Togetherness Part 4 free porn video

The trio arrived at the Boston offices of Inferno Productions, with John meeting them outside to take the boys upstairs. Kelly drove off to which John explained, "I'm overseeing the dates tonight so I'm the one stuck with you. Reed and Ian are busy, Jessie has to travel to New York for an emergency PT session, Pierre is in New York meeting with record company executives, and I can guarantee that Scott is forced to stay home by Stacy and his parents. That leaves me to supervise. Kelly is a good person, it is simply too much to handle eight teens especially her own son. All of you respect me enough to listen and if you don't...well, you'll find out the punishments. I know the toddlers will have fun with you." That was said with a menacing laugh which caused Jace to shudder while Ryan swore that he wouldn't do anything to upset him. John had his needed reaction, the boys were just like their parents in all ways and wouldn't hurt a fly let alone try to cop a feel on the girls. It helped that Pierre and Ian were massive men who could easily harm the boys if they upset the girls, while Reed wouldn't have to life a finger- it would fall on Jessie, who would ensure that the boys suffered greatly from their upcoming humiliation. The office had several people tapping away at computers and talking to one another but also had a few people who looked out of place: teenagers, with one being the center of attention and listening to them while offering a few suggestions to what the teens were saying to her. It was clear that she held a lot of sway among them, but got more interesting as several people asked her questions and got her to tell the group what to write and how before starting to summarize something else related to that thought. John waited for a lull in their excitement to introduce the duo. The girl got up and walked over to Jace and hugged him deeply. He didn't know what to do so hugged her back, giving her a nervous smile. Ryan stood firm but was hugged deeply as well. The girl looked him over and happily joked, "Why did it take two years for you to see the light? Did I really upset your friends in getting my show canceled?" Ryan fought for words and couldn't speak. He looked away in shame to which John added, "He loved it but that wasn't why he stayed away. That whole mess up in Byfield and Endicott was a big part of why he stayed away, but most of it were boys being douchebags to girls and using his secret against him. It's something that we were hoping would be part of the show: a boy who dressed as a girl and whose big secret is used to manipulate him. It's different than the previous bully-turned-hero, he's just a normal kid and why they did it was stuff that involved their parents. Ring a bell? Real life being shown again." Denise nodded and looked over at the others in the room. They were going to start brainstorming but it was stopped by John. He had to tell them, "Some stuff is ongoing so we can't use it. There's some stuff that is usable, but a lot needs to be run through our legal arms. I know you want to do this, I can see it in your eyes. But we need to be careful or else it'll upset the criminal cases." Denise nodded and took the boys to a conference room to talk in private. She gauged what the boys had done before regarding writing and reading comprehension then asked them to figure out what they'd do if they were characters on the show. Both tried to say that they didn't know anything about TV but she was adamant that they could be themselves, just a fictionalized version of themselves. Ryan confessed that he'd probably be afraid that people would beat him up and that it's likely that he'd get beaten anyway after his secret was discovered and that fear would be used against him. Jace said he would likely have run away from his family and try to find his real family so that he could avoid the abuse that his grandparents were giving him. Both gave her a strong idea about what to do and how to get there, especially as they were secondary plots to her own storyline. She smiled as she proclaimed, "I think we could do a lot with both of you. You give us a chance to use stock characters in new ways, plus we could have either of you do the acting. If you choose not to, it'll give two boys a chance to act instead. Either way, you're going to be credited for writing and plotting. I want you to co-write if your writing isn't strong enough and plot if your dialog skills aren't that good. No matter what, you're going to be involved in the show." She worked with them for the next two hours to get a good idea about where they wanted to go with the characters and how they'd get them integrated into the show. Jace's storyline was tougher to do but the runaway idea had her thinking that simple was best: save the drama for later on, just have him be there as a recurring character and dressed en-femme at times as they were around the town doing things and not taking notice of her but she was taking notice of them. It would lead to the big reveal as he tried to get away from a group of boys and his wig suddenly came off revealing his true self to the girls giving a kickstart to his storyline and allow them to combine the two as his plight and Ryan's were linked by a common issue that was actually the big storyline over the course of the season. Ryan asked about the dressing. Jace thought it over and told him, "It's major for my character, but it's a simple 'big secret' thing for yours. My being around protects you, but when I'm outed your big secret can be revealed. That could lead to the big unraveling involving the main characters. We are the central characters overall, it doesn't work without us and if they do it right we don't have to do much directly." Denise laughed and added, "You'll be there, you'll be seen, you'll have lines as a girl and boy, but you'll be next to nobody until everything starts to come together. You're the McGuffin. You're the one that the antagonists are trying to get. You are driving the boys to get at Ryan who is upset at me and used to get me kicked out of school and my parents run out of town. Ryan's struggle is going to be dramatic as I want him to be featured in several episodes as he's forced to try to hurt me but can't go through with it, enduring beatings from kids that get broken-up by my brother/your teacher. I'm going to be doing a lot of stuff with having a job and pressures regarding sex, your stuff is a good diversion that gives me a reason to want to be away and do stuff with my girlfriend which fuels other plots. It's a circle, one that isn't entirely clear until later on when Jace gets involved in the plot as per the reveal." She smile and walked out to where the others were, showed them the notes that the three had come up with, and happily proclaimed, "We have our secondary and tertiary storylines. They'll tie into the main plot better than what we were considering. It's different enough from real life that I doubt we'll have a lot of trouble getting good ideas from them. The big thing are background characters who become big characters the last few episodes: one a boy who is in every episode but who is also dressed as a girl as I am working. Her reasons are central to the plot, as is her big reveal. That's also tied into the secondary antagonist whose own story is highlighted in several episodes and whose plots are part of the storyline. I know that we'll be able to do well with them, you don't have to devote much attention to one while I know that the second could be done in a way that minimizes the need for Ryan to appear on camera." The group started to plot out what was going to be done and saw several getting great ideas for what to do to integrate them into the plots that they already had. Denise had her say and decided that scenes with Ryan were going to minimal yet poignant. He had a lot of promise, he just needed to show it. John took them to lunch and told them how much they had helped Denise without realizing it. He had to smile, the boys weren't trying to do anything yet had given Denise plenty of ideas that could lead to a big episode order as they'd have to extend the plot to integrate the boys into the plot without causing it to lose focus on Denise. She would adapt, especially as it was complimentary and her character was a strong help to others making her able to help the boys while helping herself at the same time. John sensed their anxiety so he told them, "You don't have to worry about anything. You're not going to be put into dresses and made to look like drag queens- you're going to be just like you were at home. I know that you are both passable as girls, the makeup personnel are top notch and know how to make a boy look feminine yet not make him look like he's a drag queen. They have extensive experience with creating girls who look like sisters of the boys, especially as the head makeup artist herself is like your sister, Ryan, and was abused and abandoned like you, Jace. She found a great family, who just happen to be one of our production company's biggest producers. She's been nominated for an Oscar, with her moving out here because her husband found work as a writer for shows and enjoys Boston more." John paid for the meal and led them to what felt like their impending doom. They went home and found Joy and Gabriela fussing over clothes and makeup, with Reed telling them to lay off of the heavy stuff while John growled to them, "It's just dinner and a movie, not the prom. Go easy on it. It's the same as all of the other girls: a little goes a long way and I know that Mario and Carl will love your faces as is." Ryan went home and got dressed while Jace struggled with putting on his clothes. He felt like a clown in his brightly colored shirt and slacks, he didn't want to wear them but he didn't want to upset Joy and Gabriela. Reed saw his dilemma and told him, "Wear what you want. It's your date too, you have to be comfortable as yourself. She'll like you no matter what you wear, especially as it's the real you." He wore a polo shirt and slacks, ones that were comfortable and still stylish. Reed nodded in approval while the girls gave him disappointed looks. Reed caught their reactions and told them, "He needs to do this on his own. If she doesn't like his style then it's on her, he shouldn't have to change who he is just to appease the two of you. You wouldn't like it if a boy tried to get you to wear skimpy blouses and a short skirt, why should he wear a borrowed shirt and pants that don't fit him. And no, they didn't fit his legs: they're too long. You got them from your cousins, they're taller than Jace. As for his shirt, that's a big leap in style: it's not him. He has a simple style, a lot like Lee and myself. He is his own man now, he deserves to express his own style and not be forced to conform to your ideas on how to dress." The girls walked away, feeling ashamed and thoroughly admonished. Reed sighed and confessed to his sons, "Your sisters mean well, but it's just not Jace. Lee, when the girls start to take notice of you in just a couple of months, you'll understand. I know the feeling Jace is going through as I endured the same my first date with your mom. Your aunt Rebecca had me change into a specific outfit that just wasn't me. She did it to make me match your mom, but I didn't appreciate it. I loved your mom, but Rebecca didn't understand that I didn't want to be different for your mom. Thankfully it was just once and she's been easier on me since, but sometimes girls just can't understand that they don't have to direct us." Lee asked about their aunt Kylie and her first date. Reed laughed and happily proclaimed, "She wasn't in a rush to date and Jordan was more afraid of her than Kylie was of Jordan. They shared a bond that is tough to vocalize, one of abuse and understanding. Love came eventually, they were mostly lust at first. Thank goodness Kylie had been castrated otherwise she'd have knocked-up Jordan right away." He cursed himself for saying that. He quickly told them, "It was the only light from that horrid time. She loved Jordan, but sex was too much too soon for them and if she was 'intact' I'd be an uncle at 18." The boys understood what he was saying without saying. Jace calmly told him, "I know that Wendy can't have a baby but I won't do anything with her. I don't want her upset over people claiming that we did things that we didn't do just because I touched her boobs and kissed her." Lee giggled to which Reed told him, "Don't worry, you'll get your chance soon. The Sylvesters took an interest in you, maybe you'll find a girl among them. Rachel and Reyna's daughter Lupe speaks highly of her favorite cousin, she loves it whenever you help her with her homework." Lee blushed while Jace asked if Reed was serious. Reed happily told him, "Lupe has had a crush on him for a long time and was going to ask him out if he didn't ask her out. She's just like Rachel, she doesn't want to beat around the bush and is direct with you. She's also like her momma in that she's caring and is wise enough to see that he needs a little push. He's ready to get closer to her, I can see by his reaction that he just needed the right reason to ask to take her to the movies. But I think I'll take them as Uncle John is a little too hands-on when it comes to his nieces' kids. The rest of our kids he's easier on." Over at the Bailey home, Ryan had to endure Megan teasing him about his date. He let her do it for an hour before he finally had enough and growled, "It's not my fault that you can't get a boyfriend! You're older than me: why don't you have one yet! Go get one for yourself!" Megan laughed then happily countered, "I'm a lesbian. I don't want a boy, I want a girl. I'm happy to be single, especially as Denise found the best girl already. I don't care about finding a girl yet, but I may try to see if Brooklyn wants to go out for some fun since Anne, Liv, and Elise are out with their guys." Ryan apologized for being a jerk but Megan hugged him and kissed his cheek. She happily told him, "It is a requirement for older sisters to tease their younger brothers. Joy is doing the same to Jace, Gabriela is going to do it to Lee once he starts to get closer to Lupe." Sheila happily let her two youngest enjoy their little bonding session then hugged Megan to show that it was alright with her- she did right. It hurt Sheila to know that Megan was yanked around by girls at her old school, she'd find one at some point even if it took years: there was someone out there for her. Brooklyn came by to talk with Megan and helped Ryan get ready for the date. She asked Ryan if he had any idea what John would be like and smiled when he heard that he was better on them than Pierre and Scott. Sheila wisely added, "He was always like that, he treats you like kids but also like adults." Megan and Brooklyn sat down to watch TV and saw Brooklyn slowly putting her hand in Megan's own hand. She then kissed Megan's cheek, causing Megan to blush while Sheila gasped in surprise. The two had done it all on instinct but it was a big step for them. Megan put her head on Brooklyn's shoulder in a happy gesture, with both girls not noticing Sheila and Ryan watching their cute action. When the movie that they were watching ended, Brooklyn kissed Megan on the lips. The two blushed and saw Brooklyn softly tell her that she liked her more than she realized and wanted her to be happy as it was a tough night for her. Megan shed a tear and happily confessed, "I like you too." The two hugged deeply then saw Brooklyn telling her that she didn't want to make it seem like she was trying to get attention by feeling like the girls were more than friends to her. Megan shook her head and told her, "We like you for you. You are related to the girls but you are still a friend. If you like them it's fine, they understand. I like you too, I like you a lot. You aren't like other girls: you understand me." Brooklyn was in tears and confessed to her, "I'm a lesbian. I can't fight who I am anymore. I like girls. I am not like my mom, I like girls no matter what they have. Dad loves me regardless, but I hoped that if I liked one of you then he might be happy that one day I might have babies normally. Anne and Liv are into boys, I was hoping that you would like girls like me so we could be a couple." Megan let her lips do the talking, then happily told her mother, "I love her. She's the best friend that I ever had. I can't fight it anymore: I'm a lesbian and found the one girl who understands me as a girl." Sheila hugged both girls then told Brooklyn, "You don't have to hide who you are. Your father loves you and your aunts and uncles are happy for you. Don't try to be someone else, you aren't your mom and you never will be. She is a horrible human being, you are more like your aunt and grandfather. You will never be someone who harms others just because you feel like you are better than them- you are happy to be friends with people who are different. You are your own person, and we loved you for it." Brooklyn was crying heavily, with Megan softly telling her that it was the truth: everyone loved her for her personality and friendship. Megan kissed her deeply and confessed to her, "I wished that you would be a lesbian so I could have a girlfriend who was friends with everyone and fiercely protective of girls like me. I'm happy that you like me, I love you. I have had a crush on you for years. You are beautiful and you deserve a girlfriend who is a real girl, not some fake girl like me." Megan was crying now, requiring Brooklyn to kiss her deeply and hug silently until they calmed. When Megan stopped, Brooklyn angrily told her, "You are a real girl. I don't care if you have a penis, I want a girl who is smart, sexy, friendly, caring, and who doesn't act like they're friends just to get what I have. I love that about you, I've always loved that about you. I'm happy to be your girlfriend, if you want." The two kissed again, with Sheila taking them off to talk privately upstairs but told not to do anything else. The two tearfully nodded and hugged, talking quietly to one another while Sheila dealt with Ryan and his lingering questions. Ryan didn't say anything, he was happy for his sister and wanted her to be a girlfriend to someone who loved her for herself and was nothing like the girls of Endicott. The time came for the kids to leave. Ian arrived home in time to see his son trying hard not to be in the girls' line of sight but couldn't help being hugged by Joy and Gabriela. Wendy was brought over by her father to which he gave Jace a strong lookover much to her dismay. The last to arrive was Carl who had a giggling Henry in tow but ended up stopping in his tracks as Megan gave him a sly grin and led him to her room for some quality time as her makeup dummy alongside the smiling Brooklyn. Ian asked about Brooklyn and Megan, Sheila happily told him, "They confessed that they like girls and have a mutual love for one another that goes beyond the usual friendship love. Megan hid that she likes girls from us because of obvious reasons while Brooklyn hid hers because Liv and Anne like boys. She and Megan struck a strong chord with one another and it's only growing stronger. Let them have a bit of space, they know the rules about sex and being alone with one another." Ian grunted and let it go, Brooklyn's look told him everything: she was afraid of what he'd do to her if she did the wrong thing. He relented and hugged both, then kissed Brooklyn's cheek and told her, "You are your own person and I hope that you respect our rules. Your father and grandparents will have their own rules but I doubt they'll be any different. If you should have sex, please use protection. We know it might be tempting to ignore the rules, but you know about Justin Stoner and Chance and Brady. We're lenient with you kids, but there are limits to what you can and can't do so use protection if you can." She blushed at hearing that while Megan swore that she wouldn't have sex for years. He was saved by the timely arrival of Mario and his parents, with John telling the upset George Daniels, "He's old enough now to date. He won't be little forever, he hasn't been your little boy for a year. He's your son in all but blood and he loves you unconditionally. She won't hurt him, she's more afraid of you than she is of me and I'm just her chaperon. Give them space, this isn't like Emily or Tracy: she's new to him and he's a lot more conservative with his feelings than they ever were." George relented while Jenna happily hugged them goodbye. Carl and Gabriela went with Kelly in her minivan while John went in his own minivan, with both ensuring that the couples were separated and he had Jace and Mario in full view. Carl glanced over at Gabriela but didn't try to take her hand, she did the same to him and saw the happy gaze of Kelly telling them that they did right in not touching. George and Jenna spent the time over at the Bailey home enjoying talk about the new couple and all of the reactions form their friends. Sheila shed tears as she heard from Anne and Liv begging to know if it was because of them or if they were a real couple. She could only recount what she heard, causing the two to apologize for ignoring the feelings of their friend only to have Sheila tell them that you can't be what you aren't and that the girls weren't lesbians- but Megan was, and was happy to date Brooklyn. Brooklyn tried not to listen to what was being said but gave way to her feelings. Sheila hugged her and offered her a soothing kiss, then told her, "They're feeling guilty but it's not their fault and you can't be what you aren't and neither can they. They love you, you love them. You just love them in a different way than you love Megan. It's early for both of you, but you have plenty of time to find out if you are meant to be a couple or if you are simply two lovelorn friends who enjoyed being together. She may be a year older than you and in a higher grade, but that hasn't stopped others from being couples." Jenna softly added, "We know that it's tough being different and living up to others' expectations of you. We were either abandoned, abused, taken in when we had nobody else, and rescued by family. You're a part of a family who knows the best and worst of people, we won't let you feel like you need to be the girl that another girl wants. You are you, Megan likes you. She might even love you. I mean more than she already does, love like your aunts and uncles have for their spouses. It's early, but you have a lot of time to find out if you are meant to be together. You have each other, it's a start." Brooklyn went home and had a long talk with her father Jeffry about her true self. He listened and told her that he loved her no matter what and was happy that she told him instead of hiding it. She wanted to tell him that she didn't have a choice, but he assured her that the two girls were going to be fine as they were close already without trying to be close. Jeffry sent a message to Sheila asking that the girls have time alone even if it meant that they'd spend the night together. It wasn't matchmaking, it was assurances to the girls that they were a couple and the group were happy for them. Brooklyn tried hard to tell him that they wouldn't have sex, but Jeffry was adamant that she have birth control anyway since he knew already that lust could conquer wisdom at a time of closeness among two people who loved one another. The drama with Brooklyn and Megan was the only drama that night as John kept the girls from getting too frisky with the boys and the boys kept