I initially intended this to be a solo, but something tells me this is going to be at least a short serial before it is finished.

**********

I'm a Texas girl, lived there most of my life. That's not to say that my life was easy, especially when I threw a wrench into the works; a week after I turned thirteen, I told my family that I was a girl, or that I should have been one, and that's when my life became a living hell. My father beat me quite badly, but I guess I was lucky in a sense, as there were no broken bones or other major injuries, just bruises all over my body.

Everyone in my family was tall, my father was 6'5", my mother was 6'2", my older sister was 6'7" and my younger brother was 6"3. I say was because all four of them died while they were heading to Dallas - Fort Worth to catch a flight to California six months ago.

After I spilled the beans about wanting to be a girl, I was never left alone and my father talked to others in the small town a few miles from our modest ranch. It seems they decided they would "fix me", and so I found myself in a camp with half a dozen adult males for three months that summer. I'm pretty sure I did just about all the chores there, and if I disagreed with anything at all, I'd find myself on the ground, having been hit by a rock hard fist from one of the six men. Any time I refused outright, the six of them laid a really nasty beating on me. At that time, I was already 5'9" tall, well on the way to my eventual full height of 6'5", but I was slender, and all of these men were much bigger and heavier.

The casual assaults continued throughout that summer, usually one person, but now and then the group would lay into me for the heck of it. To say that I was a mass of bruises by the end of that summer would be polite, I'm pretty sure they'd cracked some ribs, too.

After that summer, I didn't trust anyone in or near that town, being different in any way wasn't going to be tolerated there at all.

It took two years before I found out from my sister that our father had arranged the "camp" for me, to straighten me out once and for all. My sister became the only member of the family or community that I would trust at all from that time forward.

I stayed in school, graduating near the top of my class not quite two months after I turned eighteen, then left, heading for California.

The winter before I left, I had sent in my college applications, most of them in Texas, but I decided that I wanted to go to San Diego State University in California; after getting their acceptance letter, I responded, informing them I would be there before the fall session started.

I wanted to be marketable once I finished at SDSU, so I asked for the combined BS and MS for Accounting, I also did a BS in Marketing, added an Economics minor and as if that wasn't enough, I figured a Masters in Business Administration would help me as well.

I threw myself into my studies, worked my butt off every day, gained the BS in Marketing in two years, then focused on the MBA and the combined accounting. It took me just over six years to complete all my degrees and the Economics minor.

My sister, as I've said, was my one support, she helped me out while I was there, covering 3/4 of my tuition each year. I had to work part-time to cover the rest and the cost of my small one bedroom off campus apartment, which led in time to my one big hassle there.

Early in my second year, I decided that I couldn't hold back any more, and spoke with a guidance counsellor, then was sent to see someone outside the university, as they didn't have a specific LGBT program in place. It made my life rather frustrating, but I talked to the therapist every two weeks, and after about five or six months of regular chats, I was put on female hormones, something I'd wanted for many years.

The hassle I spoke of happened near the end of my third year there, I was returning to my small off-campus apartment from work when I was attacked by two very large males less than three blocks from home. I recognized both as being on the university's football team, both of them were slightly taller than me, but much, much heavier. They were hell bent on getting what they wanted, they had actually torn my sundress from collar to waist, then one of them discovered my male bits, and they started beating on me, intent on hurting me as much as possible.

I was lucky enough that someone on the other side of the street called the cops when they saw what was happening, even more so when the two jerks were hauled off of me by a bunch of males who were passing by. A woman who was with the group of males knelt next to me, and pulled the torn parts of the dress so that they covered me, then spoke quietly to me as we waited for the police to arrive.

I was so relieved that I wasn't being beaten that I broke down and cried, holding on to the woman's shoulders. She just held me, whispering that I would be okay, then asking if they had done anything sexual to me. I responded they hadn't, but had attacked me instead; when she asked why they did that, I whispered to her that I was undergoing therapy as a pre-operative transsexual.

Let's just say the look this woman gave the two louts that had attacked me freaked them out, heck, it scared me, and I'm bigger than she was.

The police arrived and after talking with me and several of the folks who had been holding the jerks, they arrested the two of them, Mirandized them and dumped them in the back of the patrol car. One of the police officers was a woman, she asked me if I needed any help. I said yes, as I couldn't walk around with the dress as it was, and she called for another car to come and take me home. I informed the officers that, once I returned home and changed into something else, I would be happy to be checked at a medical centre for evidentiary purposes.

The same female officer nodded, saying she would make sure that I had an escort to the hospital and back, for my own safety. I couldn't see any reason to disagree, so I waited and when the second car arrived, I was taken home, where I changed, then to the hospital. The hospital was all right, they checked me out pretty thoroughly, including X-rays, before informing me that I could go home. It was now 2 AM.

In the end, the two jerks didn't have a prayer of getting away with it, they fought the case right to the end and lost. Since they had refused all chances to make any kind of deal, apparently because in their words I deserved what I had gotten and a whole lot worse, the judge came down hard on them and sentenced both to fifteen years in prison, with no parole for the first seven years.

They didn't like that at all, both of them went wild, attacking the bailiff and their lawyers. It took several minutes and five more bailiffs coming in there before the situation was under control. The judge shook his head, and added three sentences each of five years for the assaults on the original bailiff and the lawyers, then stated that the sentences would be consecutive, and minimum parole was now fifteen years.

Other than that one incident, my time at SDSU was spent in classes, studying, working or sleeping, any other activities were quite rare. The only break of any length I had during that time was when I went to Thailand for my SRS, paid for by my sister, may the gods bless her!

Well, that gives a basic history of my life up to the point where I finished my degrees. I managed to get a job with a small company in LA that was looking for someone with a knowledge of accounting and business administration, and I've been working there ever since.

As I said earlier, I lost my whole family six months ago, all of the grandparents had passed on within the last five to ten years; my parents had both been single children, so I was the only surviving member of my family. I had to sort out the funerals and a lot of other things. When my boss found out that my whole family had been killed, she gave me a one month leave to take care of everything, that helped a lot.

Since I returned to work after that leave, I've returned to my home town a few times to take care of family issues that came up.

Earlier this week, the lawyer I had hired to help sort out things after the funerals were done contacted me, saying he had found an account that belonged to my father, one that hadn't been listed in the will, and that the new account held just over $35 million US.

To say that I was stunned would be a major understatement, I immediately asked him if there was any info as to where the money originated. He replied that it seemed my father had held a fair number of shares in Microcrap, and had sold them the year before.

As it seemed that the sale had been legitimate, as the only surviving family member, it was all mine, money worries were a thing of the past.

**********

So here I was, back in my home town, tidying things up when I ran into one of my sister's friends. I actually knocked her down. Oops! I spent the next few minutes apologizing like mad before she finally said anything. "Hi, damn, you're big!" I giggled and agreed with her.

We wandered into a restaurant, sat and chatted over a couple of coffees. When she said that I looked familiar, I nodded; a few minutes later, she added that I reminded her of my sister, but that she knew the only surviving family member was the elder son.

When she said that, I shook my head and replied, "That's not quite the case. There was an elder son, but after some nasty things happened when he was a child, he left here at eighteen and headed to California to continue his education. California was mostly good for him, his studies progressed quite well, but he could no longer hold back his real self, so he transitioned there and graduated as a female."

She looked at me, asked "How would you know that?", then thought for a moment and added, "You were talking about yourself?"

"Yes, Becky, I was. One thing I'm glad of, I never had much facial hair, so passing even with my size wasn't all that difficult. I had one bad incident while I was there, I was beaten fairly badly, but the jerks involved ended up getting thirty years, fifteen without parole."

"Wow, that's a really stiff sentence. What caused that?" she asked. I then explained what happened in the court when they were sentenced.

She laughed. "That was a really stupid move on their part, attacking people right in the court."

We continued talking for a bit, then she mentioned that she had heard something about a boy being taken into the church for "correction". The way she said that word was odd; I asked if she meant something like the summer I went through when I was thirteen, she nodded.

"What I heard is that the boy has said he is a girl, and they intend to beat it out of him in the church, verbally and maybe physically."

I growled, my anger rising, and received startled looks from the three other people in the restaurant. "People still allow that shit to happen?"

When she nodded, I stood up, dropped a twenty on the table, and said, "I'm going to go and help that child in a moment. Bye."

I walked out of the restaurant, flipping my cell phone open, then called my lawyer and explained what I had just heard. After talking with him for a few minutes, I walked to my car, a cotton candy pink '58 Thunderbird my sister and I had rebuilt when I was seventeen. I dropped my purse and attache case in the back seat of the car, then relocked it and walked over to the church, entering through the side door.

When I was approached by one of the large group of men sitting in the main area of the church, I said that I had thought the pastor would be there alone and that I could talk to him later, then winked at the lone young boy before walking toward the front entrance.

