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From: tigger@alices.com (Tigger)
Subject: Tales of the Season: Darla's Story (TG) 5 of 6
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Tales of the Season - Darla's Story
by Tigger
copyright 1998, all rights reserved.

Part 5:


"Hello, this is Judge Ruth." came the firmly in command voice
on the phone.  

"Don't you know staid old officers of the court are supposed
to use their last names?  More dignified that way."

"And listen to everyone who calls me mutilate my family name? 
Not likely, dear.  How are you, Jane?  And how is young . . .
what did you decide to call her?  Darla?"

"I'm okay for now, Ruth.  Darla is why I am calling you.  He's
okay, too."

"Well, it's just as well that you called because I was going
to call you.  I don't know whether this is bad or good news. 
I'll have to rely on you for that.  Darryl's brother Harold,
who is his only living relative that we know of, attempted to
rob a liquor store last night and was shot and killed in the
attempt.  He was in Danville Connecticut which is pretty
strange since he has never operated outside this city before."

"He's really dead, Ruth?" Jane asked quietly.

"Confirmed by the Coroner this morning.  They called our
police department for confirmation of the FBI fingerprint
data.  The officer who took the call is one of us.  In fact,
she was the one who arrested Darryl. My own opinion is that
the world is a better place without that rabid animal on two
legs prowling about."

"He was shot in Danville?  In Connecticut? Not in your town?"

"No. He must have been on his way to find Darla.  Apparently
he'd found out your address by kidnaping and threatening my
court clerk - she escaped from the broken down shack where
he'd left her and turned up here half-hysterical only an hour
or so ago.  Right now she's sleeping off whatever the doctors
gave her to calm her down.  We also have reason believe he's
behind the murder of one of our public defenders last night,
too. 

Jane put two and two together and went cold.  "He was coming
here, Ruth? After Darryl?"

"It fits the data, Jane.  The Public Defender who was murdered
didn't know anything about your connection to my office, but
the clerk had to know since she wrote up the plea bargains.  

"God, Ruth, I hope she is going to be all right."

"Looks that way.  She'll get counseling to help her deal with
the aftereffects.  

"I think it is likely that Harold is also the one who got
young Darryl into the situation that led to his conviction."
Judge Ruth continued, "I personally believe Darryl did it
under extreme duress, but the DA, who is up for reelection,
wanted to believe otherwise.  Easy conviction. It took some
fancy footwork to get him to release Darryl to you, let me
tell you."

Jane recalled Darryl's confession the previous day and decided
that it *was* good news.  She just wasn't sure how her young
charge would take it.  "I have some things I need to talk to
you about, Ruth, in regards to Darryl."

~-----------~

The smells of breakfast were the first thing that pierced the
veil of Darryl's sleep.  A soft smile played at his lips as he
thought of Maria puttering about her kingdom.  Darryl came
awake and upright with a start.  Maria!  Jane!  He had to get
away.  Had to protect them from his brother.  Harold
*couldn't* be allowed to find out where he was and who he was
with.

A strong hand gripped Darryl's arm to stop his flight.  "Not
yet, young man." Jane said sternly.  "You will eat your
breakfast and then, if you still must go, I will help you. 
Now, come along before I drag you by your ear, boy."

Undone by his hunger and by his need to spend just a few more
minutes with Maria and Jane, Darryl let himself be led by his
arm to the table.  Maria set a steaming plate filled with all
Darryl's favorite foods in front of him.  "Eat." she ordered.

Jane took her place at the head of the table and Maria,
unexpectedly, took the seat next to Darryl.  "I have some news
for you, Darryl, while you eat.  First, I spoke with Judge
Ruth while you slept."  

"While I slept off that drug you fed me in that glass of
juice." he accused around a mouthful of waffles.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, young man.  Just because
you are no longer in skirts does not mean you may dispense
with good manners at my table." Jane snapped.  "And don't
interrupt.  It was for your own good.  Now that Judge Ruth has
expunged your conviction from the court records upon my
recommendation, your slate is clean and you are free to go. .
. that is, as free as any underage ward of the state."

The tears started again.  "I can't stay, Aunt Jane.  I can't
be seen here or worse, photographed here."