themselves together while trying hard to appease John. They were so wrapped-up in not doing anything that they barely paid attention to the movie and ate quietly as couples while John relaxed his grip on them. He was happy for them, they clearly enjoyed their fun. Clara was dropped off first but in reality she was walked over to her building by the group. She kissed Ryan on the lips causing him to nearly faint. Anita wanted to glare but Clara was smiling too brightly. Carl and Gabriela were driven in by Kelly who happily took the long way back so the couple could be together for a little longer. She had other motives, she wanted Henry to enjoy some more quality time with Megan which helped calm her down as well. Henry already complained that he got stuck dressed as Hilary for three hours, with Kelly happy to text him about payback for teasing Carl. John dropped Ryan and Mario off with Wendy spending the night with her grandparents while her own parents enjoyed a night alone. Mario was silent throughout the night while Joy smiled as they drove on home. The boy was deep in thought and oblivious to Joy holding his hand in the back seat while Jace and Wendy held hands in the middle seats. Ryan was the only one who didn't have someone with him but he was content to just enjoy the ride and think about Clara and him being together. At the Bailey home Joy offered Mario a kiss goodnight which took his breath away. Wendy gave Jace a kiss that almost knocked him out as he was caught by surprise and couldn't escape her embrace before she kissed him on the lips. Both girls were smiling brightly as they walked off, with Wendy's grandpa looking over at John and giving him a glare over letting his granddaughter give a big kiss to Jace. Ryan was asked about his night and saw him mumbling that Clara kissed him and made her mother mad at him. John happily explained, "She stole a kiss before leaving. Anita didn't expect her to be so bold. It was sweet, it was like the ones Jenna gave George and Jessie gave Reed." Both fathers blushed while Jenna smirked over the memory. Kelly finally arrived with Gabriela and had a big smile as the two kissed goodnight with Henry walking out in shame and apologizing to Carl over his dumb teasing. Gabriela kissed his cheek while Megan hugged him for accepting his punishment, it was something that he earned yet they loved that he was man enough to accept it without question. When the kids had left John asked about Megan and Brooklyn. Megan blushed while Sheila told him, "I think it's a bit too soon but there's a lot of mutual affection for one another. It smells a lot like Rachel and Reyna, with a touch of Addison and Carmen. They know the outcome if they get too close, both of them are content to just take it slow but we are supporting them and giving them some freedom to be a couple alone but not enough to ensure that they make us grandparents." John let it go but added, "I'll ensure that they're protected in school. As long as the girls are happy then we'll support them as much as we can. They deserve some happiness, and they really are a lot like the four. Brooklyn could use the long talk with Carmen, especially as she'll be around her often." Inside the Pena home, Reed asked if they had been on their best behavior. Gabriela blushed while Jace looked away in shame over the hand holding on the way home. Joy happily told Reed, "We didn't do a lot. All we did was hold hands with them and kiss them goodnight. We didn't want to upset our dads so kept from trying to feel their penises or make them grope our breasts- not that we have much up top." Jace ran off in shame while Lee was giggling over his reaction. Reed shook his head over the girls and their sneaky teasing, leading him to tell them, "Bras are coming. I'm not fooling around here: you aren't getting away without one anymore. You might wear undershirts to hide your nipples now, but I can see that you are both getting bigger and need them. Lee, don't laugh: you'll be in them if you continue to tease them over something that they need to wear for life. Be glad that you don't, you know how much of a pain they are when you dressed as a girl so just think of how annoying they are every day. We can ensure that you enjoy wearing them for a month if you tease the girls again." Lee wisely apologized and left them to do their father/daughter bonding. Reed sighed and admitted to the girls, "You are maturing faster than we wanted you to. You are growing bigger, you're going to be a big hit with the boys in both schools. Don't let them get to you, don't let them make you believe that a boy who is bigger in muscles is better than the boys that you already have. They care about you, they saw girls whom they cared about and whom they understood. Gabriela, you have known Carl since he was born- literally, since you were born just after he was born. You know them better than anyone else and know the real boys: not the skinny, timid 'token adoptee' or the 'lucky rich kid'." The next day saw Jessie returning and hugging the trio tightly as she cried over her kids growing older without her there. She was upset that she missed the dates, but happy that they were acting so mature in her absence showing that they were on the verge of being their own people. Reed might have been the one who cared for them, but it was clear that they were growing up and took a giant leap to adulthood. Reed happily told her that she needed to take the girls shopping for bras. Jessie was in tears again, this was bigger news and something that she wanted to do for a long time. Gabriela grumbled that she was too small for them but Jessie happily told her that she needed them as the girls on her class would have them and her trainers weren't sufficient anymore for the cuts that she was wearing. Lee and Jace wisely went out to see Ryan and let mother help her daughters shop. Wendy joined them for the trip giving Jessie a chance to interrogate her about the date while enjoying being her aunt and a parent at the same time towards Wendy. The girls giggled and teased on another while Wendy happily told Jessie that the girls in their class stuffed their bras while Gabriela was all-natural and bigger than any of them giving Gabriela a sense of content while Joy smiled at knowing it was true. Ryan didn't ask where the girls went while Megan happily enjoyed a day with them. Ryan wanted to be a girl that day and dressed as one, with Jaycee joining him while Lee simply didn't bother. The two had a lot of anxiety to release and Megan helped them get it out while enjoying sisterly time with Ryan. Brooklyn came by and immediately enjoyed time with the girls, giving her a chance to be a sister while also giving her more time with Megan that wasn't quite a date. Ryan saw just how much Brooklyn was helping Megan relax and quietly hugged Brooklyn, giving her a kiss and quietly telling her that Megan really did like her and she had given Megan a chance to be herself even more. Brooklyn kissed Ryan, it was from the heart and she felt like Ryan accepted her as a girlfriend for his big sister even if it was early in Megan and her dating. The girls came back and saw both boys blushing at seeing the protrusions on their chests. Joy flaunted her chest while Gabriela blushed at being bigger than she thought. Jessie proudly told Brooklyn and the flustered Megan, "They were so focused on their dates and the boys that they never noticed that they had a couple of big growths forming. It snuck up on them, like it did to me and Rebecca. The other girls had a slower leap while Kelly jumped ahead of all of us by being the first to need a true bra. Uncle John really hated taking us shopping then, Kelly couldn't live it down." Sheila laughed until Jessie smirked at her causing her to mumble about Deborah and her own bra story, one that was embarrassing to Sheila as she went overboard in her reaction to needing one. Megan got a big laugh while Brooklyn asked if everyone had a different reaction. She had a good reason for asking, she had to ask her grandmother for help since her father only knew how to remove bras not size them. The girls giggled while Sheila explained to her, "Everyone is different. You had a tough time due to your grandmother being strict about them. Your aunts fought getting theirs, you loved being a woman now." She brightened at hearing that, with Jessie happily adding, "Jace had a better reaction than Donald and Uncle Jake: both were upset at their sisters growing older. Courtney teased me, but it was sisterly fun so we didn't fight afterward. Amy went with your aunts Stephanie and Al, both of them actually caused her to see that she was growing bigger than either of them. Al's hormones hit her hard, Stephanie was a gradual growth but she would get big over time. And we all remember Jasmine's first bra: she made her father faint over seeing her trying it on at home especially with her little brother walking in on her and asking her what that was and why she had to wear one." The girls giggled while the boys remained stoic. Jessie hugged them for being mature and helped them take their makeup off while they calmed themselves. She softly told them, "They are growing older, it's a part of being a woman and is no different than your growing stronger, taller, and voices deepening." Things quieted down for the group as summer neared a close. Megan and Joy started working with Quinn Finn and the girls to learn their cheers, with with the boys helping Mario, Eli, and Ryder Finn to learn their positions for football. Mitch Gibson loved working with them, with the boys loving having their uncle get a chance to show off some of his moves from when he played football. Eli tried to get his father to teach him, but Rick Samuels declined in favor of Mitch as Mitch enjoyed it a lot more than him and was used to working with a variety of positions compared to just one. Eli and Mario were good at their respective positions, with Mario being a great tight end while Eli was a great safety with both happy to play a position different than the ones their fathers played. Both tried kicking and happily let Ryder do it- with his punting giving the team a laugh as he took after his uncle Miles. Jace, Ryan, Carl, and Henry were always with them learning the game and subbing for many positions that others fulfilled. Ryan was a decent lineman and the twins were great receivers while Jace was good at passing but excelled at running. He was happy to hear that, especially as he learned that his birth dad had played the position before he was kicked off of the team for criminal behavior. Tatum Toro worked the girls hard and had them learning multiple routines and different positions so if a girl was sick or kicked off of the team any of them could fulfill the position. Megan was thrilled to be a featured tumbler, with her happily telling Joy that she learned on her own because none of the schools would allow her to join. Tatum heard that and proclaimed, "You might be dancing with Aunt Amanda if you keep it up. She loves having girls express themselves through dance." Megan making tumbler upset several parents and caused Tatum to stand up to them and ask what their issue was as Megan earned the slot and the girls who were slated by them to take it weren't that good or had regressed to the point of being a danger to themselves. She waited for a response, and got it. She listened then boldly proclaimed, "I'm not going to give the role to someone who didn't earn it. She did. She showed that she can do it and not only knows what to do- she anticipates what to do. She has a big instinct for the role, your daughters can barely move and refuse to listen to my instructions. They're decent bases and can work in-sync with the hand movements and vocalizing, but that's it. Sorry if you had high expectations, but merit matters here- not whom you know or how much you give to the team." They threatened to cutoff all money from the school to the team. Tatum looked them dead in the eyes and asked if they were seriously going to extort her and the school over their daughters not being good enough to win a position on their own after two and three years of experience with the team. It was a long, silent standoff that only got tenser as time went on. When they threatened to have her fired, she boldly said, "Please do. I'm familiar with the athletic director, he's family to me. He'd be upset that you felt that your money made your say matter." She signaled to Thomas Samuels who listened to what they said, then proclaimed, "Money doesn't matter to this school. What you may give to the team is 1/1000th of what that girl's own mother would give just to ensure a quality team. She's part of one of the richest families in all of the state not just the city. Her last name is Bailey, as in the Bailey Family, scions of the Peterson Family. John Finn has 1/3rd of what they have in their account and he's more than happy to let them handle this attempted extortion. Chief Bailey doesn't like corruption, not if it impacts his daughter and her cousins. And word to the wise: it's not smart to try to extort someone in front of the Attorney General's daughter or the cousin of one of the state's biggest criminal investigators. Tatum, don't release Rachel yet- I want a go first. I'd rather the school not have to fight a legal battle even if we'd win handily." Tatum looked disappointed while the girls on the team who knew what was going on laughed. The rest had a mix of shock and disgust, with the girls whose mothers tried to force them into a better position knowing that they were about to get booted from the team. They put their mothers up to it, they'd face the wrath of the girls after practice and team captain Heather Ross wouldn't be easy on them. After practice, Heather told the girls that they weren't welcome on the team. She expected their virulent replies and just sighed before telling them, "Nobody likes you and you are hurting the team by trying to hijack it. I was voted captain over you because I'm good at what I do. Hell, some of you wouldn't even be on the team if not for Denise Herman and her group needing time away from the team. Four girls I trust and respect chose to work on a show that I know you obsess over instead of being here, that'll be rectified next week when they finish their first block of filming. Don't come back, you're off the team." Tatum reiterated what Heather said while Megan hugged Heather for defending her. The two shared an unspoken bond that none of the girls dared mention: they were alike physically. Anne and Liv were the same but being the daughters of Jaimie Samuels and Paige Smith and thus a Finn gave them protection that the other girls didn't have directly even if they were part of the family as a whole. Quinn recounted the events to her aunt and caused Jessie to snort at the stupidity of the girls. They had a slim chance of making the team anyway, to dare to go after Megan was simply stupid especially as it was clear that she wasn't any normal girl. Her father's job wasn't the issue, it was who her mother was. The girls were driven over to Boston and met with Denise to talk about things and do some work on the show. Megan happily declined to do more than be a background actor while Joy thought that it was fun and agreed to do some scenes the next day earning her some dialog. She wasn't that good with plotting so couldn't contribute to the show like her brother and Ryan had, but she did have ideas that Denise had wanted to ask ideas about with the boys but wasn't able to. Joy had a weird sense of humor that translated into a funny story that made sense in a roundabout way and was different than others yet kept with the theme of right over wrong, good over evil, justice wins out, and other uplifting themes. Megan couldn't help but feel jealous but then she gave her own plot for a show that ended up making all of them laugh as it was clever yet simple and fun. She was a natural in the zany world of make believe, and if she focused enough she might have made a great kids show writer like Cat Finn and Hannah Smith. The next couple of afternoons were spent writing the show, with the girls enjoying telling the writers if they were off course or if they were completely screwing-up their stories and going in a direction that the writers thought the story should go instead of how Joy thought that they should go. Joy was best able to vocalize the ideas and had Megan laughing as she changed dialog to suit how she thought the characters should speak and then had them doing rewrites to rewrites as she took charge. Megan was a lot easier on them, but she still stood firm on most of the dialog and ways of advancing the plot. That weekend saw the girls getting the chance to appear on the show in multiple scenes set at one of the local shopping malls that the show frequently hired to film in. They were on set early with Jessie doing the driving while Sheila slept-in. The boys were quiet and worked on focusing on what they had to do, they had a lot of waiting to do and it would tax their mind especially as they'd be dressed as girls. The two dressed and got into a female mindset, with Jessie hugging Jaycee as she walked through the set and tried to avoid being noticed. The director loved what she was doing and used some of her walk as part of additional scenes that could be added to fill time, especially around the time of the big reveal and work it into some parts where she could be close to the girls while they were talking yet not have a reason to interact. He asked Jaycee to react as if he noticed the girls and wanted to get away but still be the girl just wandering the mall trying to blend in- the best way to bind the two stories together. Ryan did her walk and did it with a lot more caution that showed on her face. It was tough on her, but it was done in a way that worked with the big reveal and gave her a reason for being around the girls in a longer run than simply being there one day when she was outed. Her look was very similar to Jaycee's look which could be played to their advantage, the director didn't realize it but it let them blend the two together and make the two girls appear to be one helping with the big reveal of both. The two were never together until the big reveal episode. The way they filmed it, Ryan was going to be harassed by boys while the girls were trying to look for Jaycee and unknowingly uncover the abuse and realize that it was two different girls that they were seeing rather than a single girl. They tried to help Ryan but the boys drove them off forcing them to look for Jaycee. When they finally get to Jaycee she was cornered and in tears, rather than abuse her the girls took her under their wing and brought her home in a similar manner to how Jace was brought home by Jessica and Jenna. The two storylines would then cross Ryan's storyline giving the season its push towards the finale and allowing the boys to be part of their group with the firepower of their families helping to put away the main antagonists and hidden secondary antagonists while Jace was united with close family. A little went a long way, and as the scenes were short they were only there for three hours allowing the group a chance to unwind back at home. The girls wanted Jaycee and Ryan to stay en-femme which led to them enjoying a girls day in while their girlfriends joined in on the fun. They didn't do anything as a girl, they were simply their other girlfriends and enjoyed being with them as friends instead of lovers. Pictures started circulating that evening of the boys dressed as girls and who they really were. Reed just shook his head and called John who then had a long talk with the mall's owners about their allowing an unwelcome visitor inside the mall when it was supposed to be closed to the public. He was ferocious as he calmly explained how they had just upset him and Sheila Bailey and as such they would call in their loan and require payment made in good faith for saving the mall from bankruptcy the year before. John wasn't joking and had the bank contact the corporation then foreclose on the property once it was clear that John's loan wasn't going to be repaid without desperately taking out an additional loan. John took ownership of the property as compensation and made changes to leases that would impact all stores while ejecting management who had no idea as to how to run a mall. He saw it as an investment, one done with the intent to sell down the road. Sheila split the ownership and ran it as part of her other investments. He hadn't done anything, but he had actually gotten his family yet another revenue stream and all due to someone trying to harm him. Ryan made the family a lot of money, even if it came a the cost of humiliation through exposure. Reed prepared for the humiliation that his political rivals would try to heap on him in an attempt to get his re-election campaign destroyed. He had all of the facts and was happy to take the media to task for their trying to humiliate two kids who weren't involved in politics and who were acting on a show for a teen-centered network that none of them watched. He held off the most damaging evidence, knowing it would end the careers of several of his rivals and cause an immediate investigation by Patricia Parker. When his opponent went at him in public at an event in Worcester, Reed walked out on stage, gave the woman a look that showed that he was ready to go to war, then boldly proclaimed, "I find it ironic that a person who claims 'moral decency' and 'fighting corruption' would do so while using children as tools to attack her opponent especially when she is receiving kickbacks from the same people who gave her the so-called 'evidence' while leaving out the context of just what was going on. She might claim that it was a sign that I was unfit and morally wrong, but she ignored that the children were acting on camera for a TV show that is providing employment to dozens of local children as well as utilizing the food and hotel services of many chains providing needed money to the Commonwealth. All of it done with no tax credit claims nor pleading for repayment from the Commonwealth. My son was asked to help on the show as is tradition with all of our family and in doing so he won the part of a character that he had created and proved to be a major character this upcoming season. His friend and neighbor was asked to do the same and he went one step further and gave them a major storyline that helped make the main a bigger story than the writers realized. All because they wanted to be part of what their friends and other family members had done. They were dressed as girls, they had no qualms about it. It isn't a crime and it isn't something to be ashamed of. The only issue is that my opponent wants to use it as the basis for an attack on myself, one that is disgusting. I never went after her family despite their being in the news for multiple crimes all of which were serious. I never went after her husband for his convictions for tax and insurance fraud despite it being two of what she would have to deal with as Attorney General. I am not one to go after families. If that is how she is as a candidate, what will she be like when elected?" Reed won the crowd while his opponent was left trying to form words. Searches were done by those in attendance and led to questions about how her husband had avoided prison for multiple crimes while it was also revealed that she was actually one of the ones who was named as a co- defendant in several of the trials. She beat the rap, but she was still accused of major crimes that she'd actually have