Diego Part 4- Finale free porn video

Chapter 10 When the three finally got home Diego realized he forgot to get the sheets and pajamas out of the dryer. Alex handed them to him, asking, "Forget something?" Diego confessed, "I just had to do some quick laundry for Stephanie before all of you saw. She was in no shape to do it herself." Ricardo asked what happened, getting a head shake and quick, "You know I love you but sometimes you are denser than granite" from Alex. Alex then asked, "Did she know what to do?" Diego nodded, but added a cringing, "She was in shock though and didn't come prepared so I had to give her a few things." Diego walked off to calm himself, letting Alex explain to Ricardo, "He was helping Stephanie with her first period. He is starting to take after Alice in how he thinks and acts, he is very mature and caring almost to a fault. Stephanie, though, takes after you as you completely missed all of the indications that she just had her period start last night. She had to have noticed the bloating, cramps, and mood swings but didn't think why she had them. She was a bit more emotional than normal during dinner." Ricardo slapped his head while Eric added, "Did you need it spelled out for you, Pop? You should have known as soon as he mentioned her and chocolate. It's the only thing that he could say without giving it away and upsetting her. Even Raul got it and he isn't that smart." He sighed and sat down, feeling bad that he could have missed so many clues. Alex hugged and kissed him, explaining, "You were trying to let the kids have their personal space and aren't used to that sort of thing. I may not have had sisters but I did remember my wife's symptoms easily. Her signs aren't that noticeable, it'll take a few cycles before we all get used to how her personality changes a bit when she has them. And believe me, she will change. Just be glad she was at Jorge's apartment instead of at home or you'd see it full on." Ricardo shivered at the thought as he remembered Alice's after they moved in together after both of the divorces. He sighed and admitted, "I missed out on Diego all those years ago. I feel like some of what is going on with him is my fault for not being there for him." Alex looked him straight in the eyes and loudly told him, "Don't you ever blame yourself for that. Your sister chose to stand by your side and your brother-in-law turned into a monster because of it. You now know how long he was with your wife, he cheated on your sister for crying out loud! She did the right thing in getting herself and the kids away from him and Diego doesn't blame you one bit for them keeping him a secret from you. He loves you. He has all the reasons in the world to hold anger against you but he loves you. Don't think otherwise, he really does love you." The two kissed again, this time much deeper, which caught Diego and Eric off guard as they entered to get drinks. Both just groaned with Eric adding, "Couldn't you two save that for the bedroom?" Alex snickered and shot back, "Fine, we will do it in your bedroom" which caused Diego to drop to his knees in hysterical laughter as Eric's face dropped and went white in both fear and shock. Eric tersely told Alex and Ricardo, "Do it in his room all you want but stay out of mine, I just bought those sheets!" Alex and Ricardo just smiled and told him, "Too late," which caused Diego to laugh himself to tears while Eric continued to mutter under his breath. Diego pulled himself together and pulled Eric into the kitchen to get their drinks then went back upstairs to watch TV in their rooms. That night Eric gave him some DVDs that he thought he might like. Diego was puzzled so Eric pointed out, "Your friends have seen these a few times already. Just watch the whole series, it's cool and worth the time and effort. Only Polly hasn't seen them but I think she is next up after you. Plus dad knows the woman who wrote the book this is based on, she said you would enjoy watching it." Diego looked at the box closely. It was odd to him. On the back, it only had a beautiful woman; on the front, the showed a man. It only showed half of both, as if they were supposed to be together. He spent three hours watching until Ricardo and Alex told him to get to bed. He didn't realize just how long he had been watching until he saw it was just after 11:30 PM. He stretched, got himself a glass of water, took his suppressors, and went to bed. He was enthralled by, "Nightmare Rider". It was the most adult animated show he had ever seen. He loved the interaction between Princess Jessica and Patrick, loved how Phoebe and Patrick could be so different yet so alike, and couldn't believe that the beautiful demigoddess could become such an ordinary teenage boy when she had almost unlimited power and fear. Then it finally clicked. He was Patrick and Phoebe was Eve. He needed to balance Eve and Diego and be the man he truly was with the female part of him that he could never fully get rid of. He looked down at the mounds on his chest and sighed, the wouldn't go away for a while if at all and his dads had told him that he can't have surgery to remove his female parts until he was 18 and maybe not until he was out of college so he was likely stuck with his body parts for about another decade. He needed to get used to them like Phoebe eventually got used to being the weaker Patrick. He got out of bed and took off his clothes and underwear. When he looked at himself in the mirror he blushed. He saw a girl down below but his face and head were that of a normal prepubescent boy. His face looked closer to Kyle and Oscar than Amy and Trina in terms of masculinity, with his eyebrows and piercings not really making him look like either male or female. He then realized, "Nobody except my friends knew I wasn't born a boy until I let it slip. I really do look like a boy. I don't look like a girl except naked and nobody will see me naked. I'm a boy, no matter what I look like down there I really am a boy!" He had tears of joy in his eyes. The feeling in his body was as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Diego finally saw what everyone else actually saw, Diego saw the boy who burst out at the world and was ready to stop wallowing in self-pity and doubt and start being himself. He was Diego Vincent the male not Diego Vincent the girl who tried to be a boy. Diego dressed in his pajamas again and went to sleep, hugging his stuffed bear that he had had since he was a kid and that had been liberated by Chloe Miller and Ricardo from his old house. He had avoided it since he saw it waiting for him, unsure if it would seem too girly but he didn't care anymore. He always felt comfortable with the bear and didn't let anyone touch it. His connection to the stuffed bear was deep. It was also the only thing he had from his grandmother, she died shortly after his sixth birthday- the single saddest moment of his life. His supposed paternal grandparents didn't care about him, they knew the truth but never had the heart to tell him but it was clear that they didn't like him nor did they care much for him. His maternal grandmother was different. She saw that he was different from other girls and felt that he would one day be like his real father and not his mother. It was from her that he learned the truth that Pablo wasn't his father and it was from her that he set his mind on being a boy one day. He promised her that he would be the best girl for her but she countered and told him, "Be the best boy, I know you are one and I love you no matter what your mom says about you." He carefully maintained the bear, his mother wanted to throw it out but he always found a way to hide it before she could. It was too special to him, the one piece of his maternal family he wanted to have forever. Laying with it, he smiled and drifted off to sleep with memories of his grandmother's smiling face and encouraging words replaying in his mind. Ricardo and Alex saw Diego hugging the bear and let out a smile. They let it go and didn't ask him about it but quietly told Alison Eliza about it when she called the next morning. Alison just smiled and gave a soft chuckle. The two were offended but she just chuckled more. She finally explained, "He had a little revelation last night about his life that I was hoping he would eventually have. This is finally the turning point in his life, he now realizes that he doesn't have to be overly manly just because he has female anatomy. He sees that he is still male regardless. His little action is probably linked to a special memory, one that fit with the realization." The two thanked her for the information and drove Diego to the Castillo home. Raul was already there and complaining that nobody warned him that he was going to be facing an angry beast for three days. Stephanie growled at him while Alice shook her head and asked, "What are you going to do when Avery has hers when you are married? And she better have them, I am too young to be a grandmother!" Alex and Ricardo wisely backed away while Stephanie gave her brother a death glare. Alice sighed and gave Diego replacements for the chocolate Stephanie ate the day before. Diego just handed them off, going inside while Alice smiled and walked off with Stephanie still complaining to nobody about nobody understanding her issues. Diego spent the next two hours learning to punch, dodge, block, and counterpunch. He then spent time working on speed and accuracy while Raul tried his hardest to keep up. Diego had more energy than him and seemed to have a whole new lease on life which Raul just couldn't match. Victoria watched for a bit then went upstairs with Alex and Ricardo to ask what was wrong with Diego. Both smiled with Ricardo explaining, "Alison seems to think that he is finally accepting himself and no longer ashamed of being a girl internally." Victoria shook her head then pointed out, "This didn't happen to coincide with Eric having him watch Reed's DVDs, did it?" Both looked at her oddly. Victoria shook her head and explained, "Reed dropped off some DVDs for Eric to take home yesterday while the boys were out back. They weren't their normal DVDs, he said something about the show being something Diego would like." Both started laughing. It had to be the show he watched the night before. Ricardo explained, "That show must be the one where the goddess takes on the form of a teenage boy during the day. That Reed is definitely related to Jorge because it was pure genius and it worked out exactly as that had planned." Victoria smiled and added, "The only good to ever come from Penelope was being related to Jorge. The boy is more like his grandfather than Penelope ever was. I shudder to think about what Kylie could do when she realizes she is just as cunning and clever as her brother. And thank goodness both will be out of the house by the time Billy gets to that age!" The three sat with Victoria talking for a while until Jorge came back up with the tired Raul and still energized Diego. Victoria just smiled