He followed me out, we chatted for a few minutes, he gave his femme name as Lara, and I told him how to get to my car. "Just make sure you wait a few minutes, and be sure that they're all involved in the discussion before you sneak out to my car, okay?" He nodded and I left.

I had made sure before going in that my lawyer would contact a judge I had heard about down near Houston; this judge had a reputation for defending LGBT folks, and I had asked the lawyer to contact that judge and inform him I was bringing a child at high risk down there.

As I reached my car, my cell phone rang, I unlocked the car, sat in the driver's seat, then leaned back, grabbed my purse, pulled out the phone and answered the call, "Hello, this is Melissa Johansson, who is calling, please?"

"Hello, Miss Johansson, this is Judge Thibideau, your lawyer informed me of what you intend to do. I want to know why."

"Well, Judge, from what I heard from my sister's friend, the people in that church intend to force the child I'm rescuing to be a boy, even though that child knows deep within his own heart that he is truly female. My friend said they might even physically harm him in the process. Furthermore, I've been through something of this nature myself about a dozen years ago, I left home as soon as I could and transitioned."

"So you are telling me that if this child remains there, he is at high risk of at least serious emotional harm, and possibly physical?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying, this child cannot be safe here at all. Hence I want to bring the child to you."

"All right, bring the child here. You do understand that you are taking a very large risk yourself, young lady?"

"Judge, if you were here and in my position, would you leave that child here so they could do whatever they want to him, maybe kill him?"

"When you put it that way, no, I wouldn't. Children should be protected, not put in harm's way. Call me when you arrive here, please."

"I'll do that. And thank you, Judge."

"Don't thank me, just keep that child safe from harm."

**********

I ended up waiting for several minutes after the call had ended before I spotted Lara walking toward the car. She quickly looked around, then continued and upon reaching my car, opened the front passenger door, climbed in and put on her seat belt.

I took a quick look around myself, then carefully shifted away from the curb before doing a three point turn and heading east out of town.

I suppose the child was sorely stressed because she cried for some time before she relaxed and fell asleep. I should tell you now that Lara is ten years old, a bit small for a boy that age, and the longish hair lends a slightly feminine look to the overall appearance. Looks aren't everything, though, and I had heard from this child that he has known he should have been female since he was five years old.

The miles passed by under the wheels of my car, the child sleeping in the seat kept drawing my attention for brief moments. A little over two hours after we set out, I pulled into the lot of a coffee shop in Childress, I needed a bathroom break and a wake up call of sorts. I gently shook Lara, who woke a moment later, and suggested that it was a good time for a bathroom break. We entered the shop together.

I politely let the cashier know I'd be buying something once we had used the washrooms, she nodded and I went about my business. I noticed that Lara was in the stall next to mine, and we chatted quietly for a few minutes, then cleaned up before exiting the washroom.

I ordered a large coffee for myself, Lara asked for a medium tea, and we both picked a soup from the limited menu. I paid for everything, the drinks were handed to us, and the soup was ladled into bowls, then passed over the counter. We sat down at a table and ate our food.

When we were finished, we returned the bowls, then carried our drinks out to the car. Lara asked where we were.

"Childress, about an hour southeast of Amarillo. We've still got a lot of travelling to do, it could take all day to get to Houston."

"Why are we going there?" Lara asked.

"There is a judge down there that helps people like you, Lara, and he will ensure that you will stay safe while there."

"Is this judge going to keep me safe from what could have happened to me today? I heard what those men were saying, it wasn't nice!"

"He'll do his best to keep you safe, child, and so will I. Now how about we get back on the road?" I unlocked the car, watched as Lara scurried across the entire width of the front seat before sitting down and buckling herself in, then I did the same, started the car and resumed driving.

The hours passed in companionable chatter with one more stop for washrooms before we found ourselves approaching Houston. The Judge lived in the community named The Woodlands a bit north of Houston itself, I decided on a quick stop before meeting him.

The Woodlands Mall seemed a good place to stop, there would be restaurants and we could take our food down by the lake. Lara was agreeable, so I found a parking spot not far from the main entrance, we left the car, locked it and headed into the mall.

After finding the food court, we took a few minutes to decide what we wanted, I went for Chinese food, one meat, two veg and noodles while Lara opted for a burger, fries and a pop from the one shop offering such fare. After paying for the food, we headed out to the lake.

We had finished about half of our meals when Lara asked me to be quiet, she had heard something odd, she said it was someone crying. We both listened intently for a few minutes, then focused on a small patch of trees near the lake that seemed to be the origin of the crying.

Both of us walked toward that small cluster of trees wondering what on earth had happened. We entered the cluster, looked around in the slightly dimmer light, then noticed what appeared to be a little girl curled up on the ground crying, rocking back and forth, back and forth.

I handed Lara my cell phone, then slowly walked over to the little girl, knelt on the ground beside her and touched her very gently. I definitely wasn't prepared for her response, she screamed and kept on screaming for a minute or two before my voice got through to her. That was when it all became even weirder, she literally jumped into my arms, I could feel her whole body, including obvious male genitals. Oh, boy!

I held this small child in my arms, rocking back and forth for a moment, then quietly asked what had happened.

"Last... last night, I told Daddy I was a girl, he... he didn't like it, he hit me, then told me to go to bed. When I woke up today, he... he said we would be coming here today to... to meet some people in the mall. We went to a store at the far end, then in, and... and it got real bad!"

I shook my head, what were the odds that I would run into two young TG kids in one day, and be the only one who could help them? I looked over to Lara, then turned my attention back to the little one in my lap. "And what happened then?"

She then told me that she had found herself in a room filled with adult males, all but one of whom she recognized from church each Sunday, and that they tossed her from one to the next, punching her, slapping her, then sticking their things in her bottom and shoving in and out. She said that they kept passing her around, she remembered going around the circle of men at least twice before she passed out.

I asked her if she knew the names of any of the men, she nodded; when asked what their names were, she very carefully named them, one by one. As she did this, I had Lara pull a notepad from my purse and copy down the names the girl was reciting.

Once the girl had finished, I continued to rock her in my arms for a few minutes; she was so worn out that she soon fell asleep.

I asked Lara to pass me my phone, when I had it, I called the Judge.

"Hello, this is the Thibideau residence, Martin Thibideau speaking, who is calling, please?"

"Judge, this is Melissa Johansson. I have a very nasty complication sitting on my lap right now." I quickly gave him the details, the low whistle from him told me he was somewhat worried. I asked why, he said that most of those people were people he knew of at least casually. Every one of them had easy access to large amounts of money, and none of them were afraid of using their wealth to get whatever they wanted.

"That doesn't matter to me in the least, Judge, what matters is what they did to this child, they all deserve to rot in hell."

"Hmmm... if we could arrest them and freeze their accounts, that might prevent them from doing anything else while we deal with it. I'll need to speak with a friend or two in the court system here, plus a few police officers, but first things first, the child needs to be checked."

"What hospital would you recommend I take the child to for that?"

"Shriner's for Children, it's just off Main below Holcombe in Houston."

"All right, Judge, would you do me a big favour and meet us there, please? I might need your help to ensure the child is treated decently."

I handed the phone to Lara, then used the trunk of a nearby tree to help steady me as I slowly stood up, still holding the child in my other arm. Once I was fully upright, I started walking toward the mall, informing Lara as to where we would be going once we reached the car.

As we approached the car, I had Lara hand me my purse, then I handed the small child over to Lara, who held her carefully. I unlocked the car, helped Lara to get in, buckled her in, then went to my side and was soon ready to head to the hospital.

Lara was still holding the smaller child. I could see tears trickling down Lara's cheeks, I could understand those tears quite well myself. I made sure to stay within all posted speed limits as we drove to the hospital, then parked in the visitors lot before heading to the hospital doors.

As we were about to go inside, I heard someone calling my name, turned around and saw an older male striding toward us.

"I'm Melissa, I assume you're Judge Thibideau?"

"Correct, shall we take this little one in to be examined?" I nodded and we followed him into the hospital.

The Judge noticed a nurse walking our way, and as she passed by, he asked her where we needed to go and told her why. The look on the nurse's face was ominous, we were all glad that we were on the right side of the law; she pointed down a hallway and gave a room number.

We wandered down that hall, eventually found the room she had mentioned and entered. There were two doctors standing behind a desk, a nurse at a desk further inside the room, and a few smaller sized stretchers in spaces that had curtains hanging around them.

The Judge quickly informed the medical people of the situation, and the doctors promised prompt and gentle treatment of the child. The Judge also mentioned that it might be wise to let me stay with the child while the tests were being done, as the child had already bonded with me.

One of the doctors nodded, then directed me into one of the small rooms; I took the child from Lara and entered the room, carefully setting the child on the bed, then set my purse on a small table and settled down to wait. I assumed the Judge would wait with Lara outside.

