He pulls off the road, lays his head on the steering wheel. . . and just laughs. "I know you don't mean literally." he asks after the explosion of hilarity. Despite his fascination with tweed, Rupert is all man.

"No, he's planning on opening a second building for people who crossdress for their jobs or in their private lives. It's big business and some of those outfits are a lot of money. There's a store here in town that's going to put out flyers once ours is up and running. I'm going to be ordering more high-end stuff than I normally do.

Xander nods. "If you get an order for that kind of outfit you go into town and buy for that."

"Most parents don't come to a seamstress to buy that kind of dress for their kids, they go couture there."

"And you might get more orders if people see you have more fabric selections available."

"Yes, I'm working on some drawings for adult outfits."

Joyce looks at Jessy when they return to the House. "Yes, I got an outfit for graduation. Not a dress. . .a good pair of black slacks and a dress shirt. . .this way the skirt doesn't get tangled with the cane." Joyce nods in satisfaction. "This way it doesn't just sit in your closet."

Graduation comes and goes, Jessy smiling and shaking hands with all her teachers. She's introduced to the teachers who are part of the textiles degrees and they talk for several minutes.

"Feel weird to be driving away for the last time?" Xander asks. Jessy rolls her eyes and Peter chuckles from the back seat, he'd been hired by the school to take pictures of the ceremony.

"We'll be back. . .I know damn good and well Rupert is talking to you about going for an MBA, he's been dropping hints to me too. But I have to finish my Library masters first." Her eyes grow dark a second.

"Thinking of your parents?" Xander asks as they pull onto the interstate.

"Yeah, Dad would be horrified I'd got a business degree while my mother wailed that I embarrassed her by graduating at nearly 26. Even if I started late and got three degrees in four years. Not that she would have wanted me to do anything so common as to get a college degree. . .I didn't need one if I was just going to be a wife and mother Which is all she wanted. . .my grandparents had some sense and had wanted me to get a business degree."

"Which is why Rupert wanted you to get a business degree." Peter chuckles in the back seat.

"Did you finish your masters?"

"Yes, I need to go out this summer to present my thesis." Peter says.

Jessy hangs up her cap and gown in the closet when she gets back home, looking at the pictures of her parents sadly for a second. They might have been fools but they were her parents and should have been there for her graduation.

"Are you going back out to New York?" Larry asks as she walk into the cafeteria. He gets up and starts filling a tray for her.

"Yeah, next week. I'm going to be in New York for comicon and will send everything back before I had to the House."

Erik shakes his head when he sees Jessy drooping on a bench in the hotel lobby. "Is this everything?"

"Yes, I've taken to leaving some clothes at the House since Peter and Neal told me that that's my house." Erik chuckles and helps her into the car, stopping at a grocery store on the way to the house so Jessy can pick up some groceries.

"I understand Rupert is working on your home at the Miami house." Peter asks when she joins everybody in the cafeteria.

"Yes, and I already told him I would hurt him if he got rid of my clawfoot tub. A garden tub is okay but you can't soak in them like you can a clawfoot."

"They do have soaking tubs." Elle chuckles.

"As long as it's not one of those walk in tubs they advertise. . .they don't look at all comfortable. For all they say you can soak in them."

"No, you'd be sitting up.. . not laying down." Somebody says from the next table.

"New bed?" Peter chuckles.

"He got me a new mattress and box spring while I was at an expo a couple months ago. I'd just beat the old ones into submission." she grumbles. Chuckles from around her.

She looks over at Peter Venkman, one of the House's psychologists and Resident Ghostbuster. Though the way the others were looking around once they'd realized where he'd been going they might be joining the House in one fashion or another. She'd already told Peter and Neal that if they do join, Ray was taking over the library here. "Is being happy and sad about graduating normal?"

"Yes, the school has been part of your life for four years even if you did have to be talked into going for a degree. We still have a soft spot for Columbia even with being kicked out. We might not like all the people who work there. . .Yeager." He coughs. The others snicker. "But we'll always consider it home in a way. Same with the firehouse. Even if we've expanded into new locations and new teams."

