Disclaimer: I don't own the Fosters, only the plot and any characters you don't recognize from the show.

Author's Note: I wrote this chapter about three different times and I'm still not quite satisfied with how I approached the conversation between Cole and the Kings, but I thought it was a necessary topic to cover. Tell me what you think. I may decide it needs rewriting later, so any input would be appreciated.

"GET OUT!"

Emily and Alex were sitting in the kitchen, sipping their coffee, when they heard Cole yell. Emily got up to investigate, and bumped into Jamie coming down the hall.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"I didn't realize Cole was in the bathroom and I walked in on him." He looked sheepish.

"Oh. Well, knock next time. And tell Cole you're sorry when you see him next."

"Yeah, sure." Emily turned to walk back into the kitchen.

"Wait, Momma?"

"Yeah, sweets?"

"You know when Mac hurt her ankle playing soccer last year and you wrapped a...what's it called?...around her ankle to make it feel better?"

"An Ace bandage. What about it?"

"Why does Cole wear one wrapped around his ribs? Did he hurt them?" He looked confused and concerned. "Before Matty got adopted, he had a foster father who would kick him in the ribs and he turned all black and blue. Did someone do that to Cole? Why?"

"I don't know, Jamie, but I'll find out, okay?"

"If anyone's hurting Cole, I'll karate chop them!" He declared.

"I hope that won't be necessary, but I'll let you know."

"Okay." He turned and went back into his room, comfortable in the knowledge that his momma would take care of it. Emily smiled a little. Jamie had grown so much since coming to live with them. He was a man in a child's body, at the age of 8, trying to look out for his three younger siblings, and neither him nor Mac, nor their older sister Zoe, trusted an adult to take care of things.

Emily's smile fell, as she considered her new son. Cole wrapping an Ace bandage around his rib cage probably meant one of two things. One, he could be using it to support injured ribs, as Jamie suggested. Or two, he could be using it as an unhealthy way of binding his breasts. She said as much to Alex as she returned to the kitchen.

"Well, have you noticed him being careful of how he moves, especially twists?" Alex asked.

"No."

"Neither have I."

"Which means he's using it as a binder."

"We're going to have to talk to him about that. It's unhealthy. Ace bandages can contract when the ribcage expands, making it difficult to breathe. I've heard of cases where they've caused the ribs to crack or bruise. It can even impact bone growth, especially in developing years. That's besides the possible rashes, yeast infections, cuts, and chafing."

Emily cringed. "Well, he'll never agree to not bind."

"No, but there are other, safer options. They do make professional binders."

"Do you know if they have ones you can swim in? Jamie's been on his case about going swimming with him, Mac, and Paul. Cole shouldn't have to miss out on anything, but..."

"But he's uncomfortable with his body." Alex paused, thinking. "Let's try the internet." They went their separate ways to grab their laptops and rejoined around the table.

"Found something," Emily said, while Alex was still booting up her slower machine.

"Yeah?"

"I have a couple of websites here by people who wrote female-to-male transition resource guides."

"Useful?"

"Yeah. Layering, sports bras, neoprene waist trimmers-"

"That seems like it would be a hot option. We're trying to avoid heatstroke here, as well as keep him healthy."

"True. To continue the list, athletic compression shirts, commercial chest binders, tailored chest binders. Those last two seem to be mostly available on the Internet. Chances are we won't find them at the mall."

"Well, the mall can maybe give us a temporary option that's healthier than the Ace bandages while we can order a better one. He needs some new clothes anyway. What about swimming?"

"A rash guard, that's easy enough. He can pass it off as not wanting to get sunburned. Or even a t-shirt. And a binder of some sorts underneath probably. We may have to experiment a bit with that one-"

Riiinnngggg. The sound of the phone interrupts them. Alex gets up to grab. "Hello? Alex King speaking...oh hi Paul, just a second." She brings the phone down the hall to Jamie's room. "It's Paul," she tells him, handing over the phone.

"Hi Paul!" she hears Jamie say as she walks away.

"That was Paul," Emily stated as Alex returns.

"Yep."

"Probably going to invite them over to go swimming again."

"Probably. "

"Which means it's going to be another awkward conversation between Jamie and Cole."

"Most likely."

"Well, I have an idea..." Emily said with a grin, as she began to outline her plan to Alex.

Five minutes later, Jamie comes out, still holding the phone. "Moms? Paul wants to know if we can come over and swim today."

Emily smiled. "Sure thing, hun."

"Yeah, we can come," Jamie said into the phone. "Okay. Bye. See you soon." He hung up. "Do you think Cole will come?" he said, turning to Emily.

"Actually, your mom and I are going to take Cole shopping for some swim trunks after I drop you and Mac off."

"Cole doesn't have swim trunks?! Is that why he wouldn't come before? Why didn't he just say so?"

"He probably hasn't been swimming in a while. When did Paul say you should come?"

"Whenever. Can we go soon? It's sooooo hot."

"Yeah. Go tell your sister."

"Cool. MAC!" he yelled, walking down the hall. "WANNA GO SWIMMING?"

"I could have done that," Emily groaned. Alex grinned. They spent a few more minutes gathering the information they needed, before Jamie and Mac emerged dressed for a day at the pool.

"Are we going?" Jamie asked impatiently.

"Yeah, let's go. To the car, troops." Emily said, leading them out. Alex watched them go, and then went down the hall, knocking on Cole's door.