Maria put one arm about his shoulders and used his napkin to
dab away his tears.

"I don't know for sure, but I think the other thing that Judge
Ruth told me may have a bearing on that decision, Darryl. 
Your brother was killed last night.  He tried to rob a liquor
store and the owner took exception.  He had a shotgun at hand
and used it on your brother."

Darryl stilled, becoming completely motionless, his face
devoid of any feeling.  Jane reached across to take his free
hand.  With haunted eyes, Darryl looked up at Jane.  "He's
really dead?  Truly?"  His voice was barely a whisper, but the
emotion in his words yelled.

"My word of honor, dear.  He cannot hurt you anymore."

The young man's resolve shattered "Oh God." the boy wept.  "Oh
God, its over.  Thank you, God." And then both women were
there, holding him again as they had the night before.

~------------~

"So when I figured out what you did here, I realized that
knowing how to disguise myself effectively as a girl might be
my ticket to freedom.  My brother would be looking for Darryl,
not Darla.  Harold thought he owned me - *really* owned me. 
He was crazy and I knew that one day he was going to kill me. 
Then I got sent here.  The first time Maria decked me out in
full girl clothes . . . well, I looked so real, so believable
even to me. I thought I might be able to pull it off well
enough to live a fairly quiet life, finish school and go to
college.  I hadn't figured out how I'd do that - getting
accepted to a college as a female - but I thought there was
time to solve that problem.  Anyway, I figured that if I could
drop out of sight for a few years, my problems with Harold
would take care of themselves because he'd be dead.  Someone
would decide he needed killing."  Darryl said quietly.

"So when Mr. Evans threatened me with exposure, you decided
you had to escape to protect us from your brother?" Jane still
couldn't get over that part of the plan.  He wanted to stay
with her, and yet, he had been willing to leave her to keep
her safe from a danger he himself posed for her.

"If Harold ever saw  a picture of Darla and recognized Darryl,
he would have come after me.  Like I said, he believed that he
owned me." the boy said quickly, hiding his face.  "You would
have tried to protect me and he would have killed you.  I
couldn't let that happen.  Not when you have been so good to
me."

Jane threw her hands up in mock despair.  "Good to you?? 
Lord, every boy I have ever had in my little charm school
believes I am the female personification of the Devil
Incarnate, at least for the first few months, and *you* tell
me I was good to you?  I knew my little humiliations and such
were not reaching you, but *Good to you*???"

"I've been in and out of the foster care system for five years
now, Aunt Jane.  Most of the folks who take in kids for social
services are okay.  They see to your basic needs, but a lot of
them can't let themselves really care anymore.  I saw you were
different right from the start and Maria is an open book.  She
wants to mother me and had to stop herself several times a
day.  And besides. . ."

Darryl drew a deep breath.  He owed her this, and maybe, she
could help with that, too.  "Once someone has been . . .raped,
over and over again, it takes a great deal to humiliate that
person any more than he already has been."

Fire flashed in Jane's eyes.  "That  . . .*scum* . . . *raped*
YOU?!?!?"  Jane had to stop herself when she realized she was
screaming.  Furious, she swung away and stormed about the room
cursing like a longshoreman as a wide eyed Darryl could only
stare at the vengeful Valkyrie.  This was for him, he thought
in wonder.  She looked ready to kill and it was for him.

With obvious effort, Jane finally managed to compose herself
and went behind her desk.  "One of my students," she said with
great deliberation, "is a highly respected psychologist.  I am
going to ask him to talk to you.  He recommended a therapist
for another of my boys once, but his issues were different
than yours.  However, whatever you need, whatever will help
you, I will see that you get it."

"I don't want anybody digging around in my head!" Darryl shot
back.

"Tough." Jane said as she returned to his side.  "You wanted
to take care of me?  Wanted to protect me?  Same goes.  Live
with it. Until Ruth orders otherwise, you are still legally my
ward and in this case, young man, you *will* do what I say."

Darryl looked like he wanted to say something more, but was
interrupted by the doorbell.  "Now who could that be?" Maria
asked worriedly.

Jane rose and walked towards the foyer.  "If it is the first
of the reporters, I will deal with it." and she disappeared
around the corner.