A couple days later Jessy arrives at the textiles school for their graduation ceremony, a few of the teachers laughing as they listen to her grumbling about having to get dressed up again. The graduation ceremony is thankfully brief, though there's some mumbling when Jessy is introduced and the circumstances of how she got her degree is told.

A month later Jessy slumps into a seat on the bus the teachers are using for the expo, The teachers chuckle.

"Busy at work?"

"Important fancy ass charity thing. . .it went on for hours." The teachers chuckle and nod, they're familiar with those events. "Bunch of people blathering about how important they think they are?"

"Yes, thankfully I wasable to ignore most of them when they realized I didn't live in the area and had no interest in their grandiose plans to change things to suit them." The teachers snicker and nod. "I curled up in a corner and worked on my thesis, I did get to meet a few people who actually had brains and weren't interested in them either." Snickering from the others.

In mid September Jessy drops into the back seat of the car MacGyver is driving as he puts her bags in the trunk.

"Rough flight?" The flight was late so something had to have happened.

"Yeeessssss, the flight was delayed an hour by some absolute idiot who couldn't get it through her head she wasn't going to be upgraded to first class no matter how big a fuss she made. She was going to sue. . .didn't they know who she was?" MacGyver sighs. "Yeah, I was ssssssooooo glad that I didn't have to deal with the bitch. . .who was already three sheets to the wind. There was no way they were going to let her on the plane, let alone upgrade her to first class."

"Not if she was that inebriated." MacGyver agrees as they pull out ofthe parking lot. . .or try to anyway but nothing is moving. His phone buzzes and Jessy snatches it. "Hello?"

"Oh thank god Jessy, we were worried. MacGyver just said your plane was late but couldn't give us any information." Joyce says at the House, waving off hands trying to grab the phone. She listens and hangs up several minutes later. The others look at her. "Her plane was delayed an hour in New York by some woman trying to get upgraded to first class who was several sheets to the wind. Now they're stuck in the parking lot, it's bumper to bumper but nobody's moving."

"Sounds about right for airports."

A couple hours later Horatio grins as he waves Angus and Jessy through the gates, putting her bags on the golf cart. Jessy is hugged by everybody when they arrive at the main house. Jessy grabs one bag before it can head off to her home and. . .looking inside, shoves it at Rupert. "I was drawing constantly. I have tons of clothing designs. The others at the school spent hours helping me come up with patterns. The ones with the red dot on the front haven't been looked at by them yet. They're also outfits for the other building." He nods and puts them on his desk. Jessy moans at the containers of mail. "Anything I need to worry about?"

"Nope, it's all junk or whatnot."

"Thank god for junk mail." Jessy mutters as they walk to the cafeteria. "I can toss most of it in the recycling bin without even having to open it." Everybody in earshot sniggers and nods.

"Diploma?" Joyce asks dryly.

"In the bag with the sketchbooks. That way it stayed flat."

Jessy shakes her head as Rupert walks her through the changes to her home. At least her clawfoot tub is still there she thinks as she sinks into the steaming hot water. Looking around the room she shakes her head. The toilet has been moved to it's own area now so she can't sit stuff on the closed lid but she's got a folding table for that and a cupboard filled with towels and whatnot. Across the room next to the toilet but separated by a half way is a large shower with all the bells and whistles. Her tub isn't by the wall anymore, there's now a long counter with two sinks, a large mirror and on either end two cabinets for storage. She'd looked through them and aside from towels and washclothes they're filled with various soaps and other bath stuff. . .both what they make and what's commercially available. Her fingers and toes are prunes when she pulls the drain, knowing the water is going to a septic unit to be cleansed and used again.

Sighing she grabs a tub of the mail when she can't fall asleep, sorting through everything before wandering through her now fifteen floor home. Though it only looks two floors from the outside. She does like the touch of being able to look out from any window on the other floors she thinks as she looks at the clock. Bundling the containers together she finds Xander chuckling at the door. "Couldn't sleep?" He asks as he lifts them onto his shoulder.