as she saw just how out of shape Raul was compared with the slim and spry Diego. She happily told Raul, "You need to work out more, your cousins run for fun but also for stamina. Don't think I don't know that you have been slacking off with the girls after practice." Ricardo and Alex let out a laugh as Avery and her friends often met with Raul after practice to go out for a quick snack and to talk. It was a way around their dating restrictions as they were with girls instead of boys and girls so it was more of a study session with snacks. Alice let it slide as they were actually helping one another instead of doing what teens normally did during those kinds of, "Study sessions" with Raul helping the girls raise their grades in math while they helped him raise his English and biology grades. The four thanked Jorge and Victoria for the lesson and left, with Raul being dropped off at home to shower and change for his date that night. Stephanie complained as soon as they arrived with Diego carefully telling her, "Pick your battles. If you go full on bitch over everything that upsets you then you are going to cause yourself a lot of issues especially with Trina when she has hers. You aren't the first girl to get hers and you aren't the first to have a tough time with it. Please calm yourself, for us?" Diego's magic words seemed to calm her but she was still moody. It couldn't be helped, but she did lay off Raul and her mom while holing herself up in her room. Alice hugged Diego tight and thanked him, he just told her, "I may not like them but I know what she is dealing with." Alice smiled and kissed him goodbye, with Raul rolling his eyes at the display. Alice happily told Diego, "I am glad you are more mature than your cousins. I swear you and Stephanie were swapped at birth sometimes with the way you act like me and she acts like Ricardo." Diego left with a big smile on his face. Ricardo looked at Alex who had an, "I told you so" grin. Both could see that Diego was finally accepting his fate as being one of the family from now on. Jorge grinned widely as the Vincent/Rodriguez family's impact on him was hitting him harder than he expected. Victoria sighed and told him, "Call Valerie and ask. They are good people who got crap handed to them for too long. Willie will understand, as will John, Karen, and Leslie." At home, Diego awaited his visit from Alison. When she arrived, she took him up to his room and spoke to him about the night before. He sighed and told her, "They set it up, didn't they?" Alison silently nodded. Diego asked, "Why did they do that? I really appreciate that they did but I don't understand why they would do that for me." She smirked and explained, "Your brother loves you. We can see it all over him. He has been different since he realized that he now had to be more responsible, more caring, and more mature. He may not show it but he is extremely grateful that you have given your father something he lacked: someone who was part of himself like your dad has with Eric." She turned things further by asking, "How did it make you feel, seeing that you could be a new person that is different than what others see? You are a man, no matter what is in your pants. Just as Trinity is a woman despite what she has in her panties." Diego sighed and looked out the window at the little girl who was talking Eric's ear off and happily teasing him. He had to admit that even though he knew she had male parts inside her panties and skirt she was still a little girl and like him, she was different than how she should have been made. He smiled, the feeling was back and the observant Alison knew he was feeling it. He softly admitted, "I looked at myself naked last night before bed. I saw what I had and what I didn't have. I hated that I was a girl down below but I saw that unless you reached into my boxers you wouldn't know. I looked at my face and saw just me, not the girl I used to be. I tried to see Eve but she was gone. For the first time, I only saw Diego Vincent staring back at me, not Eve Rodriguez." He was in tears saying that, to which Alison hugged him. She saw that he was happy, he wasn't sullen or just going through the motions, but actually happy. Alison let him cry himself out, hugging him until he finally pulled away with drier eyes. She firmly told him, "Nobody saw you as anything but Diego and those who didn't see you that way only did so because they were told by you. They are gone from your class and if they continue they will be gone from the school. The ones who are left are ones who see you as you now see yourself. It only took your brother and your friends to get you to see yourself that way." She sat him down on the bed and asked about the bear, noting that it was clearly old and sported boyish blue and red colors on its shirt. Diego blushed and admitted, "My grandmother bought it for me before she died. It was the only thing I was able to keep from when I was little and I had mostly boys toys." Sensing there was more to the story, Alison dug deeper. Diego reluctantly admitted, "She knew I wasn't a girl inside. She told me that there were people who weren't born the right way and they needed to be who they were. She told me about my real father being gay and what it did to his family and why my so-called father was really a bad person for doing it. She called me her grandson and told me that one day I'd be who I really was. She told me I would be a boy someday, even if she never lived to see it. She died a few months later, Sierra said she was cheap and Pablo was angry at something she did to them that involved me. I never found out, though." Alison smiled and added, "She knew all along. I think that you will find that your parents weren't happy with what she did in her will but your dad and father will make sure things are made right. The most important thing is, she gave you that bear to show that she loved you no matter who you really were. You are her grandson, and she didn't make a mistake. She saw it before you did, now you are finally seeing that you can be what you really are and are going to make her proud." Diego was in tears and hugged her, grumbling about his damn hormones. Alison chuckled and added a soft, "Boys can cry too, it's natural to do so after something like this. It's a painful memory that you had to relive but it's one that you deserve to remember. You have finally become the boy your grandmother saw and we will all ensure that you make her proud. Now let's go downstairs before Trinity wears your brother down and tricks him into buying her things." Alison sat with Katie and Ricardo and retold what Diego had said about his grandmother and what she might had done for Diego. Both instantly realized what had happened and smiled. Diego had inherited a tidy sum and the only way to obtain it was to be his true self before the executor. Alison nodded, adding, "It should be no real shock that the two expected to make out like bandits thanks to her death but her grandson inherited it, which neither would be happy about reading." Trinity came in with a tired Eric who demanded to know if she had been fed sugar and energy drinks for snack time. Alison shot back a quick, "All of that, plus coffee for breakfast and lunch." Alex and Ricardo both burst into laughter as the spy little Trinity gave her cutest innocent little girl face to drive the point home that they were teasing him. The group ate dinner with Trinity and Diego finishing early allowing them to relax while the others finished eating. Trinity asked quietly, "Did mommy help you see you are really a boy?" Diego nodded, getting a happy, "Good, nobody thinks you are a girl. No girl would cut their hair like you did and no girl would dress like you do." Diego gave her an angry look, asking, "What's wrong with my clothes and hair?" She smiled and added a swift, "They make your muscles show." She pointed at his arms which had signs that his biceps were getting bigger from the workouts which caused him to smile and hug her. She grinned back, she set him up for that which he greatly appreciated. The three Elizas left soon after, letting the four guys enjoy their evening. Diego went back to watching the final episodes of, "Nightmare Rider", noting that he had to thank Ms. Snowfall for creating the story and hoping that he got a chance to meet hr in person some day. Alex and Ricardo came in later to see him fast asleep with the bear by his side and a smile on his face, feeling good about himself again. In the morning, Eric went for a run with Diego, Miles Finn, Reed, George Daniels, and Donald Bollinger. Diego was noticeably different to them, even leading the pack through the streets and up Navy Hill. The guys looked at one another and it finally dawned on them that he wasn't the same boy they ran with before, he was a new man who was adapting to life better as they had planned all along. When they finally stopped and cooled down on the pier, George asked why Diego was running better. Diego just shrugged to which Reed added:, "So the little plan worked, you saw the show and understood what we were trying to tell you." Diego grinned and nodded, not giving any of them the satisfaction of knowing that he appreciated their efforts. The guys walked back to their cars with Eric and Diego going to the Castillo home for more lessons. Eric helped this time while Raul opted out, having gotten his fill from the day before and having enough lessons from Reed, Eric, George, and Michael Finn. Raul secretly planned on letting the two brothers do this on their own, plus he had plans with Avery that afternoon and didn't want to be tired. Eric was put to work right away and offered additional moves that Jorge couldn't give him which Jorge happily approved of, making his training fuller. Eric was good with adapting the moves, himself having not received any boxing training but able to understand the movements easily. Between the two of them, Diego learned how to handle himself in a fight and how to get away to safety while putting a hurt on the others with his fists, doing so with his legs would take more training at a later date. The two left with Diego thanking Jorge. Victoria softly told the two to not overdo things the next day with Diego specifically being told, "Remember what was told to you before. You are you unless a person is going to check in your boxers nobody knows you aren't genetically a boy and more importantly it doesn't matter. Enjoy yourself, it's your right to be there and nobody can tell you otherwise." The two left with Diego happily preparing for the next day. Eric had to calm him down while Ricardo and Alex finished dinner. Polly called Diego causing him to focus on her and what he knew were questions about the next day. He steeled himself as he told her, "I'm going tomorrow. I have to go, Mrs. Castillo and Dr. Eliza made me see that I don't have to hide anymore because nobody can see what I used to be. I don?t want to upset them by chickening out." Polly cheered causing Dorothy to rush to see what was