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Anita was intimidated by the woman sitting across from her with two smiling kids acting like it was no big deal to them to be in that house or meeting a total stranger. The woman had a look of superiority to go along with a look of being smarter than you and ready for a verbal exchange. She was unsure if she had to be afraid of the woman or intimidated by her reputation. The woman finally extended her hand and told Anita, "I'm the Honorable Lady Hannah Smith, Baroness Gosfield. These two monsters are my twins Lillian and Harry. I apologize for scaring you but I had to see if you were using me through my family or if you were sincere in what you wanted to do. I already talked with Francesca Herman about the movie, but I wanted to meet you first before committing to it. I know I said I'd consider it but I had to be absolutely sure as there's so little information about it." Anita was still too stunned to speak, Hannah shook her head and told her, "I'm not the out of control girl who fights everyone who upsets my family...well, not anymore. I haven't had one of those fights in four years and the closest I've come is mouthing off to your parents after the Oscars when they tried to insult my family for being a bunch of poor, uncivilized losers. I have spent far too much time around a lot of people who don't know when to stop trying to use us. I have a strong leaning towards writing your new movie, I just want to ensure that you are doing it for the right reasons." Anita sighed and blurted out, "I wanted it made by the best and by people I can trust to make it great. I know you can write a great movie, your uncle's biopic was proof of that. I wanted Francesca to take the role because I believe she is the best person to give it life and not ham it up. Believe me, just about the whole of Hollywood would phone it in instead of doing the role justice. The role was tailor made for her- literally, as she's the archetype for the protagonist! I want you to ensure that the movie doesn't make things into a mess nor gives too much screen time to certain actors because they have influence instead of the actual focus of the movie. I trust you to do it right and I will ensure that the right director works with you to make the script match his visions." Hannah smirked at hearing that, Anita was doing just what she wanted her to do. Hannah had already committed to the movie, she just wanted Anita to know that she wouldn't do things just because Anita knew Hannah's family and had money to toss around. The movie was a solid idea, she just had a lot of background to read then write and rewrite before she could start on pre-production. Hannah finally proclaimed, "I'll do it. I don't want to be dragged into movies just because you know me or my family, I choose what I do and when I do it. I'm between writing assignments and could use the break, these two monsters are a handful but my husband handles them well. He'd be here too but he had to do some work with my brother on some project up on my brother's property." Hannah asked her pointedly, "Are the girls forcing you to be a girl? Don't lie to me because there will be hell to pay if they are." Anita looked afraid and timidly shot back, "They didn't do anything, it's all me." Anita explained herself to Hannah, who for once in her life was perplexed by someone who was such a girl that she never noticed she was a girl. The twins giggled at their mother but Anita insisted, "I was the last to notice that I wasn't a guy. I was blessed with a feminine body but I didn't see that I was a girl on the inside. I stopped fighting this when the girls got me help, but it all makes sense now." Hannah let it go and got up, letting the twins hug Anita before leaving. Anita asked what that last bit was about, to which Tabby explained, "She knew a boy who was forced to be a girl by her family and friends. None of them could accept that he was effeminate and not transgender. They even got a quack to state that he was a girl, with his parents forcing him to take hormones. When he turned 18 he fled here and sought help, seeing his parents, the doctor, and his friends' parents going to prison for what they did to him. He needed a long time to recover and slowly get back to normal. He was lucky that his family saved his semen because when they started him on hormones again he had such a low sperm count that he was declared sterile. He considered suicide but Hannah saved him. She is protective of kids like him and won't rest until someone who harms boys or girls like that is stopped." Anita looked at the others to see if it was true, Melinda nodded while Aggy added, "He never recovered his manhood because of the costs to remove the breasts on his chest and the fat from his hips and butt. He only avoided suicide because Hannah worked with him to find a new job, home, and proper support so he could get the needed surgeries to remove the damage done to him. Aunts Valerie and Savannah sued his parents, former friends' parents, and the doctor who misdiagnosed him and got them all to pay for it. He struggled to get 'it' to function and still needs a lot of counseling. He found love with a strong man who was fine with his body but it took a long time to accept that his love was genuine." The girls looked at Anita and apologized for pushing her toward femininity while Anita shed tears over the girls feeling that way. She loved them for what they were doing for her, she couldn't see herself as anything but female now and was happy that they accepted her true self. Hannah won her respect for being blunt about treating her right, even if it wasn't needed it still resonated with Anita. Anita worked with Cat the next day but told her that she needed to do more than just hang around her, she had friends of her own and needed to be with them not with her. After Cat left in tears but not in a bad mood, Pierre entered and kissed Anita deeply. She sat him down and worked with him on what he was looking for in the song the girls were going to work on then helped her set dates for when the three could perform their other song- the one that brought the couple together. Anita and he kissed deeply then went to her bedroom to enjoy themselves more closely. She told him it was time for his own pleasure, causing him to look away in shame but she was smiling and removing his pants and shirt. When he was fully naked, she admired his chiseled body and rugged good looks. She went to work on him in a way that no woman had ever made him feel before. She knew where to touch and where to kiss while driving him insane from the feelings. She worked on him for an hour as he orgasmed several times over, leaving her happy to make him feel so amazing. When she finished, he showered and kissed her goodbye, telling her that she could go to his condo any time she felt like it. Anita thanked him, telling him affectionately, "I'll do it Friday night. I might even spend the night Saturday as I should be able to go to work that night. I'd love to perform for you." The girls giggled at hearing that, the couple hadn't noticed that they had returned but the trio didn't say a word to her about his being there. They were happy that Pierre was coming by, Anita needed the care that he was showing her. They didn't dare make light of the likely sex, not when they did the same with their own boyfriends while the others were at school and one of the boys was home alone. Things quieted down for the next couple of days. Anita met her new piano instructor and received a lot of praise for her skill and mastering the basics almost entirely on her own. He knew about Anita's past and as someone who had been working in clubs that featured girls like her he simply didn't care one bit. That Saturday she went back to work at the club, but had to modify her routine to keep her breasts from moving around too much. She had a lot of questions from the, "Ladies" about her new breasts backstage and featured a mix of curious questions to offensive ones. The worst were the ones asking if she had the full surgery and if she paid off the doctors to get around the one-year rule. Anita waited for the question to stop before she answered, "I was diagnosed by two psychiatrists then I had exams by two other doctors. The plastic surgeon was a friend of a friend and had an opening so she suggested I get implants while I was there. I didn't have anything else done, I am still fully working and larger than most of you from what I've seen. I may have surgery in a year but that's my choice to do." She did two sets that night much to the crowd's pleasure. Anita again had a standing ovation at the end of the second set, again upsetting some of the other acts while the owner thanked her for slumming it up when she had earned the right to perform at one of the major nightclubs in Boston. Anita turned it around and thanked her for letting her perform, she was genuinely grateful for the opportunities given. Things went well for Anita but started to turn for the worse as the time to record her song came around. Trinity's parents had gotten them a great deal with Pierre not even trying to fight over the royalties and percentage of the profits, it would be fighting family in his eyes as he cared deeply about Trinity and the woman who had won his heart. Anita and Tabby joined Trinity in putting all profits from the song in a special account to pay for their living expenses, with all seeing their trust funds vastly increase. The trio performed the instrumental for the song before they performed the vocal track. Trinity was the one who had the biggest impact on the instrumental as she played the piano with Anita and Tabby on guitar. Anita added additional percussion instruments with Trinity keeping the beat on drums. Tabby's lyrics were worked around to help Anita's vocals while Trinity and Tabby added backing vocals to Anita's leads. Anita refused to act like a diva and worked with the girls to get the best possible song out of them, she didn't need to show she was the boss as the girls were her friends not hired help. It was a message that Pierre relayed to the engineers in the studio, the girls were equals in all ways. Pierre worked with them throughout the recording process. It took three days and multiple takes to get the song right but after all instruments, vocals, and mixing effects were sliced together the song was complete and ready to listen to. Pierre invited their families to the studio to listen to the song, with the Tabby's cousins as well as Trinity's sisters screaming at the girls' voices sounding so great. Anita had nobody there for her, but Hunter and Bailey Eliza refused to let her do without attention as the twins gave her big hugs and kisses to sooth her. Anita showed how much their attention meant to her and cried into their shoulders, with the twins smiling brightly at everyone to show that they were really putting on a show for Anita's benefit. Alison Eliza did the same to Anita, she needed motherly affection and as the closest thing to a mother available Alison proudly gave it to her. Pierre announced that the song was being sent out to various radio stations across the country with the name of the artist being, "Butterfly Girls". He didn't give any additional information about who wrote the song, all of the copyrights were in, "Butterfly Girls" with the trio holding full rights to two of the main copyrights and 75% of the third. Pierre hated to take money from them, but he was the final 25% of the copyright but as the record producer and publisher of the single it was his only pay for the song. The song was an instant hit and saw the name being tossed around radio stations as a total mystery that saw multiple artists being claimed as being the real Butterfly Girls singer. Anita loved the speculating, it was way off of reality and made her feel like a real woman as some of the artists that were claimed to be her were models and singers who dabbled in modeling but who weren't widely known for more than their looks. The girls kept her centered, but they too loved the guessing about who else was on it. Pierre was extremely pleased with the way things were going with the song as he reviewed the various, "Top 100" lists. It was a huge hit and one of the most downloaded, requested, played, or streamed songs in the country for three consecutive months. It was also one of the most talked about songs as the lack of information about who was behind it caused fans to believe that it was a huge tease for someone who was about to release one of the hottest new albums in music history. Anita's name was kept from any speculating, especially as the trials of her parents and sister came and she had to make an appearance out in California. She was told that everything was set, she'd be staying with the Samuels family again and that she would be allowed to email her instructors whatever she had been assigned. That was easy for her, the only class that was troubling was her piano class but that was due to her trying to push herself further than she was ready for and could use the break. Anita was greeted by Jaimie, Rick, and the rambunctious Sylvia at the airport and driven to their home, with Sylvia refusing to let go of Anita. Anita got some revenge on her by asking if she had done all of her homework, causing the little girl to scowl then start in on the work. She mumbled some words to Anita about being mean but showed she didn't really mean them as she hugged Anita. Jaimie asked about Hannah working on another movie, which caused Anita to blush and explain, "I got her to accept the writing job for the movie I'm the executive producer for. She took it based on what the others told her, especially Francesca. I also got my warning about committing her without asking." Sylvia giggled and said, "The twins made fun of Aunt Hannah for taking the job. They think their mom is going to have a baby in the future because she is sick in the morning. Mom said don't bug her about it but Aunt Paige is the same way. Daddy cringes when I talk about babies, he doesn't like them." Anita looked to Jaimie who explained, "She's pregnant again, both her and her sister-in-law Paige. It's a big joke in our family, it's the second time they were pregnant at the same time. Last time, the two gave birth to twins within minutes of each other. If it wasn't so fitting it would be comical." Rick cringed again, looking at Sylvia and trying hard not to say anything. Anita saw the little girl give a look of hope that she'd be a big sister, but it wouldn't happen for a while. She at least could know that her family was going to expand, but not for a long time. At the Sylvester home, Anita got a big shock as Sylvia showed her the new piano her father bought for her because she wanted to be like Anita. Rick sighed and explained, "She heard all about your purchase and wanted one too. She has needed something to occupy her time after school so it was easier to get one and let her enjoy herself than join a sports league and endure the backstabbing parents. She's not that good, but she's improving enough to not make you cringe every few notes." After putting away her clothes, Anita asked Sylvia to show her what she could do. Sylvia tried some of the basic songs she had learned and played her scales well but was still slow in her timing. It was better than Anita had been at the same age, with Anita telling her to keep practicing and she'd get a lot better. Sylvia insisted that Anita play for her, so Anita started playing several songs that she knew that were a bit challenging but not too advanced and would be something Sylvia would work towards in the next few months. She had the little girl enthralled, with Sylvia enjoying the music while trying to hard to watch Anita's fingers work. She was so enthralled that she never noticed her parents taking pictures of the two and smiling at the sight. The Sylvesters sat down to a quiet evening, with Sylvia cuddling into Anita's lap like the other