**********

The tests took a few hours to do, the child cried now and then, but never uttered a word of complaint, not even when they checked her rectum.
After they had done that, she whispered to me that it hurt, but nowhere near as bad as what had happened before.

One of the doctors entered the space, along with the Judge and Lara. "We've done all the tests we can, it will likely be some time tomorrow before we'll have the results ready for you, Judge; if what you suspect is true, we should get enough evidence to nail them all."

"Call me when it's all ready, please, then I can get things moving on the legal front. Thanks for your help, Doctor."

When the doctor had left, the Judge suggested we all go to a nearby hotel, he would pay for it for now.

I shook my head and told him no, I had plenty of money and could easily afford a hotel room for a night or two.

He shrugged, nodded and said it might be a good idea if we stayed out of sight for a while, he would call us once charges were filed.

**********

We didn't have to go very far, I checked us into a room with two queen sized beds at the Houston Marriott Medical Center.

The two children spent a few minutes wandering around the room, then jumped on the bed and looked over at me. It was at least an hour or two past the little one's bedtime, but she seemed fairly awake and whined about needing something to eat. That caused me to remember that Lara and I had left our meals behind at the lake, we'd completely forgotten them with everything that had happened since then.

"Okay, then, how about we go out and find somewhere to eat? Or would you rather order in?"

Both of them started yelling that they wanted pizza, so I asked them what they wanted on theirs; once I had that info, I called the Pizza Hut I had seen earlier and ordered small pizzas for each of us, asking for them to be delivered to my room at the Marriott. I figured that they might want drinks and maybe other things to nibble on, too, so I ordered several cans of pop and orders of fries and garlic bread.

The food arrived about thirty minutes later, I paid for it and barely set it down before the kids were digging into everything.

**********

Once they had been sated, both children settled down and after climbing onto the bed, fell asleep next to each other. It took me a while longer to get to sleep, I was wondering just how I was going to cope with two children until things could be sorted out with the Judge.

I had no idea at all that things were only going to get even crazier when I finally succumbed to the sandman.

**********

I woke up just after 7 AM and listened to the birds outside the windows for a while before the children woke up. Once they were awake, we used the microwave to reheat the leftovers from the night before and pretty much just chilled out for the day. I discovered that I could access movies suitable for the children, so they were happily occupied for now while I sat there and worried about everything.

At 2:30 PM, Judge Thibedeau called, saying arrests were being made due to the medical evidence, and those people's bank accounts frozen. The Judge said it would likely be wise for us to stay where we were for another day, as a few people still hadn't been found. We had just finished eating our lunch, subs I had ordered to the specifications each child wanted; I ordered enough to see us through to the next morning.

On the news that evening, there was a story about a man being shot nearby; I hadn't heard anything, so had no idea it had happened. It turned out that the guy who had been shot and killed was one of the people on the list I'd gotten from the child the other day. When I mentioned it, she turned to me and said that he had gotten what he deserved, he would never hurt another child. Quite true, but somewhat callous, I thought.

We munched out on some of the subs through the day; we were all in bed by 10:30 PM, and sleeping soon after that.

**********

My phone ringing woke me up just before 7 AM the next morning. I grabbed it, looked at the time, then saw it was the judge's number.

"Hello, Judge, I wasn't expecting to be woken up. What's going on?"

"Well, Melissa, the police just arrested the last person on the list your young one gave us, and all accounts have been frozen. You should be safe to go out now if you wish, I'd like to meet with you this afternoon to discuss Lara's case. Is 2:30 PM fine? I'll be in chambers."

"That should be fine, Judge, and thanks for helping. I think we'll also need to discuss the second child. Location, please?"

She listened as the judge gave her the info she had requested, then turned when the younger child spoke, "My name is Tab-i-tha." She very carefully pronounced each part of the name, making sure she said it correctly, then giggled.

I laughed and asked if she would mind if I called her Tabby as a nickname; she said it was fine, but she didn't think she was a cat.

I almost fell down, I was laughing so hard; this child had been badly abused and yet she could crack a fairly good joke!

I informed the Judge of the name the younger child had chosen, he said he was writing it down to help him remember it.

The Judge then said he had one more bit of news, one of the people they had arrested was Tabby's father, it seems he had been one of the participants in the events in that shop at the mall. I then learned that Tabby's mother had succumbed to cancer two years ago.

"So her father is looking at a lot of prison time, and her mother is dead. Gods, what a mess? Have you found any relatives at all?"

"Not yet, I'll let you know if I do find out anything," he replied.

**********

Since I had been told that we should now be safe, I took the girls to the IHOP just off the Southwest Freeway; we spent a good hour or so in there enjoying a solid breakfast, all three of us were glad to be able to be out and about again.

As we were finishing our meals, my cell phone rang; it was my lawyer, I answered on the second ring.

"Hiya, Jeff, I'm sitting in an IHOP right now, what's up?"

"Melissa, have you been following the news there at all? Especially the child rape ring arrests over the last 24 hours?"

"I haven't actually been following it, but I do know what's been going on, why?"

"I heard just now that the child in the case is supposedly transgendered, I know how you feel about what happens to transgendered kids."

I sighed then answered him, "Jeff, that child is sitting in front of me right now. Lara is the one that followed me from the church in my home town the other day. Well, Lara and I found this child behind the Woodlands Mall, maybe an hour or so after the rapes/assaults."

"So how the heck did they catch all of these people so fast, Melissa? Especially as most of them are quite wealthy?" Jeff asked her.

"Jeff, that would be thanks to the Judge. We had Tabby tested at one of the Shriners hospitals here, the children's hospital, and when the results came back, the Judge used that information to order the arrests and to have the bank accounts of all the perps frozen. With them all being wealthy, he figured it would make them very high flight risks, so the courts shut down their bank accounts to make that impossible."

"So you're okay, and I gather you have two children with you? Lara and the one you called Tabby?"

"Yes, I'm meeting with the Judge in a few hours to figure out how we will be dealing with both of them."

"All right, Melissa, please keep me informed, okay?"

"I'll do that, Jeff, talk to you soon. Bye." I then ended the call and put the phone in my purse.

I smiled at the two girls, we cleared the trays from the table, disposed of any garbage, leaving the trays on top of the bin, then left the IHOP.

**********

They say that things sometimes happen in threes, well, my third was about to happen, I just didn't know it. Seconds after we left the IHOP, there was some kind of accident on the eastbound freeway; what I saw was a car being wish-boned, I was pretty sure that the folks in the front of the car were probably dead. What freaked me out even more was seeing a child's car seat come flying from the wrecked car, right at me!

I put my arms up just in time, the impact as I grabbed the car seat dropped me to the ground on my butt; Lara snatched me by the belt and kept me from falling any further by placing her body behind mine. I carefully set the car seat down and rubbed my arms, that bloody hurt!

It seems several people had seen me catch the seat, and a crowd was gathering around us. Someone asked if I was okay.

I replied that I was fine, just not used to catching speeding objects, and a few people nearby laughed at my lame joke.

A few minutes later, an ambulance pulled up nearby and the paramedics walked over to me. They took a quick look at the child in the seat, then turned their attention to me, giving me a quick exam. One paramedic said, "You know that catch was caught on several cell phones?"

I shuddered, one thing I didn't need was to come under public scrutiny. "No, I didn't. Why did you even mention it?"

"Lady, before we arrived here, I heard one picture of it on Facebook had over 10k hits already, you're about to become very, very popular."

"Just what I don't need," I muttered to myself before I decided to look at the child in the seat beside me. The child was a slightly pretty looking boy, about four or five years old, a light-skinned black with wide honey brown eyes that would make any mom's heart melt, I know mine did.

"You have some serious luck, lady, you could have broken your arms catching that seat; all I could find was a big bruise on your abdomen, your arms are fine, although they might be sore for a while. You can take ordinary strength pain meds if you feel you need them."

**********

That catch will haunt me for the rest of my days, it was part of the lead story on the noon news. I had taken the children, including the one that had been in the car seat, back to the hotel to try to relax for a while before meeting the Judge in the courthouse.

We left the hotel about an hour before I was supposed to meet the Judge, I stopped at a Walmart and bought a two-seat stroller, figuring the little boy might need it at some point, and possibly Tabitha as well. We arrived at the courthouse with fifteen minutes to spare.

The little boy, who told me his name was Bobby, was happy to get in the stroller. Tabitha refused, she said she could walk just fine. As I knew what courtroom we needed to go to, I led the way to the elevators with Lara and Tabby following behind. I pressed the up button and we waited for a few minutes; when it arrived, the four of us entered, I hit the button for the third floor and the door closed.