going on. She tearfully told Dorothy, "He's coming tomorrow." Dorothy smiled and nodded, it was what she had hoped the noise was about. Dinner was eaten mostly in silence while all of them thought about the next day. Each had a job to do and none wanted to think too much about it. Diego went to bed early after showering and prepping his clothes, one of the few things he had no problem with that was deemed, "Girly" by some but just made sense to him since they were new clothes. Alex went out early, offering Diego a hug and kiss on the forehead. Ricardo was out next with Eric dragging his feet at leaving. Diego finally got him out of the house and after a brief stop to pick up Jessica and Scott Nelson they were off for the middle school. Polly met him at the curb and hugged him tight as he got out. Diego hugged her back, kissing her full on the lips and smiling at her shocked expression. He grinned at his brother, Scott, and Jessica with all three holding back laughs as they had caused a mini-scene among the arriving students. Dorothy gave him a hug to which Diego asked her if he could return to class, getting a soft, "You don't have to ask. It's your right to attend here as a student." The three walked inside, leaving the rest to ponder what just happened outside. Al happily told some of the gathered students, "He's dating Polly Vega. They have been dating for two weeks." Oscar added, "He has been training with Jorge Castillo and his brother Eric, he is pretty good at fighting now." Kyle also added a terse, "And he is learning martial arts from his brother and his friends." The word got around that Diego was not only in good with the Finns but he was dating Polly and was learning to fight. A few questions the truth to which the name, "Jorge Castillo" was dropped causing some to think it was a big joke. Those who didn't believe it was in for a tough lesson as Zeke Bollinger pointed out to them, "Jorge is a champion pro boxer who trained many of the cops in this city. He also has no problem letting others know that Diego is under his protection, which he is." Zeke was exaggerating, but only slightly. Jorge was really an amateur boxer not a professional. Diego was under his care and he was going to be left alone or Jorge would become involved. Zeke didn't need to say anything more to the questioners, the threat was there and those who ignored it paid the price. Mrs. Eagleson met Polly and Dorothy upstairs. Diego took his seat with the class's seating shuffled around so Polly had to sit with Trina, Al, and Amy. Stephanie joined Diego's table with the two cousins having no problem sharing it with one another. Mrs. Eagleson asked Diego about his time off, getting a solemn, "I'm sorry for running off. Mrs. Finn made me do my work and what you were going to assign to us. When I was finished I had to help with the two newborn babies." Mrs. Eagleson turned to Dorothy who explained, "He had the pleasure of helping care for Louis York and Sophia Peterson. They were the newest members of the family before Diego joined. Sophia is Claire Peterson's niece and Louis York is Sam York's younger brother." Mrs. Eagleson remembered them and asked a quick, "David or Patrick?" Dorothy smirked and told her firmly, "David. Although I wouldn't mind if Sophia was Patrick's but sadly Deborah is unable to have any. I hope next spring they finally get around to adopting a child but that's not likely to happen." Mrs. Eagleson blushed at her mistake. Dorothy just let it slide and added, "I think he has a leg up on the old egg challenge given she has been forced to feed, clothe, and change newborns. I don't think he enjoyed the little ones' gripping his chest, though. But then again we have all gotten a laugh out of her gripping her uncle's chest and trying to get something out of the nipples that wasn't forthcoming." Mrs. Eagleson looked at Diego who shuddered, involuntarily covering his chest. Polly groaned, complaining that he got to care for the babies when none of the younger kids were allowed to. Mrs. Eagleson laughed at that, it was a funny moment that she could understand as a mother herself. Dorothy left with the students coming in. The newest ones met with Mrs. Eagleson and took their seats while the impact of the ones who were expelled and suspended took hold. Al and the others were the last in, with Stephanie happily greeting her cousin while Trina moped at losing time with her girlfriend. Class started and went on without a hitch through lunch. The new students proved to be great additions to the class with the rest of the students quickly seeing that they weren't the same lazy commentators and critics that their former classmates were. Mrs. Eagleson praised them for their work, getting blushes and thank yous from all of them. During lunch, Diego was confronted by those kicked out of their class the week before over their new placement in the remedial 7th-grade class. The newcomers didn't appreciate being shown for the lazy bums that they really were and blamed him for where they ended up. They were complaining to him with all of the other students seeing just how much Diego had to endure simply because he refused to give in to others or react to their attempts to provoke him. Diego ignored them, and when finally pushed too far he calmly told them, "I didn't do anything, you did it to yourselves. You are just angry because you can't use others to get your work done, can't make your bad jokes land correctly, and can't get anyone to pay attention to you. I'm sorry, but I didn't do anything to you- it was your own doing." He got up to put his tray away but was tripped by two of the boys. Both shoved him to the floor and tried to kick him only to have their feet yanked down by Diego, who then popped up onto his feet ready to defend himself. He was ready for more but didn't have to do anything as Mr. Taylor grabbed the two on the floor and pulled them to the main office while Zeke grinned and added:, "Guess Eric taught you more than he was supposed to, that move is usually done in week 3." Diego nodded, adding, "Reed, George, and Michael taught me some more too." Zeke grinned while he told the troublemakers, " the main office, right now! This is now two weeks suspension followed by a one-month in- school suspension. No more chances, the next time you break the rules you are expelled." The two boys who actually knocked Diego down were quickly expelled. Their parents tried to fight it but Dorothy pointed out, "The victim ignored their taunting and harassment throughout his meal and didn't lay a finger on them when he was assaulted. He was on the floor defending himself from further assault, which I should point out stopped your sons from being arrested for felonious assault and battery as well assault with a deadly weapon." They were screaming at her but she just ignored it. The security footage was shown with the boys clearly taunting Diego until he got up to leave when the boys assaulted him. Diego brought up his legs to protect his chest then grabbed their feet which pulled the boys down. It was clear cut and conclusive. Ian Bailey saw the footage and sighed, telling Dorothy, "That's enough for us to arrest. The DA is taking a strong stance against bullying and unfortunately for the boys, this is clearly it." He arrested the boys, having a detective come to secure the footage and taking them to police headquarters then returning to finish the rest of the day. The rest of the day went quietly as the school realized just how serious things were regarding Diego. Word got around about how much he knew how to defend himself and how much he held back from hurting the boys. He earned a reputation as one to not be messed with, which went along with his brother's reputation at the high school. After school, the eight waited for Eric and their parents. Diego simply did his homework with Polly hanging off his arm swooning over him. Trina and Stephanie were no better, with Al, Amy, Kyle, and Oscar keeping themselves busy trying not to get too intimate. It was sweeter than they had realized as Olivia Samuels, Zeke, Margo Phillips, and Riley Pierce had to keep themselves from laughing at the eight's actions. Eric arrived with Scott and Jessica in tow, getting odd looks but few daring to say anything. Mrs. Eagleson happily said hello to Eric who blushed and tried to hide away with Jessica asking, "What did you do? Don't tell me you still owe her detention." Diego rolled his eyes and explained, "He barely passed her class, Jaimie had to help him. Pop said she also helped George pass too." Jessica hugged him while Scott tried to hide his grin with Mrs. Eagleson noting they were closer than she expected. Dorothy explained, "You didn't have the pleasure of having them but they are two of the best students we ever had, albeit for only a short few months. Think Jaimie but without the need to direct you and an overwhelming empathy towards others." Mrs. Eagleson grinned, adding a soft, "Too bad about that." Alice added, "You avoided Scott and Stacy Lopez constantly distracting one another in class. Those two are head over heels in love and if not for Claire and Jaimie neither would be able to get through any class without missing everything. Even John has trouble keeping them focused at times." Jessica and Scott blushed while Eric added:, "Just about summed you two up." Diego groaned and led them to the car while Eric kept on laughing. Mrs. Eagleson saw just how close they really were, it felt great to her to see a struggling student doing so well with two people who started so fresh only a few years before. At home, Diego finished his homework while Eric cooked. Alex and Ricardo were running unusually late and had only given vague reasons for doing so. Eric just shrugged and dished their dinner, offering a solid, "It's either extremely important or it's something private for another person. Either way, they will tell us when they want to." Eric was right, the two were working hard on something important. Alex was working on an investigation into a new arms dealer who was using the Worcester area to stash weapons that were stolen from hijacked trailers the ATF shipped confiscated guns in. There was a huge break in the case three months before when an attempt was made on a shipment but was quickly foiled by the ruthless truck driver who made every one of the thieves pay the ultimate price: death. The man who sold out the ATF talked and pointed to a new player in Worcester, one with powerful connections and lots of clout. He didn't know his name, only that he had a lot of places to stash the goods and the means to ensure that the local and State Police investigators never found them. It was a solid lead, and with Diego's situation, it gave Alex renewed vigor to find the missing guns. Mick Jones and Mike Daniels had to snap Alex out of his trance. When he did, they found that he had located multiple locations for weapons caches that Alex hadn't previously noticed. He had been so focused on tracing the guns that he zoned out key