Okay! I woulda posted earlier, but TopShelf wouldn't even load. Hrm. I dunno if it was down or just my ability to access it. The latest plan is this: when the story is all done, I'm gonna schedule a time to be on IRC for a total FTS Q&A -- no question about the series will be unanswered (as long as it's ASKED). I'd really like anyone that has questions about it to be there, as we're rapidly approaching the end. Scott Ramsey and Eric have theorized a lot -- but so have some others! Please keep an eye out for when I'm gonna do it. When it's done, I'll post the (cleaned up) log of the session as a DVD Special Feature 'Behind the Scenes and Making of FTS' the next day. Okay, here's part 15, enjoy!

"Why did you give them my brush?” asked Jeff as he followed Emily into the kitchen.
“So they'd leave us alone,” Emily answered, “besides... um, aren't you curious? Don't get mad, but, don't you want to know? I mean, what if your mom wasn't your mom?”
“She was,” said the scowling boy, “and she still is. That's where I was day before yesterday when I came home and that cop was here. I was visiting her. I plan to every week on Saturday. You can come too, if you like, but I get time alone with her.”
“I'm sorry, Jeff,” she said quietly, biting her lower lip, “I'd like that, though.”
“Whatever,” he snapped and stormed up the stairs.
“Wait. Jeff.”
He stopped and spun around.
“What?”
“I just... well, I can't help thinking of everything that's happened. I mean, if Janette was this Marlene lady before you two moved here. And if she had a daughter named Jessica, but not a son named Jeff. Where did you come from, and where is Jessica?” reasoned Emily.
A thought occurred to her.
“Jeff... how well do you remember things from when we were small?” she asked.
He leaned against the wall of the stairway, propping one foot up on the handrail as he looked at her.
“I don't really. I mean, we were both only two when I moved here with Mom. The first real thing I remember is the mudball fight,” he answered.
Emily grinned in remembrance, herself, “The morning of the first day in Kindergarten, right? So we both went to school for the very first time with giant brown blobs on our clothes. Ugh. Daddy made me wear that horrible frothy pink dress and your mom made you wear a white shirt and tie.”
He nodded, and returned her grin with a small smile.
She grew serious again and said, “Okay... hear me out. What if you happen to be this Jessica person?”
He startled and tumbled down the three steps he had climbed.
“Are you nuts? I'm not a girl... and I don't wanna be a girl!”
“Gee. Thanks,” she said wryly.
“What? Oh, come on! You said just the other day that even you weren't sure you wanted to be a girl!” he protested.
“Not quite. I said I thought about being a boy, but decided I liked being a girl sometimes,” she pointed out to him.
“So... what exactly are you asking or suggesting, then?” he asked, deflating.
“Well... I don't know how to ask this... do you know the difference between a girl and a boy? Because, if you're not sure... There's this video that Dad used to explain things about, ah, boys and sex and stuff to me last Spring. Just... come on,” she said, helping him up off the floor and dragging him into the living room.
* * * * * * *
Jeff stared wide-eyed at the paused screen. He rewound, watched the screen in slo-mo, and paused again.
“So. Not only do I find out just how humongous and weird Mom lied to me, but that is sex?”
“I'm sorry, Jessica,” said Emily.
Jeff stormed to his feet and loomed over her, “You are NEVER to call me that ever again! Do you understand me?” he nearly screamed, angrier than she had ever seen.
Emily yelped in fear, all color draining from her face as she nodded in fearful assent.
He spun and stomped back and forth as he ranted, and Emily suspected it was more to her— ah, himself than to or at her. “I am a boy! I always have been, and I always will be! Not you, and not anyone can tell me differently! I'm not going with the Ugg, guy. If they try to make me, I'll run away, and no one will see me again!”
He stood panting and on the verge of tears. Emily got up and went to him to hug him. They were still there when Matt came in the front door.