to be the one to investigate should she win thus making her candidacy toast after that day. The boys remained as girls for two days, refusing to change and only removing their makeup each as it was needed. They needed the stress relief of being someone else, especially as Ryan knew that he had a lot of people going to go after him just because of his father. School would be hell for him, he hated it but it was going to be the same as Endicott- only with friends around him to support him. Jaycee wanted to be someone else to escape scrutiny. She was bored and needed something to do so her aunt Amy offered to let her babysit his cousin Graham for her for a few hours while she did work on a new network at home. It wasn't what she had in mind, but Jaycee did it anyway. Graham saw Jaycee and latched onto her, falling asleep in her lap while hugging her. Jaycee was stuck in the same spot so endured a sleeping toddler for two hours while relaxing herself. When Graham did finally awake he happily looked at Jaycee and hugged her, then told her, "Pretty girl." Jaycee hugged her too and asked if she was a girl too. Graham nodded and said she was a girl and not a boy like her daddy. Amy gasped and hugged Graham, crying tears as she did so. Jaycee was upset at causing a scene but Amy sadly told her, "We suspected that Graham might be a girl for a while. He always wanted to dress like a girl and would wear a dress in his room when we were at home. He tried to vocalize it but seeing you dressed as Jaycee gave him the courage to admit it." Graham looked scared so Amy kissed his cheek and asked if he had a girl's name yet. He nodded and told her, "Grace. I am Grace." Amy hugged her new daughter and kissed her cheek, then told her, "Well get changed. You're going to be our daughter until you say otherwise. You know where your dresses are. I have to make a few calls to get you an appointment with your Aunt Jaimie so your cousin Jaycee can help dress you." Jaycee helped her put on her leggings and dress and happily helped her with her hair. She looked much happier, with Amy trying hard not to cry as her son dissolved into her daughter right before her eyes. It was tough to not see Grace in her, she reminded her so much of herself in her looks. Jaycee and Grace played for another hour before Amy drove her home. Grace ran for her aunt and did a twirl for Joy while Amy explained to the perplexed Jessie and Reed, "She came out. She said that she's a girl and wants to be called Grace. She must have mistaken Jaycee as being the same. I don't want to be the one to tell her that Jaycee isn't a girl like her, she's just too cute to upset at this moment." Grace happily hugged her cousins while Jaycee told her sisters and brother, "She's transgender. She isn't a crossdresser like me. She had the signs for a while but didn't have the courage to tell her mother yet." The trio understood and left it alone. They hugged Grace goodbye and endured phone calls from their other cousins over Grace coming out. Jaycee had to do the talking and got sympathy from them, with her grandparents being the most sympathetic to her reasons for dressing in the first place. Amy stayed much of the day and endured Grace being cute for the boys while finally settling on Jaycee for her nap. Jaycee asked Amy if she was upset that her son was really her daughter, Amy blushed and told her, "I just want her happy. She might be my only child, but she needs to be happy.." She waited for Jessie to react but all Jessie did was ask, "Did you tell Courtney, Francesca, and Jasmine yet or do you have a death wish? You know that Gabriela will immediately call her cousins to tell them the good news! She's itching to do so as you can see." Amy smirked and blurted out, "I told them just before we left. I have an appointment with Jaimie to get her officially documented. She needs at least nine years before she can fully transition, it's only clothes and styling her hair until she starts blockers. Same as the other girls, only without the drama this time." Jaycee asked what the big deal was. Amy sighed and explained, "It's simply bathroom access and her in after-school activities. The older she gets, the more involved she is, the more documentation needed." Amy was asked if Donald took the news well. She sighed and confessed, "He's taking it hard. He hoped that this wouldn't happen to any of our kids, but it did. He fears for her, but you know how he is when we're pregnant or in the hospital. He's too sensitive, even if we love him for it. Jaycee looked off in shame and asked if that was why he hadn't been around them since they were with Reed and Jessie. Jessie sensed the fear and anxiety over disappointing Donald, so told him, "He had a lot of work to do and was on location with Francesca for four weeks. They attended the hearing due to the seriousness, but they've been up in Toronto filming a movie for much of the time. Uncle John sent his private jet for them and flew them right back, it's why you didn't get to meet his kids too- they were with their grandparents for the day enjoying the baseball game and trains." Amy added, "He isn't upset that you have a strong feminine side. He did the same thing with me and the girls back in high school. He took part in a few of the annual dress-up days and won two of them, he's a man's man but is closer to you than you realize. He's smart and has design talents that aren't like any of the other guys. He isn't upset at you, he loves you as his nephew and niece even if he doesn't say it." Grace's transition brought a lot of happiness as the little girl was happier being her true self and had a lot more energy but was acting more disciplined giving all the sense that she wasn't going through one of the kids' usual phases and was truly Grace inside. Jaimie told her that it'd take a while before it was clear that she was Grace but they wouldn't stop her from being a girl. She was treated like a girl by the family and anyone who encountered her said that she was a beautiful girl, that was all that mattered to her in her two-year-old mind- she was a girl no matter what. Amy dropped hints that she might want to get pregnant again so that there weren't any issues with their only child transitioning which made the rounds and gave Grace something to focus on as she loved being a big sister even if she wasn't going to be one until the next year at the earliest. She simply wanted to help her mom and it caused her to be around her aunts and uncles more often giving her more time with Jace and Joy. They took it in stride, especially as Grace never gave them any problems. The shooting schedule moved to indoor locations and featured Jace having to act in the background as the girls talked with him while Ryan had to look upset most of the time and give looks over at Denise as she talked with her friends, with the camera always capturing the two of them in some way making it clear that they were more than background characters. When it came time for Ryan and Jace to speak, it was nerve-wracking and caused them to try hard to focus on their lines which only made their few lines before the big encounters tougher on them as they were so worked-up about it. Finally, after two weeks of shooting and a lot of rehearsals with Denise and the cast, the big reveal of the plot came and saw both tearfully explaining things to Denise with her hugging them in thanks. They basically recreated what had happened in Winnisimmet and Endicott, only altered to avoid much of the criminal case elements. The two saw their characters happy to be outed and embraced, with Jace's new family being among the main characters with him happily accepting a future recurring role even if it's not important to the later seasons and he rarely if ever would have any lines in upcoming seasons. Ryan was different. He would be there but he would actually have a role as the younger brother of one of the boys in the main cast. It was a stronger role, he's actually have a couple of episodes in which he would interact but was only there for helping his brother with drama in school. There was more work to be done, but that was mostly the adults, Denise's friends, and a few antagonist scenes left to shoot. They were free to go, with Denise happy that they helped make the season better if only by being true to life. She then told them, "You aren't the first to do it, my girlfriend did and her nephew helped make our show's first season a lot better the same way you did. It's a big leap for us to be able to change focus on some of the plot to others and give us a chance to possibly move things in a different direction if I choose to leave after high school. I'd rather end it first but the idea stands." The girls were fiercely jealous of Jace and Ryan but happy to have played a part in the show anyway as it wasn't their thing. They loved how the two acted, especially as it was true to life. Ryan was just like himself and Jace was Jace, only both were different even if the same. The cheerleaders were jealous of the girls but none dared admit it. Anne and Liv were happy to not be in a lot of scenes and never spoke any lines. Heather was in a few scenes as well but only spoke once. Denise and her girlfriend Ava joined the cheerleaders and picked up where they left off before. She had a lot of fun with them and was happy to be there fulltime now, especially after the other girls left them as it was clear that they couldn't bully Tatum around. Ava herself was showing that she would be the new captain when Heather graduated, she was the best of them and was a strong leader among them. School started with a last dash to get clothes and supplies. Jessie kept the kids away from the stores as a precaution but ended up having them babysit the youngest kids. Grace loved spending time with them, it was her favorite activity and for reasons nobody understood Jace was her favorite cousin. Cat Finn did something nobody would have expected and allowed her infant son to be babysat by all of them allowing her an afternoon off while giving the kids a chance to endure a whiny baby. JD Finn did the same with his sons, only his sons were older and was more interested in playing with Grace than being the center of attention from them. She did as expected and showed herself off to them to which they just shrugged and played- they didn't care about it, their aunt Jaimie was the same as Grace. Cat's son was grumpy and cried a lot, prompting the girls to feed and change him then endure a "bath" as he urinated on them as they tried to change his diaper. The kids giggled and Grace looked over at the girls and whispered to them, "I want an inny like you. I don't want an outie anymore." The girls hugged her and told her warmly, "It doesn't matter for you. You are too young to know about things like that. Please don't hurt yourself because you don't have an innie like other girls have. Be happy that you are healthy and that all of your family loves you, a lot of girls and boys born in the wrong bodies don't have nice families. We love you, you are too good of a girl not to love." She never made mention of that again but Jaimie was told and offered Amy an encouraging, "She is far ahead of other kids regarding gender but it's good that she accepted being told to not worry about that. I would be more upset if she tried to do something to herself but she accepted that she shouldn't do that. I'll talk with her about this, she is incredibly smart and if my hunch is right- she could be a genius." School started and saw the kids dividing among the various schools. Austin Samuels was happy to be a, "Big boy" now and starting kindergarten, with him wanting Joy and Jace to see him off. He wanted to show off his newest cousins to everyone and was happy that people recognized them as family too. A week later the middle and high school groups started. Jace blushed as his mother kissed him goodbye while Joy endured a bigger blush as Reed told her to be good in class as her teachers wouldn't let her do anything to get in trouble. It didn't help that all of her teachers were members of the family and that she was in classes with her 2nd and 3rd- cousins especially Elise, Megan, Anne, Liv, and Brooklyn. Over at the middle school, Jace endured the middle school boys as they complained that he was another, "Tranny-lover" as Wendy offered him a good luck kiss before class. He ignored them which only made it worse for the boys as they were loud in their complaints about him, saying homophobic things about him in front of Julio Lopez, their math teacher and Wendy's uncle. Julio wasn't afraid to send them to a certain suspension, especially given that they knew the rules full well from the previous two years. Jace didn't care about what they had said, it was par the course for him and the kids were no different than the kids that he had gone to school with in Byfield the previous six years. He was focused on class and it was clear that he was actually one of the better students in class to the point that Julio happily had him do much of the work to show that he was on par with or ahead of the other kids. He didn't care about the focus on him, it was better than being ignored and he knew Julio meant well in doing that. The day was mostly quiet for him outside of Julio's class. Wendy and he being close caused a lot of talk and a lot of closer inspection of him. Girls were looking at him closely while boys were snickering at a new kid, "Falling for the tranny kid." He ignored them, he was close to Wendy and she just told him it's normal for them as they'd talk about any new kid especially one who went after a pretty girl. Ryan had a tough day as he missed not being with Clara. She saw him off that morning as Boston was starting the next day. He was jealous of Carl and Jace, but didn't vocalize his jealousy. Henry and he talked most of the day, earning Ryan whispers about him being gay for getting close and being, "Too friendly" with the, "Gay boy". Henry didn't care about what they said, they were going to be the ones in detention or suspended while trying to explain how his talking to Ryan made them gay and how his own being bisexual made him gay as he wasn't. Ryan was glad that Henry could endure it, but even Henry had a breaking point that he was slowly reaching. After school, Ryan was approached about his closeness to Henry. Ryan growled, "He's my friend. We've known each other since we were born, our parents are friends. My dad owns the team that his dad is a catcher for. You know: the Red Sox. I've known him and his brother since we were little and he's been a good friend since I moved here. He set me up with my girlfriend, he told her all about me." He set them up to spout off the expected homophobic garbage. He listened then told them, "I'm dating Clara Dupree, not Henry. Just because he's bi doesn't mean he wants to have sex with every person. He isn't gay, he's bi. And even though it's my first day here it's clear to me that he doesn't like any of you, I doubt any girl hear does, girls don't like guys who insult people like you do." He walked away and was about to be attacked but the group stopped when Jace came over to help. His trying to help Ryan only made the homophobic remarks fly faster which got the attention of parents and the principals. Carl ran to help Henry while Zeke walked up behind them and loudly asked if the boys were done as he wanted to get their suspensions over with fast. The boys started in on them again but Zeke's look stopped them. He looked over at Jace and loudly yet authoritatively stated, "He didn't do anything except protect his friend. Henry, Carl, Ryan, and Jace are friends. Just because Henry is bisexual does not give you the right to harass him nor does it give you the right to accuse his friend of being gay. Ryan has a girlfriend, she's waiting over there patiently for him while her father holds her back from trying to protect him. Ryan's father is doing his best to keep her father from protecting all of the boys. See him, the guy in the police uniform? The one with all of those stars on the shoulders and collar? The Chief of Police? That's his father. He'll ensure that none of you are allowed back into school as you have shown that you are a danger to students based on what all of you have done today. You tried to assault two students because one is bisexual and the other doesn't have his girlfriend attending the same school. She might have attended, but not after seeing this." Pierre gave a big smirk and flexed his muscles while Ian stood over the parents as they tried to size him up. He knew several of them from when they were students, they saw that Zeke wasn't kidding and did the only thing that they knew to do: back away in fear and flee the scene, leaving their sons to endure the punishment of expulsion. Zeke didn't like getting kids kicked out of school, but when it comes to protecting others, especially his grandkids, he has no qualms about kicking kids out of school. Zeke ensured that the boys were expelled. Their parents had no recourse as the boys were told the rules that day and violated them. They were saved from arrest by Zeke as Ian would have pressed charges. Things were quiet for a month. There was a lot of schoolwork and the kids enjoyed their time with their significant others. Clara was allowed to spend time in Winnisimmet and was on the verge of begging to move there as it hurt her to depart Ryan each day after they finished their homework. Pierre considered moving and was given an offer on a rundown-looking yet perfectly updated building in the same neighborhood as the group. It was put on the market due to foreclosure but John had gotten a good offer from the bank to buy it which he directed to Pierre. It would take some minor cosmetic work, but it wasn't like other houses and was perfect for his growing family. Pierre toured it and understood what John meant: it had a basement that would be perfect to turn into a recording studio and pool while the three floors were perfect for the kids and family. One would house all of the entertainment rooms, storage, and a kitchen, one would house the kids' bedrooms, and one would house Pierre and Anita's private bedroom with lots of closet space for their old costumes and awards. The yard was small but private, with parking for their cars so they weren't left out in the open. Being in the same neighborhood as the main family, it was also safe from stalkers as it was tough to go to the neighborhood and try to get to the house without getting noticed and being bought through their private company there wasn't a direct connection to them. It was perfect for them, especially as it was a big jump towards being fully integrated into the family with the kids ensuring that Clara and her siblings were close to them while Anita and Pierre were treated like all of their other aunts and uncles. Clara wasn't told until the sale was finalized and Pierre had the building looked at in full. It was signed off by Wendy's grandfather Dan Lopez, with him happily telling Pierre that he'd better get used to there being girls over his house now that there was plenty of space for them to enjoy sleepovers. Clara and her sister Aubrey were always begging to have friends over, but the lack of space always nixed that. Their Boston condo was sold to a member of the Red Sox and made twice the initial amount back, even after the purchase price of the new house was deducted. Pierre was pleased with that, and invested all of the money into his kids' trust funds. Anita didn't have the heart to tell him that it was likely to be for his future grandchildren, the family was well-off financially from their past and future earnings. The kids were finally told a week after the sale was finalized, and in doing so they were told that they'd have to stay over their friends' houses. Clara asked to stay with Megan and was shot down, with Elise being the one who ended up getting Clara's visit. Clara knew why: Hannah Smith wanted her to stay at her house and wouldn't let her goddaughter stay with anyone else under penalty of pain. The Dupree brothers were happy to stay with Lee and Jace, especially as Todd and Andrew Dupree had been put into Lee's class. This gave Lee two new friends among the kids and allowing him to finally have a friend who didn't use his dad against him. The brothers were quick to take to Lee, he was a lot of fun to them and could crack jokes that made them laugh hard. The shocker was Lee happily let Todd date Lupe Sylvester, with him explaining to Todd that he wasn't interested in Lupe as she was in him. Lupe hugged and kissed Lee, then kissed Todd deeply to show her affection for him. The couple happily announced their intention to date, with Lee and Andrew going it alone until they found the perfect girls for them. Pierre grumbled about his sons already making plans without his consent. Anita was in tears as the two were showing maturity despite upsetting Pierre. It was more of Pierre getting older, with three kids on a hot streak with friends and knowing that he'd end up hosting girls and boys overnight on weekends. The move was fast without the kids there. The movers were specialists in moving people out of higher priced condos and houses and into smaller, less-visible locales. Moving the family to Winnisimmet was a big coup for them, especially as it was far easier than most other moves. On Monday Clara went to school with the kids and kissed Ryan on the lips before class. Doing so had a big impact on the school as she was the real deal and not created to hide Ryan's being gay. Then when her mother appeared to pick her up the truth caused an uproar with Anita telling the parents that she is there for her kids and was not going to be used by anyone for publicity and anyone who alerts the press would find themselves on the end of a lawsuit. The press actually ignored her, with the national gossip shows receiving restraining orders on behalf of the schools and all of the children in them preventing the shows from using any footage taken around the schools. Nobody could harass her without having a reason, the gossip shows were forced to ignore her and refused to buy any videos of her new home. They hated that they weren't allowed to showcase her, "Drab" and, "Rundown" house but the lawsuit threat overruled their viewership. Dan started, "Repairs" but they were just repainting and replacing anything that needed replacing. In just a week the house looked different and unnoticeable from before. It infuriated neighbors as they learned that the house had a secret that caused the kids to cheer: there was going to be a pool inside that never got finished but Pierre decided to finish allowing them to swim in peace. Anita was able to enjoy being mom a lot more now that she had more responsibilities thanks to her and the other parents working a schedule to pickup the boys and Clara from school. Aubrey was happy to be the last to get picked-up as she spent more time with her friends in the playground, with all of them having no problem taking advantage of the extra time. Their grandparents were even more eager to help as Anita was yet another niece to them, especially now that some were retired or winding down careers. Football games saw the group assembled, with Anita encircled by her friends and their families to make it clear to everyone that she wasn't to be disturbed. Megan caused her to smile as the girl was so full of life and was everything that Anita had wished to be back at the same age, only without the transgender issue that wouldn't arise until after graduation. Megan was energetic, happy, surrounded by a group of friends who'd