information like who really owned the properties, instead following the various money trails until the web was formed that linked everything together. When he looked up he was shocked. The three looked at one another and simply said, "Jackpot" while Alex added, "I think Kennedy might know some more about these places. I swear these may be all connected in a direct way. We were so focused on lowlifes that we never thought to look at the big scumbags in the area. It all fits, and doesn?t take much faith to believe they branched out to new crime." The three took their data to Kennedy's investigative team and found they were perfect matches for homes owned by Duane Todwell, the corrupt developer. The others were owned by some of his stooges. The ones that stood out the most were the homes of the bodyguards, the officers, Burke, and Rice. Things had turned very interesting for all of them now. Alex got to work obtained search warrants for all of the properties as well as all properties owned by Todwell and his company. He was thorough, going after every property possible. Reed and Miles contributed their own ideas and told him to focus on certain businesses that could handle trucks and deliveries without anyone noticing as those would be the best places to stash the goods without people batting an eye at a late night or early morning delivery. There was a problem that developed early on, someone had leaked initial details about the investigation to some of Todwell's supporters. The information was negligible but it was still a leak. They hated to do it but they called in internal affairs and set up a sting for that night, giving the leak time to stew while they clamped down on their information. Their leak wasn't bad enough to cripple the investigation, it just required some outside influences to get done. The Regional Director gave them his blessing to bring in outside resources that they could trust, with Willie Pena and David Peterson being the first two enlisted to help. Willie was a given since he had worked with Alex and Mike extensively before while David had the forensics experience particularly in analyzing geographical and spacial data as well as the intuition that they needed. The fact that he had recently undergone a month of detective's training was even bigger, he was simply an asset that wasn't yet ready to be utilized by the state yet but perfect for the ATF. Willie's normal work was light with the department finally stabilizing after removing the last of the supporters of the previous chief, ones who still refused to believe Willie was the chief yet who hadn't crossed the line into working actively against him. The squad would operate out of Winnisimmet Police Headquarters and away from the eyes of their leak with only their regional director having any access to their information. It was almost cloak and dagger but it was simply moving to grounds where they could get work done fast without interruption. Setting up the operation took much of the afternoon and by evening, all were worn out but sat on a dozen search warrants with more coming in the morning. The federal judge assisting happily let them have their anonymity once he learned it was due to a leak. The man just grinned at Willie and admitted:, "If you are half as good of an investigator as your wife I don't even want to think of what you will do to the targets" getting a laugh and blush from Willie who knew full well that Kennedy was better at being an investigator than he ever could be. The stage was set for the next day. Alex finally got home after 8 PM and brought home a light dinner for himself and Ricardo. The two simply ate in silence while Diego and Eric lounged around in the living room playing video games before going up to bed. Ricardo himself was exhausted from his own tough day. He spent much of his time in Worcester poring over wills trying to find Diego's grandmother's will. The clerks were little help, almost to the point that they would try anything to avoid helping him. He shouldn't have been surprised, the head clerk was known to him as an old friend of Sierra. After being refused service he finally had enough and called in the big guns, knowing it would cost him a long lunch meeting but a meeting he'd have no problem with. He rang his old friend the Registrar of Probate to ask his help with a matter that would require his oversight as the Registrar. The man came out and immediately knew who was at fault and why. He called in the assistant registrar who shook his head and told the clerks, "Exchange places with the divorce and custody clerks." There was no argument, they did as demanded by their boss while the Registrar instructed their replacements to help Ricardo with whatever he was there fore. Hearing what Ricardo requested the clerk shouted:, "You have no right to get at that will!" The assistant registrar ignored the protests and took down the information while Ricardo wrote down who it was for and why. Ricardo waited as one of the junior clerks found the information and provided the name of the executor as well as information about who was listed in the will. To his shock, he was one of the beneficiaries. The clerk swore at him again, telling him that he didn't deserve anything while calling him multiple gay slurs. The Registrar had had enough and terminated the clerk, with the assistant registrar offering a warning to other clerks to do their job and leave bias at home. None of them wanted the same fate, they returned to working while the assistant helped Ricardo. Ricardo contacted the executor after lunch with the Registrar and some quick updates about his life which pleased his old friend and led to the two agreeing to a visit in the near future. The man loved hearing that the bachelor Ricardo finally settled down and that he found himself a family. The name of his friends sent a chill down the man's spine but Ricardo assured him that they were all good people who would be proud to hear that he had done something noble and upstanding. Chapter 11 After lunch, the executor met with Ricardo at the executor's office. He listened as Ricardo carefully and methodically explained, "I am here on behalf of my child as my child is the recipient of an inheritance from the estate of one Cynthia Salvatore. I have documentation that my child is actually my child so counterclaims from her daughter that I am in no way related to our child is a lie. I simply want to know if my child received anything from the estate of the deceased and allow the child to settle some long-simmering feelings towards Cynthia that have impacted my child recently." The executor sighed and explained, "My client left strict instructions that her grandchild only receives the full estate if and only if it was confirmed that her granddaughter was actually her grandson. She had long suspected that her granddaughter Eve wasn't a girl and often fought with Sierra over Eve receiving help for her mental health issues. When she passed away, Sierra tried to claim the entire estate herself, unknowingly triggering a poison pill clause in the will that then barred her from receiving any kind of financial help from the estate. Eve was to receive the full estate at age 21 should a doctor verify she was not actually transgender but Sierra refused to abide by the wishes of her mother so has tried to stall until a backup clause kicked in that, upon Eve's 19th birthday, she was to receive half of the estate for her self while the other half went to charity. Bare in mind that Eve had a full year to get assessed, but I doubt that Sierra told her daughter that she had inherited anything nor the conditions of the estate." Ricardo smiled then showed the important files he had brought. First was the evidence that he was the legal and biological father of the former Eve Rodriguez, the latter that Eve had legally changed his name to Diego Vincent and was legally male. He then looked over the additional paperwork regarding the adoption by Alex which explained the name change from Rodriguez to Vincent. The executor looked over the paperwork and asked:, "Was this due to the inheritance?" Ricardo shot back a quicker, "It was done to get Diego out of foster care and with us permanently to prevent future abuse by Sierra and her boyfriend Pablo Rodriguez- the man whom she named Diego after but who isn?t in any way connected to Diego legally. We only two days ago found out about his grandmother and what she had done for him and only just this morning did I find out that he had even received any kind of inheritance from her. I suspected, based on Sierra's actions. that Diego was a recipient of some amount of money from his grandmother but didn't confirm until this morning. Him receiving money made the actions of Sierra all the worse as I have to inform the state that it was due to attempted theft of his rightful inheritance that the abuse was committed, in addition to her homophobia." The executor asked about himself and his relationship to Diego. Ricardo knew he was fishing so he was truthful, explaining, "After Sierra divorced me and the fallout with her husband Pablo Rodriguez, my sister and her two kids moved in with me so she could work and the kids are cared for. When they were old enough to go to school I started work at a large firm but was fired when my sexuality was revealed. I sued the firm, earning a $25 million settlement thanks to my friends Valerie Finn and the former Katie Benson. Since then I have volunteered with several non- profit groups and helped several of Valerie's friends some of their own custody issues. If need be, you can verify as I have the court cases noted." The executor excused himself to research Valerie and Katie. What he found shocked and surprised him. Both women are accomplished lawyers. Valerie's reputation as a fighter for children's rights was touted frequently, along with her personal connection to the vastly rich John Finn. He went further to read into Alex and Ricardo. Ricardo was as expected, just mentions all of which are related to his work with non-profits. Alex drew some concerns for his line of work but as he read he understood that the man was simply a man, not someone who was flamboyant or militant towards people who didn't understand his sexuality and clearly didn't use his sexuality to further his position or impact his investigations. Surprisingly, no mention of it was in any of the research material at all. Satisfied with what he had found, the executor turned to Ricardo and proclaimed, "Your son has become quite wealthy. His maternal grandmother Cynthia left him several properties in Prescott that are now in excess of $1 million each. He also inherited the contents of her life savings, which is in excess of $5 million. Several bonds have fully matured and are worth in excess of $10 million while multiple stocks have increased 10 fold and are currently valued at close to $5 million. All told, Diego Vincent is the recipient of approximately $45 million from the estate of Cynthia Salvatore." Ricardo was taken