A few days later Rupert shakes his head as he reads the newspaper. "Larry, did you see this article?"

"The state legislature trying to make people not send power back through the grid? Yes, hopefully they realize how fucking stupid that is."

"I recognize that name." Jessy says, reading over his shoulder. "The one who brought the idea up, he's big in solar power. Or rather his company is big in selling batteries to store solar power."

"Which people would need if they can't send excess power back to the grid and he'd make money hand over fist." Larry snorts as the power goes out. A few seconds later the alternate power kicks back on and Larry turns on the local news channel, turning it off when there's nothing new.

"How are we on batteries if that fool bill passes?" Jessy asks quietly.

"We've got enough to cover the entire state with solar panels and not run out of room. Each battery has been. . ."

"Whoomped up several million degrees?" Jessy chuckles.

"Indeed."

A few days later a car comes up to the gates, checking an address.

"May I help you?" The man behind the gatehouse on the left says in a tone that says he really doesn't want to help her.

"Is this the Sunnydale house?"

"Yes."

"I'm from the state electrical commission. . .according to our records you have solar panels?"

"Yes, on every building and a field of them besides."

"How much power do you send back to the grid?"

"We don't, all power is used directly or stored in batteries."

"Have you heard about the bill in the state legislature to . . ."

"have people with solar panels stop sending it back to the grid. Yes, and it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's just a ploy to make more money for that asswipe when everybody has to go to him to buy batteries. And what about houses that just lease their roofs to companies for the power? That power goes to the grid, it's not used by them. And yes, I do know what I'm talking about, I'm an electrical engineer." Scott Lang says at her opening mouth. "I also work at the power plant the house owns." The woman in the car seems to shrink on herself a minute. She huffs up a second later to complain about something else but the guards glare at her and she gulps and drives off. They snigger and settle back to work as a different vehicle drives up. One of the guardhouses opens and they hand over the empty mail containers, taking full ones and putting them on the back of the golf cart. Jesse smiles as they arrive at the main house and he starts sorting mail into cubbies.

The double double double order of lye and other soapmaking supplies arrives over the next couple of days, being unloaded and put in storage until needed. The supplies for the other buildings start arriving too, everybody busiy putting things away. It doesn't seem like they should be ordering everything this late in the year instead of after the first of the year but this will keep them in supplies into February.

Jessy walks into the main house a few days later, disappearing from view for a second. Nobody's there to see her and she reappears a couple seconds later, shaking her head. She's got a tote bag on her arm and walks to the supply closets, writing down what she's taking as she fills the bag. Looking at the time she opens a takes her noon pills and heads to the cafeteria.

"But I figured that if the bill passed everybody would come to me to buy the batteries." The moron who'd wanted it wails. "I didn't know there's some people who don't own the solar panels and just send the power to the grid directly."

"So that's it." Horatio says a few days before Christmas when the news the bill was not voted on is in the papers. "He was just looking for a major payday."

"Does he even have enough batteries for every house in the state that has solar panels?" Larry asks.

"No, the state would have to give him money for that too." Rupert rolls his eyes. "The little fool is wailing that all his plans have gone to pot and everybody knows what kind of fool he really is."

"Oh my god, they're talking bad about me." Jessy says in a mock bleating tone as she sits down with her tray. Everybody in earshot nods.

"But they're doing it in Hawaii." Peter mock-blubbers. "Moron doesn't realize the islands are islands and self-contained power grids."

"And the state is probably giving them rebates to add the batteries to their homes." Xander says. "Because they can't put up more power plants." Nods from everybody in earshot.

"Are all the orders in we were expecting before Christmas?" Joyce asks a couple days later.

"According to the receipts."

Christmas is quiet, everybody who's still at the house coming to the main house to pick up presents and emptying stockings that had been filled by the adults. Christmas dinner is next and everybody is stuffed by the time they head back to their homes or apartments.

Rupert crooks a finger at Jessy and motions her into her office when the seamstress shop opens again after the first of the year. "You went time traveling." He says, looking at her.