"MICHELLE??!?!" Maria and Darryl heard Jane's exultant shout
of delight followed by  "What in heavens name are YOU doing
here?"

Darryl watched as Jane was escorted back into the study by a
young, very pretty blond.  His now experienced eye recognized
the sweater and skirt ensemble as deceptively casual, very
expensive Laura Ashley fashions.  

"I heard you might need a big sister, Momma-Jane." the girl
said before Maria all but tackled her for her own greeting.

Jane began to recover and looked back and forth between once
and current students as they gave each other a thorough going
over. "Well, I believe introductions are in order.  Darryl,
this blond scamp is my honorary daughter, son and former
student.  Michelle when she is rigged out like this, and
Michael most other times.  Michelle, this is Darryl, formally
Darla."

This is a guy? Darryl thought in amazement.  No way! Jane has
to be pulling my leg on this one.  Stephanie was good and she
fooled me when I first started here, but this one beats her
all to hell.  No way.

"Pleased to meet you." the blond vision said as she offered
her hand, wrist bent just so.

"Same here." Darryl responded, wondering for a moment if he
was supposed to kiss the girl's hand like someone out of an
oldtime movie.

"Now." Michelle said, his voice dropped almost an octave,
becoming decidedly masculine, shocking the other boy,  "Could
someone please tell me just what the hell is going on
here?!?!?"

~------------~

Michelle was okay, Darryl thought to himself as he rested in
his room.  And it was obvious that Jane adored her. . . errr
him.

Oddly enough, Michelle found herself thinking much the same
things about Darryl, and then grinned at her use of the
feminine pronoun.  When rigged out as Michelle, Michael often
slipped into referring to himself in the feminine tense.  Sort
of like learning to think in a second language.

What a mess, Michelle thought.  What to do?  Maybe Janice
would have an idea. She'd managed to get him and his Mother
past their little rough patches with her enthusiasm, wit and
ready mouth.  She'd just give her a call.

Besides, it was an excellent excuse to make the call, and he
missed her terribly.

~-------------~

A very surprised Jane watched her two girls descend the stairs
an hour later for afternoon tea.  She'd rather expected to see
Michelle change into Michael, now that he understood she did
not need a big sister for Darla, but she obviously hadn't.  So
why was Darryl back to Darla instead?

~------------~

"So Janice figured that the best way to nip through this is
not to admit anything, and since everyone in town knows Darla
and not Darryl. . ."

"Michelle and I figured it was best that Darla make a comeback
since I don't plan on leaving here anytime soon.  You made the
mistake of telling me I could stay, Aunt Jane."

Her head spinning, Jane looked from blond head to red head and
back, trying to make sense of this.  "And Janice figures this
is the best way to muddle through all this?"

"Well." Michelle said with a twinkle, "I have to admit it made
a great deal more sense when she was telling me to do it, but
then, many things tend to sound much more reasonable while
Janice is talking than after she stops."

"I have got to meet this woman." Darla put in.

"Back off, little sister." Michelle growled.  "She's spoken
for."

The pair of them shared a giggle and then turned their
attention back to Jane.  "I'm not sure it will protect you and
Maria, Momma Jane,"  Michelle continued.  "But we may be able
to insulate the other members of your group, and certainly the
other students.  After all, we're just two silly sissies who
like wearing skirts.  All of your other students were real
girls, weren't they?"  Michelle said equably.

Jane felt like someone had just put her world into a food
processor and turned on the motor.  It *definitely* had all
the markings of a "Janice Plan".  "And you would do that?  Let
the world think of you as sissy-boys, just to help me and my
friends?"

"Your friends, mostly, Momma-Jane.  In all honesty, we tried,
but we just can't think of a way to save you and Maria, but if
we become the focus of the reporters' interest, that might
keep them off Caro and Sandy and Mrs. Franson.  They might
even be able to deny knowing we were boys since you had
brought so many other real girls to them over the past years."

"That might work," Jane mused.  "But no, its out of the
question.  You two are blameless, and I don't want your lives
getting messed up by this."

The two faces opposite her became ludicrously male under their
cosmetic masks.  "We'll be here, Momma-Jane." Michelle said in
a low growl.