It didn't take long to reach the third floor; when the door opened, we exited the elevator, looking around for a moment, then spotted a cleaner wandering around wiping everything. When I asked for directions to the courtroom, he pointed off to one side.

We walked down the way he had pointed, then noticed a sign listing courtrooms on that side of the floor, and found the one we wanted. I opened the door, noticed the room was empty except for one person, a male that looked somewhat familiar to me.

He turned around, and I laughed; it was no wonder he was familiar to me, it was my lawyer! He explained he had flown into Houston to be present for my meeting with the Judge, he felt that his being there might help as we tried to sort everything out.

He was quite surprised to see me with three children; when I explained how I had caught the third child, he laughed himself silly. He only stopped when Judge Thibideau came out from a room at the back of the courtroom, and called us into the other room, his chambers, I guess.

Once in there, I had to explain to the Judge about the third child; he was much more restrained, he only chuckled for a few minutes.

He then got down to business. "Well, Lara may be less at risk now, although I don't know if she would be safe at all. Her father was arrested by police in your county after getting into a fight in a bar last night; he assaulted a young man, injuring him pretty seriously, he broke one of the boy's arms, one of his legs and at least three ribs. The young man is in intensive care at the moment, and will likely fully recover."

Lara sighed, shook her head and spoke, "I don't want to ever go back there, I'd rather stay with Melissa here, I feel safe with her."

"And what about your mother? Is she not capable of taking care of you?" the Judge asked.

"I doubt it, sir, she spends all her time drowning her sorrows in alcohol, she hasn't been fully sober for over five years."

"Are there any other relatives, then?"

"No, sir, like Melissa here, both of my parents were single children, so no aunts, uncles, etc. The only grandparent still alive is in a care home, slowly dying from some cancer that spread through most of his body, doctors said he won't last three months."

"Hmmm... so no family to take you, that's not good. You say you would rather stay with Melissa? Even though you barely know her?"

"Yes, sir, she's the only person I know who has treated me with respect; as I said, I feel safe around her."

"How do you feel about that, Melissa?"

"If that's what Lara wants, I can deal with it. The only issue, I think, is that my job is in LA, not here."

"Would you be able to find similar work somewhere in Texas?"

"I should be able to; the truth is, I don't need to work. I recently found out I'm moderately wealthy, I just like working."

"So income isn't an issue, that will make things easier. Okay, that takes care of Lara, now on to Tabitha here. What I've discovered is that the last three living relatives she has are all in the prison system here, doing serious time, or will be in there soon thanks to recent events."

"Serious time? What do you mean?"

"Her father is looking at anywhere from fifteen years to fifty for what was done to Tabitha the other day. His two brothers were sentenced two years ago on the third strike premise after they committed an armed robbery of a supermarket in downtown Houston."

"Isn't third strike pretty much where they lock the cell and throw the keys away?"

"Something like that. Both were sentenced to twenty years for the armed robbery, they also received 25 years for murder two."

"So they won't be out at any time while Tabitha is growing up. What happens if she is left in the system here?"

"That is what concerns me, Melissa. Putting her into the foster care system will not ensure she ends up with people who understand what she is going through, and that could cause significant problems for her as she grows older, especially when she reaches puberty."

"So, for Tabitha's sake, it would be best if possible to avoid the whole foster system process?"

"I don't think so, Melissa. What I'm thinking is she seems fairly comfortable with you, you're already taking one, would two change things?"

I looked at Tabby, who had been sitting quietly beside Lara on a bench near the door. "No, I don't think it would."

The Judge nodded. "That takes care of the older two. Now we come to this one," he said, pointing at Bobby in the stroller. "He has three surviving grandparents, all three barely living from one day to the next on old age pension; none of them can afford to care for a child. In fact, a court officer has spoken to all three since the accident earlier, and they all said that they would be willing to sign him over into your care."

Melissa spluttered, "You can't be serious?"

The Judge nodded, a sober expression on his face. "I'm afraid so, Melissa. One of the grandparents said that anyone who would respond as fast as you did when you caught that car seat this morning is someone that they think would 'be more fit to care for a child than many a person I've seen over the years'. That was a quote. The other two grandparents agreed with her wholeheartedly. The choice is yours."

"If I don't take him, he would go into the foster system here, and who knows what might happen then. All right, I'll take him."

At this point, Jeff interrupted. "Melissa, I found three more accounts yesterday, totalling another $90 million US."

I looked over at him, stunned. What the heck was I going to do with $125 million US? "Where did that money come from, Jeff?"

"From what I could find, stocks and bonds he had traded over the years, he sold most of them off about a month before his death."

"So all of it is legitimate?"

"It looks that way, you'll have to pay inheritance taxes, but you should still have about 2/3 to 3/4 of the initial amount once that is sorted."

"Well, Judge, it looks like I don't have any financial worries, even with three children."

"Just take care of them as well as you can, Melissa, that's all you can do beyond teaching them how to be decent people themselves."

"So true, Judge, so true. It looks like we're going to be at the hotel for at least one more night."

"Unless you decide to stay here and look for a house somewhere in the Greater Houston area."

"Maybe, I'll think about it. Lara, Tabitha, time to go. Jeff, call me once the inheritance costs are sorted, and I'll sign for them at that time."

Melissa was worn out and very, very frustrated. She'd been job hunting in and around Houston for over six weeks now, and every time she put in an application somewhere, she wondered why she had spent all her energy in the bone dry field of business administration.

Valentine's Day would be tomorrow, and she would still be out there roaming the streets looking for a job, just like every day until now.

It wasn't that her job with the company in LA was bad; Pegasus Unicorn Fae Festive was a great little company to work at, they were small enough that people knew each other within a week or two of being hired. The workers were mostly energetic, rambunctious young folks who loved to put that special spark in the eyes of children whenever possible, so the company specialized in children's birthdays and special occasions where they could put the skills learned in drama classes at college or university into play through their costumes and skits.

The problem had been on Melissa's end of things, she had never been into that drama stuff herself, her skill set was the business admin side. The company had been in need of someone to sort out their bookkeeping and had hired her a month after she finished her last degree. The truth of the matter was that, as much as she liked doing business admin, on its own, it had been boring her half to death.

They'd accepted her explanation as to why she was quitting her job there, and many had wished her good luck in finding a new job. The owner of the company had informed her that she was watching several business admin prospects at SDSU, she might hire one in a few months.

The spark she had been missing had been found when she rescued Lara, even more so when they found Tabitha in The Woodlands. She knew now that she wanted, no NEEDED, to be around children on a regular basis, perhaps even work with or around children?

After she had spoken with the Judge a few hours after the now famous car seat catch, he had told her of a woman who lived down the street from him in the Woodlands. This woman liked to babysit children, and had a degree in early child education which she hadn't used much recently due to the fact that she had been in a major accident several months before and still had trouble walking, even with two canes.

Valencia Alyssa Jeffers was a tall, not quite slender chocolate skinned black woman, just short of thirty years of age. Even though she needed the canes to move around on her own, she had no difficulty in keeping young children in line, even the trouble makers liked her. She had worked for a few years in the kindergarten classes at Kaufman Elementary over in Spring until the accident happened the previous summer.

Lara and Tabitha had been doing quite well, Valencia Jeffers proved to be an excellent teacher, she even had little Bobby learning his letters. Melissa dropped them off each morning, Monday to Saturday, at Valencia's house, and picked them up in the late afternoons. The only break each week had been on Sundays, when Melissa would relax with the children in the short term house rental she'd found January 3rd.

The house wasn't big, a modest three bedroom with two full bathrooms, Lara and Tabitha each had their own room. Bobby, for all that he was four, almost five years old, was quite small, closer to the size of a three year old, and he was still quite unsteady when on his own feet. Just to make sure he didn't injure himself, Melissa had bought a large crib and had Bobby sleep in it with the bars raised each night.

Melissa had him checked out within 48 hours of catching the car seat; the diagnosis came back three days later, it was multiple sclerosis. The doctors involved informed her that Bobby should be able to live a fairly good life, discovering it this early gave more options for treatment.

Bobby would need to be tested every two to three months to modify treatment plans as needed, and undergo regular physiotherapy.

Arrangements were made for Bobby to have physio three times a week at the hospital; Melissa would drop off the children at Valencia's house later on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and pick them up at 6:30 PM instead of her usual time of 4:30 to 5 PM. On the days where Bobby had physio, Melissa would often bring some sort of take-out to Valencia's house and they would all enjoy the meal as a group.

So now she had two transgendered children in her care and a young boy with MS. Was life throwing curve balls just to complicate things? She had no idea if that were true; after another day of fruitless job hunting, she returned to the small house and found a letter in the mailbox.

A letter for her? Yes, it had her name on it, the return address was a company called Ramsay Enterprises up north. She'd heard occasional comments about the company from people in her line of work, it seems that Ramsay was making profits when many were losing money.

