Chapters 38 - 39. The continuing story of Jason, a young boy that is coming to terms with his transgender nature, and his mostly supportive family.

Authors Note: Thanks to Joni W for editing this section for me!

Chapter 38

Early the next morning, Jason and his father took The Kristine out on the lake and over to their favorite cove for fishing. Once they got settled in, they baited their hooks and cast their lines in opposite directions. As they watched the sun rise to the eastern side of the lake, Jason poured them both a cup of coffee and opened up the box of Entenmann's chocolate covered donuts.

They sat quietly together as father and daughter, occasionally reeling in their lines, checking the bait and recasting.

"Kelly…"

"Yes, Dad?"

"You're sure this is what you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure you want to be Kelly. Please don't take this the wrong way; there is nothing at all wrong with being a woman. But in your case becoming a woman is fraught with problems and challenges to overcome. I just want to be certain that you really understand what it means to give up being Jason. I think about you having this surgery and I just can't imagine having that cut off."

"Dad, I don't know yet about the surgery. It scares me too. Sometimes I think about it and I feel just the way you are feeling. But other times I just hate it, and I just want it gone. I don't know how to make you understand how I feel. Every morning I get up and have to get ready for school. The first thing I have to do is take off my breasts; it feels like I am ripping a part of me off, I can't tell you how much I dread it. And then as I get ready and become Jason again, I feel like I'm pulling on a disguise, that I'm pretending to be someone I'm not. When I get home and can relax and let Kelly come out it is so freeing. I know that you probably can't understand that. Just think how you might feel if you woke up tomorrow as a woman, everyone believing you had always been a woman, but you knew that you were really a man. That is the only way I can describe it."

"I can't even begin to imagine what you are feeling, I know that, and I'm really not discounting it. You know it won't all be as easy as it has been for you, if you do go ahead with this. Your mother and I will be with you and your Aunt Sally and Emily are as well. Julie is remarkable, but you never know what is going to happen as you grow up, she may find that she wants a husband, not a wife, or she may very well stay with you. But you are going to find that many people are not going to accept you. You know that your Aunt Jessica is not going to and there are plenty of people like Brad and his father. I can just imagine what they will say, if it becomes known. I worry about you getting hurt. You know we read about transgendered and gay people getting beat up or worse. I don't want that to happen to you."

"Dad, I know you are worried. I am too; people like Brad can be dangerous. If I could wave a magic wand and suddenly be content to be Jason, I suppose that would be great, but I just don't think that is going to happen. I don't want to spend my life feeling like this. I have to do what I can, to feel right in my own body."

Jason's father nodded his head in agreement and they fell back into quiet contemplation. A few minutes later, Jason felt a nibble on his line.

"Dad, I've got a nibble."

Jason's father turned his attention to Jason's line. "Ok Kelly… pull it in just a little. And then let it sit."

They watched, and then all of a sudden the bobbin was pulled down, Jason felt the tug on the line, he gave a little jerk, and the tug became harder. Jason began reeling in the line, pulling hard against the fish. "I've got him now, Dad."

"Ok, yes you do, don't lose him. Take it easy."

Jason continued to work it in. "Get the net, Dad!"

Jason's father grabbed the net, it took them a while but when it was done, they had landed a nice sized bass. All the awkwardness of the earlier conversation was forgotten, as father and daughter celebrated their catch.

A couple hours and several more fish later, they pulled back into the dock. They tied The Kristine to the dock and headed up to the house with their catch. Jason went inside briefly, and when he came back out he and his father went to work cleaning the days catch.

Julie and Jason's mother came out and joined the early risers on the porch.

"Julie, I hope you like fish, because here is tonight's dinner! There is nothing like fresh caught fish, cooked over a wood fire." Jason said.

"I love fish, I'm sure I will enjoy it." Julie replied.

Jason cleaned up and wrapped up the fish and put it in the refrigerator.

"So did you two fill up on donuts and coffee, or would you like some bacon and eggs?" Jason's mother asked.

"I could use some bacon and eggs." Jason's father said.

"If you are making it anyway…" Jason said.

Chapter 39

After breakfast, they changed into their bathing suits, and headed out on the lake in The Kristine to teach Julie to water ski.