"Not my idea." Jessy mutters. "I was coming into the main house one day and suddenly poof. . .I was back in the early 1900s. All I can say is I've got damn good coin, stamp, pulp magazines, and comic book collections now. Beyond what you gave me when we went traveling."

Rupert chuckles. "I've heard of this happening to others. It generally means you have a pre-existing gift." Jessy just gives him a look and he laughs. "Are you ready for your classes next week?" She gives him another look and he laughs again. "Show me what you got?" She opens her ship and walks inside, she's the only one in the building this early, shifts don't start until next week.

Next week Jessy walks into a classroom, nodding as she recognizes a number of familiar faces from her other classes.

"No friend?"

"Had to talk to his advisor, he'll be along in a few minutes." She settles at a table and after bringing out her books brings out a comic collection that has the other students sniggering. "Can't always be serious."

"You're going for three degrees?"

"Kinda, I've been taking the fashion degree summers at the main school since my business has a branch in New York where I can stay. They don't offer this particular degree here yet anyway. I'm technically three years into it, I usually get nine classes in while I'm at the school. I was able to test out of the majority of my library science classes, I'm actually doing the work."

Everybody around her nods. "You're not the first student to have done so." the teacher says as he comes into the room. "It usually happens with employees who are coming back for a degree they need for their job." He looks at her. "My boss is my godfather and he's a nudge." Snickering from the older students.

"Did you sign up for your Library Science Masters?'

"Yeeeesssssss." She says in the same put upon voice, getting more snickers. The teacher laughs and starts to shut the door, Xander sliding through a second before it closes.

"Good talk with your advisor?"

"Yes, I'm on track with my woodworking degree and he agrees with the others that I should be done this summer. And somebody's going to be turning the big 25." He looks at her. She rolls her eyes. "Oh god, that would have been another thing for my mother to be wailing about. ..how can she only be 25 if I'm 25?"

"Twenty-five and holding?" One of the women behind them snorts.

"Yes, for that self-same 25 years when she died a couple years ago." Xander pats her on the shoulder as the teacher starts the class. Back at the House nearly five hours later they eat a late dinner. Rupert comes in with a thick manila envelope for Jessy.

"Your library masters?"

"Too early, the letters won't go out until around April." Jessy says absently. She looks at the letter. "It's from the fashion school." She opens it and starts reading. "List of degrees that are going to be available at the Miami school starting next fall, the one I'm taking now is going to be available there next fall, as is the history degree. . .but they'd like me to keep working there summers. . .either as a paid employee, waiving the fees for my degrees, or both." She hands everything over to Rupert after she reads it, the others nodding in satisfaction.

"Ten bucks says you end up a permanent employee of the school." Andrew chuckles.

"Sucker bet."

Jessy looks over the list of supplies she's running low on that's going to grow as the others get ready for the girls who are going to be coming to get dresses for their proms.

The cars start arriving the next couple of days and Jessy is shaking in her office as the others help their customers.

"Easy, you're getting a rush from all the girls ordering here." Rupert says, rubbing circles on her shoulders as he talks her through dropping energy into a crystal he puts around her neck.

The list is up to two pages when she goes into Miami with Scott and Jubilee. Their first stop is the bank where she deposits all the money and checks, then he drops them off at the fabric warehouse and heads to pick up supplies maintenance needs for the House.

"Doesn't the house already get everything they need in the way of supplies?" Jubilee asks, looking at the truck.

"Rupert has some special projects in mind. . .this year's going to be bad for hurricanes so they're getting ready for anything."

The woman who'd smiled when she sees Jessy walk in sighs but nods. "Yes, I've heard the same predictions." She grabs a flatbed cart, Jubilee getting a second at her nod. Scott arrives a couple hours later and jumps out to help load the truck.

"Did you get everything?" The head of maintenance asks when Scott drives the truck up.

"Yes." They start unloading everything. "Okay, who's got the list of what Rupert wanted worked on?"

