Nicolas’s bed for Samantha to see.

“You don’t have very many things do you?” Samantha said with a sigh as she referred to Nicolas as a girl called Sara. “I think we need to go and do a little shopping for you then.”

“We can’t afford to waste money on clothes for me to wear around the house.” Sara argued with her mother’s idea.

“I think we can spare a little bit to have some fun as mother and daughter.” Samantha said with a wave of her hand. Dismissing any more worries from Sara about her idea.

Sara wanted to argue against her mother’s idea, but the thought of going shopping with her mother dressed as a girl, was a dream come true, so she ended up grinning in agreement. “What if people recognise me or you?” Sara asked.

“We’ll just say you’re a niece visiting for a couple of days.” Samantha shrugged. “It’s not like either of us have a lot of friends to bump into.” She pointed out.

Samantha helped Sara do something with her hair, and then she smiled when she saw how pretty Nicolas looked as girl. “I’m scared mummy.” Sara said looking nervous about going out looking like a girl.

“You’ll be just fine. I’m looking for any sign of you being a boy, but all I can see is a pretty girl waiting to go shopping with her mother.

Samantha and Sara left their apartment and walked down the hallway to the lift and then road it down to the parking area where Samantha’s car was parked. They never saw anyone they knew, which helped to relax Sara, and they were soon in the car and heading to one of the many malls in the area to do some shopping.

Sara was nervous when they got to the mall, but Samantha soon talked Sara into leaving the car, and they did a little window shopping so Sara could get used to being around people dressed the way she was. No one started screaming Sara was a boy and laughing at her, so she was soon just acting like a girl out shopping with her mother for some new clothes.

The two of them had a wonderful time, and they got some more dresses for Sara in a sale, as well as underwear and a starter makeup kit so she could practice applying it when at home. From that day forward the minute Nicolas got home he went to his room and got changed into Sara’s clothes, styled his hair in a more feminine look and became Sara, Samantha’s daughter.

Nicolas spent the next two years becoming Sara at weekends and in the evening. Samantha started to notice a marked difference in Nicolas’s mood when he was Sara to what he was like as Nicolas, and she realised that Nicolas was a girl, and she needed to help her come out and start living her life, so she started looking into what she could do to help, and also into moving to a new area where they could start a new life as mother and daughter where no one knew them.

“We need to sit and have a talk sweetie.” Samantha said one night when she got home from work to find that Sara had cooked dinner for them both again. Sara had become quite a little housewife to her mother since becoming herself.

Sara took a seat at the table and looked over at her mother worriedly. “What is it mother? Has someone found out about Sara? Does this mean I have to stop?” Sara asked close to tears. “I can’t mummy; I don’t want to be Nicolas anymore.” Sara pleaded.

“Calm down sweetie and let me talk will you.” Samantha frowned. “I want to talk to you about moving to a new area and letting you live as Sara, and going to see a doctor about making the outside match the inside.” Samantha explained.

“What? You want me to become Sara for real?” She asked with shock in her voice “Go to school and everything?” Sara asked as she tried to make sure she was hearing her mother correctly.

“Yes honey, I want you to start living the life I think you should have had from the start, as a girl.” Samantha got out just before Sara dived on her knee and hugged her.

“Thank you mummy, thank you so much.” Sara said as she hugged her mother.

“Don’t get me wrong sweetie when I say it’s going to be a tough journey and a lot of people will not be happy with what you’re doing if they find out.” Samantha warned.

“No worse than I’ve been living with as Nicolas, mother, and I feel like this is the real me anyway. Being a boy is harder than being a girl to me.” Sara explained, so with their minds made up, Samantha and Sara started looking at a new area to move into, so Nicolas could start and look at transitioning into Sara fulltime.

Samantha could only look for a new apartment in other area’s when she wasn’t working, so this made it an evening thing for the two of them. Samantha thought it best that Nicolas go out looking with Samantha instead of Sara going out in the late evening as they checked out the apartments.

Nicolas wasn’t happy to be dressing as Nicolas more than he needed to be, but he could understand the reason for his mother not wanting them to get caught up in any trouble with anyone and them find out Sara wasn’t a real girl.

Samantha had been speaking to a girl at the office she worked at and the girl had told her about an apartment that had not long become empty in the same apartment block the girl’s sister was living in. Samantha made some calls and found out the place was still available and she arranged to meet the landlord.

“Are you sure this is the place mum?” Nicolas asked as his mother parked up outside the apartment block. Nicolas thought the place looked more up market than the price being asked for it indicated.

“This is the address the man on the phone gave me.” Samantha said.

It turned out to be the right address and they both loved the area and the apartment was nice and clean, so Samantha signed some paperwork and left the security deposit before she and Nicolas left looking excited about their new apartment where Sara would be living with her mother, not Nicolas.

“Let’s call and grab some dinner to celebrate.” Samantha grinned as she pulled into a parking lot at the side of a diner.

The two of them were soon sat at a table and making their orders. Then ten minutes later they were eating. The diner was quiet as it was getting late, but there were still a group of men sat over in a corner booth. Samantha and Nicolas were just working out what desert to have when they saw another group of men enter the diner. Samantha knew there was going to be trouble when she saw that all the men that just entered were wearing masks to hide their faces and they were heading straight for the group of men sat at the corner booth.