"Count on it." added Darla in Darryl's hardest tones.

"I don't want you hurt, dammit!" Jane screamed.  "I love you
two idiots!"

"Same goes." said the two boy-girls in unison.  "And if we can
help at all, we are going to stay and do just that."  Michelle
added. 

"We've decided." Darla added flatly.

Jane could hardly believe this was happening.  Two of her boys
just sitting there, prepared to accept public exposure and
humiliation?  Moreover, determined to do so?  "I see."

"I just wish," Michelle said thoughtfully, "That we could save
Stephanie while we were at it."

"Too bad dear old daddy Evans doesn't have a sissy-boy
girlfriend of his own squirreled away in some love pit.  We
could sneak in and get some nice blackmail pictures to hold
over his head."  Darla offered with an evil smile.

"Darla!" Jane said with trenchant disapproval.

"That only happens in stories on the Internet, Darla.  I can't
see that being very likely from everything I've heard about
Stef's father.  Man sounds like my father.  A pathologically
homophobic, excessively macho, manipulative son of a bitch."

"Your father." Jane said, her eyes going unfocused in thought. 
"I had not thought of that, Michelle, but you are correct."  A
glimmer of an idea began to spark inside Jane's head.  Would
something like that work?  What had Deirdre said?  About why
her husband could not afford to hurt her?

"Michael?" Jane said, so absently she did not even realize
she'd used the masculine name.  "Do you know anything about
Evans?  About his business affairs?"  Then her wicked smile
flickered.  "Since I seem to recall you had a detective agency
check Stephanie out when I told you he would be here alone
without a big sister."

Michelle went white.  "How did you . . .?  When did you . . ?"

Now the smile became brilliant.  "When your Mother called to
ask me about it when the bill showed up on your credit card
bill.  Sloppy, Michelle," Jane teased. "Very sweet, but
sloppy."

"It's not like you gave me a heck of a lot of time for
subtlety when you took Stephanie on after I went back to St.
A's." he grumbled at her reproach.  "Okay, I have the file
packed away somewhere, but what I recall about the father is
that he is a hard nosed business type who made his bundle as a
corporate raider during the hostile takeover days of the early
eighties.  Currently, he is president and CEO of a nice,
profitable multinational company specializing in high quality
electronic components. That's all I remember.  Is that what
you had in mind?"

"It's a start.  I wish we had more information about his
company.  Damn, there is just not enough time to collect it."

"Mom might know, or she might know someone who knows.  Want me
to call her?"

Jane brightened.  "Excellent idea, Michelle.  Do call her and
then come back.  We have some brainstorming to do."

~-------------~

"Well, I will say one thing for those lawyers my father hired. 
They are quick and they are thorough." Michelle mused in
grudging admiration. He was riffling through a small stack of
papers that had been faxed to Jane's home just a few moments
earlier.

"So what did they say?"  Darla asked. "And more to the point,
is there anything we can use?"

"Well, it seems the company went public right after he bought
it.  At the time, he kept a voting majority of the stock and
sold off the other forty nine percent.  Unfortunately for him,
Stef's Mom caught him with his pants down, literally, and took
him to the cleaners at the divorce proceedings.  She now has a
total of seventeen percent of the voting stocks.  Most of the
rest is held by the members of the four man board of
directors.  What they don't own, they vote by proxy."

"May I see that?" Jane asked holding out her hand. Michelle
handed it to her and watched Jane go through each page
carefully.  "Oh my God!" Disbelief rang in Jane's voice. 
"This is just too much of a coincidence.  It cannot be the
same person."

Michelle and Darla were up on their feet in an instant.
"What?!?!?" they both asked.

Jane did not answer, instead reached over and pulled out the
heavy scrap book that Michelle recognized as her Rogue's
Gallery of Graduates from her infamous charm school. She
flipped through its pages quickly until she found what she was
looking for. "Goodness," she murmured before lifting her eyes
back to her rapt audience.  "Darla?  Go find Maria, please. 
Michelle?  Please get your Mother on the line for me while I
make a couple of phone calls on the other line.  If we are
going to do anything, we need to move quickly."


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