aback. He asked firmly, "Where did this money come from?" The executor smiled and told him, "It seems that your ex-wife never bothered to tell you about her family. Well, I can tell you that Cynthia was a shrewd planner who knew how to invest her family's money and over the decades accumulated wealth on her own. Her husband happily encouraged her hobby to the point of giving her the starting money that, once paid off, was left to her to do as she pleased. He himself worked hard as a contractor who earned a nice living but who always wanted to give more to his family." Ricardo was floored. The executor smiled, explaining, "It is fitting that those investments were handled by a man and two women who have done just as she has done. Diego won't touch the inheritance until he turns 21, but I suspect the two will ensure that he has plenty of revenue to live off of just from the dividends and interest." Ricardo made a quick phone call to the investment firm of York, Nelson, and Smith. The name caught the executor by surprise, as he proclaimed, "That is the firm that handles the accounts for me." Ricardo grinned at hearing that, then explained:, "Greta is my son's future mother-in-law, Karen is Valerie Finn's sister-in-law, and James York was one of my clients and whose wife is related to my friend Katie." Greta and James listened to what was going on while Karen got the needed paperwork. The fax machines were working hard for the next two hours as all accounts were signed over to Ricardo on Diego's behalf with James and Greta signing and countersigning. Finally the last forms were signed and a trust fund was set up for the cash in the account that Diego now owned. He was now a wealthy young man, second only to the Smith siblings, Francesca Herman, and Al Samuels. With that out of the way, Ricardo was finally told, "Your former mother- in-law hated what her daughter did to you when you came out. She fully understood that you were trying hard to be a good person and be the man that your family wanted but saw the hurt in your eyes when you had to finally end your relationship. She harbored no ill will and was disgusted by her daughter's behavior in the year before the divorce. She left you $500,000 initially. The money was invested wisely by my previous firm. Mrs. Nelson and Mr. York have managed to make that $500,000 balloon to over $2 million." Ricardo cringed then added, "I know exactly the firm you are referring to and why it went under. The reason for the increase was simply that the man handling it was the same person but without any of the restrictions of corporate greed. James York handled the account and continued to do so after you moved it to his firm after the old one collapsed. I will not take the money, though. It will go to my son Eric as Diego will not accept the money, my husband will refuse it, and I have more than enough of my own money. So my son Eric will get it." The executor smiled and agreed to do the transfer. James simply asked, " the same situation?" Ricardo added a firm, "He better not need to access it before he graduates college. I don't think Greta is ready to become a grandmother yet." That statement caught the executor by surprise but Ricardo added, "It's the standard reason for accessing the trust funds. So far only one has done so and he had a solid job with a college degree and prospects of a bright future. The other five were married and wanted their independence. All six are directly related to Karen Smith through marriage and birth- her eldest son and daughters married this past summer with her eldest daughter married and just recently gave birth." The more he heard the more satisfied he was that his client had seen the good in Ricardo and knew he was the one to make her grandson proud. He admitted to Ricardo, "Had you not come forward with Diego's change in six years my client's will stated that half of the money would go to her grandchild. The only way that it would have been voided would be actions taken against her grandchild such as abuse. Further, Diego becoming a boy triggered the main clause to override the secondary clause so she now receives nothing from her mothers' will." Ricardo sighed and admitted, "Your client was wise to put that secondary clause in the will as I must regretfully inform you that Sierra is currently incarcerated for neglect, assault, and criminal threats against both myself and Diego." The executor smiled, he would take great pleasure in informing Sierra that she had voided the will and all money would now to go Diego regardless. He chose not to admit that Diego was now a boy and had on his own terms fulfilled the obligation allowing him to inherit everything, she needed the shock of losing it all. Ricardo left with all of the paperwork and a hearty, "Thank you for coming. You just saved me a lot of aggravation and frustration. Cynthia would be proud of how her grandson turned out and that you truly were the upstanding son-in-law that she believed you to be." Ricardo drove back home with a good feeling. When he finally finished his dinner, he sat Diego and Eric down and told both what happened and why. Diego was floored at the stipulations, crying openly at the love his grandmother had shown him. It explained so much about why his mother and he were so distant and at odds- it was about money, not his being a tomboy or not living up to her expectations. Ricardo turned to Eric and informed him, "You aren't getting off easy. She left me a bit of money that Greta and James turned into a nice sum. I don't need it. Alex won't take it. Your brother won't accept it. That means it goes to you. Don't think that because you have some money in your account that you can be a different person because you don't need to be reminded that your girlfriend and Scott have more in theirs, and all except Stacy and George have $1 million trust funds in their bank accounts." Eric grinned and told him firmly, "Why would I care if I have money, it's not like I am going to waste it right away by knocking up Jessica. I don't want to be a dad yet and I don't want her to miss out on any college or working because I am too lazy to wear a rubber and I am not as dumb as David in using an ancient condom even if I did have sex." Alex and Ricardo laughed with Alex handing him $20. Both Diego and Eric looked at them to which Alex said, "He said you would say the same thing, I said you would make a joke about wanting to waste it all on hookers and booze. We know you won't do something that makes us grandparents yet, we just had to ensure that you knew the ground rules for your money. It is yours, I refuse to touch what I didn't earn and wasn't meant for me in the first place. It's Ricardo's to give to you and I only have to say that you can't touch it unless you need it and know that you knew why you couldn't touch it yet." The two went up to bed while Alex and Ricardo talked about what happened that day. Ricardo very somberly admitted, "Diego is in for a lot of problems in the future. I just hope that Polly and he work out because I don't think he could handle any more disappointments." Alex added, "I know that they will. There is something special about the two of them that gives me the hopes that they will be walking down the aisle in eight years. Plus they know their limits, neither will disrespect the other's boundaries." Alex then told him cautiously, "We are on to something big. I am leading the charge against Todwell for being connected to the truck hijackings that crazy trucker ended. We have him dead to his rights. If we turn up anyhing he is going down for RICO, money laundering, and more. Diego may have caused this to become a huge find for us, maybe even bigger than Ethan's find." The next day at breakfast in school, Diego admitted, "Dad found out for me that my grandmother left me a lot of money in her will. They couldn't give it to me until they were certain that I was really the boy she knew me to be. Dad showed him everything and he handed it all over to him. He said I had a lot of money but nothing that I can touch until I turn 21." Al and Amy both snickered while the others looked at them oddly. Amy told them, "Mom did the same thing with the money Donald and I got from the government and former parents. Al is the same with her money from her birth family. We can't touch it until we turn 21 unless we get married early or have a baby. That's why Bryan, Hannah, and David got theirs early: they got married and David is a father." Polly didn't understand fully. Al added, "Your mom did the same with the money DCF had to give you after Uncle Ricardo sued them for what that bastard tried to do to you. It's locked up so people can't take advantage of us and we don't become like those rich Hollywood kids. They want us to be regular kids. The money doesn't matter to us, only that we are normal people." Both Oscar and Kyle kept quiet. They didn't have nearly the kind of money the others had. Kyle had a small trust fund that his former parents started for him and turned over to his new parents after being shamed by their friends while Oscar had one his mother and father started after hearing what the others had that was supplemented by his father's own investmnets. Al warmly told them, "It's no big deal, just because ours are bigger doesn't mean you aren't amazing boyfriends that we love deeply. And mom said you are better than us because you are going to earn your money instead of coming into it and you love us despite us technically being rich." The other kids didn't believe a word of what they were talking about. It didn't matter to the group, they knew the truth and the opinions of others about their personal wealth didn't matter. Zeke Bollinger did have to caution some guys from trying to befriend Diego because he had money, it didn't need saying that he wouldn't appreciate their attempts to exploit him to get things they wanted. Early morning, while Diego and the others were still asleep, Alex drove out to Worcester to start their searches of Todwell's properties. Alex's searches went off without a hitch. They had concocted a decoy mission, one to be done overnight and leaked to members of the agency. This was what concerned him the most and caused him little sleep but it was one that needed to be done and would ensure that things were going to run smoothly later on. The big hitch was none of them were real. The real actions would take place hours later after everyone had another couple of hours of rest once the decoy missions were done. All of the locations were being observed by trusted agents, local officers, and state troopers who were hand selected by Mick, Mike, and Alex. They would apprehend the people who showed up while Alex went after the agency's leak. At Willie's location, they hit the jackpot. Four men appeared and tried to remove the contents of the building. The house unoccupied and hadn't had much traffic since the family was forced out by the bank several months ago. Inside was empty, so they had no other reason to be there. Given