A/N: You'll notice that the pronouns change in this chapter. It is considered respectful to change the pronouns as soon as someone you already know tells you they're transgender. If you're not sure which pronouns they prefer, please feel free to ask. Politely. :-)

James - or Jim, as he preferred to call himself - fidgeted nervously while he waited for his mother to get home from her latest assignment on the U.S.S. Feynman, which had lasted for the previous twelve weeks. With both his mother and brother out of the house, Jim had had an ideal opportunity to put his plans in motion without any interference.

Jim had taken advantage of having the entire farm to himself to start the early stages of his transition from female to male. He legally changed his name and title in front of a judge; started at college under his new name; started binding his breasts with a specially designed undergarment to make his chest appear flat; dressed exclusively in male clothing; and cut his hair into a fashionably short style. He'd decided to go 'stealth' at college: he wanted to start afresh in this new environment because he wanted to see what it would feel like if the people around him didn't know he'd ever been female. He introduced himself as 'Jim' and told everyone he was just an ordinary guy like any other. Luckily he didn't bump into many people from Riverside who had known him as Cynthia. Slowly but surely, he started feeling a bit better about himself with each adjustment he made to his life.

But he was having trouble figuring out how to break the news to his mother. He knew it had to be done face-to-face: she deserved better than to be told via subspace that her only daughter had become her second son. Winona had always been so negative, so critical whenever he'd identified himself as male. He was determined that he had to go ahead with his transition, but that didn't stop him being apprehensive about his mother's reaction. He was due to start testosterone therapy in two weeks' time and she would definitely notice the changes once that took effect. He'd just have to man up and face the music.

- \\/, -

The door opened and Winona walked into the house. "Honey, I'm hooome!" she called, as she always did. Jim gulped and sat waiting for her to enter the living room.

"Hi Mom. Surprise." he said quietly.

"What. The. HELL have you done to yourself?!" yelled Winona. "What are you wearing? What has happened to your hair?!"

"Mom, I need you to sit down. There's something important I need to tell you."

Winona plopped herself down on the sofa. "This had better be good" she warned.

"Mom, you know how I've been telling you for years that I'm really a boy?"

"Oh no, don't you dare start that again! You used to talk about that nonsense when you were a little girl, but you were just going through a tomboy phase. You should've outgrown that childishness by now!"

"No Mom... it wasn't a phase and I haven't outgrown it - I don't think I ever will. The only reason why I haven't mentioned it for years is because you used to used to punish me for telling you! Just because I'd stopped saying it, doesn't mean I ever stopped feeling it. Mom, I really am a boy, and I've decided I need to have a sex change."

"A sex change!? Don't be stupid. I'm not going to let you cut off parts of your body just because you don't like to wear dresses! Anyway, how could you possibly know all of this? You must be making it all up."

"Mom... while you were on the Feynman, I have been seeing some specialist doctors and they've diagnosed me with something called 'Gender Dysphoria'. I'm not making it up, Mom - I'm transgender. The doctors scanned my brain and their tests prove that I have a typical male brain, even though my body is female. That's why I've been so uncomfortable all my life. My brain has always thought that it is male but everyone treats me like I'm female because of what I look like. How could anyone possibly be comfortable living like that?!"

"That's nonsense - there's no such thing! It isn't possible to have a male brain with a female body. Look... you have two X chromosomes, for god's sake. You couldn't possibly be anything but female!"

"Mom, it's perfectly possible and the doctors have explained it all to me. Their tests show that my brain must've been exposed to high levels of testosterone at an early stage of your pregnancy. My brain responded to that testosterone by forming into a masculine brain. I can't help that. It's not my fault and there's nothing I can do to change it. It's a totally normal phenomenon and I'm just one of the many people who were born this way."

"Don't be ridiculous. You are a girl, Cyn - you'll always be a girl. Those doctors must be putting ideas into your head!"

"Not any more, Mom. In fact, I never was a girl in the first place. For as long as I can remember, I've known that I was supposed to be a boy. You know this, Mom. And my name isn't Cynthia any more - I went to court last week to change it."

"What?! You can't do that!"

"Yes Mom, I can do that. I'm 18 now and legally an adult. Don't you want to know what I've named myself?"

"Not particular-"

"James Tiberius Kirk. Mom, I went with the name you and Dad had originally picked out for me. Remember? You told me when I was little that you would've named me after my grandfathers if I'd been born a boy. Well, I was born a boy - in mind if not in body."

"Wait a minute... if you're such a 'boy'," Winona wiggled her fingers to indicate quotation marks, "why did you try wearing make-up? Why did you go through that Goth phase? Why have you had boyfriends?"

Jim stood up, his fists balled at his sides in frustration. "I tried make-up and girls' clothes to see whether I could feel comfortable with being female! Don't you get it? You've been telling me all my life that I'm supposed to be a girl, so I tried everything I could to see if I could figure out how to do that! I tried so hard, Mom. I really did. But none of it fit. Trying make-up and wearing girls' clothes? Those were phases. Being a guy is my life. And as for my boyfriends - well, I think you can figure that one out for yourself, can't you?"

Winona started crying. "This is all Nero's fault." she said. "You would never have turned out this way if your father had been around to raise you."