"I do, and yes. . .it's marked by order of importance."

"You brought extra." Jenny says as she sees the fabric stuffed into bins.

"The warehouse was clearing some of this out. And it means less stuff I have to get after the rush of dresses for graduation."

"Was that Mr. Sampson I saw?" Xander asks.

"Yes, his girls are getting dresses for their senior prom and will be coming back to get dresses for graduation." Xander leans against the doorframe and laughs.

At class he makes a grand gesture of opening his empty wallet. Jessy just leans her head on the table and laughs.

"Senior prom?" one of the women behind them chuckles.

"Yes, and they're coming back for graduation outfits." He pouts. Everybody joins Jessy in laughing. She'd heard the girls saying they had been saving their money towards the dresses.

"College?"

"They all got full scholarships to Harvard, thank you god."

"Your girls are special."

"Yes they are." He says proudly.

Jessy puts her book up when Xander nudges her arm and takes up his final exam.

"At least this time the power didn't go out." He chuckles as they pull out of the parking lot.

"Yes, because we just got it back." Jessy snorts. "And congress is no closer to fixing the power grid than it was last semester." They head to the on-ramp and home.

"Are the morons in the government still wailing about the power plant not being shut down?" Joyce asks as she waits for Jessy and Xander to return home.

"Yes, they suppose that putting up the power plant as a replacement for a failing one means it can stay running."

"How magnaminous of them." Dexter says dryly. "And congress can't understand why the people who voted them into office are disgusted at them."

"But there has to be all these power plants nobody needs putting a major strain on the power grid." Rupert mock-bleets. "If we can just find them and shut them down. . ."

"It still won't save the grid, it's too old and was never meant to be this big. Calmer heads are trying to redesign and rebuild it but the whiners are getting more attention. . ."

"Than people actually doing their jobs." Wesley says as he walks past. "The squeaky wheel does get the grease."

A few minutes later the front door opens and Jessy and Xander come in, dropping onto chairs in the foyer. Jessy takes off her shoes, rubbing her feet and taking the slippers Wesley hands her. Rupert hands Jessy another thick envelope.

"This one is from the grad school." She says quietly. The others chuckle around her as she takes a deep breath and opens the letter. "I'm in, I can start next fall. They agreed with me putting it off a year since I've got the other two degrees to finish." Rupert nods in satisfaction. "Xander, Jack and his crew are expected in a couple days."

"Isn't the letter a little late?"

"Not really, they tend to come out as students are graduating. Now I might have got on a waiting list if I hadn't elected to hold off a year to finish my other degrees."

"I can't see many librarians in Miami." Joyce says as they walk to the cafeteria.

"It's a program through the university center, but with more than one teacher unlike Harmony's degree. Now, if I could have got the degree from another school it would have been a five year degree and I'd already have my masters. But I couldn't get in that program."

"Why?"

Jessy shrugs. "This degree is geared more to adult students, that's one meant for kids just out of school. The program was probably full."

"This one was probably geared so you could finish sooner, You had your basic classes for both degrees and you were able to test out of the others, you possibly couldn't have done that with the other."

Jessy looks up from pulling on a new box of supplies in the library when two hands keep the box from falling on her head. "Oh hello Mr. Jones."

"Jessy. . .please, it's Ianto." he says in his quiet way. "Is this all you needed?"

"Yes. I didn't actually need it but I try to keep two boxes of everything on hand and I just opened the other box." Ianto carries the box up the stairs for her and looks around the library in interest as she puts it away.

"You've added to it again." He starts wandering the shelves, bringing out books and settling at a table. Chuckling, she looks at the time and drops a set of keys, a notepad, and pencils by him before heading outside. She knows one of the others will come looking for him in a few hours.

"I understand you've been accepted into grad school?" Ianto asks when they're both dragged to eat.

"Yes, I'm starting next fall. That gives me another year to finish the business and fashion degrees."

"And your fashion degree?"