kids her age had done to her. She bounced around and accidentally felt something odd, causing Anita to wince and move away while Sylvia giggled at her. Anita was going to move in tears when Sylvia hugged her to stop her crying and told the scared woman, "Oh, that's why those people came here- it's because you are like mommy. You have a weenie like mommy had. Mommy didn't give birth to me, that was my Aunt Sylvia. She doesn't like to remember when I was in her tummy though, but I love her too." Jaimie and Rick groaned at hearing that while Anita was in tears over the little girl being so blunt in her admission to her. She was taking after her mother in many ways, Anita could see that Sylvia was Jaimie and Rick's daughter even if she wasn't genetically related to Jaimie. She had her mother's empathy and sense of what to say at the right time and her father's sense of right and wrong- all in a little package. During dinner, Sylvia asked about her 2nd-cousins as she never mentioned any of them. Anita didn't have any idea who else she was related to that she had encountered, only Lillian and Harry were known to be related to her. Jaimie saved her by telling Sylvia, "The other kids have been too busy with school and friends to meet her. You know how they are, their parents won't let them get out of schoolwork and your Granty Katie won't let them slack off in school. She will meet them during Christmas break." Anita asked what she meant, Jaimie smiled and explained, "The family gets together for Christmas. All of us- and I do mean everyone. Gavin is invited as well, his parents are dumping him on mom and dad so they can visit their relatives out here and dad offered to house him so they didn't have to waste air fare for him since none of them bother with him when he's there. You'd have to go since mom wouldn't let you stay home alone. The Marshalls were willing to host you but mom convinced them that it'd be best to stay with mom and dad. Pierre is invited to go as well, but that's up to him if he wants to go." Anita blushed at the tease but she was happy to know that they had involved him in the gathering. She had hoped to spend Christmas with him but feared that he may go off with friends to the tropics to be around, "Real" girls in need of attention. She was glad to have people who cared enough about her to do that for her, ensuring that her Christmas was special. The trials were two days away so Anita was busy enjoying long talks with Jaimie and swimming with Sylvia in the mansion's indoor pool. She had to fend off calls from the Turners to come by, but Jaimie and Rick forced her to go with them to dinner so she got out of the house for a bit. Sylvia smirked, it was her idea to go and she had Sally Turner's twins ready to play with her. Sally Turner introduced her new fiance to Anita as soon as they arrived, with the young man happily greeting Anita while Sally's twins tried to climb up Anita's legs. Anita asked why she was back in LA when the school year was still going strong. She blushed but explained, "We have no classes on Friday and Monday so dad flew us out here to spend the weekend. I think I see why he really did it, the twins wanted to see their new playtoy and dad didn't want us overwhelmed." The twins treated her like she was a toy and climbed over her, giggling at her as she carried both into the house. She asked how Sally shuffled the twins, Sally blushed and proclaimed, "Dad hired a nanny to care for them while we are all at class. Kate and Bart are usually out with their boyfriend and girlfriend so it's tough to juggle them and homework. Grandpa takes them on the weekend so I can get more work done and Dickson here has taken them as his own sons giving them a dad to care for them." Dickson York was an average man who would go unnoticed by most people but had a wide smile and a look that showed warmth and acceptance. The twins eagerly called him "daddy" when they saw him and ran right for him, jumping off of Anita much to her humor. Sally further explained, "We met in class and he was eager to work with me on my assignments. The twins didn't phase him, he treated them like they were big kids and enjoyed playing with them. We went on a lot of dates with the twins in town so I didn't have to pay the nanny a lot of overtime and in his words 'if I can't handle the twins I don't think we have a future together.' When he proposed to me, he insisted that I let him adopt them so he could be their father in all ways. The boys love him, they called him daddy immediately after I accepted." The twins smiled at Anita to show that it wasn't a ruse by the twins, they did love their new father and wanted Sally to be happy with Dickson. Anita felt the love and started to think that maybe she could be that way for Pierre, giving him the wife he needs and the mother his children wanted. That wasn't going to happen for a long time, but she loved the idea of it happening. Sylvia took the twins off of Dickson's hands and played with them away from the adults. Dickson was clearly interested in Anita and why the Turners wanted her to come by, he heard a lot about her but it was a bit odd that they'd specifically request her being there. She also had escorts, by the way that Rick was looking around the estate it was almost like he expected the media or someone else to pop out. Rick explained to him what was going on and why. Dickson nodded, asked if they were ready for every dirty trick that the family would come up with, then thought about some retaliations that would hurt them in a way that the trio couldn't recover from. Aubrey wouldn't hold her tongue in court when she saw Anita in her dress, Martin would try to act like it was a big misunderstanding, and Sondra would go for sympathy of anyone in the courtroom to muddy the waters so it seems like she was innocent. Dickson figured out that Martin already had people awaiting Anita's arrival and was going to flood her with questions before she got inside, making it seem like a big publicity stunt and not the truth. Then he figured that Aubrey would have people try to lie to protect her, but had no way of paying them so when their lies were exposed she'd just walk away from them. The biggest wildcard was who Anita had to be in her corner to counter everything, especially as Aubrey would go after her for being a fraud. Rick and Jaimie both stated, "Us" while Rick added, "She doesn't have any defense as she was caught by the police in our home, was heard screaming at us by dispatch, and assaulted officers while still trying to get at Anita. She can't make those charges go away. The DA is facing pressure from the police union and my in-laws so there is no way to accept lesser charges that don't send her away to prison." Jaimie added, "They can try to use my gender change against me but the ADA will demand to know how that is relevant to the case. The same will go for Anita's change, it doesn't matter if she is becoming a woman or not as the restraining order was taken out against her in her legal name not her deadname. It will be hard for anyone to use gender against the facts as it doesn't excuse her violation or the assaults." Dickson thought for a bit but added, "The media will be inside the courtroom. You need to have someone release the fact that you are transgender, receiving treatment for it, and legally changed your name so it isn't used by anyone to extort you. That is also in addition to cutting off anyone who tries to claim to be your relative and seize your inheritance and extort you into paying them to leave you alone." Rick grinned and worked with him and Sally on the press release as well as getting the legal team ready for any challenges. The fact that she was a direct heir of her grandparents, had inherited in full as per the will, and the only relatives that could make a claim are through her grandmother's side of the family made the claims laughable yet still an issue. They wouldn't care that they were not related to her family through her grandfather, it was still money to be made and the bad PR to her worth taking the risk. Anita got the kids from their little play area and ended up helping the twins build with their blocks as Sylvia watched eagerly, enjoying the sight of Anita being a fun aunt who knew what to do for the twins and enjoyed giving them attention. Sylvia had a huge smile and tried to avoid saying how nice Anita was as a mother, knowing it might hit a nerve. The little girl could tell that Anita was going to enjoy the, "Fun" of little kids when Sylvia's own cousins and 2nd-cousins met Anita. Dinner was quiet as the twins let their parents feed them while smiling at Anita to show that they were a couple of mature boys now. Sylvia was happy that it wasn't exotic food, it was just normal soup and a light salad. She whispered to Anita, "Grandpa John doesn't cook right so don't let him make you food." Anita snickered and shot back '"Too late. I tried some of his rice a couple of nights after I moved in. It wasn't so bad, my mom made much worse stuff before when she was 'method acting.' John can be a tough cook but he is better than my parents, sister, and most people I went to school with." The subtle whispering got Jaimie and Rick to shake their heads at their daughter's bit of fun. She knew it was hamming things up, but she appreciated Anita's honesty. Anita again loved being the aunt to the little girl, even if she was only an honorary aunt for the trial. Dinner ended with the twins starting to nod off and wanting Anita to put them to bed. She and Dickson put them down but not before they called her, "Auntie" which she couldn't help but smile at hearing. He added a solemn, "They like you a lot more than Kate. They won't do anything for her but listen to you." She felt happy hearing that news, she loved the two boys but having them love her back was something that she had hoped to experience one day. It was as close as she'd ever get to being an aunt, and was a gift that meant more to her than the boys would ever know. She walked out and went to the Samuels home with her head held high and a feeling of having family- even if they weren't related to her. Once Sylvia was asleep, Jaimie caught her change in demeanor and asked about it. Hearing her story, it took all of Jaimie's might not to laugh. When she finally composed herself, she happily explained to the concerned Anita, "Tara, Tony, Justin, Nathan, Philip, and Lydia already see you as their aunt and if he was able to talk Patrick would feel the same way. The kids want to see you whenever they can. You are their favorite babysitter, even with the girls with you they saw you as their favorite." She grinned and added, "Sylvia doesn't call you it out of respect for your feelings, but you are her aunt in all but name. She is different with you, she seems to understand you. It's all due to my own past, but she sees you as someone who she needs to care about and treat like her own aunts. She has six aunts through me and two through Rick but she doesn't connect with them as she does with you." Rick added, "My sister Al is transgender yet she has never treated Al like that. She loves you a lot, to the point that we have to hold her back from calling you. Give it time and you will have Lillian and Harry doing the same. We don't have to know what Hannah is up to but she will be over a lot in the next few weeks as she starts refining her script for your movie. Those two will want to join her, especially as she starts to deal with being pregnant. They want her to enjoy writing, so you will have them with her just to keep their mother focused and give her a short break." Anita was quiet the next day as Sylvia was on a school trip allowing her to swim then play the piano in quiet and not having to tweak things for Sylvia's sake so she didn't hear a lyric she was too young for. Jaimie and Rick listened as she played, mostly for practice at first but then getting into pop songs and a lot of her own music that she was trying out for possible recording. She was so into the songs that she missed Jaimie and Rick listening to her and waiting for her to finish but not reacting to the concert. When Sylvia returned from her day out, she told her parents about the fun she had and what Anita had missed. Anita nodded, adding her own memories of the zoo and how things changed since she was her age. Sylvia was all ears, allowing Jaimie and Rick to get dinner finished and settle in to eat. The next morning, Anita steeled herself for the trial. The trio told their nanny that they might be late and to refuse any phone calls from anyone who was claiming to be calling on their behalf of the school. The school was told that any leaks to the media would be dealt with legally, which was enough to scare the school into ensuring nobody contacted the Samuels' nanny unless it was a real emergency. The courthouse was packed, everyone was expecting Andrew Woods to be there but nobody took any notice of Anita. She wasn't sure if she should be offended of happy, Jaimie wisely told her that it was a good thing that they didn't take notice of her as it allowed the press release to have more impact and the media would be called out for their offensive actions. Rick added that they were looking for a gossip story and to touch a story about a transitioning woman who was bilked out of her money was too toxic. The Kaplan sisters were awaiting them, with both having looks of concern regarding the cases. The two were thinking that things weren't as they appeared, but Jaimie explained, "The DA isn't taking chances as is the Attorney General. Anita's parents will stand trial, they didn't plead out because the ADAs couldn't accept anything less than the full mandatory sentences for all five per order of both." The Kaplans showed motions to dismiss based on new evidence that showed that Anita was a fraud and had paid people to alter the wills, with Aubrey claiming that the police assaulted her first and was only acting in self-defense. Rick grinned then countered with the original copies of the will as well as files showing withdrawals form the account directly into the Woods' accounts. Then he showed that nobody could deny the assaults were due to Aubrey and her thugs due to the bodycam footage and phonecalls. He hated to tell his bosses that they were wrong, but he added, "It'll be hard to claim that it was altered when Massachusetts investigated the account due to a request from California after my brother-in-law had his own findings shown to the state before they were even aware of any money being removed by the two Woodses. They found exactly the amount stolen and when- all during times Anita was in her boarding school. Further, the state had to be told where the money came from and went to by an outside agency and conduct their own investigation which showed the same theft and fraud. They don't have any claim of impropriety as it was done under a warrant from two states." The five walked into the courtroom and saw the ADA fighting with the defense attorney over the case not being allowed to be pleaded out by trio. The ADA ignored them but was getting annoyed at the couple badgering him. When he saw Rick he immediately told him, "Whomever got my boss to deny all pleas will regret screwing me over. I'm not going to sully my record because some kid can't stop acting like he is a big shot and give his parents what they rightfully earned." Rick simply looked over at someone standing nearby and listened as the ADA was told, "You are hereby removed from this case and will have to explain to my office why you are attempting to hinder the case of a juvenile who had millions of inherited money stolen by parents. This isn't a game, you either do your job to the fullest extent or are terminated. We don't play political or economic games when it comes to the rights of victims of serious crimes, especially juveniles. These people will have their trial today, but you are terminated." The man then hugged the Kaplans and shook Rick's hand, finally kissing