be friends for life, and most important: she had the love of someone in Brooklyn. The girls were happy. The boys were happy. There was nothing to stop this happiness. That was true, until late fall when the first school dance came. Henry, Lee, and Andrew went alone while Clara forced an unenthusiastic Ryan to go. Wendy and Gabriela happily had their boyfriends take them but the two made it clear to the girls that they wouldn't do anything with them no matter how much they wanted the boys to try to do something with them. Anita chaperoned the dance alongside Scott, the two getting along caused rumors to swirl that they had a secret fling and Scott was really the father of the kids. The rumors started to hit the internet when the pictures of the two talking close with Anita laughing at something Scott had said were released. It was a total hit-piece on Anita attempting to get her to react but only infuriated the family's legal arm. Valerie Finn, Anita's attorney and aunt to Stacy, personally filed suit against the multiple publications over their slanderous claims especially as there was no supporting evidence and it was done to try to get her to cause a scene for the strategically placed cameras. She went for the throats and sued all of the parents who were paid for the video and pictures then the actual gossip sites and newspapers who had printed them. It was a huge scandal for them as the two Boston newspapers ignored the Finns but had gone against their practice in printing the pictures thus opening them up to lawsuits. Scott went to work and ignored the ribbing, then told the worst offender, "Find another job. You used up the last of my tolerance today. I don't care if you are the son of the vice president, you violated multiple HR rules in your actions and have had a sloppy record that needed my assistance in fixing." He threatened to have Scott fired, Scott ignored him then told the entering vice president, "Would you please explain to HR how we should retain someone who has cost this company millions from lawsuits, lost clients, fixes to known design flaws, and who tried to destroy the careers of others by going to the media with false claims? I did what I had to do as his supervisor and junior vice president. He isn't cut out to be an architect, he needs to leave before he hurts this firm's reputation. They also want to know why you forced the company to hire someone who is unqualified as he never got a license! He failed all of his attempts, yet you hired him for the job!" He threatened Scott but was stopped by Scott's father Quentin who boldly proclaimed, "You are fired. As is your son. I've seen the design flaws that Scott mentioned and looked at the previous designs that he had sent to us for review. Scott is the one who did most of the work, your son put his name on the work after he was given the all-clear from Scott to submit it. Scott never asked for recognition, so he never got it. I'm withdrawing all of his bonuses and demanding repayment of all bonuses and commissions paid since he was hired as he defrauded us. You are terminated for fraud and violation of hiring practices for never disclosing to us that your son was unqualified and now for threatening junior employees. All stock is to be returned with all dividends repaid to the company. This is in your contract, be glad that we aren't in a nasty mood so won't invoke the penalty clause for fraud. You do have to repay all money embezzled from us as we have found your 'investments' that you convinced finance to contribute to." His face turned red as he threatened Quentin. Quentin just smiled and told the man, "By all means, try. I am a patient man but will defend myself. I may be smaller than you, but I am still fit. Bigger men than you have tried to harm me for decades, the worst I've gotten is a black eye- they got prison sentences." Scott called the police as the man went to strike Quentin. Quentin ducked, struck the man in the side of his chest, then kicked out his knee dropping him to the floor in pain. He tried to go after Quentin again, but that was futile as he was barely able to breathe and his leg was immobile. The police arrived a few minutes later and arrested the man. He tried to claim that he was assaulted but the officers slowly told the man, "Our calltaker heard the assault. She heard the threats and your initial assault. Reserve Officer Nelson is experienced in unarmed takedowns so did as he was trained to do." Quentin just smirked and showed his badge while the man growled that Quentin and Scott would pay. It only made the officers remind him that he had forfeited his 5th Amendment rights and all threats had been heard and would be told in court. He was led out, with Quentin telling the HR executives that there would be a review of all architects and designers to ensure all were legally qualified for the job. Wendy learned about what happened and tried to apologize to Scott and Quentin. Quentin hugged her and gave her a kiss, then told her, "It's not your fault. There are a lot of people who get by only thanks to a family member giving them things. Your father tried to be a good person but his mistake was not taking it to me sooner as the man was unqualified and his father abused the company in hiring him. You and your happiness matter to us more than anything anyone says. You come first, always." She hugged them and continued crying. Scott smiled and told his father, "It's her hormones. She started a full dose this month so they are finally kicking in. Your granddaughter is becoming a woman." Quentin smiled at that, Wendy was his eldest granddaughter and the first to reach puberty. She might be a little girl in her father's eyes, but she was becoming a woman. Jace was in for a rough time as she got into the thick of puberty, but he was used to it by then thanks to Joy and Gabriela's periods. Fallout at school from the media attention and attempts to smear Anita was immediate and harsh. All of the parents involved were banned from the schools and saw their kids angry that they would try to hurt a man who was actually one of the best parents that the school had. Scott had interacted with a lot of the kids over the years and was known for being funny and making the kids happy when they had bad days, Wendy being a girl didn't mater to them as they were simply classmates so going after her wasn't something that they could ever forgive their parents doing. One girl was upset enough to demand that her parents split-up over what happened. Her mother agreed and filed for divorce, with her daughter being given to her while her husband didn't contest the divorce or demand custody of their daughter. Being self-employed, she actually didn't need his money at all and as the house and cars were in her name she simply forwarded her ex-husband's possessions to his new apartment and ended things. Lyla Pershing was a typical girl who made up her own mind about everyone and everything and wasn't one to let others push her towards their views. She struggled with friendships and family, always in the thick of arguments over, "Stupid things" that people said about others. She defended everyone that had a need to be defended, be they friends to her or not. Lyla's mother Ember comforted her daughter as she got out of school after the divorce was finalized on paper and told her the good news about her parents and her. Lyla was apathetic to the situation but broke down when she couldn't hold back any longer. Ember felt for her daughter, but Lyla was happy to tell her that it was inevitable. Anita tried to apologize to her for what happened but Lyla hugged her and hoped that her father didn't hurt her. Ember took a deep breath and explained to Anita, "He was having affairs for the past two years. I only endured them for Lyla's sake. He went too far and tried to harm someone else, before it was just a cheap fling with girls who were trying to get ahead but failing. He bit off more than he could chew in going against Valerie Finn, I refuse to be brought down because of his stupidity. He tried to harm you. I hope that he didn't hurt you or Scott Nelson. Honestly, it was bad enough defrauding Scott at work- but to go after him outside of it was the final straw. Scott is too good of a person to hurt." Wendy gasped then hugged Lyla which led to Lyla doing the same to her. They had never met outside of school but they had been linked through their dads. Ember nodded to Anita that it was something the two needed to do, especially as Lyla felt for Wendy despite being distant from her. Henry was trying his hardest to not get any attention but he was looking at Lyla differently than any of the other girls. He blushed whenever she looked over at him causing her to blush as she caught his own looks at her. Ember had to hide her smile while Anita shook her head at the boy finally finding a girl to crush on and doing so with a mutual affection towards him. Ember invited them over which gave Henry the chance to be close to Lyla as the two lived close to one another- literally on top of one another. Ember explained to Anita, "My husband was angry that we had to buy the condo below the penthouse. He hated that they were already owned and no matter the price that he offered we could never get the owners to sell to us. I made him buy the condo, we didn't have a lot of space needs and it was a lot cheaper than the ones he wanted to buy in Boston. It's a nice place to live, the neighbors are great people. I've only ever interacted with them for a few moments, I haven't met any of the others as we've always been out or they were out." Anita happily explained to her, "The Rosses live above you. Next to them are the Gibsons. They tend to be with friends when not at home, they also spend every vacation away. The Gibsons go halfway across the country while the Rosses go to Florida in February and California in April. They usually spend their Christmases at home but spend much of the day with the Finns as the Gibsons are members of them and the Rosses are usually with their friends moving between various houses in Twatville. You've met several of their friends and relatives: the Nelsons, Penas, and Baileys are part of the Finns. I'm just one of the smaller branches as I'm only friends with them and haven't known them as long as either of your neighbors have. They've known them for 22 and 27 years, I've only known them for 14 years." Clara and the boys led Lyla upstairs where Henry and Carl were already doing homework. They talked and enjoyed helping one another with their work, especially as Henry and Lyla kept stealing glances as they worked together on their homework. It was sweet, especially as Todd and Andrew did their best to not talk about what was going on but texted to one another about how cute they looked together. The kids finished and saw Clara taking Lyla to another room to change into a swimsuit. Lyla blushed at realizing that they were going swimming, She looked over Clara who happily flaunted her body for her. The boys were already in the pool and happily playing games when the girls entered. Clara caused her brothers to tell her to stop flaunting her boobs while Henry couldn't form any words. Carl happily told the unsure Lyla, "He likes you. He has never acted like that with anyone else. He might be bi, but he still likes girls and you made him like you a lot. Just don't tease him about having done things with boys. It took a lot to admit that he liked it but likes you a lot- more than the boys he kissed." She blushed and asked if it was true. Henry nodded and explained, "It happened last summer. I went to a camp with Carl to get out of the city and met a boy who got me to try things with him. I had sex with him: anal sex. Both of us enjoyed it. He was great and liked me a lot but I still liked girls too. He got upset and broke it off with me and got boys to attack me by claiming that I made him do it. Carl got him to tell the truth but mom made us go home and the camp closed down because I wasn't the first boy who got harassed by others because I was bi. The camp tried to hide it, but the truth came out." She saw the sadness in him and asked if he still liked doing that stuff. He nodded but told her, "I think I just like the stimulation, not the actual act. Mom said it's heightened sexuality, she has it but dad and my sister didn't. I don't want to know how she knows about Heather but it might be from when she was a baby or why she wears only certain clothes. I don't like wool or synthetics, it feels horrible. Carl has it too but he can control it through other things like running. I'm not as sporty, I'm more of an artist. I'm the brains, he's the brawn. He's lucky to have Gabriela, she's athletic like him." Lyla hugged Henry and kissed his cheek. She softly told him, "I like that in a boy. Mom said that a lot of boys don't care about sex beyond what we give them. You understand it, you enjoyed it and want to give it back. You deserve someone who likes you for you. I like you, I have for a long time. I just didn't like that dad hated your family for being rich and famous and not selling your condo to him." Heather returned home and complained that the girls were getting too upset over the what happened at the middle school dance. She didn't notice Lyla who was in tears and apologizing to Heather over her father being stupid and trying to hurt all of them. She was about to leave but Henry hugged her to calm her while Carl told her about what happened and why. Heather nodded and told her, "They were upset that someone wanted to get at Aunt Anita when everyone in the city likes her. She's been part of the city for years even if she lived in Boston, they think that she is one of the best residents despite only just coming here. The media were stupid, they went up against Granty Valerie and lost badly and some of them lost their jobs for costing the stations money. The city got a lot of money for breaking restraining orders, we're getting more programs now because of it. We all ended up being better off- even if dumbasses like your dad got into trouble." The girls got out and showered, then went to Heather's room to change. She was changing too and they got a good view of her naked body leading Lyla to gasp in surprise over seeing that Heather was male between her legs. Heather happily told her, "Your family don't know us well, I'm transgender like a lot of my aunts and my uncle. I don't hide it, I guess your father never knew or he'd have done something to get us evicted so he could buy our condo out from under us. The joke's on him, we own the building so he was never going to get either our condo or the Gibsons' condo since they're family to us." Lyla saw a real penis for the first time and saw Heather's breasts and didn't get upset by it. She simply saw it as part of Heather and was happy that she was a normal girl despite what she saw. It felt great to know that she felt that way, she knew Wendy but this was different- she hadn't see that part of Wendy and to see it and not get upset by seeing it meant that there was no weirdness between them anymore. Heather caught her looks and told her, "Wendy isn't developed since she only just started full hormones while I've been on them for four years. I'm bigger than her thanks to my dad, she takes after her uncle in size 'down there' according to her mother. She's going to be moody so don't get upset at her as it'll be a while before she evens out and can control her moods. It's no different than you having a period." The girls went downstairs and were met by Kelly and their mothers. Kelly saw the blush on Lyla's face as she saw her leading Kelly to ask what happened. Clara happily told her, "She saw Heather naked." Lyla blushed even deeper while Kelly asked how she reacted. Clara sighed and told her, "She just saw a girl and nothing else. It was more of a shock that Heather is trans than anything else. She understands why Wendy is small and why she's not normal, Lyla doesn't seem to have a problem with them." Lyla mumbled, "She's not like dad said girls like that were. Wendy looks just like us, I haven't seen any bulge on here when she wears pants or skirts. I just don't know what his problem was! Why did he hate you! Why did he want to hurt you! What did you do wrong!" She was in tears leading Kelly to hug her to calm her. Kelly softly explained to her, "He's a weasel who knew that he was always on borrowed time in case his bosses found out about his lack of qualifications and his mistakes at work. He knew about Wendy and tried to use her as an excuse to get by, but that's a dumb idea when the head of the company is her grandfather. He wanted you to be upset at Wendy so if you two ever had issues he'd go after the family. He probably knew about Heather which only made it worse, thankfully you never met her so you never knew how wrong he was until you met her in person. Wendy made it worse for him since you'd have to interact with her, you're in her class now!" She thanked Kelly then walked off. Before she left, she asked Kelly if what Henry said about camp was true. Kelly nodded and added, "He is a great boy, he just got so caught up in new feelings that he hadn't had the chance to see that he was being used by that boy. The boy was fighting his sexuality, he was 14 to Henry's 12. He was gay and couldn't bring himself to admit it, so he used Henry's confusion to get a lot of his sexual energy out while putting the focus on Henry. Henry liked what happened to him, but he was also naive which led him astray. Carl helped put an end of things but they had to leave camp as it was too hostile to Henry. The boy was kicked out, and had to explain to his parents why he blamed all of what he had done on a boy who had no idea what he was doing other than that it felt good." She understood and told her, "He likes me. I like him. I don't want him hurt because of me." She walked away before Kelly could respond. Ember was in tears as her daughter had just admitted to liking a boy. Kelly happily told her, "He will go to her to ensure that she's alright from now on." The next day saw the couples gathering and Henry hugging then kissing Lyla. Lyla was in tears, he did it unprompted and made her feel amazing doing so. Henry happily told the boys giving him glares, "She and I are a couple. She knows the truth about me and likes me despite it. Deal with it!" The kids talked throughout the day and with each of the 8th-graders dating someone it made for a lot of ease for all of them now that there were no hard feelings of jealousy. Lee and Andrew had none of the urges to date yet, they were proud to be bachelors and free to do as they pleased. They weren't in the mood for 7th-grade drama and were more interested in playing videogames after school once all of them got their homework done as Pierre insisted of them while Todd happily enjoyed time with Lupe at her house or playing alongside Todd and Lee in an impromptu battle foursome. After school, the couples started to arrange dates. John was elected to be the overseer again, unlike the previous time he wasn't taking the 9th-graders with him too. He was dealing with four couples who had a strong urge to be together but who were happy to abide by the rules- unlike the 9th-graders. The dates went flawlessly but did see a surprise as Ember met Brooklyn and her father Jeffry. She had a look of being smitten with him, while the girls giggled at Jeffry's blush over her reaction. Their mutual infatuation helped the girls make plans to get them together, with everyone laughing at how funny life could be as both suffered humiliation from their spouses while their daughters stood firm with friends. Planning took a week but it helped that the girls maneuvered them into the date as Brooklyn and Lyla went with Brooklyn's uncle who just happened to also be Megan's uncle by marriage. Brooklyn and the fearful Lyla got along great as Brooklyn got to be a big sister to someone who was undergoing the same sort of humiliation that she had undergone six years before. She saw in Lyla herself and hoped to be able to continue it as Lyla liked having someone to talk to who wasn't trying to use her. The dating was fast and furious, Ember and Jeffry had a lot in common to the point that they saw their true partner in the other. They enjoyed joyous sex and loved being with one another. The girls being so close only showed that there was more to their relationship and might be a sign of things to come. The show started airing its new season and caused a stir in school when Ryan and Jace were spotted as girls immediately in the mall scenes. The two told anyone who asked what that was about to watch for the clues and see what happens later, being smug about the plot while laughing at some of what they were suggesting was going on with them. None of their friends said anything, while Lyla had to be told the truth so that she wasn't upset at all of the questions being asked about the boys. Her response surprised them: she wanted to meet the girls who appeared on camera as it was tough to believe that they had done it before. That caused all of the boys to dress as girls, with Hilary, Callie, Jaycee and the female versions of Ryan and Lee meeting Lyla. That was followed by Lee giggling as Todd and Andrew came in dressed as their female alter-egos of Tess and Andrea thanks to Clara. The boys had a big laugh as Tess and Andrea happily flaunted their bodies, with Lee complaining that she couldn't look as good as them no matter how hard she tried. Tess happily added, "I can't help that we have great genetics: our mothers looked great! Even if we're cousins biologically, we won the big genetic lottery with our great looks!" Clara had to tell Jaycee and Lyla, "Tess' 'real' mother is Andrea's aunt. She died just after Tess was born and Andrea's 'real' mother was pregnant with her. Andrea's 'real' mom wanted to repay their mom for helping her get her dream job in the music industry and being a huge help with her career as a teacher. Mom is the 'donor' and when Andrea was born she gave up all rights to Andrea to mom and dad as she only wanted to know that she had a baby and make her own parents happy to have a genetic granchild." Lyla saw the nodding from the girls and left it alone, it was sad and sweet at the same time. She loved that the boys were girls for them without hesitating and despite not actually needing to be girls too. The two were good brothers and cousins, she was happy to have met both sides of them. Heather was there and told them not to get too friendly with the girls. The girls blushed to which she told them, "Joy, Megan, and Gabriela usually go overboard and forget that they're really boys under all of that makeup. They've accidentally shown their girlfriends their privates which caused the girls to do the same leading to our parents having to keep them apart for a few days. They don't mean to go too far but they can't help themselves at times when the boys are their girlfriends." At home, Lyla told her mother about what the boys had done and happily talked about how pretty they turned out to be. Ember wanted to admonish her for seeing Henry's privates but understood that it was an accident and she knew now to control herself when they dressed as girls. It did seem like fun to her to do that, especially as the girls were all much more relaxed the next day. More dates followed and saw Jeffry and Brooklyn all but moving into Ember's condo, something that made Ember flush at realizing as she loved the idea of all of them being together. When she broached the subject with Jeffry, he insisted that if they did take the next step that she do him the honors