"No, I finally gave up after a couple hours laying in bed."

"Jessy, tell me you tried to sleep." Joyce moans when Xander brings in the containers. They get shoved back into the closet to be used for the next member who's going to be gone for a while.

"Yes, for two hours then I said screw it." Jessy pours herself a mug of coffee. "Any expos I need to worry about? Or should I say any in Portland I can go along to and visit Powell's on Rupert's dime?" Xander leans against the wall cackling. Larry's laughing and even Joyce's lips are twitching as she tries not to laugh. Everybody knows if Jessy wants to go to Powell's she'll just hop on a plane or train and go. . . on her own dime.

After breakfast Jessy walks to the new seamstress building, looking at all the new space and making a second list of what to order. Getting on the computer she puts in the order and hands it to Larry, turning her attention to finishing the designs, coloring them, and making patterns.

Jessy comes back from Miami with her books and supplies for her classes, putting them in her new library. Rupert nods in satisfaction as he looks everything over.

"When do your classes start?"

"Next week for the online students."

"Here, look this over. It's some of the advertising I plan on dropping off to the crossdressing store in town.

"Make a note that if they want fittings. ..which they will with the high-end stuff they'll want to either be wearing or bring their special undergarments. That way we know everything fits." Rupert nods and makes a note on the screen. "Including shoes." He makes another note. "I'll have a range of sizes for my patterns but if they need a special size it will be extra."

The new supplies start arriving in early October and Jessy is busy making samples when she's not taking classes. She goes to her rheumatologist one day and he's all apologetic when he puts her back on the pills that had helped her before.

"Why take you off in the first place?" Xander asks at dinner.

"Ohhh, there was a newbie at the office who didn't think we needed the drugs. . .if we can just be weaned off them we'll have to be happier and healthier. Until the labs showed everybody was worse off without them."

Everybody turns to look at House.

"Yes, there are people that damn foolish out there. My former boss was one of them, she didn't like me taking vicodin for my leg. For people who are suposed to be helping their patents, they just want the power. If he could get what he wanted there, he could turn it into the next rung on the ladder. Fucking morons run off blubbering when their power games don't get them what they want." Everybody nods and sighs.

"Talk to your advisor?" Harmony asks a few days later.

"Yes, and he doesn't feel that I'll have any problems with my thesis since I'm actually doing the work." Harmony chuckles and nods.

A few days into November Jessy blinks as she looks at a letter and shoves it into Rupert's hands. "Money from Dad's investments. . .how much more money did he have squirreled away?"

"You would have been too young to understand it but. . ."

"Dad was being investigated by the FBI? Yeah, Peter told me when we were building the New York House."

"No, before that time. He'd been investigated before all all the charges were dropped when the case was found to be without merit. After that your father took to diversifying, your mother was furious when he took a lot of their cash assets away. At the time I assumed your father was squirreling it away for when he took off after leaving your mother."

"Yeah, it sure the hell wasn't a love match. Mom's connections weren't good enough for him anymore."

"He . . .he knew your mother would have taken care of you. If. . .if he'd left." He pats her shoulder.

"Bullshit. . .my mother couldn't take care of herself. If she couldn't have found a man to take care of her. . .which wasn't likely with a daughter who had chronic medical needs. She'd have killed herself in some grand fashion that she thought would have made people weep over her. He knew you would have taken care of me Rupert. You're more my real parent than they ever were. Now, changing the topic before I turn into one of those fool morose girls you see dressed all in black. . .Did you drop off the fliers at the store?"

"Yes, and people are already talking. I'm thinking of putting up a website in the future." Jessy deposits the cashier's check in her account when she goes into town, stopping at a few stores before heading home.

Jessy explores the new floors of her house over the next few days. She hadn't realized she had so much stuff and makes lists of stuff she's still going to have to get.

"Are you going into Miami soon?"