Jaimie's cheek and telling her, "Your aunt sends her regards, she thought something was off about that man and this case exposed him for the fraud that he is. This is a clear case of theft and fraud but the severity of it should have had the case go through the full trial due to public scrutiny. We think he did this several times before, I think he is being paid-off by the defense. Based on their scowls, it's proven true and will be investigated fully." The defense attorneys were outraged but kept their calm. The judge entered and saw them try to say that they had a plea deal ready. The AAG simply told the judge, "Had, but no longer. With the consent of the duly elected District Attorney of the County of Los Angelas and the Attorney General of the State of California we hereby withdraw the attempted plea deal due to ethics and criminal violations." He then stated, "My colleague was out of line and acting on his own behalf in accepting a plea deal that was neither approved of nor agreed to by his superiors for the defendants to receive fines, probation, and community service. However, due to the request by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who are the parties that originated this case, we are taking direct action over the ADA's demands. The Attorney General has hereby requested that the defendants have a full trial and will not under any circumstances accept a plea deal. They have their rights, as do the people of California." There was no way around it, they had a right to a fair trial but the state had a right to reject all attempts to take a plea deal and force the trial to go forward. The judge directed the trial to start and saw both sides give their opening statements. As expected, the defense went after Anita and tried to make her seem to be some monster who decided to remove rightful heirs from their inheritance while she could live a life of luxury and debauchery- one with drugs, sex, and various worse things. The defense kept referring to Anita as "Andrew" to which the AAG stated for the record, "The defense has been in serious, malicious error from the start. Your honor, Andrew Woods is no longer the name of the alleged victim. While it was accurate at the start of Massachusetts' investigation, this has changed." He smirked as he stated, "As of September, Andrew Woods was examined and received a diagnosis of being transgender. This was agreed to by three separate psychiatric examinations. At her request, she had her name changed to Anita Love. She has used that name since that day and is the name on the restraining order that all three defendants violated. Martin and Sondra Woods have copies of that order and used Ms. Love's change as a way of forcing their daughter to back away from her lawsuit against them. These threats were intercepted by Ms. Love's lawyers and forwarded to deputy sheriffs. In the ensuing time, Mr. and Mrs. Woods had a group of men force their way into Ms. Love's temporary residence but found that she was no longer there and saw the men assault the homeowner then try to threaten Ms. Love to back off of her lawsuits. Ms. Love's assailants were arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of extortion, assault, and trespassing. These men were the source of Mr. and Mrs. Woods' own threats against Ms. Love." He smirked and further added, "This was the second time that happened. The first time occurred back in Massachusetts and has been adjudicated. The same method was used, however that time Mr. and Mrs. Woods were the second points of contact and not the ones driving the incident. The couple have a few charges pending against them in Massachusetts that they will have to stand trial for when this trial is completed. These are on record and their lawyers know about them yet failed to mention them to the jury. These charges show a pattern, one of using their wealth against their child to force their demands." He then growled an angry, "She is in no way a deviant nor a drug user. She is an accomplished music student who had performed in a local club in her spare time to pay for her basic food and rent needs. Yes, it was in female clothing, but as that is neither a crime nor is that relevant to the case your honor would be wise to admonish my colleagues for that slander. In addition, we do not deny that the club employs numerous women like Ms. Love as well as several men who perform in drag as part of their act, but that also has no baring on this case as it is not a crime to earn money that way. It is also not indicative of drug use, the club in question is entirely drug free due to the club's strong anti- drug policy. So, your honor, Ms. Love demands the court use the name that is her legal name and on the restraining order that her family violated!" He was on a roll and saw the media in the back tapping away as they tried to scoop one another. The Kaplan twins had sent out the announcement that Anita was transgender and asked for privacy when the words were out of the AAG's mouth and scooped everyone. The legitimate media were all over the story and had the Woods family placed in the right frame while the paparazzi tried to get as much info on Anita as they could, finding only her small profile on the club's website and nothing else. The judge stated for the record that as the victim's name was legally Anita Love and was recognized as a female there would be no mention of the previous name of Andrew Woods except as it pertains to the will of Mr. Lionel and Mrs. Ethel Woods. Aubrey screamed that wasn't, "His" to which the judge told the defense attorney to quiet his client and started the prosecution's phase of the trial. The judge kept close watch on Anita, somehow sensing that she wasn't a member of the media as there was more to her. During the lunch recess, two deputies confronted Anita and took her to a conference room to be dressed down for being there. Rick forced his way inside by stating that he was her attorney and there was no reason to drag her out of the courtroom as she had broken no law nor any rule. He dared them to say anything, they were about to arrest him interfering when the AAG entered and told them to release her. He looked at Anita and forcefully stated, "You gentlemen have no right to detain this woman as she has not broken any law, as her attorney just pointed out to you. She is a witness who has yet to be called to the stand, one who has a right to privacy and whose right you violated. I'll have to inform the judge as to your tampering with my witness' testimony as you had no reason to do anything to her and your act put attention on her that was witnessed by the jury as they were exiting. The defense is also going to have to explain why they had you do this, and the sheriff will be speaking to you soon. The timing was too coincidental to not have been timed to be observed by the jury." He signaled to other deputies who removed the two who detained Anita, having them escort the two to a secure room to speak with an ADA as well as their lieutenant about their actions. The AAG shook his head and told Anita, "They were paid off by the defense attorney. They knew who you were, it was easy to see that you were there for the trial as more than a reporter. Your parents must be something else to not notice their child sitting there but I doubt they cared one bit about you before September's antics." When court was back in session, the judge admonished the defense attorneys and lodged a complaint with the state regarding their attempt to use the court to intimidate a witness who hadn't been called. It was followed-up by the attorneys trying to claim she had no business there, which only caused Anita to stand and state to the judge, "I won't anymore. I am Anita love, the victim of Martin and Sondra Woods and the focus of Aubrey Woods' assault on the LAPD officers." Aubrey screamed at her for being a fake and let loose a slew of slurs, causing the jury to see that it was true that she had been involved in the assault as her words matched the words heard on the videos. Her parents were stoic but could be seen trying to write something to the defense which he nodded at but it was stopped by the judge who blurted out, "I will have no slander in my courtroom. I will also not allow anyone to make statements that cannot be substantiated by facts." The AAG grinned then called a surprise witness to all but Rick- Miles Finn. He entered and didn't look at anyone but offered a nod to Anita and Jaimie. Miles was in his full uniform, he was ready for any claims and could handle himself verbally and turn around accusations to show the truth, something the defense could not deflect nor could they deny as he always backed up his responses with facts. Miles reiterated everything that happened in September and turned around each of the accusations by the defense to a degree that there was no way Martin and Sondra could be claimed as being anything but the culprits behind hiring two thugs to attack Anita. He then shocked them when he gave them a big, "We uncovered a string of emails that Mr. and Mrs. Woods sent to Boston School of Music. They had a deal with the school to obtain all of Anita Love's song and instrumental compositions that were to be written by Anita while a student. The school has confirmed that they are authentic and showed that Martin and Sondra Woods had sent a contract to the school that would force the school to turn over every piece of work Anita created. This was undone when Anita was unceremoniously expelled by the school due to her roommate's drug activities that Anita had been blamed for. Mr. and Mrs. Woods were then involved in the attempt to blame Anita for the drug bust but had been exposed by myself and my partner, Sergeant David Peterson, days later. The emails lead back to Martin and Sondra Woods and are directly responsible for their attempt to defraud their daughter while in California leading to their later attempt to send people after her at her LA home. They were unaware that Anita had been enrolled in a new school and has not left Massachusetts until this past weekend. The whole house of cards that they had built collapsed when we exposed their thefts during the weeks after they were served their restraining orders, and continue to show more and more thefts up to last night as more and more bank accounts are found directly connected to Anita's inheritance account. As it stands, Mr. and Mrs. Woods are facing additional federal tax fraud charges from the money earned from their actions in California." Miles was on fire and had undercut the bulk of the defense's counterclaims while ensuring that the couple couldn't take the stand without making themselves come under scrutiny from the state and the federal government for tax fraud. He wasn't playing, he had the files that showed exactly where the money went and who was contacted by Martin and Sondra and how much they were paid by the family to go after Anita's songs as well as when to go after her when she was seen as being vulnerable to some, "Persuasion" by the thugs. The couple didn't realize that she had legal help and people who would work with her, nor did they think she could get anyone who'd go against the Woods family's reputation. Miles was confronted with how he got involved then had his integrity challenged as it was claimed that he had no clue what any of the files actually said. He smirked then stated to the judge, "I am a certified financial analyst and certified forensic accountant, in addition to a Massachusetts State Police trooper. I have investigated dozens of financial crimes cases dating back to 10th grade and have the court cases I was involved with as well as the employment records and awards to show my actual involvement." The AAG listed numerous awards given by the federal government, the UK government, and two other states alongside his verified certifications. The judge listed the major ones for the record while telling the jury that Miles Finn had all required certifications to testify regarding the case and wasn't to be seen as anything less than an expert witness to verify the evidence presented by the state. Miles stared down the defense and set in to counter the next arguments, his involvement with Anita herself. Miles countered every claim and got the defense on the defensive by explaining, "My father is a reserve police officer and my mother is a practicing attorney with years of experience handling bogus lawsuits. The two had my father's cousin's law firm handle the probate and financial situation for Anita when it was found out that she had inherited money. When they found the exact wording of the will, they sent a request to the executor to honor the terms of the will due to Anita's current situation as she was in need of the money for both tuition as well as room and board. By that, I mean the fact that her family had abandoned her after she chose to attend music school in Boston over being forced to endure a local LA college that was inferior in both education and accused of extorting money from its graduates. As has been shown in emails, they cast her out and cut her off from financial support as well as severing her allowance. That is now taken to mean she was going to lose her inheritance, which was put a stop to by her lawyers and sparked the later events." He smirked then explained, "The will was a separate situation that overlapped the situation that occurred due to the arrest of Anita's former roommate. Anita was taken into custody by Boston Police drug unit members but was, in fact, innocent. This arrest and the subsequent uncovering of the involvement by the officers and the school's direct attempt to pin the blame on Anita led to a full investigation by the Commonwealth. I was appointed the as lead investigator and subsequently uncovered the conspiracy to extort money from her by informing her parents just what Anita was doing during her free time. The media was going to be alerted and force the school to get rid of Anita due to pressure from students and alumnae, which were fanned by Martin and Sondra Woods' contacts. The plan involved extorting her by using pictures and videos of her performing at the club then leaking them to the press- a job that was taken due to the need to earn money due to losing her scholarship and being expelled by her school." He didn't fool around anymore and explained, "We suspected that Anita would be confronted after her stay in the club. My boss, the Deputy Attorney General, had her move in with my parents to stay safe. It was there that the confrontation occurred and it was there that we learned the true extent of Martin and Sondra's involvement. Had we not targeted the school for further investigation Anita's parents may have gotten away with their plan by another means. This directly led to the later attempts on Anita, of which Martin and Sondra are currently on trial for. These were uncovered after California was clued in to investigate the couple and led to the attempts on her in California being uncovered." As expected, the defense attorneys went after Miles' family connections. He just grinned and explained, "My parents have no influence on my work and I have no influence on theirs. We may cross paths but we keep work separate from home. She was there as a client of my mother and as we were in the midst of investigating events related to her we kept contact to a minimum with few members of our family actually interacting with Anita at our own request. She met my younger siblings and interacted with them and their friends but did not meet any of our extended family or children- again, at my request." He then added, "Anita was brought to their house as it was the safest place for her as it featured multiple police officers around the house as well as constant patrols by police as it is a major neighborhood for vandalism. The neighborhood is also one of the most secure in the neighborhood due to several similar attempts by people over the years. Next door, directly behind, and across the