of being his daughter's mother. Ember had tears in her eyes and asked the same of him, with the girls hugging as it meant that they were all but engaged and the girls were going to be sisters. Jeffry got Ember to get to know more and more of the vast family, especially as he introduced her to his former father-in-law/surrogate father as well his unofficial mother-in-law. Ember asked about that, his hesitation caused her to insist which led to him admitting, "My ex-wife never allowed her stepmother to adopt her. I didn't learn of her true family until she was banned from school and arrested for assault on Brooklyn. She had a long history with her stepmother's family, which actually led to her ending up in prison for six years before we met. We fell in love, or so I thought. It turned out that she saw me as an easy lay and could use me to help rebuild her life. Brooklyn was the result, I never knew that she was so horrid with her and when she finally showed her true self she invoked Brooklyn's maternal side and showed just how much like her mother she could be when upset- but did so for good, not for revenge." This was shocking to Ember but seeing Brooklyn nodding caused her to stop asking more questions. It only led to Brooklyn telling her, "Grandpa and grandma treat dad as their son even if he's not. He's still a part of their family and they'll let me be your daughter if you let them be Lyla's grandparents." Brooklyn had a look that begged her to say yes. Jeffry took off his former wedding ring and handed it to Ember to put on to which she happily said, "Yes," leading to a big hug by the family. Jeffry called his in-laws and told them the news. He got the expected understanding and then told them that Ember had agreed to be Brooklyn's mother as long as he became Lyla's father. It was no different than other marriages and gave them a strong reason to be happy for all of them. The wedding would wait until Thanksgiving. The family decided that it was the best time to all be there and have all of the kids' friends and families together. It was shocking to Ember, but she was happy. The wedding talk gave way to the next major milestone: Nick Ross' retirement after 13 seasons as the star slugger with the Red Sox. He was happy to leave, telling anyone who asked why he chose to retire so young, "I'm just one injury away from being replaced. I'd have been traded away to the last place Pirates if I didn't tell the team back in June that I was retiring. It's time to go, I'm just not having fun or enjoying the game anymore and my kids are growing up and need their father around more. I can't be there for them if they're in Boston while I'm wasting my last two years as a starter elsewhere." The news that the team was being sold caused a huge fervor as the Finn/Peterson/Bailey regime were a perennial contender time for the team with two World Series wins and multiple top stars being created. Nick was the focal-point of the team but he helped create more stars than anyone else had in years. His leaving and the sale signaled a true end of an era for the Red Sox, but led to a new one arising from it. The media were focused on the why and missed the obvious reason: the team was sold at a huge profit. John and Ian made out like bandits by tripling their initial investments while the rest of the family took home a minimum of $20 million each. When it was finally reported that the entire family had made the list of millionaires in the Boston area it made sense causing the family to be praised for their smarts. The fervor of the retirement and sale of the team by the combined Finn/Peterson/Bailey families died down after a couple of days. It was the home stretch towards the election with Reed doing a lot to get himself out there since he wasn't on TV due to the Williams Family cases still being investigated. He was working, just not publicly and if he was seen working it was always in regards to cases that were in Western Massachusetts and about a lot of things that didn't involve the case. The endured countless interviews and kept his private life from being used by anyone. He did mention that he was a father again and refused to show images of the kids at their request. He was made to be a fraud for not doing what other candidates did, but he was happy to point out that the kids had as much right as everyone else to not be used as campaign fodder against their will by anyone. Election day came and Reed made a trip around the state to key places to ensure that things were going to be going smoothly. His being out and about caused concern to other candidates as those who were in tight elections were going to struggle to hide voter fraud while those who were critical of Reed had to explain to voters what he had done to upset them. Reed cost several prominent local officials their jobs as they were voted out in tight elections due to how they reacted to Reed being in their town and going to polling places to talk with voters while they ironically complained about him not doing his job! That night saw the family gathering at the campaign headquarters- in really, it was just a hired function hall that would double as media corral/celebration room. Reed and the kids holed-up in the back while their friends came and went keeping them calm as they awaited the results. Jace was tense, he had never endured anything like that before and didn't like it one bit. Joy wasn't in a good mood since she couldn't enjoy the time with her beloved Mario as he was out with his family in the front talking with his relatives. Reed wouldn't let them go out front until later, he didn't trust any of the media to leave the family alone and knew that they'd try to interview the kids in hopes of helping his opponent win the election even if it was a long shot. Being a close gubernatorial election, the polls were forced to stay open an extra hour making things all the more tense for the kids. Eventually they were let out so that they could blow off steam but told to be on their best behavior. The kids eagerly kissed Mario and Wendy when the went out front, with both of the couples being encircled by their friends and then encircled by the adults of the family. Finally, after two hours of extended polls, the election was over and tabulating began. Immediately it was clear that Reed had not only won, he had won in a landslide. His opponent was humiliated, he had spent millions on his campaign while Reed had spent next to nothing on his campaign. Reed's opponent claimed that Reed had bought the office but when it was shown that Reed had actually spent little on advertising and much of his campaign had been him visiting voters and talking with any of them who wanted to ask him questions his opponent tried to claim that it was a conspiracy to get him off of fraud charges. The claims were baseless, Reed's activities were recorded for all for months and as he had stepped away from the biggest case in four years but kept working on smaller cases with the cases getting his personal attention instead of just a signature on the press release his opponent only had more and more virulent outbursts against Reed thus showing his true side to voters. Reed congratulated his opponent on a tough race, thanked the media for coming, then told them that he was heading to his home so the kids could get to sleep as it was a school night. That got laughs as the kids left together with the media careful not to get any closeups of their faces while the adults shielded most of the other kids around them. In the car, Reed told Jessie, "That's the last election. I'm not running for Governor no matter how much the parties want me to run. I'm not enduring four years of being blamed for everything that happens to the state even if it's just the legislature being stupid and purposely delaying needed bills. I can't do it. I want to be my own person and have been with the AGO long enough to retire. I've done it since I was 16, I'm ready for retirement from state work and will help out at the law firm in financial law." The kids understood him but Jace felt like they were the reason why he was giving up his job. Jace did his best to not say anything but eventually asked, "Is it because of me? Did I mess up your job?" Reed looked him firmly in the eyes and told him, "This predated you. I've grown tired of all of the issues with people manipulating others and I hate politics. This is the one office that is supposed to be above politics yet is an easy target for people who want to hurt others politically. You did nothing wrong, you told the truth about people who were trying to hurt you. I would gladly resign and walk away than let anyone hurt you or any other kid. I only ran I the first place because there was no other person and all of mom's hard work to get us to be one of the best offices in the country would have been destroyed. Now, I'm leaving it better and in a place that someone can take it over and find that it's nearly impossible to undo what we have done. I love this state, but I have grown tired of all of the political games that people play with others." The next day saw Reed at the center of attention as he boldly told the press that he would not seek a 3rd term and would let the real face of the state show itself as people jockeyed for position to replace him. He had called out all of his critics and forced the state to be on notice of the antics of politicians who're constantly criticizing Reed. It also meant that no political machine candidate was going to be viable as any running would be seen for what they were- in essence, he forced a new crop to rise up to take his place as Attorney General and keep the office away from political forces. The wedding was soon after the election and brought everyone to Winnisimmet as the kids met every member of the family from the newborn twins of Rebecca and Thomas Samuels to the stylish Flora and Ella Finn- Nelson. It was also cause for Ezekiel Williams to come as he happily proclaimed the group to be one heck of a group and happily told them that they were just about the biggest family in the world who weren't royalty- not that they were far off, with multiple lords and ladies and a knight there. The wedding brought tears to everyone's eyes as Grace Pierce made her way down the aisle spreading flowers while Austin Samuels carried the rings for the couple. Ezekiel saw in the little boy something he was proud to see: determination, focus, content, and happiness. He was his father's son and best way to remember a man who had tormented Ezekiel's brother with his act of defense decades before. The happy couple kissed deeply and went off to their honeymoon with the girls going with their newly anointed grandparents. Lyla wasn't sure if they were serious, but the Porters weren't kidding: she was a part of their family even if she wasn't blood to them. Her father was like a son to her new grandfather so it was only natural to claim Lyla as a granddaughter and her mother as a daughter. The Porters were strict with the girls but loose enough to allow them time with Megan and Henry. The two respected the rules and were happy to have some freedom, which was really only the four working on homework alone while they were only occasionally overseen. A little went a long way, especially as the two couples were not likely to ever get a second chance if they broke any of the rules while there. When the couple returned, they filed for adoption of both daughters and saw them asking for changes to their names so they would both be Sanders instead of Pershing. Their paperwork was processed and just three weeks later, just in time for Christmas, the adoptions and name changes went through. They now had a mom and dad, were sisters, and had a big family alongside a boyfriend and girlfriend. Lyla happily told her friends that she was Lyla Sanders which got hugs from them. Her teachers didn't go easier on her for being the superintendent's granddaughter, which she didn't really care about. She was part of a loving family with a great dad, with her former dad refusing to acknowledge her again. Christmas hit the family and saw all of them preparing for the upcoming trials. Ezekiel joined the Finns at their annual gathering and saw him having to politely refuse an offer for him to visit England to see the Smith estate. He didn't want them to go overboard for him but John happily explained to him that he owned a private plane and would fly him there and back in comfort without the usual hassles. Ezekiel saw his cousin Victoria's look and agreed to do it as it was his last chance to enjoy something like that, it was also an offer from family to enjoy time away from the region and do something different. He had no issue going but had to make it look like someone else's idea, which Victoria saw right through. She wasn't afraid to call him on it, especially without a valid excuse not to go. The new year brought the trials of everyone who had tried to go after the kids, from the town officials in Byfield and Endicott, DCF social workers, the Williams family, multiple state troopers, and local police officers. They had a lot of time before the kids were needed and was spent preparing them for every possible question, it was going to be brutal for them and they needed to be ready for anything. Joy had the least amount of issues as she was all but minimized by the adults. Her grandfather was their biggest concern as his attempts to groom her might be turned around against her and made to look like she was the one who initiated the actual sexual activities. Every dirty trick was used, she learned how to expect certain questions and how to respond in ways that left the defense without a retort. Ryan struggled with his sessions and was a bad witness in the prosecutor's eyes. That all changed when he recognized the man after spending an hour thinking then told the other prosecutors who the man was and why he was important: he was the brother and cousin of several of the defendants making him just a stooge for the defense who was really trying to sabotage the trials. He was removed from the case and fired, with his colleagues actually taking great pride in telling the judge that they needed more time due to the defense using a family member to try to derail the prosecution's case. The judge declared an immediate mistrial and rescheduled the trial for another two months, which led to outcries from multiple politicians to which Patricia Parker, Reed's Deputy Attorney General and the one leading the investigations, confronting them and demanding to know why their own relatives were attempting to sabotage a state case against their other relatives. Her confrontation hit the media hard and led to more outcries and agreement that the delays were needed for obvious and necessary reasons. Patricia came off better from it, she wasn't blamed for what happened. The delays in the trials allowed the kids to be in the spotlight as their show started to make headlines as the boys' crossdressing was revealed. Interviews were demanded and saw Denise Herman doing most of them on their behalf. She was happy to point out how they had done the story similar to real life and how the boys had willingly volunteered to dress on camera and that they were representing a segment of the population that few ever pay attention to: those comfortable with their bodies yet are willing to be the opposite gender to understand the other side of life. She pointedly told the interviewers that the boys had done it multiple times before and were happy to be boys even when dressed as girls. She then asked the interviewers if they had ever done it and why not if they hadn't. It got a lot of laughs as the interviewers couldn't come up with a solid reason which she happily told them, "You're afraid of what you might find out. They accept that it's tough to be a girl while a lot of boys refuse to believe that yet aren't men enough to try to understand women. I know it's tough on you to be seen as less than a man or less than a woman for being a coward for not doing what millions do once in their lifetime, not everyone is comfortable with themselves like the boys are." It was sheer brilliance and received airplay around the world as she had unintentionally sparked wars of words over true masculinity and femininity and what it means to be either. It reached Hollywood and in a laughably funny interview Francesca Bollinger, Jace and Joy's aunt as well as Denise's sister, told the paparazzi, "I am proud of my sister for saying that and I can confirm that we've all done what millions around the world do: dressed as the opposite sex. I've donned a suit and tie while my husband has worn my dress and pantyhose. He made a great woman, but his makeups skills are lacking. I blame it on his sister and her friends: too many sessions enduring their attempts to master makeup put him off of it." She said that with a straight face while her husband Donald wisely added, "That was your fault, you told them that they needed more work on their lipstick and blush. My hands aren't steady enough to apply it as well as you ladies, especially before the coffee has fully kicked in. I'm man enough to say that I'm not female enough to ever get the skills that you ladies have to master. And don't even try to get me in a dress again: not after that strapless dress last dressup day!" The banter between the two only proved Denise's point while winning over millions. Men that tried to insult Ryan, Donald, and Jace were called sexist and homophobic while women who complained that it was just a horribly sexist to women were asked how trying to understand women was sexist as it went against the very definition by equalizing the sexes. It was a big war of words, yet for 90% of people it was seen as something that few could dare do and admit to doing. Ratings for the show were a lot bigger than expected and repeats of the show garnered unexpected new highs in viewers as it was getting smart to rewatch the shows to see if you could spot the clues that were scattered throughout the season. Jace's character being in every episode in he background without being noticed made for a big laugh for fans as he was so convincing and unless you know the truth you'd miss him easily. Ryan's character garnered sympathy, especially as his motivations for what happened was like so many others. The show ended up with its highest ever ratings and made the boys be seen as potential new stars when they left the show. Neither wanted to act nor sing and dance as most breakout stars on kids' networks ended up doing. The two were fine being background actors with occasional supporting parts, they had a lot of other things that they wanted to do like football and going on solo dates with their girlfriends. The two were celebrities within their school but refused to let anyone befriend them as they knew that the boys and girls were just trying to leech off of their fame. It was only punctuated by girls trying to be Jace's girlfriend as they wanted him to dump her for a, "Real girl" who, "Could give him what he wants." He happily refused their offers by telling them that he wasn't ready for sex yet- publicly, in front of the school at lunch, and with everyone withing hearing range laughing at the girls. Eventually the fame faded as the show's season ended. The kids participated in the network's Spring and Summer holiday special and saw Jace and Ryan showing the other boys in it how to put on makeup and wear a dress like any other girl then joined their female counterparts who were dressed as boys with the boys now seeing how different girls could make themselves look with just makeup and hiding their hair. It made for a lot of press, but it was educational as the boys apologized to the girls while they were themselves told that it was tough to keep up an act of toughness that boys had to put on. Ryan and Jace did what nobody else did in that they wore bikinis. They showed just how much tucking and some discrete padding can make you look different to the point that even the director and cast had trouble believe it was them. They looked so genuine that the girls were jealous of their beautiful bodies. The specials were a great respite for the boys as the retrials started, this time it was going to be held in Worcester County and with all prosecutors and defendants' relationships thoroughly checked. Reed had to clear his schedule to observe the trials as a parent of the two of the victims as well as represent all of his family while the bulk remained away from Worcester to keep the judge from complaining about the appearance of forcing their views on defendants by a powerful family. Reed had a right to be there, the rest weren't needed and would only cause issues- especially Ian and Sheila. The trial was grueling for all involved. The prosecutors were seen as young and inexperienced and thus would easily be manipulated by the defense lawyers. That wasn't true at all, they were hand-picked by Reed to prosecute the cases as the duo worked their way up through the ranks from backroom to courtroom- just as his own mother had done 30 years before, before his father dated then married her. The defense was led by someone Reed had a strong hatred for: Moe Lyon. He was being paid through a fund setup by the defendants' families using money that they had hidden from the government but had been uncovered by Rachel Sylvester during a normal investigation of the defendants' office computers. It was going to be tough on Moe as his finances were cutoff without him realizing that he was a sitting duck in court as he couldn't pay for, "Experts" to claim that the kids lied or to buy people who would be able to claim that the entire conspiracy was a lie to destroy innocent people. Moe was angered when the trial started and the judge told him that his source of income had just been seized by the federal government for nonpayment of taxes and suspicion of fraud. Moe demanded that the government unfreeze his account, but the judge happily told him, "Nice try, but that won't work. It's not my fault that your only chance of winning went out the window. I think you really underestimated Attorney General Pena's family: she nailed you hard. And don't whine about her making their case now being tainted as she was acting in accordance with her job, despite a distant relationship to the victims that wasn't made until after the investigation started." Moe grumbled about an immediate appeal which the judge ignored. He knew that Moe was going to be arrested by agents after the trial so any appeals would be done by someone else. That also ignored that he was likely to be disbarred for his action making him unable to appeal anyway. The prosecutors went first in their opening statements and told the jury about a long stream of crimes in Essex County that dated back years, long before the birth of several children whom the defense were in the process of blaming for their clients' actions. They stated how one boy was forced, mentally, and in a slew of documented cases, physically, to act a certain way while another was forcibly removed from his birth family through careful manipulations and outright lies to several agencies. That was followed by a string of claims about using the actions of one family to hide the actions of many others while they, in turn, used the actions of a couple who held control over the two children who would cause all of their carefully laid plans to come crashing down around them. The biggest shocks were the claims that there was a major effort to hide a sexual assault while trying at the same time to pin it on an innocent child- all because that child