She wandered into the house, closed the door, then dropped onto the couch in the living room and opened the letter. She spent the next several minutes reading it, then read it a second time, and a third. The new CEO of Ramsay Enterprises was offering her a job? She shook her head, then read it again; the job would be in their new day care division at the head office, and she could work with and around kids.

She sat there and thought about it for a good half an hour. If she took this job, she could still use her business admin skills, and she would be able to work with kids whenever she wanted to do so. There was even mention of her possibly getting a degree in child care.

Maybe, just maybe, life was looking up. She giggled as she thought about how depressed she had been just an hour earlier.

**********

She stopped at a Thai restaurant on the way to Valencia's house and picked up an assortment of items, some normal, some mild, some spicy, then drove the rest of the way to Valencia's house. She'd called Valencia from the restaurant, explaining why she was running late.

When she arrived at the house, she exited the car, locked it and rang the door bell. A moment later, Lara opened the door. Valencia had drilled Lara and Tabitha about checking to see who was at the door before opening it, not everyone was nice like herself or Melissa or the Judge.

Melissa walked into the house, dropped the bags with food on an open part of the coffee table, then hugged the three children. Over the last month or so, Bobby had improved a fair bit, the physio had helped him to exercise his muscles and gain some stability when he moved.

They quickly moved the food to the dining room, Lara and Tabitha grabbed plates, glasses and silverware, then set the table. Lara wandered around the table, filling the glasses at each seat with fresh milk, then the five of them sat down to enjoy the meal.

**********

When the meal was finished, Lara and Tabitha quickly washed and dried the dishes, then joined the others in the living room. They walked in just as Melissa was informing Valencia about the job offer from Ramsay Enterprises she had received in the mail that day.

The two adults, Lara and Tabitha discussed it for the next hour or so, the group opinion was that she should take the offer. Not only would she be able to use the skills she already had, but she would have the opportunity to work around children and earn another degree.

At 8:30 PM, Melissa called it a night when she noticed little Bobby snoring softly in the corner of the large couch.

Melissa said that she wanted to talk with Judge Thibideau before she made a decision about it. She would call him tonight.

**********

Once they were home, Melissa put Bobby to bed, he was now using a small cot in her room where she could help him if needed. About a week earlier Melissa had packed up the crib, exchanging it for the sturdy cot, which Bobby seemed to find comfortable enough for sleeping.

While Lara and Tabitha relaxed for a little while before they would have to go to bed, Melissa called Judge Thibideau. They talked for about half an hour; the Judge knew of the new CEO there through his friend up in that area, in his opinion, the job offer was well worth taking. "As you say you were told earlier, you already have skills needed for part of the job, the chance to learn new skills and you'll be around kids, too."

Melissa shook her head, realized he couldn't see that, then asked, "Is this company really that good?"

The Judge nodded, "From what I've heard from some friends in the northeast, over the last six years, they've grown quite a bit; six years ago, the company's net worth was not quite $600 million US, they've boosted it by about $180 million in spite of the recent fraud issue."

Melissa grinned, "Well, that's good to know, I guess. I saw a news piece about that fraud case a few weeks ago; the detective in charge of the case and the District Attorney there consider the case a slam dunk, the DA might be using it to boost his chances for reelection in the fall."

"Yes, that happens from time to time when a case is that big an item; from the info given, the case is open and shut, no doubt about it. My Judge friend up there is friends with the Judge handling that case, that CEO you'll work for was actually in the court that day."

"Isn't that new CEO related to the people charged in the fraud case? Doesn't that have an effect on the business?"

"She is, her mother came from the original boss' second marriage, the first marriage resulted in the seven presently in the court system."

"So the seven are actually the new CEO's step aunts and uncles? Not a good example of how to treat family and the family business."

"Indeed, if they actually go to trial, they'll be facing the maximum sentences allowed upon any convictions."

"Hmmm... the patriarch's second marriage seems to have resulted in a decent, stable family environment."

"Yes, indeed. One more thing you might want to know, that new CEO, Seanna Ramsay, is like you."

"Like me? What in the heck do you mean?"

Judge Thibideau chuckled, "She's a post-operative transsexual, she had her surgery when she was eighteen, paid for by her mother."

"You're serious? And the company has no issue with her being placed at the top of the heap, so to speak?"

"Yes, Melissa, I'm serious. As far as I know, there haven't been any problems so far, and they have a solid LGBTQI policy in place now."

"Judge, it's really weird how this seems to have happened. I was doing my usual job searches today, getting really depressed at not finding anything that actually interested me, then I went home and found this letter sitting in the mailbox. Now I find out this company wants to hire me, will pay me nearly twice what I earned last year with my old company, and they have a policy to protect people like me."

"Maybe it was fate. Who knows? The fact is that you now have a chance to turn your life around. Will you take it or throw it away?"

Melissa giggled, "Of course I'm going to take it, I'd be insane to throw it away, especially with my recent desires to be around kids. There really isn't anything holding me here in Texas, and I didn't have much in California beyond the job, although I'll miss the people I knew there."

***********

The call had ended shortly after that, Melissa promised to keep in touch with him after the move.

As it was now almost 9 PM, Melissa hugged both girls, then sent Lara and Tabitha to their rooms to prepare for bed.

Melissa stayed up for another hour or so listening to music, then made her own way to bed just before 10:30 PM.

**********

Melissa woke up just before 8 AM; for once she hadn't bothered to set the alarm, yet she was still up at this time. She relaxed in the bed for a bit, there was no need to be up right away, she was planning to call Valencia this morning to pass on her decision.

She finally pulled herself out of the bed, and wandered into the bathroom, deciding that she wanted a bath this morning. She started to fill the tub, added a bit of the lavender bubble bath she liked, then tested the temperature and waited as the tub continued to fill with water.

She eventually turned off the taps, then slowly settled into the bath, just relaxing and soaking in the lovely warm water. The water felt so good that she actually dozed for about ten minutes in the tub, waking just as the water started to turn chilly.

She pulled the plug, then stood up and spent the next ten minutes showering, including washing her shoulder length hair.

**********

She had finished her shower and was drying her hair when someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"Melissa, it's Lara, I need to use the washroom, please, Bobby is in the other one having a bath, Tabby's helping him."

Melissa turned and unlocked the door, then moved out of the way as Lara practically threw herself at the toilet. Lara breathed an audible sigh of relief, Melissa giggled softly at the look on Lara's face, then finished drying herself, wrapped up in a towel and exited the bathroom.

Lara came out of Melissa's bathroom a few minutes later, then wandered into the kitchen. "I'll start making a hot breakfast."

Melissa nodded, one of the things she had been teaching the girls was how to cook various simple meals and several breakfast items. She knew that Lara would be careful, so she wandered into the second bathroom to check on the other two children.

They were both in the bath, Tabby washing little Bobby; now and then one of them would splash water on the other, both giggled each time.

Melissa was proud of the three children; the three had bonded as if they had always been siblings, it was such a nice thing to see.

**********

Eventually, they all wound up in the dining room, just in time as Lara was placing food on four plates on the table. Lara had made a very good effort this morning, the bacon looked crispy,, the eggs were as each person liked them, and pancakes and home fries rounded out the meal.

Lara had placed glasses by each plate, then filled them with milk and apple juice, the orange juice had been used up the day before. Melissa noted that there was a coffee cup by her seat, she tasted it before she sat down, black with a teaspoon of sugar, just as she liked it.

She nodded her approval of the food, then the four sat down and ate their last meal in the house they had called home for almost six weeks.

**********

After breakfast, Melissa called Valencia, informed her that she had decided to take the job up north, and apologized for the abrupt notice. Valencia responded that she figured Melissa would take it and that she would be fine, then told Melissa to take care of the kids.

Once the breakfast dishes had been cleaned, Melissa, Lara and Tabby started in on the packing. There wasn't a heck of a lot to be packed, the furniture and dishes had come with the house when Melissa rented it, so they only needed to pack clothing and personal items.

By 11:30 AM, everything was packed and in the trunk of the car and the kids were dressed including lightweight coats. Melissa locked the house, then called the agency that provided the rental, telling them she would be dropping off the keys, as she was leaving the city.

Melissa unlocked the car, the kids climbed in, Lara securing Bobby in the car seat before sitting in the front passenger seat, Tabby sat in the back next to Bobby and behind Lara. Melissa sat down in the driver's seat, started the car, then made a phone call to her landlady in California; she informed the landlady that she would be terminating the lease, was quite willing to pay any penalties involved, and would be arranging for a storage company to pick up everything in the apartment and keep it in a storage locker until she found a place to live up north.

She then called a reputable storage company, arranged for her items to be moved and promised full payment either later in the day or some time the following day, including a one month rental of a storage locker at the storage company's location in her area of the city.