Jason went first to show Julie how it was done.
Julie got in the water next, and grabbed the rope. The Anderson's all gave her advice, and Richard made sure she was ready and throttled up. Julie started to come up, and promptly fell over. Richard pulled around made sure that Julie was ok, she insisted on trying again.

It took all morning, but it finally clicked for Julie and she got up and stayed up.

When they got back to the dock, Julie was ecstatic. "Mr. Anderson, thank you so much for your patience! That was fun."

"It was my pleasure Julie." Richard replied.

Later in the week, Jason and Julie were rowing a canoe around the lake. Another canoe carrying two boys came upon them from the opposite direction.

"Damn, Julie, what do we do now?" Jason asked.

"Just stay calm, Kelly. Do you know them?"

"No."

"Just remember, you are Kelly, and let me do most of the talking, ok?"

"Ok."

The boy's canoe came upon them, and the boys said, "Hello."

Julie said, "Hello." Jason nodded his greetings.

"I don't think we have met, I'm Kevin, and this is my brother Sean." The taller of the boys said.

"I'm Julie, and this is my friend, Kelly." Julie replied, nodding her head toward Jason.

"Are you staying on the lake?" Sean asked.

"Yes, we are. How about you?" Julie asked.

"For a few days. Our grandparents have a house here and we are visiting."

"It's great up here, I'm sure you must be having a good time." Julie said.

"Yeah it is, it's our first time here, and we are still getting used to everything. It's nice to see some people our age though. Say, there is supposed to be a big bonfire in the town center tonight, are you going to be there?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know." Julie replied.

"Would you like to come with us?" Sean asked.

Julie smiled and said, "It's very nice of you to offer, but I think my boyfriend Jason and Kelly's boyfriend Jake, might object."

"Oh. Of course, they would be welcome to come too." Sean backtracked.

"We will have to see, I'm afraid I'm not sure what the plans are for tonight and since we are guests of the Anderson's we’ll have to see what they are doing. Maybe we’ll see you there tonight?"

"That would be great. The more the merrier. I hope we see you and your boyfriends later." Kevin said. With that they pushed away and headed back the way they came.

Jason and Julie turned around as well and headed home.

"Thanks Julie. I guess I have to learn how to deal with that, but I just wasn't ready."

"No problem Kelly. They were nice boys though; I hope they find some others to hang out with."

"I almost lost it when you mentioned Jason, but who is Jake?" Jason asked.

"I am, silly. Who do you think your boyfriend is?" Julie said.

Jason raised his eyebrow and said, "I never quite thought about it."

"I didn't either, but I wasn't about to tell them your girlfriend Julie would not approve, now was I. I don't really want to be a guy, but for you, well, it could be fun to try some time."

"Hummm. You know, you delight in making me 'think about you' don't you." Jason asked.

"Yes, I do; because when I 'think about you,' I love to think about you 'thinking about me.'" Julie laughed, then leaned over and kissed Jason.

"Umm… We better get back to the house." Jason said.

"Yes, we probably should…" Julie replied.

They both focused on paddling the canoe and heading back towards the Anderson's lake house.

The next day, Jason woke up and headed out to the kitchen, where he was promptly greeted with shouts of "Happy Birthday, Kelly!" by his parents and Julie.

"Thanks."

They sat down to a full breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. After cleaning up, Julie and Jason got ready to go take an early swim. As they walked down to the dock, two cars pulled into the lake house driveway. Jason saw that the front car was occupied by his Aunt Jessica, and his cousin's Tom and Billy. The second car had his father's parents. Jason turned pale, as he realized he had nowhere to hide.

Jason's father came out of the lake house at the sound of the cars, and said, "Oh shit. Kristine, get out here."

Jessica got out of the car, shouted over to Richard and said, "Surprise Richard, we came up to wish Jason a happy birthday."

Jason was frozen in his tracks. Jessica looked at Julie and said, "Hi, you must be Julie, I've heard a lot about you, but who is your friend?" Jessica looked closer at Jason, and her face started out with a look of confusion, then shock, followed by disgust. She walked right up to Jason and said, "What do we have here. I should have known, I always thought you were a bit of a pansy. Tom get back in the car, and make sure that Billy stays where he is. We will not be staying." She slapped Jason on the face, turned and headed back toward her car.

Richard and Kristine headed her off, and Kristine got into her face first. "How dare you! You have no right to hit my child."

"Get out of my way Kristine; I will not subject my children to this sickness."