was friendly with a family who had a lot of power and access to the very people who could destroy their carefully laid plans. The kicker was that it only ended up crumbling because the people who were allowed to harm the children and the man who got away with sexual assault had physically assault their grandchildren on the side of the highway. Moe wasn't happy and it showed to the jury. In his opening statements he tried to claim that a pack of lies concocted by a single family against their own relatives had dragged dozens to innocent people into their scheme while allowing two boys to lie about what was going on to hide their sexual depravity. It was heavy on claims yet it didn't take much to see that it was total garbage said in desperation to get all of his clients off. He offered no explanations for anything, simply claiming that the charges were false and brought before them as retribution by the Attorney General in retaliation and without basis. The first witnesses were the ones that stung Moe the most: Rachel Sylvester and Miles Finn. They had the data to show that the true crimes were extortion, tax fraud, bribery, criminal conspiracy, and misuse of public funds. Rachel had everything, she had gotten access to all of the computers owned by all of the defendants and was able to do what they had tried hard to avoid by deleting everything: expose all of the original emails, accounting data, and plans for the conspiracy. Rachel pointed out repeatedly that she was only handed the data and did not know where it came from or what the relationship was to anyone that she knew, she just dealt with facts and it wasn't until all of it had been completed did she learn that it involved people trying to harm Jace, Joy, Ryan, and the rest of the Bailey family. No matter how much Moe tried to claim that she was framing his clients Rachel held firm to the facts of the case to the point that she had showed that the group were actually on their radar due to complaints from contractors with the towns that were dealing with the families months before the kids fled their grandparents causing the cascade of events to unfurl- all of which she had no actually hand in except as a friend of the kids' parents and even then that happened after much of her work had been done. She dared him to refute the evidence, with the judge having to tell the outraged Moe to back off from her as he was over the line in badgering a witness. Miles fared better as he bluntly told Moe that he knew the Baileys since Ian was assigned to the middle school years before and had grown up with the Courtney Finn so knew the kids' biological father. As an investigator and as a state trooper he had the most experience among the office so was the lead in their investigations despite later finding out that he was indirectly related to the kids. His career was backed-up by countless awards and certifications that Moe couldn't counter, he dealt with facts and figures and if he found connections between people it was because of their actions not Miles' bias against them. Oscar Pierce was grilled over why he intervened in what was presented by Moe to be a family squabble on the side of the road involving two out of control kids. Oscar needed to calm himself then explained to Moe, "You call two kids with bloody noses, scratches on their faces, clear bruising developing around their cheeks, and in the case of Jace Pena a swelling eye, to be a 'simple misunderstanding'? No kid is supposed to take abuse from anyone, not even their grandparents. That is what it was: abuse. They were in tears and fighting against someone who was harming them, ready to run away from the car to get to safety. It is my job as a trooper to protect and serve, the children needed protection from abuse and as it was a hazard to traffic to the point that it made the news I was required to intervene to fix the situation. I am sorry that your clients feel that abusing children is OK so long as it's claimed to be discipline, I've grown up around people who endured that and seen it firsthand countless times. It's abuse, it's assault, it's creating a dangerous situation, and it was my job to intervene to help protect those in need." Moe tried to claim that the kids initiated it. Oscar countered and asked how they had initiated it when it was their grandparents who were hurting them for no reason other than to shut them up. Moe tried to be apathetic but Oscar countered that it was his clients' own words, not his, that were just used which got the jury to pay closer attention and see that Moe was starting to get angrier over his attacks failing. The next group of witnesses were financial investigators working for the Attorney General's Office who had actually started doing the bulk of the work before Rachel was brought in at their request to look at computers that were seized during a raid that she had no part in. It was tough to go against what they were going to say as all of their physical evidence was obtained legally as it was done through search warrants obtained after Reed had recused himself from the case and Rachel had done much of the initial work before knowing it through adjacent investigations that ended up being linked. They had Moe on the ropes and nothing that he could do would counter their solid histories nor any of the facts. David Peterson was toughest on Moe as he wasn't intimidated by Moe in any way. Moe tried to go at it from a personal angle and use his sister Daisy's birth defect against him by claiming that his family had mutilated countless boys in forcing sex changes on them while he himself had done nothing to stop it. It was desperation and Moe was hoping to prey on the transphobia of this jury- it failed. David calmly and authoritatively stated, "For someone who claims to have facts you left out lots of them in your ranting about my sister and multiple children over the years. My sister, and yes, she is female, had a birth defect that occurred due to an unfortunate inherited genetic condition. Our cousin had the same issue, as did another two girls. One nearly died from blood poisoning, one was found due to being kidnapped and trying to escape a second kidnapping. You completely ignored that every other girl who had surgery before 18 had it done due to massive abuse to their genitals. One was done by her own dad in a fit of rage, another due to being forced to do it through psychological torture from two people who were in authority, one was in car crash that would have killed her, one was kidnapped shot in the penis, and was about to be murdered but whose kidnappers were shot dead by State Police snipers as they were about to pull the trigger. One girl took a stabbing to her genitals that was going to kill her cousin, three more were so brutally assaulted that their genitals were useless and barely functional. So yes, they had surgery. It was medically necessary. You conveniently ignore how each of those times resulted in prosecutions of multiple people for the same crimes committed against those girl; of how much pain and suffering the girls endured before and after; of how many of us had to endure people claiming that we maimed them yet never saw us nursing their wounds. You are not a parent, you don't know the horror of seeing a loved one abducted and harmed badly." David then got down to business and shot down all of Moe's claims and turned it around on Moe so he was actually on trial as his own activities involving the Williams family was exposed with Moe having to angrily end the questioning as he had knowingly lied in open court about his role in the attempt by the Williams family to grab Jace and Joy from their closest relatives after ignoring them for years. He had no counter to it, he knew that he was going down for being too arrogant to notice that he lied about himself and his relationship to them, and exposed his clients to further legal scrutiny. Moe's only hopes hinged on Ryan and Jace buckling under pressure. Unfortunately for him the next up was Fiona Nelson and her evaluations of the boys and Joy and with her all hope was lost. She had him in a bind and she knew it, Moe was facing someone who had all of the facts and knew the kids outside of the office as well as inside of it making her the best person to judge their character and behavior. Fiona was merciless in her rebuking of every question about the mental health of the boys. She was just as fierce in her defense of Joy, making the prosecutor seem to be forcing views about Joy on her but in reality it was a targeted attack that showed that Joy wasn't at fault for any of what happened despite all of the defendants trying to claim that she lied about being groomed by her grandfather. Fiona wasn't in a good mood and only held her temper as the prosecutor made her see exactly what was going on just as she was reaching her boiling point and ready to lash out at her for her slanderous claims. Moe was left with little to actually counter Fiona. He tried to go after her sister Flora but that only led to Fiona asking what he genetics had to do with Fiona's abilities as a child psychologist specializing in traumatic experiences such as abuse and rape. He tried to go after Wendy, which only led Fiona to ask if his own family was fair game as she'd happily air their dirty laundry before the jury alongside his. Moe tried to object but the judge overruled his objection, citing his own actions as the cause for Fiona going after him personally. When he went after Joy by saying that she led her grandfather on, Fiona had a counter and asked him pointedly, "How did she lead him on? How exactly? By being female and being outspoken when her grandfather had physically harmed her? By refusing to allow her grandfather to let his hands touch her privates or her breasts? By refusing to have sex with him and seeking shelter with a family who had grown to know her and would have helped her had her paternal grandparents been allowed to intervene after her grandfather was discovered having sex with her friend? How? Please, explain Mr. Lyon! How is this 'leading him on' when she did what every female would do!" When he couldn't answer her Moe moved on to attacking the boys and their, "Perversions". Moe didn't hold back, he went after both and claimed that they were trying to groom the girls to have sex with the two before Joy and Jace's grandfather put an end to it. He was going after them hard and fast and not in a way that was sitting well with the jury as it was known already that something wasn't right about it. Fiona calmly then pointedly stated, "You claim that they were grooming the girls, yet offer no evidence to it. On the other hand, the prosecution has offered evidence about a confirmed rape of a child under 14 witnessed by multiple people including the girl's family. You claim that they were perverts for doing what I guarantee that you have done as you had it posted online on your social media profiles back in your high school and college days. You, sir, dressed as a woman multiple times and, unlike the boys, it was done with the intent of having sex with girls. You posted before and after about nailing women in various states of drunkenness including one who blacked-out and filed charges against you. Those two are crossdressers, yes. But that isn't a crime. They get no thrill from it, they enjoyed being the younger sisters to their sisters and were given the chance to act normal around people who accepted them as two kids instead of two boys trying to act like tough guys. How exactly is it perverted when there was no sexual activity, no being nude around the girls, no showing of privates to anyone- just sleeping in a group with friends or in the case of one child: sleeping next to his elder sister." The jury seemed to understand what was meant and saw some of them give subtle smiles as it wasn't a perversion, it was sweet. Moe tried to play it off and claimed that she had no evidence to support any of the claims against him but the prosecution presented his own social media account history as recovered by the state as part of a separate criminal investigation. He screamed entrapment but the judge laughed and calmly told him, "You opened yourself up to that, you made the claims yet had done worse." Moe dismissed Fiona but saw the prosecutors call a rebuttal witness to which Moe was forced to face a tough fact: he was going down in flames and had to beg for a mistrial on the basis of misconduct by himself. The judge accepted the rebuttal and after learning the connection that Moe had after providing the court with a fully adjudicated case against Moe the judge declared a mistrial and forced Moe out of all further proceedings. This was essentially the last straw for the whole gaggle of defendants as Moe was a huge boon for them and without him they were going down in flames as they had no lawyers of influence left who would take their case for nothing except the money that they were getting from the Williams family's fortune when Ezekiel died. There was only a two-day delay as they were extremely lucky in that there was a last-minute plea deal in a case that meant that there was a new jury ready to go as well as a lawyer without any ties with the defendants that was brought in to defend them. She was only doing the case due to being asked by Reed as she had known him in law school and had a strong reputation of defending people against impossible odds. She felt bad for all involved as a lot of them were simply the byproducts of families in an area who had gotten used to having unlimited power yet went up against the one force in the state to never back down and could counter anyone legally and with overwhelming force: Reed's entire family. The defense lawyer went at things from a different angle and told the defendants that they were banged to their rights and if they didn't beg for a plea deal they would be convicted on all charges. Most of the defendants agreed, with multiple defendants, including the Williams family, refusing to accept any deal and believed that they would be vindicated by the jury. She shook her head at their idiocy and went to work trying to get them off but could only do so much before she succumbed to the inevitable. Rachel, Miles, David, and Fiona testified again then were followed by the state's forensics experts and a couple of troopers who weren't part of the bribery ring and who suffered at their hands like Oscar and others who hadn't given into greed had. Oscar testified after them and laid the foundation for the kids to testify, with the defense lawyer struggling to poke holes in his testimony and seeing him come off a lot better than before as his patience wasn't tested as strongly the second time. The time came for the trio to testify. Joy went first and was grilled by the prosecutor and defense as she held her ground and turned things around on them to make them question everything twice to ensure it wasn't going to be used against them by her. Ezekiel watched from the rear with Victoria and gave her a big grin: Joy was channeling her inner female Williams and not taking crap from anyone! When the talk about dressing Jace came up, she happily admitted, "I liked Jace being Jaycee but it was always a way for him to vent his anger at being humiliated by our grandpa and smacked around all day by our grandma. He went out on the town dressed as a girl and got treated better, so much so that he'd be Jaycee whenever possible to experience being treated nice by everyone. The same people who hated us started to treat him nice, they never knew that he was Jaycee but it didn't matter to him. The girls had fun with him and made him an honorary girl but kicked him out when they got their periods. He's a girl when dressed, but not girl enough to be around 'real girls' now that they were becoming women." Her connection to her grandfather was questioned, she growled, "He liked to fondle me. I let him do it as I didn't want him to hurt Jace anymore but I drew the line at anything going close to my privates. When he noticed that I was starting to get breast buds he went after Jace more to get rid of him. I'm not stupid: I know that he wanted to have sex with me. I stopped it. I couldn't do it with him. Sorry, but I drew the line. After I refused to let him touch my vagina he had a big meltdown which caused us to rush to the Baileys for the week. That led to us having a sleepover at one of my friends' houses and unfortunately for Jace it was when she had her first period making the girls kick him out so we could 'comfort her' but in reality it was to show that we were older than him and didn't need a 'fake girl' anymore. I didn't want to go, but grandma kicked me out as punishment. I didn't know that Jace was kicked out of my friend's house until later on. He texted me what was happening causing the sleepover to end so I caught the aftermath of what happened. She was stupid, she lied to us and her parents and went to our trailer to have sex with grandpa and got caught. Jace walked in on it, she told me that he did. Her parents told me that he did. The only one who said that Jace did it was grandpa!" She dared the defense to claim that she was lying but she asked if the defense had bothered to actually read any of the statements to the State Police about what happened. She then happily told her, "It's all in the reports. All of us were interviewed for hours on end. Grandpa got away with it by having friends in high places make the reports go away. The doctors didn't hide anything, it's all there: Jace couldn't do it, he couldn't make semen and didn't have hair. Grandpa could make it and has hair. It was him." There was no counter to any of what she had said as the evidence had been presented and she growled that Jace still couldn't make it as their parents had complained that their brother made made a mess of his sheets when he had his first emission while Jace had never had one yet. Jace was still physically immature, and in that he was declared innocent. He wasn't a rapist, their grandfather was. Jace was up next and he knew hat he'd get humiliated as the defense used every dirty trick in the book to make him look like both a rapist and a liar. He was ready for everything, he had been humiliated too often in his short lifetime to not expect it from people desperate to lie their way out of trouble. It wasn't and different than school or with the girls: people always tried to humiliate him. The prosecutors walked him through his life since being removed from his mother five years before. He fought tears thinking about how so many had been involved in causing him issues as he was asked the same questions each time but about different people who had somehow been in contact with him over a long period of time without him realizing it. His grandparents were always around someone, especially ones with money yet somehow never had any money of their own. Then it clicked: they were the people who were trying to get their land and whose sons had all harassed Ryan when he was in school. Jace knew what was going to come next, he mentally prepared and had an unexpected counter to what he would be accused of without the defense knowing it. Their tactic would not work on someone who was ready, especially one who had all of the answers. As expected, he was accused to trying to seduce the girls by pretending to be a girl. Jace happily told an upset jury, "I admit that I crossdress. I don't hide that fact, I love it. My sister loved having me dressed as a girl and I loved emulating her style. I didn't do it to get close to girls nor have sex with them, I did it long before I liked girls- we started when I was seven just after we were forced from mom's care. We did it in secret but one time we got caught by Megan Bailey. I had to show her my girly side and soon I was a girl for Joy and Megan then their friends every weekend. I got along better with them than I did with boys, especially ones in my school. We were always separated during sleepovers, I'd stay in one of Megan's other bedrooms while I stayed in the girls' bedrooms at their houses. I was under orders to not go near the girls when they were changing or showering and I had to wait until they were done to do it myself. I never broke the rules, I only stopped going over the sleepovers when two of the girls had their first period. The last time was the night my grandpa got caught with Joy's friend having sex. I had to walk home and grandpa was naked with her having sex in the living room while grandma was in the kitchen pretending not to notice it. When I screamed at grandpa to stop grandma screamed at me and the girl ran off, crying to her parents who got all of us in trouble." He left a lot of wiggle room for himself but he stuck by the facts. When he was asked about the police and their involvement, he told her, "They asked me a lot of questions. I was all alone when they did it. I told the truth, they said I lied. The doctor who was at the emergency room to take my blood because I'd been unable to give a semen sample told them that I couldn't have done it, they said I'd lied. Grandpa was released and he smacked me. The girl moved away to Maine. Everyone knew what she had done, I didn't tell anyone what happened but they assumed that I was involved. She hated what happened, she told me that she regretted it and Grandpa threatened her for 'leading her on'. She went along with it to get him to leave Joy alone as she knew that he was going after her next: grandpa told her so. Grandma said that if I ever told anyone about what happened Joy would be raped by grandpa so I kept quiet. I'd be the one everyone blamed, I was just the poor 'legal orphan' and nobody would believe me." She tried to find a way of turning that against Jace, with Jace knowing what was coming next and then telling her, "Grandpa and grandma were driving us up to New Hampshire to dump us. I'm not stupid, he was going to lie to everyone about it but I heard about what he was planning on doing with us with one of his friends. Without us, he could just wait until his uncle died and inherit everything. Without us, he had no reason to work and could do whatever he pleased as his uncle was rich and didn't collect rent. I was the only problem: I knew too many people who'd look for us. So we'd be dumped away from here. We'd end up in their system, unknown teens from elsewhere with no way of contacting our family as he would ensure that none of our family would take us in. We'd be stranded up there, unable to talk. He would get away with everything, we'd be pariahs in an unknown place." Things turned back to his dressing, with Jace growling, "You act like you have never done it before. You probably did, I know that you couldn't have passed up the opportunity to dress like a guy. Why are you allowed to do it but boys aren't? Why is it different for guys? Are you different in how you act? No. I'm a boy who looks and acts like every other girl, I'm not trying to do it to get a girlfriend. I don't need to: mine likes me as I am and loves that I appreciate girls more since I dressed as one. She's just as good of a person as any other, she's an amazing girl who understands me more than anyone else." Jace was released and saw Ryan called to the stand. He expected the worst, especially as he was had the worst record among them with a reputation of being a jerk for a long time. Why he was one wasn't the issue, it was that he was one that mattered to the defense. As expected, his credibility was called into question. Ryan defended himself then asked what he should have done- he was being harassed, humiliated because his deep secret was exposed, had people