street are three officers as well as the relatives of more officers. The city's chief of police is one of the officers who live across the street and was fully aware of the investigation by us as his wife is my boss, the deputy AG. The only place more secure than my parents' home is the White House." Miles dared them to say more, the only thing left was to go after Anita's gender change. Miles had them right where he wanted them and would easily make them pay for their attempt. They wasted little time and tried to go after her change, claiming that Anita was under the influence of drugs at the time. Miles grinned then handed the judge several medical reports and stated, "That is a boldfaced lie as these medical reports show. Anita is clean and has never taken a single drug in her life. I presented to the judge two blood work printouts taken by her doctor that shows she is both clean and healthy. These were taken just before the start of her hormone treatment and as part of the two month follow-up exam for her breast implant surgery. The only medicines listed are antiandrogens and estrogen, and that was only present after she started hormone treatment. The source of the claim of drug use is none other than Martin and Sondra Woods as I have emails from them claiming they'd say she was a drug addict who needed treatment in an attempt to get control of her. Coincidentally, this string of emails occurred just after the couple were handed restraining orders and concluded when their extortion attempt failed." He then countered their next claims by stating, "The backing of the claims come from several upset and now former performers who were fired for drug use inside their club. The owner of the club ha a zero tolerance policy for drug use and all employees undergo testing each week. She has never had a single hit on any drug since she was staying with her roommates, my parents, or with her California lawyers and as I stated before, nothing showed up on her blood tests except estrogen and antiandrogens." The judge dismissed him and had to fight a grin as he had destroyed all claims except inadmissible lies that were going to come immediately next as the state rested their case. He was right, after showing the bodycam footage and testimonies by the assaulted officers as well as the dispatcher who heard the rants by Aubrey the defense went after Anita's sex change. The judge let them make fools of themselves and would have said something to put an end to it but the AAG had something up his sleeve. When Martin was called to the stand, the AAG went after him regarding his using Anita's inheritance to fund multiple movies as well as their lifestyle. He tried to deny that he did that but the money trail was hard to ignore. He finally admitted that he did indeed use the money, but it was due to her needing to pay him back for the education he gave her and all of the money he spent flying her around each year. The AAG then countered showing that the only flights Anita had made during her years at school were with Todd Marshall on Todd's family jet and that the school was paid by another trust fund setup by her grandparents. Martin had no counter, he tried to make it look like it was still his money but he couldn't lie without it backfiring. He fell into his own hubris trap, which was what the AAG expected him to do. Sondra tried to act aloof and blame it all on her husband. That backfired as her private bank account, one that she was used for her acting role payments, was used for half of the transactions and her emails were the ones that actually hired the two who harassed Anita both times as she was the one who knew who to go to to get, "Special help to solve their problem." She tried to act like it was her husband's fault again but phone conversations were introduced that had her telling studio executives that she'd get them the money as her son would pay what he owed them. The judge ended the day after Sondra's disastrous testimony, giving the defense a chance to lick their wounds and formulate a new plan of attack but feeling that it was futile now. He had Anita held back and asked if she was going to testify in rebuttal of all of the claims that would come out the next day. She held her head high and proclaimed, "I have no choice. I am the only one to counter all of their claims and I'm the only one who can get Aubrey to tell the truth. I know I will be a target, but I am prepared for the worst. I refuse to be a victim anymore, I have to have my say in this." The trio got home late and saw Sylvia rush to Anita for attention, then dragging her to dinner. She had a big smile on her face and insisted Anita eat so she felt better the next day. It was hard to not listen to the little girl, she was a master of making you feel better and help you focus on what was important. In the morning, Sylvia hugged Anita and told her to be brave and everyone would see the true Anita. It was strong words, and exactly what she needed to hear. Anita was ready for the world that day. Rick drove in and avoided the media circus outside, with a dozen news vans and satellite trucks parked along the street. Anita wasn't noticed by any of the onlookers and had deputies encircle her to allow her to enter while keeping back anyone who might try to stop her. She was told that the deputies who had removed her the day before were suspended pending termination for accepting bribes from the defense. That was little comfort to Anita, she felt sorry for them as it was tough to avoid temptation. Her parents had little money so it actually cost the defense and ensured that they would lose their licenses once the trial was over. Rick whispered to her, "They might appeal based on their lawyers but it was a deal that your parents made with their lawyers to repay them after the were acquitted so there's no grounds for appeal as they were involved in the whole shady deal from the start." Aubrey entered and snarled at everyone, with the judge telling her to calm herself or she'd be removed until it was her turn to testify. She growled at him that she had done nothing wrong but her lawyer told her loudly to shut her trap and let him handle her case. Aubrey quieted down, the bully showing in her. She was called to the stand and explained her actions with, "A week before a lawyer came to my house and told me that I was in violation of my grandparents' will. He said that since I was arrested and had been sentenced to jail I wasn't allowed any money from their estate. Mom and dad cut me off, they had the same notice sent to them and claimed that I cost them their home and would pay for it. It was all Andrew, he is the one who hired the lawyers and made the claims that I violated the will. I wasn't, I had been cleared by mom and dad!" She was in tears, putting on an act for the jury. Her lawyer asked about the restraining order, she told the jury, "I didn't know he was in town. I went over where he was staying to talk with him. I had no clue that I wasn't allowed to see him. The name on the order was for a woman, Andrew is no woman." The defense asked about the arrest. She cried and claimed, "I was beaten by the officers! I didn't do it, I went there to talk with Andrew and this man called the police on me. I don't know who those men are but they followed me inside and fought with the officers when they arrived. I tried to explain why I was there but they said I violated the order and was being arrested for that. I didn't mean to hit the officers, I was trying to get out of their grip! They were hurting me! They left me bruise and almost broke my hand! I didn't do anything, I was only trying to talk with Andrew!" There was nothing more to say. The AAG got up and asked, "Were you not convicted of assault on an officer two years before after you were fired from a movie for similar actions against a transgender stuntwoman?" She tried to say that it was different and that was blown out of proportion, but he presented the police report as well as the file regarding her plea deal with Aubrey claiming that she did nothing wrong then but her agreement stated otherwise. He grinned and asked if she was aware that she had not only known the men with her but had hired the men repeatedly in the past as bodyguards and security at various events that she had attended since she had her first starring role. She tried to play it off like it wasn't important but the AAG showed images to the jury that showed her with the men then played video of her talking with them animatedly on at least five occasions over the span of four years. It was clear that not only did she know them, but she had a close relationship with them given that two videos showed her kissing them deeply. The AAG then asked how she knew that Anita was at the Samuels home. She tried to act like she had no clue but the AAG presented an email to her from a friend in Boston who told her all about Anita going to stay with the Samuels family and warning her to stay far away. She tried to pretend that it was a fake but the AAG sent an email to her phone and asked to examine it, showing that it was real and the email was still on her phone's email app. Finally, she was asked about he relationship with Anita before being arrested. Aubrey tried to act like it was a normal sibling relationship but then admitted that she had no contact with Andrew for years and had only ever seen him at family gatherings. She then claimed that it was him who was responsible for the split and that he kept away from the family because of jealousy of her. The final questions were about why she went to the Samuels home to, "Speak" with Anita if she had no contact in years, had not bothered to speak to her sister in years, and refused to acknowledge her when she was interviewed on TV and online. She tried to deflect but when pressed, she blurted out, "I didn't want anything to do what that freak. He's useless! He can't act, can't sing, and can't dance! He's never going to be anything! Why should I bother with someone untalented and worthless as him? And now he had some nerve in claiming that I was a danger to him? I had to set things right, to clear my good name before the press went after me again for something I didn't do!" That allowed the AAG to get into her own life and asked about her own work since being fired from the movie two years before. She tried to lie and say that it was steady and she had multiple starring roles lined up, but when the AAG showed that she had been in arrears with her SAG requirements and she had no credits in any films for over two years she growled that it was a lie as she had starred in several movies. He showed the movies that she had allegedly starred in were actually low- budget straight-to-video movies that she had to use a fake name for, causing her to angrily shout back, "It's all that tranny freak's fault! She got me fired from the movie! I should have been made the star not some unknown loser who only got her job because she knows the producers! That tranny piece of garbage made the studios blacklist me, all because I wouldn't let her into the set. Freaks like her don't belong on set, they don't belong on camera or in any movie!" She was practically snarling as she said that, showing that her reaction to Anita was more than what she had said it was. She was showing her true colors, with Anita being transgender the truth of why she had gone to the Samuels home was exposed for all to see. Aubrey was transphobic and was going to harm her own sister just because she had been evicted and lost her only source of wealth. The AAG countered, "So you have that reaction to Taylor Turner, niece of the head of GCW Studios and a member of SAG in good standing, and are still claiming to have gone to the Samuels home to speak with your so- called 'brother' after you are given notice to stay away? It is a bit odd that you are heard on recordings by two separate dispatchers using the same language that you used in regards to Taylor Turner in your remarks against Anita Love- your sister. How do you explain how your own words betray your true meaning as you called him out over his change of gender!" She had nothing to counter, so he went after her previous arrests before the Taylor incident. Her drug use, her arrests for DUI, her arrests for assault added up and showed that she was out of control and was what her parents had made Anita out to be. When pressed on how she was allowed to get away for years with so many arrests, Aubrey tried to blame her parents which then backfired as she told him that her parents had said that she was better than everyone else and wasn't at fault- the officers were. Aubrey was the final witness for the defense, nobody else could be called as there was nobody else left to defend Aubrey, Martin, or Sondra. Anita braced herself as the AAG called her as a rebuttal witness to refute the claims made by her parents and Aubrey as well as clear her good name and make it known she was the true victim there. The judge allowed her to testify, but told the defense that he would not allow any shenanigans and would hold them in contempt if they tried. Anita stated that yes her name was Anita and yes she is transgender and transitioning and yes she had changed her name legally from Andrew to Anita. She dared the defense to say anything, with the judge glaring at them to rein in their antics. Anita did as she usually did and told the truth and prepared for the inevitable counterclaims from the defense. Anita was asked about her transition and specifically why she transitioned, with the defense hoping to use her timing against her. She was prepared and countered, "I transitioned for my own sake as I could no longer lie to myself about being a man. You heard it yourself from my sister, I was a freak as a man and am too small and too weak to ever be one. I have been fighting being a woman for years, the only ones who saw the real me were my closest friends and their parents. They got me help and allowed me to transition in safety without causing myself harm." The defense tried to make her out to be a nut case but she countered, "You have not the slightest idea what anyone has to go through when they transition between genders, do you? You only see me as a former male yet you would not be able to endure the mental anguish, torment, and physical pain of transitioning. I am not mentally ill nor am I suffering from a disease that can be cured. To suggest that shows you are as ignorant as my sister and parents. This isn't a curable disease, this is a lifelong issue that has few ways of correcting. My own family didn't recognize me despite sitting her both days and it was only your attempt to have me removed that clued them into who I really was but even that turned out to be a bad idea on your part that you will be paying for later on." She then countered, "Until I became a liability to them, my parents had no interest in me. If they had they would have seen my performances as a woman throughout high school. They saw me perform as a woman once, with my father striking me for making him look bad in front of the entire school. He and mom didn't care that I was forced into it, all they cared about was their image. And the sad part? I was praised by everyone who saw the performance with nobody saying anything bad about my being in a dress and makeup! They were banned from further performances at my request, the school offered to send them copies of all of my performances for their personal records as they did with every other student but mom and dad refused. They ignored me after that, ashamed that their son was so feminine!" She took a second to calm herself then continued, "I acted and sang as a girl for several more plays as I was the only one who could play the part convincingly and sing high enough to not make the musicals sound terrible nor make the performance campy and comedic when it was supposed to be dramatic. I was dressing in female wardrobe and makeup as men had done for centuries! I was comfortable as a girl and