the, "Owner" of the house on paper was in jail and all of the assets of the company were to be seized by the state they had no right to be there in the first place so they were going to prison for burglary as well as ensuring that their leak would be sent to prison after termination. Alex told them to hit fast. He went through his list and the target was one that he hated to take down but it was necessary. Mike and Mick conferred with the regional director who gave the blessing to take the woman down right away. The two drove to Cambridge and knocked on their colleague's door. As soon as she opened it she gave them a glare as Mike extended his handcuffs while Mick read her her Miranda Rights. Alex shook his head in disappointment, telling her, "You were a great agent, you just threw it all away." She spat back, "Save your breath, you don't belong in the agency. I did what I had to do for my own sake. You should never have been hired in the first place. You should never even have been given a badge. Your people are scum and don't deserve to tell others what to do." Mick loudly advised her, "That man has a better record in 18 moths with the agency than you ever had in 20 years. He has also saved more lives in one operation than you ever have so don't you dare try to justify your greed and jealousy by blaming his sexuality. You don't deserve a badge, I'll guarantee that the US Attorney ensures that you don't see the light of day for decades for what you did." Four hours later and after a quick two and a half hour nap the real raids were conducted. Teams hit each place simultaneously, catching guards asleep or by surprise. The decoy locations were hit as well, they were deemed the least likely places to store the weapons but it was still necessary to rule them out just in case their former colleague used that reason as an excuse to have the goods moved to them. All in all several hundred assault and hunting rifles, shotguns, and handguns were seized. In addition, a couple of dozen heavy machine guns were found along with hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, fragmentation and stun grenades, and several dozen Claymore mines. Alex won high praise for his diligent work. Kennedy's group were given equal credit for helping and earned much-appreciated admiration from the agency's director down in Washington. Willie and David were reluctant to receive any praise but the regional director insisted that they get proper credit for their commitment to helping a fellow law enforcement agency as well as taking time out of their lives to endure a sleepless night assisting the operation, but also got a laugh as the director added it would happen anyway with Sophia Peterson being so young. Ricardo had an easier day. He endured a lawsuit from Sierra but that was quickly dismissed by the probate judge as he showed that she had forfeited the right to anything in the will let alone sue him when she abused Diego. He spent much of the day simply relaxing at home while working on some light work, the first time in days that he had actually forced himself to relax. Diego's week was quiet after the first two days. He simply faded into the background in class and in school, being seen as part of the group while also being his own person. Polly and he were rarely apart, with the two becoming more and more at ease around one another to the point that Polly stopped being lovable and Diego stopped being so anxious. By Friday, he even kissed her on the lips as he got into Eric's car causing her to swoon as he smiled brightly at the daring deed. That Saturday, Diego had an appointment with his endocrinologist to discuss hormones. The two talked for an hour about the effects while his estrogen level was looked over as was the development of his body so far. By the end of it, he felt like he was being rejected for transition but his doctor was simply being thorough and not taking any chances with something so potentially dangerous. After what seemed like six hours, the doctor informed him about the side effects of starting hormone treatments. This led to the doctor revealing his first shot of testosterone. It was a small amount, but it was going to start building his body up towards presenting as male. After flinching at the prick of the needle and seeing the plunger fully depressed he felt different afterward, letting the reality that he was now going to start becoming manly while at the same time becoming less feminine in appearance. His seven friends congratulated him on starting down the path towards permanently being a man. Polly blushed and hugged him tightly, letting him kiss her back. The others didn't say a word, they simply let Diego and Polly have a moment alone. The next day, Alice and Ricardo were asked to come by the Castillo home for something important. Neither knew what was happening but Alex felt he understood why the couple wanted to meet with them. He happily drove his husband over to the house then backed way, opting to, "Visit" Carmen and Addison upstairs with Raul and Stephanie joining him. Jorge sat the two down then handed them two forms. Alice read through them while Ricardo tried to comprehend what Jorge really wanted. Alice smacked her brother's head and firmly told him, "He wants to do for us what Joseph and Evelyn did for Mick, Lilly, and Melanie. It's for the kids, he wants to give them what most of the others already have." Ricardo asked him firmly, "Are you sure about this? Once you do it you can't undo it." Jorge grinned and admitted, "I had my lawyer explain it to me every which way and she told me that I was foolish to think that you wouldn't ask that. We both fully understand what we are doing- we went through this already two years ago you know!" Alice shoved the pen into his hand and told him, "Sign before I make you sign." He signed, seeing the glare that his older sister only gave him when she wasn't joking around. Alice signed as well, adding, "I think you had better break this to the kids." Ricardo called Eric who brought Diego with him. Alice got the trio from upstairs which prompted both Carmen and Addison to grin widely. Both knew what was going to happen, they were told by Victoria the day before and who agreed to keep the secret even from Dorothy. Eric and Diego arrived and were ushered in, the two barely noticing the grins on Carmen and Addison's faces as they walked by. Inside, they sat down next to Raul and Stephanie. All four looked at the three parents for answers, with Jorge waiting for them to calm down before speaking. Finally, he announced, "I asked Alice and Ricardo to let me do the honor of being their father. Victoria and I can't have children so we never experienced parenthood directly. We have love to give and see that Alice and Ricardo could use that bit of parental guidance that others have the benefit of. We have opted to ask them if they would like to be adopted as our son and daughter. Both have accepted, and on Monday you four will be our newest grandchildren." None of them said a word. They got up to leave, letting their parents handle it. When they were outside they sat down on the stairs as Eric mumbled, "I'm now related to Jaimie. I swear- no matter what I try to do I am still in her shadow." Diego hugged him and added, "How do you think she feels? She gets us as relatives now, she gets another two uncles and an aunt. Plus you are now Reed's first cousin, you two are close but now you are even closer." Stephanie was going to make a joke but Raul's look killed it. He whispered to her, "The guy has nobody now he has a dad, brother, cousins, and now, even more cousins. Leave him alone or you will explain to Hannah why you were making her new cousin feel bad." That caused her to gasp. Raul nodded, grinning as he added, "Second cousins, mom's cousin's daughter. Hannah, Bryan, Nicole, Ethan, Nigel, Michael, Miles, Jaimie, Cat, JD, Rachel, Iris, Marcus. All of them are now related to us thanks to mom and Uncle Ricardo. We are even closer related to Billy, Kylie, and Reed since Uncle Willie is now mom and Uncle Ricardo's brother." Eric was going to say something which caused him to stop. Diego caught on to Eric needing to say something and asked what else was there, getting a soft, "Daisy and Claire are also related to us too. Officially they aren't related to us but in reality, they are. Their sperm donor is Uncle John's and Aunts Karen's and Leslie's brother." Diego let it go, if Eric wanted to tell him he would. The four just waited outside and let things settle while inside the paperwork was gone over. Willie and Kennedy came by with Reed, Kylie, and Billy. Kennedy didn't need to be told what happened, letting the three Pena kids learn firsthand what went on. The three came rushing out with Billy grabbing Diego tight while Kylie gave Eric kisses on each cheek. Reed and Raul didn't say anything, just nodded to one another silently. The two younger Penas finally got over the novelty of first cousins and went inside to do something else while the adults finished talking. After another hour the group broke up with each branch of the family going to their respective homes. Kennedy gave Diego a big hug while Willie kissed Stephanie's cheek. Alice did the same to Reed, Kylie, and Billy getting blushes from all three as they went off to their cars to go home. There was a frenzy the next day as Diego and Stephanie told their friends what happened. Amy laughed until it was pointed out that her sisters were practically already married into the family with Reed being her future brother-in-law. Al took it in stride, she was used to it already thanks to Jaimie and Rick being so close for so long. Eric got the toughest reception as his new cousins gave him lots of unwanted attention. He was going to be teased mercilessly about the unwanted affection from the girls by the normal jerks in school until just who his new grandparents were was revealed. Jaimie and Claire loved needling him about it but both were happy to have him as a cousin and even happier to have Jessica now being closer family to them with Jaimie happily telling her that she never thought she'd be so close to her and Scott. Ricardo and Alice filed the forms and had a quickie hearing in front of Judge Perez. She glanced over the paperwork and asked the usual questions. When they told her just who their new relatives were she had a hard time containing her laughter, adding a quick, "I joked about you being in front of me before, I guess I might have caused this whole thing to happen thanks to some sort of karmic justice." She ordered the adoption finalized, adding her own congratulations. Back at the school, Dorothy gave the two hugs, adding a happy, "John must have a huge grin at getting me even closer to him than ever before." Alice countered with, "It had to happen to him, you two already got closer to Valerie through Deborah!" The two laughed it up while the secretaries shook their heads at the two close friends' antics. Things settled down for the Vincent family after the