"Yeah, I've got a list of stuff from the fabric store I need to get. I need to get some stuff from the mall. . .in addition to our normal stuff. And stop to the comic book store, they're holding an author visit in a couple days. We can spend a couple days in Miami."

Andrew nods in satisfaction. "I'd heard about the visit too. I'm not a fan of his work.. ."

"But if we get stuff signed. . ." They both nod.

The owner of the motel smiles as he sees a familiar truck enter the parking lot. Jessy slides out the passenger door and limps into the office.

"I'm sorry for making you come in to reserve your rooms Ms. Michaels. After the party we changed our policy about taking reservations over the phone. . .to keep kids from being able to take their parents credit cartds and renting a motel or hotel room."

"Which won't stop their parents from renting one for them." Jessy snorts as she fills out the paperwork.

"No, but we can sue the parents for their children's misbehavior if they damage the room. And thank you for coming back after the officer pulled his Dirty Harry routine."

"Not your fault he's an idiot and thought this would give him the boost he needed up the promotion ladder. Because he couldn't fucking wait." The manager grins and hands her the paperwork before she limps back to the truck, the damn rain is making her knees ache even with the medicine.

"Comic book store first?"

"Yeah."

The store manager smiles as he sees them walk in, bringing out the boxes of comics and supplies. The people who'd been setting up the table look on as the totals are run up and they don't even flinch, putting everything in the truck before they come back in and start looking through the shelves and boxes of old comics.

A couple days later Jessy and Andrew pull up by her seamstress buildings, maintenance bringing stuff out of the back of the truck. Everything is soon sorted out and put away. Everything else is soon sorted out and Jessy drops the receipts on Larry's desk. Heading to the storerooms she fills her bag with stuff, writing everything down before getting on the golf cart that Dexter's driving with her stuff.

"Did you sign up for next semester's classes?" Rupert asks at dinner.

"Yes, got my books and other supplies. My advisor approved my thesis. . ." Rupert nods in satisfaction. Xander comes into the room. "Got that last piece of furniture done Rupert, once the second coat of varnish is on it can be sent off."

"Thank you Xander. I know that emergency order delayed your other projects but they're old friends."

The owner of the 'speciality' store in Miami looks around the seamstress shop in satisfaction. "Thank you for opening this. . .I know my clients will love being able to buy clothes that actually fit."

Jessy mumbles rude comments as Joyce drags her to a shoestore and actually makes her select more than one pair of the cheapest shoes. "Yes, you need more than one pair of shoes at a time. It won't turn you into those fools you see on tv with a whole closet full of shoes."

"No, that was my mother." Jessy snorts. "She had fifteen pairs of shoes still in the box when she went to prison." Joyce sighs and pats her shoulder. They take the shoes to the counter and check out.

"What did you do with all her clothes?"

"The second she was convicted we boxed everything up and took it to consignment stores. The money went into her account at the prison."

"Did you have. . ."

"Rupert asked the judge what we could do with her stuff. The judge was of the opinion it could be burned in front of her. Just her personal belongings. . .anything that Dad owned went to me in the will."

Joyce nods as they pull up in front of a Greek restaurant in Miami. "Did your mother have a fit?"

"Oh gods yes, the fool actually figured they'd give her a second cell just for her clothes. She was horrified she'd have to wear the same clothes as the rest of the convicts. She sued to make me buy her a whole new wardrobe around the same time she brought tha new car. The judge had to funning her that she was going to be there the rest of her life. . .right?" Joyce rolls her eyes. She'd never met the woman and she loathes the fool.

"Do you have any relatives on your mother's side of the family? She asks after they've been shown to a table.

"No, from what I was able to find out about them they died shortly after my parents were married." Jessy sighs. "Under mysterious circumstances." Joyce shakes her head and pats Jessy's hand before they order.

Rupert gets off the phone at the House a couple days later and looks at the wall. "Larry, can you call the others?"

Joyce, Jenny, and Wesley appear a few minutes later. Rupert takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. Wesley chuckles as Larry brings him in a cup of tea. . .and doctors it with the flask in his desk the children pretend they don't know about.