A brief third call was to her phone and internet provider, to terminate the service at the house she was leaving behind today.

It was now 11:55 AM, there was nothing left but to start driving. "Ready, kids?"

The quick affirmative responses from the three children settled her mind, and she pulled out into the street; she had to drive a mile or so to get to the office of the rental provider she'd used, where she returned the keys, then headed for the nearest freeway.

**********

Several minutes after leaving the rental place, she turned onto Interstate 69 and started following it north out of the city; on the other side of Cleveland, Texas, the Interstate ended and it became state highway 59. It seemed to be going the right direction, so she stayed on it.

They made a brief stop at a donut and coffee shop in Livingston for a washroom break and to pick up some munchables. While they were there, Melissa bought a large coffee, she could put it in the cup holder she had placed between the front seats a few years back.

They were back on the road again within fifteen minutes. There was another stop in Marshall, Texas where they decided to have lunch at Barbeque Express just after 3 PM, and they were back on the road about 45 minutes later, heading toward Texarkana. While they were having their lunch, Melissa called Seanna at her office to inform them they would likely be arriving Thursday afternoon or early evening.

The third stop of the day was in Prescott, Arkansas, for a washroom break, fresh coffee and some more munchables.

The fourth and final stop for the day was at the Econo Lodge Inn and Suites just off Interstate 30 in Little Rock just before 8 PM. There were a few vacancies, Melissa managed to be able to get a room with two queen size beds, then they headed out to find something for dinner.

They returned to the hotel at 9:00 PM; within fifteen minutes, everyone was in bed and the kids were all asleep.

It took Melissa a bit longer to fall asleep, she was bemused at the thought that she was sleeping next to a young boy; he'd been sleeping in the same room with her ever since she caught the car seat, so it wasn't anything new, but she had never before slept quite this close to him.

**********

Melissa and the kids were all awake by 7:45 AM; after a quick round of showers and a bath where she washed Bobby, they all were dressed and ready to go out by 8:45 AM. Melissa had checked out the area and decided they would have breakfast at the Waffle House. The only issue was that the restaurant was on the other side of the interstate, they'd have to go over to Chicot Rd. to get to the other side.

Once the kids were in the car and the cases were back in the trunk, she set off, following Mabelvale Pike north and east until it met N Chicot Rd., then turned south and crossed over the interstate. A few minutes after that, they arrived at the Waffle House.

They enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of a variety of waffles, then headed back out to the car to continue the journey just after 10 AM.

**********

They were on Interstate 30, then 40, shortly after Melissa started driving, heading toward Memphis and the wilds of Tennessee.

Their first stop of the day was in Forrest City, Arkansas, for a bathroom break. They passed through Memphis a little over half an hour after they set off again, their next stop was in Arlington, Tennessee. While they used the washrooms there, Melissa bought a coffee and changed her plans. She couldn't explain it, but something told her that she needed to be on or near State Highway 64, and it needed to be fairly soon.

Once everyone was back in the car, she told them she would be using the state highways for a bit instead of the interstate. She drove off again, taking 269 until it met state highway 64, then she turned onto the highway following it east.

Just after they passed through Whiteville, Tennessee, Melissa turned from state highway 64 onto highway 100, and soon spotted what looked like a little girl sitting on the side of the roadway. She pulled over about fifty feet from the girl, then got out and slowly walked over to her.

As she came within fifteen feet of the girl, she heard her crying; Melissa quickly crossed the last few feet and knelt by the girl, hugging her.

A few minutes later, the girl's crying wound down, turning to occasional tears, she held on to Melissa like she was a life preserver on a sinking ship. Slowly the story was told; like Tabby, she'd told her parents that morning she was transgendered, they'd kicked her out as she was.

Being that this seemed to be back country Tennessee, where beliefs and thoughts were far too similar to what she had grown up with in northwest Texas, Melissa was upset that people could abandon a child so casually, but not all that surprised, honestly.

She continued to hug the child, offering whatever solace she could. "So, child, what are you going to do? Are there any relatives that would take you in and help raise you, or are they all like your parents seem to have been, willing to dump you as soon as you seem different?"

"Like my parents, miss, although some would have been much worse, they just threw me out and told me to bugger off. Their farm is half a mile or so that way," she pointed behind her, where a rough two lane road led off to the north.

"Come with me, child, I'm going to go and speak with your parents. Hop in the back and put your seatbelt on, please."

**********

That road proved to be rough, indeed, it had only the thinnest layer of tarmac, and there were ruts and holes everywhere.

The girl pointed out the farm on the east side of the road; there was a short laneway leading to the house, Melissa pulled in and stopped. The car parking by the house attracted attention, two adult men and a women approached her, all around 35 to 40 years old.

The one man, looking slightly older than the other but similar enough they could be brothers or close cousins, hissed in anger, then shook his fist at Melissa. "Who the hell are you to bring that spawn of Satan to my house? Take it and your damn car off my farm now!"

"Spawn of Satan? Why? Because she wants to be her true self?"

The two men looked at this crazy woman; if she wasn't so damn big, they might have tried to hurt her, but they didn't like the odds.

"There ain't no way in hell that child is a girl! He was born male, he can stay male or get the hell off my property!"

"Are you saying you would give up all claims on the child? Do you want the child gone so badly that you would sign her over to me?"

"If it removes that child from my sight, then hell, yes, you can have the little shit!"

"Fine. Is there a lawyer in the town who can come out here and act as a notary public, with you as signor and these two as witnesses?"

"Yeah, there is. Betsy," he spoke to the woman, "Call Phil Jacobs in town, have him hustle his arse out here pronto!"

**********

Melissa leaned against the front grille of the car, waiting for the lawyer to arrive. The children sat in the car, all of them were quiet.

The lawyer finally appeared at 1:35 PM, he didn't seem pleased to have been called out here. The next several minutes passed as Melissa listened to the farmer ranting at the lawyer about how he didn't want that despicable spawn of Satan anywhere near him.

"Oooookay, you're saying you want nothing to do with the boy Robert, is that right?"

"Right, this bitch here showed up with that little shit in her car almost an hour ago, acting as if the child were perfectly decent."

The lawyer, Phil Jacobs, turned to her. "And just who might you be, Miss?"

"My name, sir, is Melissa Johansson. I'm of the mind that this child should live his life as he, or in this case she, pleases."

"Please excuse my bad manners, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Phil Jacobs, a lawyer in Whiteville."

"Thank you, Mr. Jacobs. Would you be able to draft a letter or note stating that these people are giving the child into my care?"

"I can do that easily enough, but why is this so important to you?"

"Because I know all too well what the child is going through, Mr. Jacobs, and I want her to be able to live her life without fear of harm."

The farmer freaked out, swearing at the top of his lungs, then headed into the house yelling, "I'm going to shoot that filthy bitch!"

Mr. Jacobs turned and snapped, "Pat Millar, if you so much as touch a gun right now, I'll make sure you get ten years in the state prison!"

The farmer blanched as he turned back, "You wouldn't?" He looked closer at the lawyer, then mumbled, "You're defending this bitch?"

"I wouldn't say I'm defending her, but the right of the child to be able to live their own life, as she said just now, without fear of harm."

"Make that damned paper, I want this bitch and that devil's spawn off my land as soon as possible."

Twenty minutes later, the paper was signed, witnessed and notarized, giving Robert Paul Millar into the care of Melissa Alessia Johansson. The lawyer quickly produced two copies of the document, everyone signed them, one went to the farmer, the lawyer kept the last one.

Melissa checked her watch, 2:15 PM, as she climbed into the car, then backed out of the drive and headed back to highway 100. Once she reached the highway, she turned west, figuring it might be a good time to hit that Subway she'd seen off the highway in Whiteville.

**********

They arrived at the Subway, and all five headed up to the counter, where they spent a few minutes picking what they wanted to eat. Melissa had each child tell the cashier what they wanted, then added her own choice and paid the bill, then waited as the subs were made.

They all crowded around a table, then chowed down, the subs vanishing all too soon under the onslaught of four hungry children. Once they had all eaten, they used the washrooms. Melissa pulled the new child aside for a moment.

"I know you would prefer otherwise, but could you help little Bobby here in the washroom, please?"

The child nodded, replying, "Yes, miss," then reached for little Bobby's hand and walked into the men's washroom. He knew he was female in his heart, but if this woman wanted to trust him with the younger boy's safety, he'd do it, even though it hurt him.

Maybe five minutes later, the small group reassembled and left the Subway, they would be heading east once again.

**********

They'd followed Highway 100 for about 30 miles east before Melissa felt the need to turn north just as they approached highway 22 at Jacks Creek. She turned left and started along the new road, a few minutes later, a sign appeared, "Constitution, Tennessee, pop. 11517".