"Come in." Cole was laying on his bed, reading a book.

"Can we talk?" Alex asked.

"Sure," he said, sitting up. "Is Jamie mad at me?"

"No, why do you say that?"

"Well, I yelled at him earlier and then he didn't come bug me about going swimming with him and Mac." He paused. "Maybe he's just given up on me."

"No, actually, he was going to but we have other plans for you, today."

"You do?" It broke Alex's heart a little to hear him sound so wary instead of excited.

"Once Emily comes back, we're going shopping."

"Shopping?"

"Yeah. To the mall."

"Why?"

"It occurred to us that you might need a couple of things. You haven't said much about your room, but perhaps there's some things that you've thought you want to pick up. Clothes if you want. Swim trunks, perhaps?"

"I don't really need anything."

"It's not a matter of need, really. It's a matter of want. It's a matter of being comfortable." She paused. "Can you think of anything that would make you more comfortable? Anything you want?"

"I don't know."

"Can I ask you something?" Cole nodded. "Why don't you ever want to go swimming with Mac and Jamie?" Cole shifted uncomfortably. "Is it because you don't have suitable swim attire?"

"I can't go swimming."

"Why not? Do you know how?"

"Umm, it's been a while, but yeah, I still know how to swim. I'm not gonna drown."

"Do you like swimming?"

"I think I used to. It's been while."

"So why not?"

"I don't know."

"If we had a pool of our own here, and you could swim any time you wanted, would you swim?"

"Alone?"

"Sure."

"Yeah, I might."

"So, you don't like swimming around other people."

"Something like that."

"Is it because of the Ace bandage you're using as a binder?" Alex's blunt question seemed to come out of nowhere, and Cole blanched.

"How..."

"How did I know?" He nodded. "Jamie."

"Oh. He shouldn't have walked in on me like that."

"I know, and Emily told him so. Did he apologize?"

"Yeah, but still."

"I'm sorry it happened because I realize that it's a sensitive topic for you, but I must say, I'm also not sorry."

"What?"

"Cole, an Ace bandage isn't safe for binding. You could do some serious damage to your body."

"I'm not NOT binding."

"I know, I know. You need a proper binder. If we'd known you didn't have one, we would have gotten you one weeks ago."

"Oh."

"Have you ever thought about it?"

"It's not like there's a binder palace at the mall."

"No. But there are compression shirts or bras, which could work. There are neoprene waist trimmers which are normally for weight loss but can be used for binding. We can try a couple of different options and if we can't find a good solution at the mall, we'll order one online."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course. Cole, there are certain limits to what we can do. For example, without your biological parents signing off on it or signing away their rights to us, we can't get you surgery, not until you're eighteen. Besides, most doctors won't do major plastic surgery like that until you're eighteen anyway. Hormones, on the other hand, we're working with your case worker on getting you back on those. At least the blockers."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Cole, look, I know this is hard for you – it's not easy for anyone – and I know that people haven't always tried to make it any easier. Your parents didn't, the system didn't, but we want to. So, if there's something that will help you, please please please tell us. I hope you know you can always talk to us, about anything, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay."

"So, you'd tell if you were suffering from any medical problems? Including from binding, like difficulty breathing, rashes, chafing, anything like that?"

"Would you make me stop if I was?"

Alex sighed. His indirect answer was not a good sign. "You can't bind 24 hours a day, Cole. It's not healthy."

"I don't at night."

"And I hope you'll eventually feel comfortable enough here, if you don't already, to walk around without one sometimes. No one will think any differently about you if your silhouette changes."

Cole nodded, but he didn't look convinced. "Sure, maybe."

"And we're looking for a doctor for you that specializes in transgender teenagers."

"They make those?"

"Yes. And you should have had one all this time. It probably would have been easier for you, and we'd do anything to make your life a little easier. It doesn't have to be this hard." She met his eyes then, and the look in them made him feel...he didn't know what exactly he felt like, it was confusing and he was glad when she blinked and he could tear his eyes away.

"So, Emily will be back momentarily, and I want you to think about what you want. Alright?"

"Alright." Cole nodded. As Alex left, he let out the breath he had been holding. That was not a conversation he had ever expected to happen, and it kind of blew his mind. They had said that they were going to help him, but he hadn't really expected it. It was enough that they used the correct pronouns, didn't try to make him do girly things, and that they all just accepted him. But this...wow. This was taking it to another level entirely. Was this what it felt like to have supportive parents?

From his window, he saw Emily's car pull up. Almost time to go shopping then. They wouldn't make a big fuss about the shopping thing, would they? He remembered going shopping with his mom, his biomom. She made him try on all sorts of things and then model them in the dressing room. All he wanted to do was rip those ugly pink dresses to shreds. He'd gotten all of his current clothes at thrift shops, by himself, with no one to make him model. Would Alex and Emily make him model for them? He hoped not.

"Cole!" Emily's voice called. "You ready?"

"Yeah," he called back. He tucked his tattered, virtually empty wallet in his back pocket, not because it was useful but because he was used to it being there, and exited the room.

"Well, let's go then. We're burning daylight."

"I don't think daylight is ever lacking in a San Diego summer," Cole said with a groan. "It's hot out there."

"And it's only going to get warmer as it gets later," Alex said matter of factly. "At least the mall is air conditioned."

"Then what are we waiting for?"