"Should be finished this summer?" Jessy closes her eyes and starts ticking off classes on her fingers. "Yeah, I normally get in at least nine classes over the summer. . .though it doesn't seem like it since I'm working with the teachers. If I don't get them I'll go out again next summer, I've been offered the chance to get more degrees. . .they'll either pay me for my work, comp my fees, or both."

"Are you ready to go in the morning?"

"Nearly, I was doing one last load of laundry."

Peter Burke smiles as he sees the young woman looking decidedly green as she comes out of the airport, waving and calling her name. She nods and heads his way.

"Bad flight?"

"Turbulence, not as bad as you see on the news but it felt like I was on a bumpy road the entire flight."

"Ahhhh yes, I've had flights like that and hated every minute of them." Peter helps her with her bags and they drive off . . .or try to.

"Airports are the 9th circle of hell." Jessy mutters when they finally get out of the gridlock.

"Amen." They finally make it to the House, Jessy smiling at all the people who greet her by name. Her bags are carried into 'her' home at the House and she's helped to unpack.

"Are you getting all the power outages Miami is?" She asks at dinner.

"About half. . .for all that you've got another power plant." Sheldon says. "The lab and house isn't affected but there's been a run on generators where they can install them. And solar panels."

Jessy tells them about the fool who wanted solar panels not to send power to the grid in her area and everybody either sighs or rolls their eyes. "I know where they got that idea, the money, money, money all for me stupidity pit. Not only would everybody with solar panels have to come to him for their batteries, the state would have to help him out. . .after all they passed the law."

"Sounds about right, all he was seeing was profits from selling batteries. You can't stop every building from sending power to the grid, some homes only lease their roofs to the power company. Which he blubbered he didn't know when the bill wasn't voted on. Hawaii was doing it. . .why not them."

"Florida, California, and Hawaii would be the states that can do it, New York's solar panels shut down from November to March unless they're uncovered."

"And even then you wouldn't get all the power you get in the summer." The others nod.

The next day one of the teachers smiles as she looks out the window overlooking the parking lot. "Ms. Michaels just arrived."

The other teachers smile. A few minutes later the younger woman walks into the room. All the teachers greet her warmly. Gods bless Maggie's cousin Janice for telling them about her.

A week before Jessy was due to sign up for her fall classes and buy her books she slumps into a seat in the foyer of the main house. Rupert chuckles as she leans back in the chair and falls fast asleep. An hour later he nudges her shoulder.

Jessy blinks up at him. "Airports are the 9th circle of hell and anybody who brings a baby on a plane where the rest of us have to hear them crying because their ears hurt should be beaten to death."

"That good. . .huh?" Larry chuckles as he brings out the totes of mail. Jessy just looks at them with one eye closed. "Turbulence the entire flight out. . .not bad like you see people flying across the airplane but it felt like I was on a bumpy road for the entire flight. I was green by the time I got off the plane then we had to deal with airport traffic when Mr. Burke picked me up."

"And crying babies on the flight back?" Joyce chuckles.

"Yep. Not even being in first class kept out the noise, the stewardessses were handing out earplugs, I wore my headphones the entire flight. I didn't mind the crowds at the airport because I was home." The mail and her bags are taken to her house as she follows the others to the cafeteria. "Now. . .say what you will about private planes but the flights at the school were a helluva lot better than the bigger planes."

"They usually are."

After Jessy's got a couple trays of food under her belt she looks over at Rupert.

"Did you finish your degree?"

"Yes."

"So did Xander." Jessy grins.

"Can you take your masters classes on the computer?"

"Yeah, I'll have to go in periodically to talk to my advisor but I'd already planned on taking them online." Joyce nods in satisfaction. "One more year of night classes Mom, then all your kids will be home after dark."

The next couple of days are busy with Jessy sorting through the mail and going to the school with Xander and Harmony for their books.

"Did you finish your degree?" One of the students from last year's classes asks as Jessy walks into the room.

"Yes, so did Xander." Everybody applauds. The teacher, not one Jessy's had before, looks at them.