She continued driving, turning as the need to do so made itself known, then parked in a lot next to what looked like a skate park. There was a sign near the entry, proclaiming it to be "Heather's Heavenly Heathen Hideaway Snack Bar and Skating Emporium".

Melissa laughed, whoever this Heather woman was, she sure had a high opinion of herself and her business. Interestingly, it looked like business here was pretty good; there were about a dozen kids, boys and girls, using the Skate Park, some were doing pretty nifty stunts.

Melissa got out of the car, then decided to lean on the front grill of the car, where she could watch and wait.

**********

She'd only been leaning on the car for maybe five or ten minutes when two young men walked into the Skate Park. They stopped and talked to the woman in the snack shack, then circled around the skate area to sit down next to a young woman with long copper blonde hair.

When the boys walked by, she realized that they were the reason she was there, something would happen to one or both of them, and it would be soon. She told the children, "Stay in the car and lock the doors, don't open a door for anyone but me, unless I tell you to do so."

She watched as Lara quickly locked both doors, then she moved around the skate area to be close enough to help the two boys.

It was just before 4 PM when she noticed a big man entering the Skate Park, he looked around, saw the boys and started moving around the skate area. It didn't take long before he reached them; he grabbed the older boy, hauled him to his feet, then pulled his hand back to hit him.

It was all too obvious what he intended to do to the boy, Melissa moved in, but wasn't quite fast enough to do anything about the first punch. The boy sagged in the big man's arms, then the man turned partway around as he felt someone tapping on his shoulder from behind him.

"Sweet Mother of Mary," he breathed as he saw Melissa, who promptly said, "Perhaps you might prefer to pick on someone your own size?"

Melissa heard at least two people talking on phones near her, she clearly heard both say "Police, please," as she stood next to the male.

He let go of the boy, who backed away, one hand up to his face which was already beginning to show signs of bruising. The big man laughed, "You're a woman! Even as big as you are, you're just a nuisance I need to shove out of my way," as he threw a right cross at her face.

Melissa grinned as she grabbed the big man's hand, then squeezed it hard. "I'm no weakling, buster. I won state in California for wrestling in my 2nd, 5th and 6th years of university, I also took judo and karate in my 4th, 5th and 6th years. I have a blue belt in judo, and a green belt in karate. I may not be an expert in either one, but I can handle an arsewipe like you easily enough," as she tightened her grip again.

The big guy winced, this girl was strong. He backed up a half-step, then tried to kick her behind the knees; she sidestepped it, barely even looking down, then she turned and flipped the idiotic male over her shoulder, dropping him flat on the cold, hard ground.

He grunted as he slowly stood up, then threw a combination of a right cross and a left hook, which she avoided by ducking low. When she was low to the ground, she dropped into a sideways roll, coming up standing about five feet away from the now seriously pissed off male.

She was turned so that she wasn't quite facing him. He lunged, throwing a punch at her kidneys which glanced off her left side. Now she was starting to get annoyed, she laughed at him, "This is how you throw a rabbit punch, jerkoff," as she nailed him hard in the left kidney.

He dropped instantly, rolling back and forth on the ground, shrieking in pain.

Melissa hadn't been paying attention around her, but she did see the first cop reach down and grab the guy, roll him over and snap on the cuffs. The man was still screaming even as the cops lifted him up, Mirandized him and half-dragged him to the nearest police car. The nicest things that could be understood were screams about "filthy tranny faggots", "perverted scum", and "goddamn interfering faggot loving bitch".

Melissa looked around, then sat on the bench closest to where the young girl and the two boys had been sitting. She absentmindedly rubbed her side where she had been hit, it didn't actually hurt all that much, but she figured there'd be a lovely bruise there fairly soon.

She turned and looked behind her, the boy who had been punched was being examined by a paramedic, she hoped he would be okay.

She was still sitting there several minutes later when a female voice behind her asked, "Miss?"

She turned and saw the girl that had been sitting with the two boys she had protected. "Hi, what's up?"

"Paul wants to talk with you, miss. Would you come with me, please?" Melissa shrugged, stood up and followed the girl.

The girl walked over to the back of the ambulance, where the paramedics were just finishing with the boy. "Okay, Paul, right? It looks like you were lucky, you were hit pretty hard, but your jaw isn't cracked or broken, the most you'll have is a big bruise. Use ordinary painkillers if you need them; if the pain gets really bad, you should go into the hospital and get it checked out more thoroughly, okay?"

The boy nodded and turned away from the paramedic, only to find himself looking up at the woman standing a few feet away from him.

Melissa smiled, "Hi, Paul, I'm Melissa, this girl said you wanted to talk with me about something."

He blushed, his cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink as he quietly replied, "I wanted to say thank you for saving me. That guy was my father, he'd been threatening for several days to lay a beating on me and/or my brother. You heard his comments as they dragged him off?"

"I did hear them, yes; I can't say that there was much to be said for them, what with all the swearing he was doing."

"Well," Paul lowered his voice until he was almost whispering, "The tranny faggot comments were aimed at my brother and myself. My father recently found out that either James or myself was identifying as transsexual, and was angry enough that he intended to deal with us. Here Paul related the events that had happened in their lives recently, https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/66358/step-step-chapt... .

"So you and your brother have been living with this Tanisha for the last two weeks or so?"

"Yeah, she had us go into court on the 2nd, we told the judge what had happened and a restraining order was placed on our father. Obviously, he didn't care about obeying the order, or he wouldn't have attacked me here. I've seen him near Tanisha's house a few times, too."

"What's done is done, you can't change it. Your father, though, will likely be looking at a prison sentence for assault, and that doesn't even take into consideration the repeated violations of the restraining order you mentioned."

"Well, thanks again for stepping in when you did. I thought I was going to get the crap beaten out of me," he replied, rubbing his cheek.

Melissa smiled, he was a nice kid, then leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "I'm a post-operative transsexual myself, girl."

He looked up at her with a stunned expression, this tall, strong, yet utterly feminine woman was like him? It threw him for a loop.

Melissa laughed, then grinned at him. "Perhaps you could give me a phone number or email, so I can contact you. I'd give you a phone number, but both numbers I had were disconnected today, I won't have a new one until after I start my new job up north."

He spoke briefly to the girl that had brought Melissa over, she handed him a small notepad and a pen. He quickly wrote down the phone number for Tanisha's house, then added two emails, one for himself and a second for his brother, tore the sheet out and handed it to Melissa.

Melissa smiled, slipped the piece of paper into the back pocket of her men's cut jeans and started walking toward her car.

Paul and the girl watched the tall, confident woman as she walked away. Paul whispered in the girl's ear, she looked absolutely stunned.

As Melissa was walking away, she heard the girl squeak, "She's like you and Jamie, but post? Holy shit! That's some woman!"

**********

Melissa knocked on the driver's side window of the car. Lara looked up, saw Melissa nodding, and unlocked the driver's door.

Melissa opened the door, sat down in the driver's seat, then shook her head, closed the door and rested there for several minutes.

She was surprised when someone tapped on the window beside her and looked up to see two police officers standing there. Melissa rolled down the window, and the one officer asked if she could come inside the snack shack while they asked her about what happened.

Melissa nodded, rolled up the window, stepped out of the car, closed the car door and followed the officers into the snack shack. Heather was standing there, she flipped the sign to show closed before exiting the building, leaving Melissa facing the two officers.

The taller one, a female, spoke up, "Look, Miss, you're not in any trouble, there are over a dozen witnesses here who all said that you only stepped in as he threw the first shot at the boy, you definitely didn't start it, although you did finish it."

The other officer added his two cents, "All we need from you is a statement, and a way to contact you if you're needed for his trial."

"All right, then." She then went on to describe what she had seen and done since she entered the Skate Park; she told them she was heading to a new job, and since she didn't have a current address or phone number, she gave them the number to Seanna's office at Ramsay Enterprises headquarters. The two officers were both busily scribbling in their notebooks, apparently taking notes of her statement.

"Do you need me for anything else, officers?" she asked when they had finished writing.

"No, that should be enough, thanks. We'll contact you if you're needed for anything else later on, Miss Johansson."

"Then I hope you have a good day, officers. Goodbye." She then stalked back to the car, dropping into the seat again, and closed the door. Once again, she rested there for a few minutes as she thought about what had just happened in the Skate Park.

The kids let her be, she'd been driving and then in a bit of a fight here, it wouldn't hurt them at all to wait a little while.

**********

Melissa eventually came out of her near fugue state, started the car, and was about to pull away when there was another tap on the window. She looked up this time to see the owner of the place looking in at her. Melissa shrugged and rolled down the window again.

"Hi, if you didn't know it already, I'm Heather, also known as Heathen and I own this place. Would you and the kids like to get some snacks?"

Heather had barely finished speaking before four different voices all yelled out, "Yes!" Melissa giggled and said "Sure, why not?"