only now see that it was because I am a woman and not a boy playing the part of a woman. I could not care one bit about money that they are claiming is the real reason I went after them, nor is it a plea for attention. I wasn't aware of what was going on with my inheritance until I was cut off and my lawyer sought answers to see if it was being handled the right way. I didn't care about money, I was prepared to work for it. Even that wasn't good enough for my parents, as you heard from Miles Finn." She dared the defense to counter that, when they tried to make it look like she was after their money again countered, "I had no idea what was in my grandparents' will. I wasn't at the will reading, mom and dad took Aubrey but left me at school. I was only told that they had died and that I wasn't going to be able to attend their funerals because of school. I found out a week later that they had lied to the school about when the funeral was! I see now that it was yet another lie by them to keep me away from what I was going to inherit. I didn't know that I was getting everything until my lawyer told me, I didn't want any of it until I graduated but mom, dad, and Aubrey's actions caused me to get it all immediately." She had nothing further to say about any of that. When the defense tried to claim that she was a drug addict and stripper, Anita boldly told them, "I have never touched alcohol or drugs in my life. You are hellbent on making me out to be a liar, but the ones who made the claim were fired for using heroin in the bathroom of the club and the my roommate's parents tried to pin his own drug usage on me. I am clean. I want nothing to do with any drugs and when I found out my roommate used them I went to the school to demand a change of rooms. It was never done because he was arrested. My lawyer found out why I was never shifted, it was so I would take the blame for my roommate's actions!" The arrest was looked into, she all but snarled, "I didn't do anything. Everything you have said has been refuted by Miles Finn. I was innocent but I was arrested anyway. Mrs. Finn got me freed and the two officers who arrested me were themselves arrested by the State Police for accepting money to arrest me. Miles didn't mention that because it was a different investigation but they are in prison now. The officers are friends with my roommate and were known to the school so were able to get inside without a warrant and worked with my roommate to plant evidence. They caved under pressure from the State Police, it's all on record and you can find it online as it made the news in Boston." She dared them to say more. Aubrey was ready to go after her and required deputies to restrain her. It was what the defense needed so they decided to go after Anita's life since getting kicked out of BSM, to which she happily told them, "I have been enrolled in NESM since the day I was kicked out of BSM. I have aced my initial classes and have several songs already in my repertoire. I have credits for two songs, one of which my parents knew about and were trying to seek the royalties from and one that I co-wrote with my roommate and her friend. Before they even think about going after those songs, the two are tied-up legally as my family has no right to claim any of my work as they had no involvement in any of the work I have done. They knew full well about my work with Marshall Films, Mr. Marshall and his legal team ensured that they had no claim to anything I wrote last summer. As for the money I am going to make from the movie's gross, they have no claim to that either. It's in my contract with the Marshalls, mom and dad have no rights to any money as I'm over 18." She cut them off at the pass and ensured that there was no way around her legal team. Neither Martin nor Sondra were able to get any of the royalties or shares of the movie's profits thanks to the Marshalls ensuring Anita was covered even when she was still Andrew. It was all finished for the trio, Anita had won handily and they couldn't fight her back. Anita was dismissed and closing arguments began. The defense tried to go for Anita but it was nothing but a desperation tactic that was countered by the AAG going for the throat and explaining how it was a systemic attack on Anita that was exposed by people who were experts in what they did. The jury was unmoved by the defense and simply nodded as the AAG rehashed everything they did to her yet again. The jury deliberated for the rest of the day but returned a verdict a half hour before calling it a day. The judge wasted no time and had them read the verdict: guilty on all charges. Anita would see all three of her family members sent to prison, with Aubrey screaming at the judge for ruining her life and getting dragged away by deputies as the judge ignored her childish antics. He sentenced the couple to four years in prison due to the number of charges against them and the fact that the most severe was extortion and related to all of the other charges. Aubrey fared worse as the judge humiliated her by telling her angrily, "You have now been convicted of aggravated assault twice, this time against police officers. For the same reason no less: because your ego won't let you see that you are wrong. You went after your sister because she put a restraining order against you that was shown to be needed. Why? All because of who she is. It had nothing to do with your being evicted by her as part of her inheritance nor is it because she had caused you to lose all of your ill-gotten gains from said inheritance She did no wrong to you, yet you chose to try to assault her simply because you could. As it is your second offense and it was in addition to assault police officers I hereby sentence you to three years in jail and order you to pay restitution to the officers that you assaulted." Aubrey went after the judge and the deputies holding her back, making contact with one deputy which caused him to break his arm. The judge simply smiled and had her removed to the county jail then charged with additional felony battery charges to the deputies. It was her third strike so she was going to prison for the length of her sentence instead of the county jail. Anita left amid the drama with Aubrey. The media tried to swarm her once they learned that she was the one who was formerly Andrew Woods, but were held off by Rick and the Kaplan twins explaining that there would be no questions asked and she wanted her privacy. The few who ignored him tried to stop Anita from getting into the car then follow them as the left were stopped by police who weren't in the mood to play the usual dangerous car chase game that the media played. At the Samuels home, Sylvia hugged Anita tight as she entered. Anita hugged her tight too, crying into the girl's shoulder as the anxiety and fear of the trial was released all at once. Sylvia smiled at Jaimie as she knew instinctively just what to do to get Anita to release her tears. Anita ate in silence then packed her bags for her return trip, with Sylvia giving her a big kiss to let her know that she cared about her deeply. Sylvia put Anita to bed then told her parents that she was glad to be Anita's niece even if she didn't want to be her aunt. Jaimie hugged her then told the little girl, "She is proud to be your aunt and loves being your aunt." Anita awoke the next morning to Sylvia hugging her and kissing her cheek, with Anita thanking her for being a good niece. Sylvia countered, "You are a good aunt, Aunt Anita. You are my aunt, even if you don't see it. Mom and dad have a lot of aunts and uncles and we kids have a lot more as well. I wanted you to be my auntie ever since mom said you were coming here, I love having more aunties." Sylvia was dropped off as school with Anita giving her a big hug goodbye, causing her classmates to ask who she was and why she was with her parents. Sylvia proudly stated, "She's my aunt Anita. She's a great singer and can play lots of instruments. Mom and Dad said she is going to be a big singer soon." Anita had to hold back tears over Sylvia's words but Jaimie quietly whispered, "You know that it's true. Pierre will make you a star and you have the perfect songwriting team to help you. Everyone is waiting for you to perform as yourself for the first time, we know you will be huge- a true star." The drive to the airport was quiet while Anita thought about the fact that she had been outed by the trial and nothing would ever be the same. Rick calmed her by telling her that the media was being kept out of the airport that they were flying to so would be unable to harass her. Their bags were packed and in the car, Anita never noticed Rick's bags but he blushed as he explained that he had business in Boston too which was why he was joining her on the trip. Jaimie teased him by adding, "He's under orders to visit by his parents and sister. Her husband has a lot of large men ready to drag him to their house. Al loves Rick deeply and wants to see him even if he doesn't want to make a fuss about being back in Boston. He has to stay with them or she'd be upset. She is the one person in our entire family that you never want to upset- even more so than Hannah and Cat." Rick blushed while Jaimie told them that she wished she could go too but she had to do some makeup work for the two days she missed for the trial. Rick added that it was mostly to keep the media away from the school but she was a witness who could have been called as well if the bodycam footage had not been so damaging to Aubrey. Anita understood exactly what he meant, Jaimie was their ace in the hole as she was a direct witness to everything that happened. Rick bid Jaimie goodbye and talked with Anita while they were flying. He laid out what wasn't able to be told in LA: the exact scope of the money issue that he was dealing with. Anita's parents had made a lot of enemies and incurred a lot of debt that was only now being uncovered and would see Anita as the target to go after to get their money back. He pointed out, "They are in debt up to their eyeballs for jewelry rental, dress manufacturing, and for the rentals of limos and cars. They have no assets except their movie rights and you are the one who is the true holder of those rights. They will try to send people to collect the debts, but you are actually not the one liable for them. Don't make any deals with anyone, ignore all threats against you, and inform mom if anyone tries to threaten you as it's likely those people are relying on you to pay their own debts." He read over what she actually owned and explained, "We have gotten all of your money freed so you can use it now as you please. You own two mansions, all of their cars, and the rights to 35 movies that your parents and grandparents produced over decades. That adds up to roughly $400 million total, with the bulk of it being the film rights. Then you are owed the well over $300 million that they had made off of your inheritance investments as it was in your name. We have found most of the money that they redirected to offshore accounts and have recovered 90% of it but it'll be tough to not pay the federal government taxes on the found money. They tried to be slick and use you as a scapegoat in case the movies flopped but their movies were actually successful and brought in a nice profit each time. That is in addition to the profits from your points in the movie and the royalties from your movie score and your songs. Those add up to $50 million total, but it will go up as interest increases when the Oscars are announced. You are expected to be a contender, I have heard that you are the odds-on favorite now that you are public with your transition. The vultures love to make a big deal out of 'inclusion' so will use you as a way of showing they are trans- friendly." She couldn't believe it, she was worth almost $750 million dollars. She looked at him to which he added, "You are investing your money in a movie but it's not all of the money. I capped your total investment in it at $50 million and with the way Hannah writes it'll never be reached as much of it is going to be centered around a small number of sets and locations that are easy to film in and use existing facades to the director's benefit. She knows how to research locations ahead of time, and thanks to it being an adaptation she has the locations already described in full. It'll be considered a 'cheap' production but it'll be one that relies heavily on the acting prowess of Francesca and her costars, which is what should be happening in the first place. It'll likely be a hit but also an Oscar contender, one that you will be looking at two separate Oscars for- producing and writing." She couldn't believe that last part. He shook his head and explained, "You are getting equal credit as it's your work as much as Hannah's. She is struggling with it and needs your help to get it right. She doesn't care about sharing credit, you earned it and she is happy sharing it with you." He saved the worst news for last, telling her, "GCW believes that you should perform your song at the show. It's a good idea, you are out now and GCW won't allow discrimination from the media. They are not ones to let their employees get hurt, especially ones who are unofficial family members." She nodded in agreement, the cat was out of the bag so she had to live her life as herself and couldn't hide from anyone anymore. The media knew she was in Boston, she had money, and she performed at the club. She would have to stop being reclusive and just live her life as she saw fit. The revelation hit her hard, she was her own woman now and could do whatever she wanted to do. She smiled at that, it was what Aubrey had wanted yet she had achieved. And unlike Aubrey, she was doing it because she had a reason to do it- not because she had an image to maintain. The plane made a fuel stop in Dallas, TX allowing them to stretch their legs. They were back in the air before anyone noticed the plane, with nobody knowing who they were making Anita relax for a bit as the tension of being in public hit her. When they arrived in Boston it was the same, only it was due to the airport restricting access to anyone due to it being home to a military base alongside the public use. Valerie greeted them at the airport and directed Rick to head "home" which got him to groan and ask, "Did she even bother to ask mom if I want to come home or did she tell you to make me come home." Valerie smirked and confessed, "You know how she is. She loves her big brother and misses you. She just wants to see the big strapping lawyer that she raves about to her friends." Anita kept quiet while Rick mumbled about her being manipulative and too much like Jaimie. Valerie simply shook her head and explained, "Al is Al. She loves Rick deeply and does miss him. She wanted to go to school out west to be close to him but was rejected by UCLA and USC. They both told her the schools, "Had their quota of transgender students" already. She refused to go to another school, and we made sure the schools paid dearly for discriminating against her due to being transgender. She misses Rick and tries to see him as much as possible but you know how it is when one is in school." Anita's eyes opened wide as Valerie nodded and added, "The schools tried to keep a lid on it but it was a big story. Their policies were ripped apart by the state and they lost a lot of money from donors who were disgusted that they'd go against their own claims of being, "Inclusive" to preclude those who had earned a spot at the school. It was a big victory but it didn't help the girls and boys rejected by them. Al is doing better, but it still stings her to be seen as just a 'tranny girl' and not as a model student with high grades and a lot of potential." At the Samuels home, Rick was run over by a beautiful young woman who kissed his cheek multiple times. Anita understood what Valerie meant, Al loved Rick and was showing it. Al dragged Rick inside while Valerie drove Anita home, both