Samantha had just enough time to push Nicolas to the ground and throw herself on top of him before the men started shooting at each other. They heard a lot of loud bangs and scream as the men shot each other. Samantha let out a scream of her own when she felt someone pulling Nicolas from under her. She looked up just in time to see one of the men that just entered the diner using Nicolas as a shield.

“Sara!” Samantha screamed, using her son’s female name as she tried to pull Nicolas away from the man.

The man looked confused just long enough for Samantha to punch him in the face and knock off his mask, so she could get a good look at him. Having lost the mask and just being seen by Samantha, he raised his gun to shoot her, but had to run when one of the other men got off a shot and almost hit him with it.

Samantha was still holding Nicolas in her arms sobbing when the police arrived on the scene. The police took them both to the precinct once they both got the all clear from the medics. Samantha was angry that the man who tried to use her child as a shield to save his own life had got away, so Samantha looked through some mug shots until she found him.

It turned out that the man Samantha picked out was the son of a known drug dealer called Seeley Gunn, and his father was called Damon Gunn but they had never been able to make anything stick, so arresting his son and charging him with various counts of murder may make his son more willing to help them build a case against his father, and with Samantha willing to give evidence against the son, that would stop him from picking up where the father left off.

Samantha and Nicolas were both dead on their feet by the time the police got done taking their statements and Samantha had done a line up where she identified Seeley Gunn. A couple of officers dropped the two of them off at Samantha’s car. Samantha and Nicolas made their way home so they could get some sleep.

Nicolas didn’t go to school the next day and Samantha called in sick so they could catch up on some of the sleep they lost with not getting home until four in the morning. Samantha was just making the two of them a late breakfast when there was a knock on the apartment door. Samantha went to see who it was and looked puzzled when she saw a couple of plain clothed detectives she’d spoken to the night before.

Modern day

“Hello detectives, what do you need me for now?” Samantha asked looking worried.

“We need you and your son to come with us now Miss Kaye.” One of the detectives said looking nervous as he kept looking up and down the hallway outside the apartment.

“Am I being arrested?” Samantha asked.

“No, we need to take you in to custody for your own protection.” The second detective said as he stepped into the apartment to get his point across.

“What’s going on, and why do I need protection?” Samantha asked as she stopped moving and turned to face the detectives. Her body language said they needed to talk or she wasn’t moving another step.

“Word on the street is the father of the man you identified as one of the shooters at the diner has taken out a contract on you.” The detective explained.

“Contract? What do you mean by that?” Samantha asked looking confused.

“They’re trying to say that someone has hired people to kill you mum.” Nicolas said as he walked out the kitchenette into the small hallway where his mother was still stood with her arms folded across her chest. Nicolas had been too tired when they got home to do anymore that climb into bed, so he wasn’t wearing any of his girl clothes when the detectives turned up.

Samantha’s arms fell to her side when she realised what Nicolas had just said. “I thought you said my identity would be kept secret?” Samantha snapped as she pulled Nicolas closer like it was him in danger and not her.

“We’re looking into how they got your name so fast, but until we can find out, I think it best we take you to a safe house.” The first detective said.

Samantha had a lot more she wanted to say, but getting out of the apartment before gun toting thugs arrived to kill her, seemed like the best thing to do. The two of them quickly packed a couple of bags and left with the detectives.

Samantha and Nicolas found themselves in a seedy little motel rather than a house, and it soon got boring and Nicolas was missing being Sara, but the detectives had no idea how long it would be before they got the price removed from his mother’s head, and Nicolas didn’t think the police officers protecting them would understand his reason for wearing a dress and makeup like a girl.

“I know how you feel sweetie.” Samantha said as she pulled Nicolas closer to her as they lay on one of the beds in the room. “I’m sure it won’t be much longer before we can put all this behind us, and Sara can come back.” Samantha said it in such a way as to not tip off the officer as to what they were talking about.

Nicolas looked worried when there was a knock on the motel room door.

“Don’t worry kid; it’s just the pizza delivery guy.” One of the two officers supposed to be protecting them said as he got up to answer the door.

“Pizza again?” Nicolas whined.

“If we don’t get some real food soon, I’ll shoot myself.” Samantha snapped. All they had had to eat over the past week was pizza, Chinese, Mexican and cereal.

The officer just shrugged like he didn’t care as he went to the door and looked through the peephole before he opened it without bothering to put the chain on first.

“Someone order some pizzas?” A guy in a baseball cap and shirt with the name of a pizza company on it.

“Keep the change.” The officer said as he took the two pizza boxes of the guy at the door and then slapped some notes in his hand. He lifted the lid on the top pizza box and saw that this wasn’t one of the pizza’s they had ordered. “This is the wrong pizza!” The officer pointed out as he turned back to show the delivery guy.

“I wouldn’t worry about it; you won’t get to eat it anyway.” The pizza delivery guy said as he pointed a gun at the officer’s head and pulled the trigger. He soon took care of the second officer in the same way and then pointed the gun at Samantha and Nicolas.

“Please let my son go.” Samantha begged the man pointing the gun at them.

“I’m sorry, but he’s seen what I look like, and I can’t have that.” The man said in a cold voice, void of any emotion. “I’ll make sure it’s quick though.” He added as he got ready to shoot.

Samantha pulled Nicolas close to her as she sobbed. “I’m sorry sweetie, I’m so sorry.” Samantha knew she was going to be following her son to the afterlife very soon as she closed her eyes and waited for the shots to ring out.