Heather led them over to the Snack Shack and the kids looked at the menu, then picked out what they wanted. Most of what was offered was the usual variety of snack items, although Heather did say at one point that big events here usually also had burgers, hot dogs, fries, etc.

Once the kids had what they wanted, and Melissa had added a bag of a new flavour twist on nacho chips, Melissa tried to pay for the items, but Heather wouldn't accept her money at all. "You stepped in to protect those boys, miss, you're what we call "good folks" around here."

Melissa laughed, shrugged her shoulders, put her wallet away and led the kids back to the car, all were carrying their snack of choice.

**********

Once they were all in the car in their various seats, Melissa rolled up the window, then let the heat circulate around the inside of the car for a moment. A couple of minutes later, she carefully backed out, then headed west and north, she would pick up I40 at Jackson, Tennessee.

It was not quite twenty miles to the southern edge of Jackson and a few more through Jackson before they could join the eastbound I40.

Nashville was about 75 miles away, and another 135 beyond that if they wanted to reach Knoxville tonight. She'd manage.

They stopped on the outskirts of Nashville for a bathroom break, Melissa bought herself a large coffee and small plastic bottles of pop for the kids, then headed back to the car for the next stage of the journey. The next stop would be Knoxville.

She was back on the Interstate, following other cars as they all headed east and slightly south. The sound of the wheels humming under the car was almost enough to make her want to sleep, it had been an eventful day for sure, but the coffee kept her going through the evening.

Bobby and the new child had both dozed off shortly after they left Nashville, and didn't wake up again until they were almost to Knoxville.

It was almost 9 PM before the lights of Knoxville began to cast their glow over the large car speeding into the city. She pulled off the interstate at the cloverleaf connecting I40, I140 and Highway 162, then did a bit of fancy driving to get across I140 to reach Calhoun's.

Melissa and the four kids had a great time in the restaurant; each of them ordered something different, then when the orders arrived at the table, they sampled the various items. By the time they finished eating, all five were stuffed and ready for a good night's sleep.

Melissa had done some planning, and had decided, if they stopped in Knoxville, to get a large room at the Red Roof Inn Knoxville. As she approached the hotel, she grinned, they still had a vacancy. She pulled into the lot and soon they were all settling into a nice, big room.

Minutes after the two youngest laid down on one of the beds, they were asleep. The other children were not far behind them. There were only two beds again, both queens like the night before. Melissa giggled, 'now I can sleep with the girls,' she thought as she drifted off.

**********

Young Bobby woke up just after 6:30 AM complaining of pain in his legs. Melissa got up and massaged them for fifteen or twenty minutes, at which point the boy giggled and leaned up to give her a hug. Melissa smiled back at the boy and returned the hug.

Just after 7 AM, the three other children finally roused from their slumbers. All five had showers, Robert helping little Bobby, then dressed, placed their dirty clothing into bags and then in their suitcases, well, everyone but Robert, who had no clean clothes to wear.

With everything that had happened the day before, Melissa had completely forgotten about that, and told him that he could do one of two things this morning: wear the clothes from the day before, or wear something that belonged to Tabby, as they were fairly close in size.

Melissa wasn't surprised by his response, he picked the option to wear one of Tabby's outfits, then whispered, "My name's Rebecca."

Melissa giggled, "It's about time that you told us your female name, you silly goose! Now get dressed. Once we've all had something to eat, the hotel here offers a hot breakfast, we'll find a mall after that and pick you up some clothes and a suitcase for them, okay?"

**********

They finished eating their breakfasts just before 8:30 AM, a quick chat with the waitress informed her that there were two Walmarts within a few miles of their present location, a supercenter to the west and a store to the east.

Melissa figured the store to the east might be slightly out of their way, but it was in the same direction as they were going.

Just over ten minutes after they left the hotel, Melissa was parking in the lot of the Walmart on University Commons Way. They spent about half an hour in the store, getting a few outfits for Rebecca plus a reasonably priced well made suitcase. As they were leaving the store, Melissa bought some small bottles of pop and a couple of bags of munchables, then they returned to the car.

**********

Maybe twenty miles out of Knoxville, Interstate 40 turned south for a while before heading east again. Melissa wanted to continue driving north, so she headed up Interstate 81 at that point, she figured they might make it to Wytheville before they needed to stop.

The four children were happily chattering away, Melissa found it hard to believe she had only had three children just one day earlier.

The three youngest were all squirming a bit as she turned off I81 in Wytheville just before noon and then parked in the Bojangles' restaurant lot. They headed in and the kids rushed off to the washrooms as Melissa walked up to the counter. She waited a few minutes in the short line.

"What would you like to order, Miss?" the girl behind the counter asked.

Melissa smiled, replying, "A super tailgate, an order of bo-tato rounds and two orders of fries, please."

The girl told her the total cost, Melissa quickly paid, then had to wait for several minutes while the order was being prepared.

By the time she had the food in hand, the children were standing several steps behind her, she led them to a table where they all sat down. Using the tray she had been given as a common dispensing point, she spread out the food and laughed, saying, "Dig in, kids!"

At 12:40 PM, they exited the restaurant, climbed into the car and were soon on their way once again.

**********

Melissa was smiling as they travelled along the interstate; they would likely arrive in the city where the Ramsay headquarters was located in the late afternoon or very early evening. She decided to buy a cheap throwaway cell phone to call Seanna before they arrived.

Just after 2:30 PM, they stopped in Lexington for washroom breaks at the McDonald's. All five of them used the washrooms; when they were finished, Melissa bought each of them a pie and a small drink to keep them going as they continued travelling.

Their last stop before they arrived at the city where the company was located was in Winchester, Virginia. Melissa had decided to go to the Apple Blossom Mall, as it was fairly close to the interstate and they wouldn't have to backtrack afterward.

They arrived in Winchester about 4:15 PM, they stopped only long enough to use washrooms and for Melissa to buy a cheap prepaid cell phone from an outlet in the mall. They were back on the road just before 4:30; a few minutes later, Melissa turned onto Highway 7.

Melissa had passed the new cell phone to Lara as they returned to the car; once they were moving, Lara called Seanna using the number Melissa had given her and informed Seanna that they would most likely arrive around 6 PM. Did Seanna want to wait for them at the head office as they had initially planned, or should they meet her somewhere closer to her home?

Seanna laughed and replied that they could meet her at her home; she gave Lara the address, then made sure that Lara had the address information correct before she said goodbye, as she needed to finish her work for the day in the next twenty minutes.

Once the call ended, Lara held on to the cell phone, the journey was almost finished.

**********

They made fairly good progress, they'd gone a bit over twenty miles down the highway and had just passed through Purcellville when Melissa saw something she'd never expected to see in her life, a tiny baby carrier on the side of the road, the baby bawling at the top of its lungs.

The noise was loud enough that it could heard from over a hundred feet away, even in the car with the windows closed.

There were no buildings nearby as far as she could tell, yet someone had deliberately dropped the baby here.

Melissa pulled over to the side of the road, then she exited the car and picked up the carrier. The baby looked to be a few days old at most, maybe a week. Melissa shook her head, carried the little one to the car and handed the baby and carrier to Tabby.

"Lara, call Seanna, tell her we just found a baby in the middle of nowhere and that we'll meet her in about an hour."

Lara made the call, passing on the information. At first, Seanna didn't believe her, then she heard the baby crying as Tabby held on to the carrier. Seanna then said she would contact some people she knew who would broadcast the baby's discovery without giving any names.

They were back on the road only a few minutes after Melissa had spotted the baby. It was 4:57 PM.

**********

Melissa had followed the directions to Seanna's house, and they pulled into the driveway at 5:50 PM.

Seanna heard the car as it arrived, and stood in the doorway of the house, watching as Melissa carried the baby, the children following her. The kids had grabbed the suitcases and were hauling them into the house; with five spare bedrooms, there should be plenty of room.

The cases were dropped in the room, then everyone met in the large living room, there was plenty of seating with two large sofas, a love seat and two easy chairs scattered in an arc in front of the 60" plasma TV. There were coffee tables in front of the two large sofas.

Seanna turned on the TV, then switched it to the channel she wanted, just in time to catch the start of the early evening newscast.

There was a big story about a robbery in the downtown core, another about a car accident involving seven different cars on the edge of the city, then the piece they wanted to watch came on. All nine people, two adults and seven children, were watching intently.

"I'm Bob Parvis, one of our lead stories tonight is the discovery of a newborn girl about an hour ago. The baby was found on the side of the road between Purcellville and Paeonian Springs, VA. We're asking anyone who may have info relating to this baby to call us at 555-1717."

Note: Thanks to Edeyn for her story Sk8r Grrls, I used Heather and the Skate Park from that story in this one. The major difference is that this story is in current time, and thus would be about nine or ten years after the Sk8r Grrls era.