smiling at Al's tear-filled expression upon seeing Rick. Tabby, Aggy, Melinda, Piper, and Sydney hugged Anita as she entered, with all five telling her that she was all over the news. Anita looked away in shame, but Tabby explained, "The news is all about standing up to your parents and sister. Channel 7 tried to make it out to be a big publicity stunt but had to retract their anchors' statements when it went viral. They tried to get dirt on you at the club but got run off by the ladies while the owner called the police on the reporter who snuck in without paying. They tried to go to the school and ended up getting banned! None of the other stations tried to do anything more than report that your family were on trial and were convicted, they didn't care and they made sure that the news was the truth and not speculation like Channel 7 did." Valerie added, "The other stations are owned by corporations, ones John has stocks in. He warned them to report the truth or he'd personally see to it that the companies were exposed for allowing reporters to lie to viewers and pass off speculation as facts. Channel 7 is owned privately so doesn't have to listen to anyone but the owner but do have access issues that the Boston Police and other departments enforce." Valerie left and saw the girls hugging Anita as she sat down to rest. The five asked her if she was going to be fine, Anita finally cried and confessed, "I'm all alone now. I have nobody left in my family and only have you as the closest people to family. I'm jealous of all of you, you never have to endure being alone again. You have dozens of family, all I have is pity from people helping because of you." She bawled as the girls hugged her deeply. Tabby then told her, "We are no different. You know about our grandparents and fathers, as well as Melinda's and my brothers. We know what you are feeling, but you aren't alone. We love you. We have cared about you since we met you but we love having you as a friend. You aren't alone, our mothers will never let you be alone again. You have family, family is more than your blood. You have to see that in us, we are family despite not being blood to anyone else. We are your family now, every single one of us." The girls made Anita eat then put her to bed, with one of them keeping a close eye on her so she didn't do anything to herself overnight. It was tough but they endured the tough night for Anita's sake. It was worth the exhaustion, she needed them by her side. In the morning, the girls ensured that she ate and was doing better mentally. Valerie took her off of their hands and took her to the Finn home to talk with the legal team about everything. That was a ruse, as it was actually a long talk with Gina Allen that was planned for her. Gina let her talk to her about everything she could think of then had her tell her what was really wrong as it was clear that she was feeling terrible about something else. Anita tried to deflect but when Gina cornered her with irrefutable logic she finally admitted, "I hate being all alone. I see the girls with their families and see the little kids having parents and siblings and aunts and uncles all around them. I hate that I am never going to have that. I know that the girls are my friends, but I am just so jealous of them. I wish that I had that, I wish I had family who loved me like theirs do. I don't have anyone." Valerie had to hold herself back from saying something. Gina wisely told Valerie, "She has a point about all of this. All of the girls have someone, she doesn't have anyone. She has one other person to love her but even he doesn't have anyone else. He is estranged from his parents, she doesn't know the reason but it sounded like it was a nasty feud that hasn't been settled." Anita offered a stilted, "It's over him not finding a girl. His parents want him to find a girl but he didn't want to stop making music. He loves his parents but is too stubborn to reconcile." Gina smiled at hearing that, with Valerie vocalizing, "He has you and you are what they wanted him to find. He hasn't realized yet that he did exactly what they wanted him to do. He loves you and through him you have your family. They will love you if you let them accept you." Anita tried to look ashamed, Valerie explained to her, "You were thinking about him and not anyone else. You love him deeply, but didn't realize that you were the missing piece in his life. Talk with him about the two of you, it's time to start being more than close friends." Valerie called Pierre on Anita's phone and got him immediately. She explained to him what she needed from him and had him heading to her house as soon as he clicked off. Valerie smiled, telling the scared Anita, "Pack your bags, you two are moving in together. The time has come to be a couple for real." Pierre entered and hugged Anita tightly, letting her cry into his shoulder. When she stopped, he asked her to move in with him so they could stop fighting their feelings and be a true couple. She was in tears again, this time thanking him for doing this for her. He led her out, with Gina telling Valerie, "He will give her a ring in two weeks or he risks having all five girls forcing him to propose. That is if Cat and Ella don't make him do it right away. I personally think he has one but was waiting for her to stop worrying about her family to propose." Valerie nodded, adding, "The girls already started making plans to force him to do it. Cat is serious about it, she doesn't want him to lose her. Ella is more cautious but was going to confront him next week." At home, Pierre packed everything and had the girls' fiances help with the piano. He moved the bulk of the clothing himself, not even flinching as he saw her panties and bras. The only thing left were her pill bottles, which she moved herself as she didn't want to lose her precious hormones or blockers. Pierre's condo was stunning, with a view that was worth twice the condo's worth. He boasted that it was a good price as the baseball player who owned it got it for cheap from a bank foreclosure. He especially loved pointing out how there was a fitness center and pool in the complex, with the two having a patio to watch the city whenever they wanted a nice night out without leaving the building. Her clothing shared a closet with his clothing, with Anita uncovering a shocking secret that he tried to keep hidden: old costumes from music videos. She recognized them, with Pierre sighing and telling her, "I was in a boy band who hit it big for a while. I refused to be one of the acts who only signed and sang for their dinner, I wanted more. I wrote all of our songs and forced our manager to put my songs on our albums. We were at the top of the charts for over a year but lost traction when we lost one guy due to drugs and another due to an arrest. When the others were upset that their pay was only in the thousands and mine in the millions we broke-up. I still retain the rights to all of the songs, so they can't reform or perform without paying me. I had my fill of being a performer, it was a fun four years but I don't want to perform anymore so the group is dead." Anita couldn't believe it but he started to sing one of their biggest hits causing her to gasp in shock as he was one of the guys that she had tried to emulate when she was trying to be a boy. He was the peak of masculinity and the guy all girls drooled over, seeing Pierre performing made her realize that it was fate that brought them together. He saw her look and happily told her, "You knew the whole time that it was special between us. You knew in your heart that I was the one for you. You thought that you were looking for someone like him and found me- the real deal." She kissed him deeply, telling him how happy she was to have found Mr. Right. He got down on one knee and asked her, "Will you be willing to become 'Mrs. Right'?" She gasped in shock and nodded, the two embracing deeply as Anita's tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. He insisted that she rest for a while. The two went for a swim and burned off their nervous energy in the gym, with Anita playfully challenging him to a race and winning handily. He couldn't stop smiling as the woman of his dreams was blossoming in front of his eyes and showing that she was the right one for him and was going to make him the happiest man in the world. When they returned to the condo Anita had to field phone calls from the girls. She explained to them why she had moved out and who had suggested it, with all five girls understanding while Cat and Ella were upset that she didn't see them yet. She tried to wiggle out of fully answering their questions, but did explain to them that she needed to be with Pierre for her own sake. The two were ordered to the Finn home that evening, with Cat threatening to drag them there herself. It was sweet but it was clear that she was concerned about Anita. Pierre offered a somber, "She's going to be a person I don't want to upset when she's older. She's only 13, but acts like she's in her 20s." Anita and he relaxed for the next two hours before driving to the Finn home. Pierre kissed her on the lips to relax her, but it was still tough to calm herself. When they finally exited the car and knocked on the door Cat opened it, looked at her ring, and screamed. John and Valerie rushed to see what Cat was screaming about, but stopped dead in their tracks as they saw her crying into Anita's chest. Spotting the ring, Valerie calmly told Anita, "I wanted you two to get closer together, I didn't mean for you to jump over dating and go straight into marriage. I guess it's congratulations, you two are perfect for one another. I hope you two don't try to go too far too fast, but you are ready to be together." Cat had to be led to the living room while Ella hugged Anita tightly, crying herself as she showed how much she cared for Anita. She tried to form words, Anita softly explained to her, "He loves me, I love him. He is giving me the family that I need. He's going to introduce me to his parents." Ella went off to console Cat while John and Valerie worked out an agreement that would satisfy the two and ensure that they were covered in case one or both cheated. Pierre insisted that she get half of every cent he owned if he cheated on her, while Anita wanted the same. Neither wanted the other to be left for want should anything happen to the other, but Pierre insisted that Anita leave her money to friends as they were her family even if not official. Valerie hammered out a basic agreement and swore that she'd figure out everyone once she had a clear image of what Pierre had in his portfolio. Pierre blurted out, "$70 million in investments and savings three houses, ownership of all 'The Power Walk Boys' songs, ownership of 'PD Records' the rights of 150 songs co-written by me over the years, and my cars. I don't own art or boats or planes, I don't need them. All of my money goes into the bank, I'd rather have a nice retirement than waste money." Valerie could only nod, while Cat and Ella asked, "Why the Power Walk Boys"? John groaned as Valerie added, "They were a group he was part of 12 years ago. He was the group, he was the lead singer. Your brother and sister used to love them when they were younger, they loved to dance to them." Pierre blushed while the girls went off to research the group. Valerie casually explained, "That'll keep the two busy for an hour or two. Dinner will be done by then, hopefully Cat'll be calmer now." When the girls came back out they were both singing one of the songs causing Pierre to blush deeply and make Anita smile as they were teasing him. John served the meal and saw Gavin and JD rush in to eat, neither noticing Anita and Pierre yet happy to eat John's cooking. After finishing their meal Gavin hugged Anita goodbye, the boy no longer feeling weird around her and treating her like another cousin. Valerie caught her thinking and wisely told her, "He's used to you now. He has a long way to go to get in the groove of being around everyone else but he is fine with you. I assume it's that whole empathy and understanding one another as unwanted children at work. Now if only he didn't stare at your chest..." She blushed at that and instinctively tried to cover herself which led Valerie to laugh and add, "He's 13, it's instinct in them. He does it to Cat, but she flaunts hers openly. This summer he might melt when she shows off her body to him at the beach. Lord knows she already wants to do that at the pool." Word spread around the family as Anita's phone lit up. She answered call after call from the Stoners, then Rick, then finally Hannah Smith. Hannah was the toughest call to endure, she wanted to know exactly why he proposed and if she felt pressured into it by Valerie and the girls. Anita sighed then explained, "I love him. I have been in love with him since the day we met. I moved in with him because your aunt thought it would be best for me to move in. He is the man of my dreams. I really mean it- he was the man I was dreaming about in bed. I can't see myself with anyone else." Hannah waited for her to calm herself then countered, "I'll let the others know to leave you two alone. I was just worried that Aunt Valerie was forcing you two together and you weren't ready for love yet. She has been known to be wrong from time to time, this could have easily turned against you." She tried to tease Anita about Pierre's boy band, Anita happily told him, "I loved those guys. Aubrey had a big crush on the bad boy of your group. Her friends liked your bandmates more, but I always thought you were the best one. You showed you had real talent, the others were just following behind you." She kissed him deeply as they entered the condo, with him laying her down on the bed. She got up and stripped naked, then did the same to him. She had a big grin on her face, she got in front of him and made him lay down then did something he never expected- accepted him inside of her body. The two went at it for an hour before he was completely exhausted. She was little better, she felt a bit of pain in her rear but refused to give up her smile. She had given up something to her beloved that he would always cherish, and in the future she hoped to experience that in her new vagina. Anita was sore the next morning, requiring some aspirin while Pierre told her that she shouldn't do that again for a while. She brushed it off, telling him, "Pain is temporary. I needed to do this for you. I want to be your wife and in my eyes it requires that act." Anita attended class but was in a bit of pain, which didn't go unnoticed by Tabby. She asked what was wrong to which Anita blushed deeply. Tabby gasped but hugged her, insisting that it would get easier. Anita didn't ask how she knew, however Tabby explained, "Aunt Savannah told us. She refused to lie to us when we asked about her and Uncle Justin before her surgery. She told us to tell you to take it slow and not force things as you could tear things and it's very embarrassing." Anita pushed sex out of her mind as she and Tabby worked on their newest song. Tabby casually added that she was hoping to record it soon, and had Trinity agreeing to take part in it. Anita nodded, adding, "I'll talk with Pierre. We have to record GCW's song so they can work it into their promos. I can't wait to go to Florida, the kids are amazing and Taylor said we can meet her kids." Trinity met them after their last class, explaining that she was told to go see them so they could go to Pierre's studio. The trio entered and had Pierre moving them to the recording booth to get them used to the equipment and tuning their instruments. He was entirely professional, he wasn't Antia's fiance then. Pierre explained that they were ready to record their song and that all three would be credited together as it was going to be hard to hide their participation from the media once it hit. Trinity tried to say she didn't want the credit, but he insisted, "It's for the best