Still, his parents continued to make calls and made appointments anyway even though they were sixty and sometimes ninety days down the line. Feeling disappointed and anxious, Troy wondered what in the hell people did when they had an emergency and couldn't wait? Didn't the fact that he had a baby on the way constitute an emergency? Thinking about Juicy and her being pregnant still made him anxious, but behind it was an awe and a joy that they'd created something special together. He went back up to his room and called her. He hadn't intended to make her wait all day, but he had not realized that he would sleep so deeply. At the last minute he decided to leave a message on the answering machine instead of calling her cell. He had visions of her yelling at him in front of the customers…or worse, not yelling at him and just sounding disappointed. He cleared his voice nervously and waited for her recorded message that ended with, 'have a blessed day.'"Hi, Juice." He began pac

A burly black man gently placed his hands on Troy's arms and helped him to stand. "If we can get you out of this elevator, then we can let these doors shut and that will put an end to that loud noise."That made sense. So Troy accepted his help and was led out of the elevator. His entourage followed. Damnit, some of them were furiously writing on clipboards. Had he screwed up already? This was not his fault!He felt a pulse in his temple and knew that he was going to be in the throes of a violent headache. He really hadn't wanted to have a migraine while here. He wanted to be able to talk about his issues and get treatment for the seizures. He'd be a long time coming up from a headache…Instead of leading him to his room, he was led to an examining room. He squinted at the black guy; Kelly? No it wasn't Kelly but he felt the same way about him as he had about the kindly officer so many years ago. "Kelly, can I call my girlfriend?"Kelly gave him a patient look. "You

Troy sipped his coffee and watched the kid. "Well, I don't have a problem with that. I have nothing to hide." He blushed when he remembered that the boy was 5150. Perhaps he had a lot to hide.Jace tugged down the sleeves of his hoodie, than began spooning cheerios into his mouth. He was quite the talkative boy, even if he didn't mention the reason for his being here. He told Troy about being in his first year of college and how hard it was. He told him that he was a woman born in a man's body and that his parents had gone through a horrible divorce—and he speculated if being transgendered had anything to do with it. He explained that his college roommate was a jerk, and had probably gone through all of his stuff.Troy was tired just listening to him. And when Rebecca returned he was glad to throw his scraps into the trash and follow her wherever she needed to take him. Jace gave him a sad look when he got up to leave and Troy had to promise that they'd see each other later

"Hi Troy. Happy to see you." He called out happily."Hey." Troy murmured. Damn, they were so happy here. It wasn't that he thought they were fake; they seemed earnest. But it was still annoying or unsettling, or…whatever."What's happening, Jace?"Hi Harold." Jace responded amicably."Just grab a seat anywhere. We have no seating order." This was for the benefit of Troy since Jace obviously knew all that needed to be known. Magnus patted one of the two empty seats next to her and Jace moved over to her. Troy followed."Did you have a good nap?" Magnus leaned forward in order to see past Jace so that she could speak to him."It was good. Thank you." As an after-thought he added; "Who won at your game of poker?"Jace responded. "Neither. We didn't finish.""Well we can all play after counseling." Magnus suggested.Troy shrugged. "Maybe." He didn't like playing card games. It seemed frivolous and pointless. Who had time for that when you were scoping out your

Jace was staring blankly at nothing in particular, as if the man sitting across from him hadn't just stopped talking in order to have a black out. "I tried to commit suicide because the only friend that I ever cared half a damn about dumped me."Troy waited.Jace glanced at him, maybe waiting for him to say something that would cause him to clam up again. But Troy just watched him with interest. "We're both in an online role-play group; you know what that is, right?""Yeah. I was in Wow."Jace nodded. "Well, we play in an online group where our avatars mimic real life. We have friends, we own a club. Our avatars¡­" he looked down at his hands. "We got married online." His eyes suddenly flashed back up to meet Troy's defiantly. "Yeah it's stupid, but I looked forward to being with him! I can be myself with him and he doesn't care that I have this¡­male body! I'm a woman when I'm online. I'm beautiful and I can have the dream. And I know it's not real, okay?! I get that."