calling for him to be banned from school just because he dared to be different, and couldn't stop himself from the urges to be a female whenever he was at home on the weekends. He had a vice that was seen as horrid by certain people, but that wasn't close to the real reason they targeted him. Ryan finally broke down and growled, "It took me weeks to find out the truth: I was just their way to get at the town. I was the one who could get them what they wanted as I was easiest to manipulate. I was a loner, I had no friends, I had a weird quirk, and nobody wanted anything to do with me. But I had one of the richest families in all of the state and had extended family who owned a lot of properties in town and who could get things done with the right people helping. I refused to help them, so I got beaten up. I refused to help them after I recovered, they beat me again and threatened to have me expelled. They had the principal being paid to have me expelled, all he needed was a reason to get rid of me and he'd have a big payday from their families. Mom and dad weren't aware of the issues in school, our principal went out of her way to keep them away from me as much as possible. They'd been told that I was a troubled student who caused fights, I was banned from everything except certain activities that just happened to be run by people who were part of the group trying to get control of the town and our family's businesses. I had to do what they wanted, or they'd go after Megan next. Megan had no idea what was happening, I pushed her away and said a lot of nasty things to protect her. With her as well as all of her friends away they couldn't hurt her." When they turned to Jace, Ryan quickly admitted, "He was just a pawn to them. They didn't care about any laws or that he hadn't done anything: they wanted him away from his dad's family. So they worked with his grandpa to get Jace away. That girl that his grandpa had sex with was just the bait since Joy wasn't letting him have sex with her, Jace was supposed to get caught with her not his grandpa. His grandpa screwed their plans up and made them have to hold off on doing anything until the coast was clear and they had enough 'evidence' to take out Jace. It only led to Joy and Jace being isolated and after a year things changed. They got reunited with us and I had to tell the truth about everything to my relatives and their relatives. Jace's new mom and dad made all of us go to their hometown to get away then everything started happening from there: multiple attempts to get at Jace, claims of Jace's new parents hurting him by letting him be a girl, claims of Jace raping that girl but really only trying to use evidence that was collected against his grandpa against him. It fell apart fast. Jace's family supported him and prevented them from kidnapping him then uncovered the truth. All I did was tell the truth when asked and it crumbled. I caused it to crumble. I heard everything and told the truth about it." His actions were questioned, as it was a sudden change was too convenient. Ryan growled, "I was a jerk but I couldn't hide why I was that way any longer. I was forced to talk with Aunt Fiona and friends of my sister about what it was like to be a girl like them. I was an idiot, I know that I was wrong and I did it anyway. Why? Because if I didn't they would have hurt me worse then gone after Megan directly. Megan was going to be blamed for molesting girls and trying to have sex with boys then hurt so that she wasn't able to hurt anyone again. I knew what they really meant: they wanted to make it so that she got castrated and shown as an example to everyone. They told me themselves! They gloated about it to me whenever they humiliated me! I did it to save her from them, I could be all alone but as long as she was fine then it was worth it. So what if I changed? I learned the truth about girls and their lives and I accept that I am not normal and never will be. I am happy that my girlfriend understands me and more importantly: that she loves me. I'm glad that I have a friend who's able to understand me the same way and whose family are the greatest people in this state no matter what any of these frauds try to claim. If loving my friend and family is wrong, then I guess I'm wrong." He was released and saw the defense struggling to decide what to do. They had no real witnesses so it was everyone for themselves then. They struggled to not destroy their own cases while torpedoing their friends and family, everyone was clearly guilty of something but there were a few majors among them. The string of, "I was only going along with the others' plans" followed for the next week as the defense struggled to find witnesses who weren't part of the plot or who hadn't been discredited by actions of the past. Moe Lyon left them with nobody willing or able to testify and the few on the list weren't their greatest character witnesses. Only one was left after that disastrous week: Ezekiel. Ezekiel was called to the stand and immediately the case fell apart. As soon as he was sworn-in, he told the defense attorney, "I was on the list as it was felt by my nieces and nephews and their kids that I'd be able to get them off as I'd intimidate Jace and Joy Pena. They were wrong. I won't lie, I won't force the kids to go along with what my nephew demanded them to do." The defense attorney was left with little to work with as he destroyed any of her clients' credibility with a single statement. She tried to get him to work towards making the kids' testimony work against them but he countered, "The kids told the truth. I know all about what their grandparents were doing as many of the defendants, both on trial now or who pled-out, went to me to tell me what my nephew was doing to the kids and what he had done to that little girl. Funny, none of them went to the cops to get them to 'protect the kids' as they claimed their inquiries were about. All of them were really only coming to me to get at my properties and wealth. He who controls those kids controls our family fortune, or so all of them believed. That wasn't true: all of it was going to go to my nephew Ezekiel Bollinger. They never had a shot at getting a penny. I ensured that the only member of my family not named Castillo or scion of Brent Finn was inheriting everything. Nobody was getting a penny except Ezekiel. I had it put in my will 23 years ago, the day after his own cousins attacked him for daring to marry the friend of his 2nd-cousin John Finn. I never changed it in the time since, only changing this past summer so that all of my cousin Victoria's and Catherine's children and Ezekiel inherited from me." He laughed as he saw the reactions of his family. He knew that they were about to sue to claim that his will was invalid but Ezekiel was of sound mind and protected his legacy carefully. Being done by one of the members of the Finn Family was irrelevant since she wasn't getting anything from it. Ezekiel was asked about the claims by Ryan. Ezekiel laughed and angrily told the defense lawyer, "That boy did something few could do: he told you the truth, despite being outed as doing something deemed to be 'perverted.' He told you everything that I uncovered through my own listening and observing. I saw and heard exactly the same as him, only his stuff was centered in Endicott while mine was in both locations. I had no idea that he knew the kids, if I had known then I would have gotten them help from his parents as I know that they were good people and would have loved for them to care for the kids in lieu of their paternal family. I had no idea that my nephew was related to them, but it was fitting and I am proud of it in ways that he'll never understand. The claims about his wife's family being incestuous or worse are laughable given that it's nothing but claims by people who have done the same thing only their kids are actually blood: not related after being adopted into families as Jace and Joy were. Most of them are actually 2nd and 3rd-cousins by blood and have been married to the same 2nd and 3rd-cousins for over a hundred years! Sure they have had aunts and uncles adopting their nieces and nephews as their own, but every single time it was because the child was either orphaned by death or legally by abuse. Those folks in Byfield and Edicott? That's all by sex! So save the claims, there's nothing to it there." He knew what was coming next and countered, "I'll save you the claims that are coming: I'm not some criminal mastermind, that was my sister. I am but a humble retiree who saved every penny that I earned over the course of my lifetime. It paid to be a lifelong sailor, who invested in farmland in a backwater town that nobody wanted to live in decades ago. I chose to buy cheap and keep the land unsullied by building houses. I owned a farmhouse and allowed my nephew to build a small trailerpark on the edge of the property which he used to garner some income and place to live until I passed on. I sublet a large percentage of the property to farmers who paid me a percentage of the harvest, this was successful enough to allow for more investments which grew over time. That was in addition to the family fortune that I had control over and refused to distribute to members of the family as they broke terms of the trust in actively participating in criminal activities. Only one branch didn't do that even if one had gone to prison, but as they were estranged and pride prevented us from speaking to one another they never had a chance to accept any of their money so I kept that aside and saw it grow. I earned money: I earned my pension and I bought a lot of land on the cheap when it was available, from neighbors who wanted to retire to a warmer spot or who didn't want to sell to someone who would try to destroy our town like my sister did to Winnisimmet. That added up over time, and it became the reason for why so many events happened over the years in Endicott and Byfield among other locations in Essex County. All of this is documented and verified by witnesses already, I'm just telling you what it was and I'm sorry that you thought that I'd help you: I won't. I told the truth. I spent decades fighting to uphold truth, justice, and freedom and won't lie in court to protect those who want to undo that while trying at the same time to defraud me and my family." He was excused and saw the defense rest and hope for the jury to buy into the claims even if it was a long shot. There was nothing left for the defense to do, they had lost the case and could only beg for leniency. It was highly unlikely that it would come, not after Ezekiel spoke. The prosecution were granted a rebuttal witness and brought the girl who Jace and Joy's grandfather had sex with out to testify. She was embarrassed but admitted that she wanted sex with the man as he'd done a lot to help her dad get a better job and she thought that he was pretty good looking and wanted him to stop trying to get with Joy. She freely admitted that he was a good person when he wanted you to do something for him but treated Jace and Joy poorly most of the time. She knew that she was going to get confronted about the sex and if it ever actually happened. She cried and admitted, "It happened! I got pregnant: that was the real reason for my leaving! Mom and dad sent me away to my grandparents because I got pregnant from the sex! I lost the baby, I had issues with my uterus which means I won't be able to have a baby to term. You can see it in my medical records, it's all in there. My grandparents tried hard to press charges but the State Police refused to help them." This was what the prosecution needed more than anything: she was the biggest point of collusion as her actions led to exposing multiple people which actually what kick-started the case by Miles and David. A link to Reed only came later, one that was shown and which couldn't be refuted. The girl left and had the defense giving up and barely offering a closing argument as there was little defense to their actions. The prosecution's closing statements summarized the case in a way that was irrefutable: a concentrated effort by a cabal of individuals to defraud a man out of his land through his family's actions, towns out of tax dollars, and three kids of their freedom through a variety of means. Jace and Joy were two kids in a tough situation due to abuse and abandonment whose true family were only 30 miles away yet had no idea that they existed until the kids fought back and by chance encountered someone who could save them. Ryan was a tragic figure who chose to do wrong thing for the right reasons to protect those that he loved and who had learned from his mistakes and accepted everything that would happen to him despite humiliation heaped upon him by others. The jury were impressed at the summary. They adjourned and took several days to consider all of their evidence, much to the dismay of all. They were thorough, they were ensuring appeal-proof convictions. When they reached their verdicts, the judge was quick to bring them back and announce them: all of the defendants were found guilty of all charges. There were no considerations of lesser charges, every one of the jurors agreed that they were guilty of the crimes that they were accused of. It was the final and worst blow to the defense, she tried hard but couldn't get them out of an inevitable conviction. The judge sighed and asked the defense if they wanted to schedule sentencing. She looked over at their angry faces and could tell that it was best to get it over with immediately so she asked for an immediate sentencing so she could recuse herself and allow others to handle the appeals. The judge nodded and waited one month then when they returned to court in a fit of rage told the defendants, "You have to be one of the worst lots that I've ever encountered. This is the worst group to set foot in Worcester County in 22 years, not since the infamous Todwell cabal. I'm not mistaken in my belief that the same family that brought your cabal down did the same to Todwell. It's fitting that the Attorney General was involved in both cases, even if he had direct action in this. I'm saddened that three kids had their lives ruined by all of you in some way or another. I pity the poor girl whose lust was taken advantage of by a monster. I hope in prison you find some redemption." He sentenced the lot to sentences ranging from five years to 30 years, with Joy and Jace's grandfather getting the worst of all: 50 years total, to be served consecutively. His wife was little better, she got just 30 years for her abuse and criminal conspiracy charges while being humiliated as the judge chastised her for blaming the kids when it was her own actions that she was being punished for. The rest of their relatives were sentenced to 25 years total, with Ezekiel disowning them officially from the family trust. Ezekiel was the last Williams standing. After decades he was the sole Williams who had not disgraced the family. But in his eyes that wasn't true at all: his cousins had never disgraced the family, they were the only ones who had made the family into something great and did so just by doing their own thing as people in following their hearts and raising their kids right- the name didn't matter to him, actions did. Ezekiel was asked by John to get to know him and his sisters as he deserved to know them and be one of them even if he tried to stay away from all of their troubles. Leslie Sylvester was the one who got his agreement as she reminded him too much of her mother with her personality and looks. She wasn't like John in how she acted around others, she was more loving and agreeable but still stern with the kids. He watched as she mothered her grandchildren while also letting their mothers enjoy the joys of being a villain for not letting them have what they wanted. She was different with her son Marcus, he wasn't a normal young man yet made Ezekiel see that he was the spitting image of his mother with some of his father's features. Marcus was happy to be the only, "Blood Finn" who worked hard doing at a mundane job driving a truck for the family's businesses but doing so without complaint or needing to do so. Marcus lived up to his namesake and was what Ezekiel knew his uncle to be. He respected Marcus and Hannah Williams deeply, he respected them so much that he angrily told them never to harm their two daughters again no matter how much they disobeyed him. It was something that he hated doing but it did the trick as they were never struck by their father again, and put Marcus on a new path which led to the branch of the family ending up becoming the strongest, morally right, and fruitful branch. Karen Smith was something else entirely, she was independent and spent little time in the US but when she was there she spent it with her grandchildren and spoiled them but not to the point of being rotten. It impressed him, she knew what she wanted and didn't overstep her limits and gave the kids what they needed even if it frustrated their parents. Being so close to being a great-grandmother made her different than John or Leslie, especially as she was so experienced at being a parent and grandparent. Ezekiel spent time with Jace and Joy at the insistence of Jessie and Reed. Joy was Joy, with her giving Ezekiel a smile as she was her own person and happy to be her own person and not changing who she was for anyone. The fact that she was protective of Ezekiel without needing to be only made him happy that she was growing as a person and was trying hard to break the family trend in being selfish. Jace was tougher to crack as he was defensive and still felt that Ezekiel would say something about him being a, "Weirdo" but Ezekiel saw a man who did what he had to do to defend himself and his family. It filled him with pride, Jace was a true heir of the family in the same way that John was. Unlike John, he had a support that John lacked and could grow into the man that all of his 2nd-, 3rd, and 4th-cousins should have been over the decades yet never became. Eventually, he sat Jace down and told him, "You don't have to be the tough guy that you try to be. I'm not going to be upset at you for what you did, you did more to help your family than anyone else had done in decades and you did so to protect your family. You are a man, a true man. So what if you act as if you are a female for a bit? You have balls to do so, and you had balls in admitting that you did it. I'm proud of you, I'm always going to be proud of you. Both of you, I am proud of you." He attended the kids' 8th grade graduation and happily saw Jace's first game as a football player after he took his forced trip to England with Victoria and Jorge. He hated to admit that it was relaxing and that he enjoyed seeing Karen being the head of a large household with staff and duties befitting a noble. He didn't have to say it to her, but she understood him and was happy to have made that impression. The fall brought things to a head as Ezekiel took a turn for the worse. He struggled with his health and eventually lost his battle. On his deathbed he asked to see John, Leslie, Karen, Willie, Ricardo Vincent, and Alice Porter- the six remaining heirs of Marcus and Hannah Williams, his aunt and uncle. Ezekiel looked them over then at their spouses and happily told them, "I'm a goner but I'm leaving you with a legacy. Use it wisely, do good with it that your cousins couldn't do. I'm already proud of all of you, make me prouder. Ensure that those grandkids grow up to be successful and the next generation is not for want. Let them make mistakes, but don't let them get out of control. Continue on, our family's good name dies off with me leaving the rest in disgrace but Finn, Smith, Sylvester, Pena, Porter, Vincent, and all of their in-laws live on. I am proud of all of you." He passed on as those words left his mouth, leaving them in tears while John stood stoic. Willie told him that he should stop fighting his inner feelings but John shook his head and told him, "No need for any tears, just action. We have to prepare Jessie and Reed for the news, Jace will take this hard. I don't care what anyone says, he'll take it the hardest. Joy will be Joy but you know Jace will fight crying." The news was broken to their kids then grandchildren. Jace fought his feelings but Wendy got his tears to flow as he cried deeply into her shoulder. He lost the only person who truly understood him, he had lost a piece of himself that would be tough to move on from but he resolved to do better in life so that he would make Ezekiel proud- even if he didn't need to, he had done so already. Ezekiel was buried down on Cape Cod at the Bourne National Cemetery among the thousands of other military veterans and retirees. He specified that location as it was the one place that he felt that he belonged and as it was among people whom he had seen as family for decades it was only fitting to let him have his wishes fulfilled. Savannah Stoner made sure that Ezekiel's will was followed and gave the few non-incarcerated Williams family members a warning to stay away from his funeral. The funeral was somber and saw dozens of people attend who weren't part of the family yet who knew Ezekiel when he was in the Navy. Salutes were given to officers and handshakes given to enlisted who attended, with every member of the service giving their condolences to Jace and Joy at the insistence of John. The duo were the ones who knew Ezekiel better than anyone, with Victoria consoling them as John told those who inquired just who she was and what the kids' connection was to Ezekiel. After the funeral, the war started. The Williams family members who weren't in prison sued to have the will tossed out but saw Savannah counter-suing with claims that they were specifically not named in it as per Ezekiel's wishes as they had done nothing to be part of his life yet the ones named had tried to be part of his life to the point of helping him in his final hours. The judge laughed as the others had been notified of Ezekiel's ill health and worsening condition and refused to see him and only asked about if he had left a will and then who was named in it showing him what they really wanted: his money. The timing was questioned but with multiple doctors having signed off on his health there was little that could be done except accept the will and dismiss all claims against the family. Roland's wealth had been distributed to the eight heirs of Marcus and Hannah Williams with Zeke Bollinger being named as the eighth heir despite his not begin their child yet in Ezekiel's eyes he had acted as one. It was laughed at by the family, Zeke wouldn't accept the entire inheritance as the next-of- kin of Ezekiel but as a named heir he had no choice but to accept it. Zeke did as expected and refused to touch the money and property. John, Leslie, Karen, Alice, Ricardo, and Willie did the same. The ones who had the final say were the heirs of of Leslie, John, and Karn's brother and even they refused to touch a penny, with them telling John to give it to all of their relatives. Zeke shook his head and told John, "He knew what would happen. He knew that they'd refuse and give it to everyone. They don't need it, we don't want it. The kids and grandkids will make us of it. He gave us what he couldn't give in life: something for everyone to make their lives better. He did as you'd do. Damnit, he showed just where you got all of your selflessness: it's a hidden family trait." The land was sold, with the trust earning $50 million dollars from it while the Williams Trust had over $100 