that you just get it out there. You won't have the media snooping through your private life, if they know what's good for them they'll just leave it alone. You simply acknowledge that your parents are deceased and you were adopted by a loving couple and that's that. Anyone going deeper will be met with legal action as you are a minor. Your mothers had a gag order in effect sealing your records to prevent anyone from claiming falsehoods against them." Trinity seemed to calm herself and started to work on her scales to get herself ready for the recording. Anita did the same with her voice while Tabby strummed her guitar. The trio would each use different instruments for the song, with the instruments overlapping allowing the sound to harmonize into a solid sound that Anita's vocals would then be placed on top of. Trinity and Tabby would add their own vocals to the song, giving the whole song a layered sound that fit their style perfectly. The recording took all afternoon and saw the girls eating dinner in the studio, with Anita trying hard to keep from fiddling with the vocal tracks to her satisfaction while Trinity tried to tweak the piano track. Tabby was the only one who didn't adjust anything, she trusted Anita and Trinity to find what needed to be fixed and ensure that it sounded great. She cringed as the two were acting like perfectionists, with the duo doing their hardest to make every sound fall into the right moment in the song. Anita noticed Pierre was so focused on the adjustments to the controls that he wasn't eating, forcing her to make him eat. Tabby gave the crew a stern warning to keep quiet about her making him eat, Anita was his fiance and she was doing exactly what a wife should do for her husband. Being the bachelors that they were, none of them understood and laughed anyway. Anita got up and walked out, telling Pierre that they'd finish another time as it wasn't the best time to be working on the song. He just shook his head and fired the crew, telling them, "You disrespected my fiance and her friend. I'd rather finish this on my own than use people who laugh in the face of people I love. Don't bother suing, you are paid per hour and receive no credit as you didn't do your part yet and I can easily do what you were doing myself." He got the girls back inside and had them sing the song straight through without stopping, nailing it in the first take and telling them warmly, "We are done. We have all of the sounds and when you play it in front of the crowd you'll have a band backing you up. If you choose to play guitar then so be it, it's up to you to choose what you want to do. I still think Trinity should play piano, though." The girls went home with big smiles as Pierre hugged them goodbye. Anita joined him for the drive to their condo, with Anita again giving him sex while letting him enjoy her body. It was amazing for her, she felt like she was finally alive sexually and felt less pain than the night before. He turned things around and let her do the same to him, telling her that she should experience it once to know what she was receiving. He didn't show pain or discomfort, it was as if he had done it before. He knew what she was thinking and explained to her, "I've done it before. I experimented a lot on the road as it was just us kids and some floozies in each city. I didn't really like it, but I participated willingly." She kissed him deeply for doing that for her, then confessed to him, "I didn't like doing that. I honestly don't like doing it. I love to receive, I hope it's just as much fun when I have my surgery. If you want to receive then I'll continue to do it, but only if you want to." The two showered and fell asleep in each other's arms. Anita dreamed of the couple walking along the beach and kissing as the sun set, with Anita rubbing her bulging belly as she awaited the birth of her first child. She didn't know what to say to the child, but found the courage to admit, "One day we will be your parents. You won't have to ever be alone again. We love you. We adopt you as our own and love you dearly. Adoption does not mean we love you any less and if you were born to us." Anita was softly crying in her sleep, the more she saw her child growing in her womb and eventually giving birth to that same baby, the more she felt like motherhood was calling her and would arrive soon. She loved the feeling, her dreams were vivid to the point that she was rubbing her own belly. She didn't want to wake up, but eventually she did. That morning, she called Gina Allen and asked to talk to her about something that was bugging her. It was expected of Anita, but the reason turned out to be one that Gina had to fight a smile over hearing. It was the best possible news for Anita, she had subconsciously accepted motherhood and was starting to feel the pangs of wanting to be one in the near future. Gina wisely told her, "Motherhood will come, but you need to take things slow. There are children out there who will need loving homes, let yourself learn and establish your career before you take this huge step. A child is a lifetime commitment, you can't return him/her if it turns out you aren't ready. The two of you are better off waiting until after graduation so you have your career established. Let the Stoners and the others of your generation sooth your motherhood bug by letting you babysit." It wasn't what Anita wanted to hear, but she accepted it. Gina told her that her grandchildren would be able to satisfy her need to mother as Tony, Tara, and Patrick Russo were eager to be with her again. She was happy to help their parents, with Gina sagely telling her, "They may be done having children. They may have one more in two years but that is it for them. Patrick is more of a handful than they thought and it's taking a lot out of his parents to keep from breaking down." Anita and Pierre kept their lovemaking up for the rest of the week, with Anita attending her classes and explaining to her instructors her change in demeanor for the better. None could find fault with her as it was a tough start of the week, plus the recording of a song for a professional production and playing the various instruments was a big step for her in the right direction as far as they were concerned. She had a lot of time to think about her future and the school, with Anita choosing to remain until graduation even if she was going to be more accomplished than any other student by then. That weekend saw Anita babysitting the Russo children, with Tara trying to play the grumpy little girl who was upset at not getting her way while Tony played the rambunctious toddler who was getting into everything and making it difficult to relax for a second. Patrick hugged her tightly and wouldn't let her go, insisting on hanging off of her the whole time. He shocked Anita by trying to suckle from her breast, with Tara telling her that he liked to do it from her mommy due to her trying to breastfeed him but her boobs not producing enough milk to sustain him. The infant didn't care if he wasn't getting anything, it was more to sooth him than anything else and as he fell asleep Anita happily explained to Tara, "It's his instincts kicking in. Your mommy might not be able to do it fully but he wants to bond with her. Babies do that a lot with women and some men, I was told that your uncle Patrick had the same thing happen to him when his niece and daughter were little." Pierre listened as Anita portrayed the doting aunt wonderfully. When the kids left she felt herself feel as if she was a mother, if only for a short period of time. She looked at him with hope, to which he told her, "After you graduate. I want to be there for you and will be proud to be the father to your child. But I want to you have an education. You have a future in music as a producer, I can see it in your eyes." Anita dreamed of little children and babies for weeks, with Patrick keeping her from obsessing over the idea of motherhood. Thankfully for him, Christmas break was coming so she could focus on that. She had already volunteered to babysit for the Finns to allow the parents to have some alone time, with her having to beg Hannah Smith for the right to babysit her twins. Hannah was being Hannah and wanted her to be absolutely sure she wanted to babysit her "two little monsters" while she spent the night with her husband at a hotel. Lillian and Harry were great children and were easy on Anita, but Pierre was fair game. The poor guy got run ragged by the two little kids. Hannah observed her children through her nanny cam and smiled, the couple were doing a great job as Valerie had stated they'd do. Hannah was proud to see that she was coping with the family in a positive way, even if her maternal clock was ticking hard. Anita would be a mother, there was no way that she wouldn't have a child via adoption or via egg donor when she was truly ready to be a mother. Anita's Thanksgiving was spent with the Stoners as she turned down an offer from Valerie and John to go over their house. She wanted to avoid all of the attention that she'd receive from the various family members as well as the attention from Cat and Ella. The Stoners were happy to have her over and had her help with the preparations as she joined the girls' mothers and aunt Savannah in cooking the meal. The girls were actually eating with the fiances, Sydney asked her to go so she could enjoy the meal as a family and not have to be alone. Pierre joined them as well, with the Stoner triplets jumping onto him to get his attention while their nephew Justin giggled at them. The Russo kids were the same, with only Patrick not joining the fun as he staked his claim to Anita allowing Mary Russo to help cook. Gina was silently watching Anita and whispered to her wife Martha, "She's overcompensating. She is a good mother but she wants to have her own child." Martha disagreed, explaining, "She was at first, but it got to the point that she is being an aunt to them- she's no different than the other girls with them." Martha pointed out how she was gentle with them but wasn't doing the same things a mother did. She did allow Patrick to suckle, but only because he is fighting her so hard. He was starting to ween off of that but he was taking it slow with Anita, which she started to realize as she just noticed his smile. Thanksgiving was fun for Anita as she enjoyed the family immensely. Martha showed her how to cook one of her family's favorite Puerto Rican dishes while Mary showed her how to season the turkey like Martha's family usually did while putting her own mark on the meal by including some of the Stoner family's traditional side dishes. Anita was thrilled, it was a fun day and she enjoyed helping immensely. Anita's handling of the seven kids was talked about while she was in the living room, with Gina being quiet about while both Martha and Mary explained to the ladies that she was just going on instinct. Rose Stoner calmly insisted that it was her overcompensating for not having a family of her own, with the ladies all understanding as none of them had any family except themselves. It was the one thing that all of the members of the whole Stoner/Russo family shared- they were all alone except for themselves. The elder Justin Stoner wisely kept clear of the ladies and let them talk freely. He spent much of the day out with his nephew and his husband as the two prepared a report on their current archaeological dig and used Justin to edit it for errors. Listening to some of what the ladies were saying Justin had to ask the couple if Anita had remembered that she was going to get visited by her friends the Marshalls. Julius Stoner cringed while his husband explained, "We haven't heard much since the trial. The family has been busy securing additional funding for Anita's movie so she isn't the only one on the hook but have struggled to get anywhere with it. They don't want to tell Anita that she is persona non grata in Hollywood due to what happened to her parents, the snobs are snubbing her and trying to take out anyone who supports her but are facing down the Marshalls' own supporters." Justin growled, "I'll be sure to tell John that. There's a few people who are going to have to explain why they are purposely refusing to produce movies that are guaranteed to be hits without reason. Further, I am sure that he will love telling the corporate officers that their movie production subsidiaries are now just being used to write-off bad investments instead of funding guaranteed critical and financial hits as they were supposed to be doing." The mention of John caused both to shiver, it was calling in the big guns and he was about to go a full salvo on the corporations. With the involvement of Hannah Smith and Francesca Herman the movie is a bona fide hit with at least two Oscar nominations, yet they are choosing to not cash in on the success. Anyone with half a brain would have invested, so a change in management was required right away. Justin caught John at the right moment and listened as John swore then calmly sent out an email to the head of the production companies balking at investing in the movie. He had them backed into a corner and when they told him they won't invest in a movie that involved someone like Anita he lowered the boom and informed them that he would speak with the corporation about putting their subsidiary into a financial mess due to mismanagement. He wasn't kidding and proudly called the chairman of the board and got immediate action by the corporation, with John simply being told, "It's a solid investment and it will be made immediately while the producers are terminated. We are sorry that the movie was held up but we won't allow our shareholders to be denied profits due to a few forcing views on our company." Justin sat Anita down and explained to her that she had unintentionally caused a shakeup at two of the production companies investing in her movie and would have her investment lowered as she now had a backer with more stability. She was thankful for the help but insisted that she didn't want anyone to be harmed because of her choice to do the movie. Justin just shot back, "John sees it differently. You are a smart person and saw something few could see and got it created, it shouldn't fall on you alone to fund and you shouldn't risk losing a large chunk of your personal fortune because of pride." The father in Justin was on full display, Anita thanked him for caring and hugged him tightly. Justin had a look of content and hugged her back, with the triplets giggling at their father showing love to their aunt. The only one who didn't seem to care was Justin's grandson and namesake, he was happy to simply jump on Anita's lap and hug her after she broke her hug wit his grandpa. Silently watching everything was the timid Pierre, who was stuck entertaining Tara for much of the day. The precocious girl happily made him play with her dolls then her board games, giving him a big grin as she transitioned from one thing to another without giving him a chance to rest. He let her lead him in everything and enjoyed the controlled chaos in her, she knew what she wanted to do and didn't hesitate to do it while ensuring that Pierre wasn't feeling like he had no choice but to follow along. Her behavior caught the adults off guard and led to laughs as she was manipulating him while being her typical smart self. Mary shook her head at her daughter's antics while Rose tried hard to not look at her own son as it was going to be the same for him when he got to be Tara's age. The only one who dared say anything about Tara's actions was her father Anthony, who wisely told Mary, "Like mother, like daughter. She is just doing what you did to me back when we were her age." After a big dinner with the various adults helping the four toddlers, the family broke for the night. The family hugged and kissed goodbye and saw Patrick trying hard to stay with Anita but finally giving up as he saw his mother waving his bottle. Tara