"Jessica, you are the only one here that is sick. You think that you have all the answers don't you. Well you don't. If you want to leave, than leave, you weren’t invited anyway. You and I both know this was just an excuse to come and use the lake house and you couldn't care less about Jason, or his birthday."

Billy was shouting, "But I want to go swimming, and play with Jason. Mom you promised!"

Tom was pulling Billy back into the car.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jason's grandfather said.

"Your grandson is a faggot. He’s over there dressed like a girl. In a one piece bathing suit with boobs!" Jessica shouted, then looking at Billy said, "Billy get back in the car. We’re not staying."

"What? Richard, what is going on?"

"Dad, you and Mom come inside, Kris and I will explain it to you. Jessica, if you are willing to listen and be polite, you can come inside as well, otherwise, the road is that way." Richard said.

"There is nothing to listen too. Your son is going to hell and you are obviously encouraging it. I'm not subjecting Billy to this. Don't let Jason come near my son again or I will file molestation charges." Jessica said, and she got back in her car and drove away.

"Richard?"

Richard sighed and said, "Mom, Dad, come on in. It's time we had a talk. Kelly, you and Julie better come inside too."

Jason just buried his face in his hands. Julie hugged him and said, "It's going to be ok, come on let's go inside."

Julie led Jason into the house, followed by his mother, father and grandparents.

"Will someone please explain what is going on around here?" Jason's grandfather said. "Why is Jason dressed like that?"

"Dad, I promise we will explain, but give us a few minutes. Julie, please take Kelly into her bedroom, I'll be right in." Jason's mother said.

Julie led Jason into his bedroom. When the door was closed, Jason's mother turned to her in-laws and said, "Mom, Dad, please sit down. I know this was a bit of a shock and believe me we didn’t plan on you finding out about this like this. Obviously, if we had known you were coming, this would not have happened. I need to go take care of Jason, but will be back out as soon as I can. Let Richard fix you a drink, I'm sure you are going to need it."

"Come on Mom, Dad. Have a seat, and tell me what you want." Jason's father said, as Kristine headed into Jason's room.

She found Jason lying on the bed in a fetal position, rocking back and forth. Julie was holding him and trying to calm him down. Kristine went over and sat next to them. "Kelly. It's going to be ok. Shhh…
Honey, it's ok. We, Julie, your father and I are all right here for you. It's going to be ok."

After a few minutes, his mother mouthed to Julie, "Help me to get her to sit up."

Julie said, "Kelly, come here… sit up and let your mother and I hold you," as she gently tried to pull him towards her. Jason allowed her to pull her in and she put her arms around him, his mother moved in closer and hugged him as well. Jason just held onto Julie as tightly as he could and wept.

The three of them just held on to each other until Jason was wrung out and simply could not cry any more.

"I'm sorry. I knew that Aunt Jessica was not going to react well, but I just did not realize how much it was going to hurt. I can only imagine what awful things she is telling Billy about me. You know, Tom is not going to keep quiet about this; he has friends that go to our school. I'm dead."

"Kelly, we will deal with this as a family. We knew this was likely to happen eventually, if it gets out, then we will face it. Julie, I don't know what this will mean for you at home."

"Don't worry about me, Mrs. Anderson. I will not betray Kelly. It may force me to have the conversation I've been dreading with my parents. I hope they are half as good as you at accepting me."

"I'll do what I can to help."

"Mom, why did Aunt Jessica say she would file molestation charges? What does that mean?"

Jason's mother's expression turned to extreme anger. "She means that she will accuse you of inappropriate sexual contact with Billy. She means that your behavior is perverted and that you would naturally go after her child. It's utter nonsense and it is an awful thing to charge someone with, especially one that is innocent."

Jason looked ill, "I would never do anything like that! How could she even think such a thing?"

"Because she is a religious nut, Kelly. She has no grasp on reality. Everything is black and white to her. Look Kelly, this is her failure not yours. Don't let it worry you. You are going to be just fine. Now, I need to get back out to your grandparents. Your father is probably ready to kill me for leaving him alone with them."

"Oh god, what must they be thinking about me."

"I'm sure they are concerned, they got quite a surprise coming upon you like this. But they did not storm out of here, so I would take that as a good start. You two stay in here for now, Ok?"

When Julie and Jason both acknowledged with a shake of their heads, Kristine got up and headed out of the room.