adoptions. Eric, Diego, Raul, and Stephanie got used to their new cousins and found they had more scrutiny but also more leeway from people. They enjoyed being part of something bigger, with Diego actually enjoying being the target of Billy Pena's fun and Kylie's overly feminine nature. Both were what he thought younger relatives would be like. Eventually, the trials began with Sierra and Pablo pleading out while turning state's evidence against Todwell. Both admitted to being paid off to get rid of Diego and sell the house, with the intent that Pablo would be given a cushy job with Todwell's company while Sierra would get all of her mother's money once the executor was dealt with by Todwell's thugs. When that didn't work, they had to repay Todwell by storing his assets for them and actually working for him by breaking into houses and causing damage to prompt people to sell their homes to Todwell. They endured hours of examination and cross-examination by Todwell?s appointed attorney. Finally, Pablo admitted that they wanted to extort the man but instead fell into a trap of service to him that only ended when Diego fled and the state got involved in the investigation into the whole Bancroft School situation. They looked bad but Todwell turned out to be worse off despite the couple?s admissions. The cops fared worse. Their testimonies painted them as being innocent, but the facts contradicted their stories. Their involvement was shown to run deep as they were willingly housing weapons caches and deflecting any investigations into the boys who were terrorizing the school. The fact that they had been intimidating to so many was not lost on the jury or the judge, he ensured they couldn't plead down to lesser charges and received maximum sentences. Rice was crucified on the stand by Kennedy's office. Nothing was held back as he was eviscerated by the prosecution for allowing girls to be brutalized by the boys. When the prosecutor was finished there was nothing left to defend as every angle had been covered, from greed to extortion, to admitting in open court and in front of Chloe Miller just what he thought about Diego and the girls. Todwell's thugs and bodyguards refused to cooperate and were taken down fast by the prosecution. The staff at Todwell's house tore the bodyguards apart on the stand with their vitriolic testimony. The men were fully involved to the point of assaulting people who tried to make any trouble for Todwell, which also coincided with a lot of the times that Todwell was shown to be buying new properties adding to the case against him. Burke was not spared in his attempt to save himself. He tried to plead out but Kennedy, the DA, and the judge refused due to his involvement being so in-depth and harming so many others. He was shown to have fixed cases and brought false charges that ruined reputations while purposely keeping the DA uninformed about the progress of cases that were known to be open and prosecuted by him. It took less time than expected to convict him. The trial judge simply tossed the book at him and sentenced him to the maximum allowed sentence of 25 years in prison. He got no sympathy from his family as they were humiliated by their association with him, culminating with his wife leaving him and taking custody of their youngest kids. Randolph Masters was tried for the crimes committed regarding Diego and the various victims of the four boys. He had a lot to answer for and no answers that were acceptable by the jury. The fact that he was had an affair with Sierra when he should have removed Diego was seen as a deplorable act. The jury listened as he ignored his own son's actions and failed to do many of the basic requirements of his job. When they heard that he tried to keep some of his actions a secret while taking a plea deal from the state it hit them hard. He was convicted on all charges and sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison, but would serve much of it in a prison hospital as word reached the inmates that he was openly involved in girls being abused prompting them to take out their own vengeance upon him. The four boys who brutalized the Bancroft Middle School were up next. Sarah Jones' pictures of the bruises and scratches on Diego's arms told the whole story, there was no way that they weren't caused by someone brutally assaulting Diego. The school's secretary confirmed that the scratches and bruises were where the boys were grabbing Diego and confirmed that Diego had screamed for help but was ignored by Rice and the boys. Diego was called to the stand behind closed doors with only his fathers, court officers, the defense and prosecution, and the jury being allowed to hear what he had to say. He went at the boys, painting a story of constant abuse by them with many different dates being given, all of which coincided with girls who had given statements to police about being assaulted. He left nothing to the imagination as he had everything working in his favor and explained away every possible reason why he wasn't at fault instead of the boys, so much so that the judge had to stop the defense from badgering him. When they couldn't win fair, the defense lawyers tried to go after Diego being transgender as making his testimony questionable. This plan backfired as the judge pointed out that his gender change was irrelevant to the facts of the case. The defense tried to prey on bias and homophobia of the jury but all it ended up doing was enraging the judge and prompting several in the jury to tune out the defense. The only ones who were able to be called to defend the boys were the boys themselves. The boys made quick work of showing just how horrible they truly were by claiming Diego deserved what happened to him and if they had known he was a boy they would have beat him to a pulp. The same testimony was repeated which the judge admonished the defense for and told the jury to completely disregard the boys' testimony but the damage was done. Much of what they actually said matched what was said to Chloe and the arresting troopers so they merely confirmed that they were out of control and did what they did to Diego willingly with the expectation of no repercussions. The boys were convicted by the jury after a short deliberation. All were sentenced to the maximum allowed penalty of 15 years, with the first five done in juvenile detention while the rest was done in prison. The girls of their former school breathed a sigh of relief as the news broke in school the next day but the one with the biggest relief was Diego, who was now free of their influences and could finally relax in school as word went around Winnisimmet that he had gotten now seven boys sent to prison for what they had done to him. The three Worcester City Councilors were exposed as Todwell?s co- conspirators and financial backers by Kennedy and saw their bank accounts wiped out by the state and federal governments seizing them for both tax fraud as well as freezing them for restitution to the victims of the conspiracy. The trio were humiliated when they were forced to take the stand in their own defense and tried to blame one another to save their own skins, only to have the state troopers who arrested them counter the claims and show that they willingly threatened Kennedy as well as participated in the scheme. They had no other way of defending themselves so they tried dirty tactics by going after Kennedy but, like the boys? lawyers, that was shot down as their own words were shown to have brought them down- not her gender change. The trio were forced to admit to knowing what was going on and willingly accept money from Todwell in exchange for guiding contracts to his company to rebuild buildings and build new condo complexes. The trio caused outrage in the city as their constituents were angered by their actions and saw their own taxes rise while they benefited from Todwell?s kickbacks. They gave up ownership to the government and agreed to repay all taxes as well as pay victims of the crimes, but still had to serve the full 15 years in a state prison for their crimes and were barred from ever running for office again. The last one to stand trial was the Todwell. He was hit with evidence that showed collusion from city, state, and federal officials to get everything needed to build his developments while not actually having any of the money that he needed to build them. He later used money to help influence elections and hire people to campaign to get his developments approved, money that he didn't actually have and were actually down payments from people buying lots in the developments he had not yet built. That was the tip of the iceberg as the whole development scheme was built on getting homes that he didn't actually own and whose owners didn't want to sell. This was where the extortion came in: he would extort and coerce families into selling or face humiliation by Burke using his office to file false charges or having his, "Bodyguards" perform outright beatings. The bodyguards were shown to have carried out several with charges that were filed against them getting dismissed by the Burke despite multiple witnesses stating that they saw them assault the victims. Those who filed charges often ended up with counter-charges filed and standing until the sought after property was sold to Todwell, with the paperwork mysteriously vanishing making the charges never actually appear on any criminal record. This went on for three three years until there was only one property left to buy- Diego's former home. Diego's fleeing proved to be what finally caused the whole house of cards to collapse as without Pablo selling his property nothing could be done because it was right in the middle of the development thus unable to get the proper zoning and permits to build. This was then further reinforced by the emails to the cops to get at Diego any way possible, specifically targeting his cousins and aunt. There was nothing to defend against as the emails and documents found in his home were irrefutable. All he had to go on as a defense was to go after Diego and Ricardo. That backfired as both were shown to have had no knowledge and lived normal lives and the fact that he was targeting a kid who was brutalized in school then almost losing his freedom because of the scheme by Todwell was too much for the jury to handle. His money and political connections couldn't save him from being exposed as the liar, thief, and scumbag that he truly was. The jury took a while to deliberate and found him guilty on all charges. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison total. That was just on state charges, the federal government was going after him for even more charges and taking it to the city as well. When the federal government was through with their investigation, they had Todwell and his cronies and lackeys on dozens of federal extortion, RICO, money laundering, civil rights, bribery, tax evasion, and conspiracy charges. This earned them all another 30 to 40 years in prison each, with it being done in a distant prison instead of nearby prison camp. That didn't include the dozens of federal weapons and smuggling charges against the bodyguards and Todwell. The weapons-related trial took only a week and after that additional sentences totaling another 50 years were levied. None of those involved in the cabal were getting out of prison alive once the last of the sentences were handed out. The state went at the City of Worcester for Rice's actions. Several additional prominent members of the school committee and city council were forced to resign in disgrace as they were shown to have shielded Rice at the request of Todwell. The vice principal was put in charge permanently with changes made to improve the school that had been illegally held up by the city due to Todwell's insistence. The city was forced to keep the school open as the land deals were undone and the land returned to the rightful owners. The folks who invested in the Ponzi scheme were given money back, the money in Todwell's previously hidden bank accounts barely covering the cost of the down-payments. The unused properties were sold to cover the costs of paying victims restitution, with Diego as the one who was to be paid the most, with the properties being bought by people who actually wanted to develop the rundown buildings into affordable housing making it a win-win for the city and state. Angela Victor earned lots of praise from her handling of the tough trial and the investigation, getting a promotion out of it by being appointed as the head of the Attorney General's Worcester office. Her predecessor chose to retire instead of face inquiry as to why he allowed such a thorough scheme to happen under his watch, knowing that she?d find enough to implicate him. She promptly went after him anyway, it was abuse of the office by him and she wouldn't accept that kind of behavior from anyone. She was proving to be a hot commodity and was slated to be the #3 in the Attorney General's Office the following month. Kennedy received a promotion to the highly sought after position as Deputy Attorney General, the #2 in the state, and was seen as the one to be elected the next Attorney General in the next election. Her appointment over, "Normal" people caused a stir in the state government which Governor Christian James was quick to show as being both transphobic and actually being driven by politicians who wanted to fill the office with their lackeys allowing them to do as they please. Kennedy openly refused to run for public office. Instead, she wisely chose to back Angela should she run. Many had continuously tried to groom Kennedy to run for one of the higher offices or even run for Congress and all failed, either through strong suggestions from other people who knew her or through Kennedy's own scathing refusals. When asked if he would support her, Christian simply pointed out, "If you have to ask me then you already know that she will refuse to run. I back her in full, but I know that she will say that she is not a politician and hates politics. No matter how many times I offer her a position in my government or an appointment to the bench she refuses, citing family and the need to ensure the safety of the public." Angela, though, strongly considered a run for office which Kennedy was quick to tell her to do. She ensured a job already, even if she lost then Angela would still have a job with Kennedy or would be sought after for a judicial appointment or hired by the justice department. Either way, Angela was on to bigger and better things in the following year. David Peterson was appointed as the newest detective assigned to the Attorney General's Office after he finished testifying in the federal case. His colleagues teased him about the low-level detective job as it was the least glamorous job among them, but one that he was well suited to doing. Ricardo and Alex actually served as references for David with Mick and Mike joining Alex in offering their own takes as fellow detectives. He even got support from colleagues in the UK as his work with them was what really caught the eye of the Attorney General, prompting his immediate hiring. Chloe Miller moved east to join the Boston area as the head of the Winnisimmet office as Mark Sylvester finally gave up his old job as head of the office to completely take over the Eastern region from Anne Connors. She was kept busy but actually enjoyed the differences between Winnisimmet and Worcester. She had a rocky start but showed that she wasn't one to be trifled with and corrected a lot of the issues that the office had with the previous supervisor that Mark hadn't been able to address. She reported directly to Mark which made her job a lot easier as the two were of a similar mindset and knew what the other wanted before they asked. Anne Connors set her up with a decent home that came really cheap by comparison to the others in the neighborhood. She struck up a friendship with Mike with his sons George and T.J. giving the two a chance to be friends. George didn't really care if they were friends, he knew Chloe was a decent person and Chloe knew all about George through her brief stays with Anne. T.J. proved to be a tough person to crack. He was cranky, acted out, and often fought with his brother and father. George confided in her that it might have been a mistake to adopt him as he was starting to terrorize others, becoming more and more like their mother Amelia. Chloe asked if anyone talked to him yet. George shrugged to which Chloe sighed and told him, "He is acting out for a reason. Someone needs to talk with him." Mike had a long talk with T.J. that evening, getting a rough story about the boys in his daycare all but abandoning him because they blamed him for their friend Liam Byrne being kicked out for what he was telling them. When asked why they were kicked out, T.J. complained about Melanie not liking what his grandfather had been saying to him about kids like Diego. Mike asked if he remembered what he had been told about several of the people he knew, getting an angry, "But he told me that they were bad people! He never lied to me, his grandfather would never lie to him!" Mike finally told him, "They are wrong. How would you like it if he treated you bad because you were adopted by your brother's father? How would you like it if they made fun of you because your mother ran off? You wouldn't. That's the same thing they are doing to others and they are wrong to do so. You know Diego, do you think I would let you go anywhere near her if she was bad or dangerous to you?" T.J. started to act better after that, with his buddy DJ sticking by him. He started seeing the boys acting like jerks towards the girls and other boys, something that he hadn't noticed before. He didn't really feel like he was missing out on them anymore and felt better at getting away from them. Mike and Chloe grew closer after that, with Mike finally openly dating her after a few weeks. By the time Christmas came, the couple was inseparable. He was going to ask her to marry him on New Year's Eve but Chloe stole his thunder, telling him before he could get the ring out, "There's something that I need to tell you. You kind of gave me a delayed Christmas present." Mike realized just what that was as Chloe produced a pregnancy test strip. Mike nearly fainted while George shook his head and complained. The two had a quickie wedding at city hall with Chloe being asked to sign forms to adopt T.J. and George. She didn't see the need to but did so anyway, letting the little family finalize and giving T.J. a mother that he could love instead of one he wanted to forget. With everyone getting what they deserved, both good and bad, Diego started to put on muscle mass as his body reacted to the testosterone treatments. His breasts started to shrink as the fat redistributed back around his body to he point that you would mistake the small mounds for baby fat. The masculine look was further enhanced by Diego's pectoral muscles becoming more and more prominent as he started to workout with Amy's brother Donald at Donald?s house while the girls practiced ballet during winter. Eventually, the breasts receded enough to not even be considered breasts. The nipples and aereola were prominent but not out of the ordinary. He was happy to show off his chest to Eric, who promptly told him, "That's nice, but don't you dare tell anyone you did that!" Diego understood, it was too early in his manhood to do things like that and could be misconstrued by the wrong people. Diego, though, was happy when he was told that in a few months his menstruation would stop. He was also told firmly by Alison, "Even if you don't want to do it, you can still stop and become a biological parent if you so choose. You say you don't want to now but you may later. Plenty of men have become pregnant both out of love for their husband or wives or out of the need to be a parent. It's never fully closed until you have your surgery to remove your womb." He asked why he would do that, getting a soft, "It may hit you eventually. You can't fully say no to the urges. You might not think about it, but once your friends start becoming parents you could get the urge to be one. It'll simply take a few months off of the hormones to jump-start again. You might be the biological father of a child born to Polly, but you may want to give the little one a sibling from more of the donor's sperm." He understood. It wasn't what he wanted to hear but she had a point and even if he didn't like it, at least he now controlled it. He had one up on biology, albeit he didn't want to experience them at all. Diego held true to his word and helped out with the ballet recital. He was happy that he wasn't forced to be a prominent role, but he was also sad that he wasn't going to dance much with Polly. The two did enjoy helping one another practice and even enjoyed some subtle groping that the others didn't notice. The recital was a hit, with the girls earning praise from the family. Virgil York and Junior Kelly loved that another boy was helping out and was one that they could look up to. Diego hadn't thought that he could be an inspiration, but the boys listened as he helped them learn their roles. Diego's change in body prompted Kyle and Oscar to start taking up running with him to keep up their own masculinity, with the two joining Diego in lifting weights with Eric, George, and Donald. Diego slowly started to become the girls' counterpart, joining the two in everything to the point that you could always find them together. They loved all of the same music, movies, books, comics. It was a perfect fit and what the two were lacking- the third person to balance out the two egos and strengths. Things were good for Diego. He could not picture his life getting any better. He didn't have a worry in the world and had everything he could want and more. H was finally himself, the boy he always knew he was and on the fast track to becoming the man he was born to be. The End.