jumped into Pierre's arms and gave him a big hug that almost knocked him over, causing the poor man to need Anita's help staying upright. Tara grinned and walked to the car, with Mary shaking he head at her daughter trying hard to leave her mark on Pierre. Pierre hugged and kissed Tony and Patrick, with the infant spitting-up on him as a way of showing he wasn't happy with Pierre. The ladies laughed at him being like his sister, only with a more laid back way of doing things. At home, Anita was smiling brightly as the family had made her year by being so accepting of her and letting her join them in place of their daughters. Pierre was just happy that she had accepted that she had a lot of people who were family to her in more than blood, Anita now had nine aunts and uncles as well as multiple cousins that she could proudly call family as they were just that. It was her biggest sign yet that she would never be allowed to feel alone, they cared about her as more than a friend. The semester ended with Anita doing well in all of her classes, with the school struggling to find a way of keeping her interested without making it too tough for her. She was happy to work on compositions for multiple pieces, something that had intrigued her while working on the movie score. She was weak in this area, one that she wanted to fix and make work for her. Her other classes were dance and performance classes, which she was hoping would help her become a stronger artist as she expanded on what she could do. Her focus on her voice was a concern to them as it was feared that if she went with too many vocal classes she might damage her voice. Anita was glad to be their concern, but she wanted at least one class per semester to keep her voice going strong. Christmas came upon the region and saw Anita walking through Boston Common with Pierre as the two tried to enjoy the calm before the storm as the Marshalls visited for Christmas. Anita asked when he wanted to get married, he just smiled and told her, "Whenever you want to. I'd marry you in a Las Vegas chapel or city hall if you so chose." She kissed him deeply then told him, "How about tomorrow. I don't want anything fancy, I just want you beside me. It's just a piece of paper, I love you no matter what." The next day they did just that as Anita and Pierre walked to Boston City Hall, paid their fee, and were married by the city clerk. The two walked out hand in hand and kissed a second time in the lobby. They didn't know how to break the news, but did sign Valerie's prenuptial agreements so there was no way it could be claimed that she was after his money or vice versa. When all of her friends were together, Anita showed Sydney, Rose, Tabby, Aggy, Piper, and Melinda the license and the prenuptial agreements and braced for their screeches. All of them hugged her tight while their fiances moved away before the girls got any idea about making the same happen with them. The girls talked for an hour before calling Cat and telling her the news, leading her to tell Ella and her parents causing a cascade of phone calls among the family as word spread fast. Valerie called Anita direct and listened as Anita explained everything while Valerie held back a smile as she was doing her hardest to remain calm. Valerie finally told Anita, "It's alright, you did what you felt you had to do. We expected it at some point, but not until Valentine's day at the earliest. The kids will understand, it's not the first time one of you got married quietly and alone." Christmas came and saw the family getting together Christmas Eve. Anita tried to bow out as she had guests coming whom she wanted to keep close to in case they rejected her, but she wasn't allowed to do so thanks to the Marshalls not letting her. The Marshalls would be staying close to Anita so it wasn't a big deal and they would be with her the next morning for a private brunch. The sheer size of the people Anita met was mind blowing, especially as she was introduced to the few Finns she hadn't met yet. Michael Finn and his wife Courtney were polite and spoke with Anita as an equal instead of as a guest while Miles' wife Christina was almost too nice to believe. She had a tough time asking her why she was so nice to her, but seeing how she was with everyone else showed that it was just her personality and not everyone who was nice was after something. Sylvia and Mitch Gibson, Miles and Michael's sister and brother-in-law, were a vastly different subject. The two had a feeling of being different and didn't hide that they weren't like Michael, Miles, or Jaimie. It was a shock to meet Sylvia, but Sylvia happily told Anita, "It's alright to think it. Yes, I really am her birth mom. I love that little sprite, but she is nothing like me inside. She's her father's daughter and looks just like him. I am happy that she is doing so well, even if she needs to cut back on calling me every night to talk. I know what her bedtime is and she uses me to push it farther back." Mitch was an oddity as he looked like he was built like a professional football player. Sylvia casually told her, "He plays for the Patriots. He keeps in amazing shape and is so amazing in bed. He's also great with our kids, I just wish he wasn't harassed by the local media but they hate him for being honest and refusing to trash any of his teammates. You know how it is, they play favorite with people." Anita blushed at the sex comment, Sylvia whispered in her ear, "You'll get used to sex talk, especially with your husband. We all know you have it, and a couple of us have tried doing what you two do. It's not my favorite but he's tried doing it to spice things up. He hated receiving it, though. No other guy has done that more than once so Pierre has one up on all of the husbands." That got the other wives to come over and make the men head for their own enclave as the ladies talked shop among themselves. Anita could only listen and add a couple of secrets that Pierre didn't want her to tell anyone yet she felt safe enough to tel the ladies. All of them gasped then laughed as it was one of the things that they all loved their husbands doing that they took for granted. Pierre shook his head as the girls squabbled about sex while the guys conveniently pretended not to be anywhere near able to hear them. The guys talked about work and other things, with Pierre and Mitch the only ones who had nothing to commit to the discussions due to the uniqueness of their chosen jobs. The two kept mostly quiet, with Miles as the one who got them involved as he brought up things they'd know or could talk about. Mitch would never speak about playing or his teammates for fear of it getting back to the media, just as Pierre wouldn't talk about musical acts that he knew as their PR people would be all over him for him, "Making their clients look bad." Miles offered a joke about boy bands that got Pierre to cringe but also led to the others joking about the group as a way of teasing Pierre. He let them have their fun, he had a lot of hidden jokes that he could spring on them if need be thanks to Cat and Ella. Mitch asked what the big deal was, to which Pierre confessed, "I was in The Power Walk Boys. I'm the one who wrote all of their songs and made them stars. My parents caught us singing and dancing in my yard and entered us in a talent competition which we won and got a record deal. We were singing one of my songs so I got my mother to make them allow me to write all of our songs then ensured that I got all of the money that professional songwriters earned. I still have some of the outfits at home, Anita had to find them and it got back to Cat and Ella who I assume let spread to all of the others." Mitch thought he was joking, telling Pierre, "We made fun of those guys in school! Everyone hated them but all of the girls loved them! They were older than us but had girls going crazy, we all thought it was a bunch of guys trying to be famous and didn't do much of anything other than singing." Pierre nodded, adding, "Of course they did- it's what teenage boys do. We were the laughingstock of all of the boys in the US and UK with most jealous of our success with the ladies. Girls loved us but two of the guys actually were gay and another was secretly dating our tour manager. She slept with a 14-year-old boy! Their affair ended up costing her her freedom! I was the only one who wasn't tainted by the fame, it's why I am so protective of Anita. She could easily be led astray by people with big wallets but who are only looking to bilk her out of her money. I don't want that for her, she doesn't need it." None of the guys could joke about that, it was what they'd all do for their wives. Mitch did shoot back, "At least you made a bundle on it." Pierre groaned ad explained, "I forced my way into the money. I did all of the hard work- writing and composing. The others were too lazy to do anything but sing. They were my friends but they weren't motivated to do anything else. And I was the best of the bunch, even if we were mostly 'electronically enhanced.' If not for my parents being tough negotiators I would have never gotten a penny from the whole four years of hell. I made a lot of money, but it was hard work." They didn't have a chance to say anything further as their children all sought them out, followed by the wives. Anita was hugging Pierre as they walked to the tables to eat then open presents, with all eyes on the couple as they entered. Pierre took it in stride, they were simply seeing them for the first time. The gift exchange was controlled chaos. Anita had to blush at getting clothes and professional quality headphones for her piano while Pierre accepted simple monetary gifts that he would happily put away for future children. That was what the parents hoped he'd do, with the message to the couple being clear: they'd have children in the future. Christmas Day Anita awoke to Pierre cooking breakfast and kissing her deeply. Breakfast in bed was a bit cliche, but it was something that Anita appreciated more than any other gift. Pierre wasn't that good of a cook, for him to cook her favorite breakfast was something she struggled to not cry at seeing. She ate and savored every bite, with Anita feeding Pierre half of the pancakes and sausages much to his chagrin. The two shared a shower and prepared for their meeting with the Marshalls. Todd had called as she was in the shower confirming the time and telling them that they didn't need to bring anything. Anita got dressed and helped Pierre dress. He wore a suit while she wore one of her favorite dresses, it just happened to be bright red so it was perfect for Christmas. The couple walked over to the hotel and were met outside by Todd, who was speechless and struggling for words as he looked Anita over. Yuri and Petra Marshall came over and greeted Anita, with both looking her over and complimenting how she was starting to fill out in all of the right places. They looked and saw a ring on her finger, with the duo asking when she got married. Anita blushed and announced, "Thursday. We married before they closed the office for the day. We didn't want to wait any longer." Petra asked about any agreements, Pierre happily told her, "We both insisted. She deserves all of my money but she only wanted what she already has. I don't want any of hers but I wanted to ensure that she was covered in case someone tried to use her to get at me." Todd finally asked, "Are those all yours? Mom said something about you getting breasts but she didn't say too much." Anita blushed, telling him, "Nope. I had some fat redistributed to help me along and I'm slowly growing but it's a big lump of saline for now. It'll take two years to grow enough to remove them, but I like having them." He changed how he viewed her, the old feelings of sexual attraction were replaced with sadness and a look of disappointment. His boyfriend Butch hugged him to break his pity party, telling Anita, "You look a lot better than you did before. Your flat chest in the photos was missing something, even if Todd is having trouble seeing it." The group went inside and saw Anita and Petra enjoying "girl talk" while the four guys did the same. She treated Anita like a daughter, so much so that she had to fight calling her "mom" as she was telling her about her schoolwork and the recording sessions. Petra had a huge smile on her face as she felt the same pleasure, Anita was giving her a moment that she'd never have. In the bathroom, "Powdering their noses", Petra asked how Anita was feeling. Anita let out a happy and unintended, "I'm fine mom" and gasped at her unintended slip. She was in tears begging for forgiveness but Petra happily told her, "I loved being called that. I'd love to be your mother, especially as I have been more of a mother than your own parents ever were." The two hugged until Anita calmed herself, with Petra asking if she'd like to be her daughter in full as she'd be happy to adopt her. Anita nodded, tearfully telling her, "You have no idea how much I wanted to call you 'mom' since I met you. You are the perfect mother. You loved me when you didn't have to and you kept me safe from my parents when you could have sent me away. I have dreamed of Todd being my brother since we met, I would love nothing more than to be that for real." The two sat down to eat and left the gravity of their moment lay. Anita kept looking over at the couple and tried hard to not seem like she was longing to be part of the family, yet it was tough not to miss her eyes fighting tears as she silently ate. Pierre sensed something was wrong and held her hand under the table, soothing her so she could eat without breaking down. After brunch, the six went up to the Marshalls' suite and exchanged gifts. Yuri was grateful for Anita's gift of stocks in her production company, which was a large gift but given with love. Petra got a gift of a trip to Hawaii for the couple as they enjoyed their annual vacation alone thanks to Todd and Anita wanting to allow the couple a chance to be alone for the first time since Todd's birth. Todd had to cringe as Butch received stock in GCW, which Anita had bought without telling any of the Turners as she wanted them to not refuse the sale. He hugged her tightly, it was a thoughtful gift as he had enjoyed their movies and TV shows immensely. His secret of watching wrestling was one of the few secrets that Todd had told Anita, but it was done to give her support in writing her song for GCW. Todd got a big shock as he received the same as his father, but also had an internship offer from GCW to work in their studio's content production department. He had earned the job, but it meant more to him as it was with people who helped his best friend when she needed it most. He already knew most of the staff but it was still a big boost to him to have earned it and gotten a jump on normal interns. Anita's gift caused her to burst into tears and weep. She read it over and over again, with Pierre having to read it to ensure that it wasn't a joke. Anita took a while to gather her wits and could only ask, "Why?" Yuri smiled while Petra explained, "What happened inside the bathroom was exactly why we did this. You are too close to us to not be more than Todd's best friend. We love you immensely and want to ensure that you are alright. We want to be there for you when you need us." Yuri proudly told her, "We couldn't have any more children due too my sperm count being too low to impregnate my wife. Todd was a blessing and took a lot of intervention and money to conceive. We wanted to adopt but you came into our lives. We couldn't find the heart to bring in anyone else as we had you there for us. You were our child even when you were our guest. We want to do what is best for you and give you the love you so richly deserve." Looking her straight in the eyes, Yuri asked her, "Do you want to be our daughter?" Anita had to fight for the words through her sobs and tears. She pulled herself together and proclaimed, "YES!"