million in it from investments and bonds. The entire amount was put into a new trust with all of the family members being able enjoy the fruits of the trust over time. It was only made better as it was in the hands of people who would make it grow over time, the same ones who benefited from it. The kids knew that they had a lot of money but none of them bothered to get complacent and worked to achieve good grades and more freedom from their parents. The teens loved that they could openly date and in time would be able to choose when and where they would date. They still had to run plans by their parents but the fact that they could plan was enough to satisfy them. Brooklyn and Lyla got along extremely well as sisters and happily enjoyed dozens of dates with Henry and Megan. Ember and Jeffry were pleased at the couples keeping chaste, especially as the pressure to have sex grew as their non-family friends gloated about it. Neither couple broke their vow to wait, and it took a joke from their parents for Brooklyn and Megan to finally accept that the time was right to enjoy each other's bodies after Megan's senior/Brooklyn's junior prom. Brooklyn endured a year at school without Megan, but much like Reed had done in the past she waited a year before starting college so the couple could go together. They studied the same subject and earned jobs at the Boston Aquarium as marine biologists. They happily enjoyed the hard work and long hours, especially as they got to spend a lot of time with animals that needed assistance. Megan waited a year to have her surgery, with Brooklyn happily becoming pregnant, "The old fashioned way" so that there was no question about who the child's father was. The couple happily told off all of the people claiming that they were a sham couple, especially as Megan boldly proclaimed her love for their child when the little boy was born. Being like both parents, the little boy took to everyone who had any interaction with him and happily caused the couple to wait a few years before trying for another, then another, then another until they had four kids total- all boys! Lyla was much like her mom in that she was smart, inquisitive, and able to figure out things that others couldn't figure out. She parlayed that into a career as an investigator, making everyone laugh as it was a perfect job for her and her mind. Henry was thrilled, it left him to be the humble accountant like his mother and enabled him to be at home just about all of the time. The couple had two kids, a boy and a girl, and enjoyed their parents' love and support as the kids grew. Carl was over a lot, but knew to let his brother live his own life and give the kids a life without always having to compare one brother to the other. Lyla appreciated that, especially as he tended to spoil their kids whenever he could so that he didn't get on the kids' bad side. Henry didn't dress as Hillary much after the kids grew older. His son joined the family tradition but he had little cause for dressing as a girl. Their daughter avoided the day as much as possible and didn't do it when her cousins did it, simply preferring to just enjoy herself as- is. The cheerleaders enjoyed great fun under Tatum Toro's control. Heather happily handed off captaining to Ava who handed it off to Joy who happily handed it off to Wendy. It was a running joke that the only way to become captain was to be a member of the Finn Family, a joke that they hated but saw as funny. Todd and Lupe Sylvester enjoyed a long romance that was unlike the others: they were often apart as it was tough on them due to Lupe choosing to go to the technical high school to take classes to be like her mothers. He had to fight off girls throwing themselves at him and needed to go to Lee and Andrew to get away from them. Rumors constantly circulated that he really was gay, it was also claimed that he had a secret lover in another city that nobody ever saw and Lupe was just his cover to hide his secret. Eventually things came to a head when Lupe transferred to Winnisimmet high due to cutbacks forcing the non-union affiliated programs to be cut. The first day of school she kissed Todd full on the lips and dared anyone to claim that he was gay or that she wasn't dating him. She loved seeing the response, he nearly fainted while Lee and Andrew boldly proclaimed that she was his girlfriend- since 7th grade! Reed happily retired from the state after working for 31 years at the ripe old age of 47. He caused a lot of complaints about his right to retire, but their own laws worked against the complainers as he worked as a fulltime intern during summers in high school and as his term ended after the start of the new year he qualified with all 31 years. It pained them to admit that it was perfectly legal and he earned it, especially as he was the one that ensured that the law was adhered to and not exploited. Reed spent a lot of time working as the financial lawyer for the family, happily doing that boring job as it proved to be lucrative and brought them a lot of friends in the state. He was happy to work with their younger employees, showing them that it was better to follow the laws and not exploit them while they experienced just how nasty things could get when someone was defrauding others. Jessie happily remained in her job as a physical therapist, with her enjoying that the kids followed all of her advice and avoided major injuries to their muscles and joints. She couldn't stop them from having a few accidents involving bikes, ice, trips, and bad drivers but she happily helped them recover when the time came for rehab. Thankfully, it only happened a couple of times and it was due to others' actions. Lee was a bachelor and kept to himself. In college he and Andrew enjoyed time away from the family as the two attended college in Northern California. They were inseparable, almost to the point that they seemed to be closer than friends to everyone. Neither actually cared about appearances, they were the best of friend sand enjoyed being single while enjoying ladies and parties. They broke the mold in that they decided to stay out in California and open a music club together. They happily catered to teens and tweens and attracted the Hollywood crowd thanks to their contacts down in Los Angeles. The club was a huge success, so much so that they opted to sell out to a major operator to enjoy the huge profit before the inevitable happened and the club ended up on the news. Their windfall led them back home and a new job: running the family's investments, particularly their night club/restaurant/entertainment venue division. Both settled down with girlfriends and finally had kids: fittingly, with twin sisters, who themselves had twins. The foursome happily enjoyed life together as one big family, with the kids acting like it was no big deal even if they were unique in the family. Kennedy Pena and her husband Willie enjoyed their retirement for a few months but got bored. They'd visited most of the places that retirees liked already and decided that it was best to get back to work as part- timers in the jobs that they loved. She finally accepted her judgeship while he accepted a job to be a consultant on local criminal issues and commenting on major crimes. The two kept busy and enjoyed that they were earning a lot of money- money that would go towards all of their grandchildren. Kennedy had more money than she knew what to do with and decided to do the same thing that John did in helping kids in need who were in transition. She started in her old town out in California and moved on to other places that were underrepresented by organizations. Over time, she helped dozens of kids before the fund merged with John's fund with Kennedy happy to turn over the reins to John to oversee. Willie happily kept his work to a minimum but did end up on all of the local news stations as his commentary was seen as the best among law enforcement and unbiased compared with his colleagues who worked for other departments. His consulting work was done with a strong emphasis on understanding problems and making improvements, which was revolutionary yet it was so simple that his colleagues were criticized for overlooking the real problems in cities. Ian enjoyed his job as chief of police, with the department transforming itself into a streamlined, moral and logic driven, top of the line department. Changes were made top to bottom of the divisions and had the Perez twins enduring hours of complaints about groups of officers being split apart that had spent a decade together yet who struggled to explain how that was a benefit when most of the work was done by their colleagues in other groups. Ian hit a nerve, yet the changes worked immediately as weaknesses in the officers were exposed while the strengths of those purposely kept down were shone. The department started to lower crime through more visibility, faster responses, talking with people as they awaited calls, and simply knowing where problems would occur and being ready for them. Ian had himself on the radar for a bigger job out in Boston or Cambridge, yet chose to remain in Winnisimmet so that he could finish what he started before he was ready to finally hang things up for good. That was a long time off and wouldn't be until he reached 60, when the next generation were ready to take over. Joy and Mario grew closer as time wore on. They stayed together throughout high school and into their college days. She wouldn't let him marry her until she earned her degree, then happily became a mom in under a year with Mario struggling with keeping up with her once she got on her feet running wild. Joy was happy to be a housewife and handle the family's finances, with Mario going to work as one of the family's IT people which meant he could do a lot of work from home and only need to go out when there was no other choice. The two had three kids before Joy called it quits, which was fine with Mario. Being together was a struggle at times, but they were deeply in love and showed it to everyone. Jace and Wendy struggled in high school as their schedules were swamped with football, cheerleading, schoolwork, and family. Wendy hated having to cancel plans to help others while Jace endured having to babysit Grace while helping his cousins with shoveling or cleaning cars. It was toughest on Jace as people would whisper about the couple breaking-up and Jace cheating on Wendy, it was all a load of garbage but they loved getting jabs in against the "tranny girl" whenever possible. After graduating and Wendy's long-awaited surgery, the couple moved in together which led to them finally, "Consummating" things by a night of sex. Jace was never happier, and Wendy was out of breath afterward. Her parents spent the night elsewhere and could easily see that the two were different when they returned home later the next day leading to Jace proposing marriage to a tearful Wendy. The couple married in a private ceremony with only Joy and Mario in attendance. They upset a lot of their family by doing so but it was mostly the ladies upset that they didn't give them the chance to be bridesmaids. The couple attended college and earned degrees in psychology and physical therapy, with the two taking after Jessie and Fiona but not telling them that they were doing so until they graduated. The couple were happy to be together and didn't need anyone to tell them that they should adopt kids. Wendy felt the urge to be a mother after seeing her friends having kids and caused Jace to tell her that she should use her semen to go first, with the couple having a baby boy whom they named Ezekiel. The little boy was followed by Wendy insisting on Jace being the donor for second and caused him to cry as his baby boy, named Scott, was born giving him an heir who looked exactly like his father. The third time was one that was fitting: a girl who needed a home as there was nobody else willing to help her, whose name was very familiar to all of them: Williams, as in one of Jace's distant relatives' daughter. Their new daughter cried as they asked if she wanted to be adopted. She was happy to be part of their big family and refused to ever believe that she was a Williams. In her eyes, her true family were all known as Pena and Nelson and her true father might be blood to her but she was a Pena in full. Ryan struggled in high school due to the kids knowing the truth about him. He didn't deny that he was a crossdresser and freely admitted to it when asked. It was easier to tell the truth and let those who had an issue make a big scene out of it causing themselves to get into trouble. Clara was by his side throughout and wouldn't let anyone break them up no matter how much the girls in school said that he was a freak who was going to cause her to go down the same path if Clara didn't leave him. Clara was more than happy to ask what exactly made him a freak then asked if they acted as if they hadn't done the same or if they were upset that he dared to do something so bold and admit to it. Clara had them and showed that they were really just jealous that he looked so great as a girl and that it was tough to insult him when they had done the same themselves multiple times for fun. The two spent a lot of time together and went on multiple double-dates with Megan and Brooklyn. That led to triple-dates with Henry and Lyla joining them as the sisters started to grow inseparable. It wasn't a big deal with either Clara or Ryan as Henry was a good friend and Megan was like a big sister too. As college drew closer the two consummated their love. Like others before them, Clara got pregnant and had to tell her parents that they would be grandparents earlier than expected. Ryan wasn't blamed, he did the right thing and proposed to Clara which was quickly accepted. The two married over the summer then delayed college while dealing with a tough and tumultuous pregnancy. Clara was in a tough state which made for a lot of issues for Ryan and the families but not anything that they hadn't had to deal with before from other pregnancies and couldn't be worked out in sessions with Fiona or one of the other parents who suffered the same issues. Eventually Clara gave birth to twins: the real cause of her troubles and why she kept struggling despite seemingly improving. Ryan was in tears as the boy and girl were beautiful. Clara struggled with holding herself together but it was too much and cried alongside them, with the twins simply ignoring everything around them as they cuddled in their parents' arms. It was a sweet sight, made all the more poignant as Clara held her son in her arms and Ryan his daughter in his own arms with both kissing the other to calm themselves. The couple struggled with college and parenthood but thanks to Anita and Pierre they were able to make it through the worst of times. Sheila and Ian knew not to force things with them and let their son be his own man but did enjoy quality time with their grandchildren. Todd, Andrew, and Aubrey were in the midst of things despite not wanting to be stuck babysitting, but it was hard to not help their sister as the kids were too cute and stirred feelings of wanting to find someone themselves to make babies who looked like their niece and nephew even if it was years away. Ryan followed his heart and earned his degree in mechanical engineering but sought employment as a private investigator alongside the equally surprising yet fitting Lyla. The two had a knack for following the less obvious and finding the truth and ensuring that clients paid their bills on time or they would happily sue them for double the costs as per their contract. They were good at the job and it paid a decent amount of money, but Ryan wasn't in it for the money- it was about fulfilling his needs. Clara worked as his accountant and handled his business affairs, then helped her father's business. She did well for herself, earning her a nice salary that complimented Ryan's and made him not worry about any of the expenses as she ensured that he didn't go over budget and lose money. Anyone who tried to be rough with her about money ended up on the opposite her wrath and a lawsuit which caused many of them to both go bankrupt as well as pay the couple through the nose for their sheer stupidity. The couple had one more child before adopting a little boy who reminded Ryan too much of himself as he was abandoned by his family because he couldn't stop dressing as a girl to satisfy that itch. The boy was too much like him, especially as he took to his new mother as Ryan had and showed that he wasn't a normal boy: he could sing, dance, and act as both a girl and boy and was happy to do so. Ryan loved him and encouraged his fun, with the boy thanking him for being caring when nobody else would. Ryan was satisfied with life and happy to have been able to have someone to pass on his legacy even if his son wasn't blood to him. He was a Bailey in all sense of the word, just like Ryan was. Ian shed tears as he saw them acting so alike, his elder grandson wasn't as close to Ryan but his younger was happy to be the son to his father than his brother wasn't. Ryan and Jace were lifelong friends once all of the drama of the trials ended. It only helped that people saw them as friends and commented how misery loved company and the best can come from the worst. The two-were friends, with Jace happily telling Ryan that if Mario hadn't found Joy and Ryan found Clara then he would have hoped that the two would have gotten together so he would be his brother. The two were hits from their work on the show and forced to attend the annual Emmy Award show as both ended up being nominated for their roles on the show- a rarity, since it was both a kids show and it was going up against established daytime soap operas. They weren't happy to be forced to go, but they had to do it for Denise and the network with John assuring them that they wouldn't be exploited and if they did actually win they weren't going to be forced to endure the talk show circuit. They were still a bit reluctant, but some kissing encouragement from Wendy and Clara forced them to go. The awards show was boring to them, especially as they were seated together and had been told that the two would be on camera. They politely applauded but had to hold off complaining as the people up on stage were total frauds in their eyes as they were quick to insult everyone behind their backs when they got back to their seats. The duo were struggling to not say the truth to them, but held back as they knew that it would only cause issues with the actors and actresses leading to a war of words in the media. When their category was announced the two were quiet and after opening the envelope the two went up on stage together: they had won in a tie! The crowd was stunned, the two embraced and couldn't believe that they had done that. It was even more shocking as they had done it on a cable show, one of the only times that a, "Secondary network" show had won an award on the show. The two only said a quick, "Thank you," then walked off, with the audience still stunned and the host left to laugh at the reaction. She happily told the crowd, "Given that one is the nephew of Francesca Herman and the other is like a nephew to her, it's not shocking that they wouldn't say much. Respect runs deep in their family, but then again I'd expect nothing less from my future son-in-law!" Anita was the host, and happily took control of the situation and went off-script to get attention on her while the boys got out of the line of fire and back to their seats. She happily teased Ryan but did so at a cost of getting him away from the stage so nobody could pester him. He thanked her for it, she knew it was pushing things but he loved the idea of being her son-in-law as Clara was his one true love. The aftershow was filled with celebrities trying to get newer, better projects and saw the boys forced to endure people trying to get them to move to Los Angeles to star in "better stuff" yet not realizing that it was already decided that they weren't going to do the show after that year except for any needed bits as the two preferred to leave it behind. They had nothing more to prove, they had won a huge award and it was never going to be topped in their eyes. Having only done it because Denise asked them to made it easier as she agreed with their choice and was happy that they had done something to secure the show's legacy in being an award-winning duo especially as viewers flocked to the show again to see them. The two endured people introducing themselves but stood firm about their refusal to move. When they had their fill of people they finally announced that they were happily retiring from acting and would be a one-show-wonder and leave the acting to those who had no problem being fakes. Anita hugged them and announced that they had made the choice months before, they only did the show at the request of the star and as their storylines were based on their own lives and over with in real life they had no other reason to do the show anymore as all of it was in the past now. The two endured media scrutiny and claims that they were dating but they never bothered to give any of the claims heed. Clara and Wendy only made the claims intensify as Wendy was identified as trans, a big news story to them but one that fizzled quickly as Clara dating Ryan made those claims look even worse due to Anita's involvement. Being trans and member of a trans-friendly family was guaranteed to cause you to get sued by the family, which Wendy's father Scott happily told any reporter following her around hoping to get a scoop on the "real" Jace. Fame wore them down, but it didn't cause the boys to lose their close bond. Add in that Henry and Carl were always with them and both had strong family ties with a powerful father in the form of Nick Ross gave the boys a built-in buffer that caused people to back away. Nick protected them, especially after he retired from baseball and took up being a dad fulltime and in time to see his eldest start to see if she was into boys or girls for the first time. The foursome grew to be a septet at they integrated Lee, Todd, and Andrew into the mix while letting Mario and his buddy Eli have their space. They weren't too far away, just not as close as the seven had become. They made a tight-knit group, one that was tough for anyone to crack and one that held firm as they endured periods of squabbling and lover strife yet always bounced back strong. The girls were the same, only Gabriela, Wendy, Lyla, Clara, Joy, and Megan were joined by the always inseparable Liv, Anne, and Elise as well as their guides through life: Brooklyn and Megan. Brooklyn being the bridge between the elder Megan and younger girls while Gabriela, Wendy, Clara, and Lyla happily didn't need a bridge as they enjoyed all but worshiping, copying, and being close to the girls. It pained them that they weren't close to Lupe, but she chose to be on her own and was respectful of the unique relationship that they had with one another anyway. They made for a one of a kind group in their family: one of something stronger than friendship and able to withstand being in four different school years. Nobody else had done that, despite being close. Their parents were proud that they had done that, it showed that they were different and doing things their own way despite being just like them in so many ways. The family grew over time yet some things still stayed the same: love, friendship, happiness. All of it endured thanks to all of them being together. They were Finns, it was what they did best. The End.