Six days had passed since the fire at 'Jaselle's' nightclub and the subsequent deaths of Raquel and Old Jas. It was now time for them to be laid to rest. On this day, it was Raquel's turn; the day after would see the service for Old Jaselle.

Christmas was only a matter of days away; but for Jackson, it was a cheerless season. As Jaselle, he stood by Raquel’s gravesite, watching the coffin bearing the body of his best friend, as it was lowered into the earth, his eyes riveted on the gathering by the grave. Lost in his grief, he did not notice the car parked nearby, with one of its rear passenger windows wound down; he did not catch a glimpse of the round, and baby-like face that loomed just within the confines of the vehicle.

But Bubba could not accept that. His eyes narrowed and he made a guttural grunt of dissent, then turned his head to look out the window once more, dismissing Kurt and the words he did not want to hear.

Kurt’s handsome, icy façade twitched for a moment as he considered his next remarks carefully. It was clear Bubba did not want to accept what seemed – to him at least – inevitable.

"It is the only explanation for him not surfacing to see the drag queen buried. Nor," he went on," has he been in contact with the girl, Claire Barnett. He must be dead."

Bubba regarded Kurt, his lips partaking as if about to offer some rebuke. The handsome young man's face stared back at him without a hint of emotion. But then Bubba looked back at the figures amongst the headstones. He sighed resolutely, and then ordered their driver to return them to their hotel, in a gruff, low voice.

"I'm sorry, Raquel," he said. "So very sorry. But I will go on, I promise you." He reflected for a moment. "I love you."

A moment passed and then Pearly approached Jaselle. The hostile old woman's eyes had lost none of their teeth. But today –this day at least - they seemed somewhat dulled. She was grieving, too, Jaselle supposed, for the loss of friends and for her beloved charge, Old Jas.

“I have a message I want conveyed to Jackson Crane," Pearly began, "Old Jas told me to pass it on through you."

"The police say he's dead -" Jaselle began.

Pearly smiled wanly, her eyes glimmering with contempt. "Piffle!" Pearly cried. "Old Jas never made mistakes. He's alive," Pearly nodded. 'Though he does not deserve to be. Just the same, Old Jas gave me a letter on the morning that the fire occurred. She knew it was going to happen," Pearly said, looking at Jaselle gravely. 'The letter is for the boy. He will need to come to the flat I'm staying at to get it," she explained, and then gave Jaselle a piece of paper with the address written on it.

"I'm only doing this because Old Jas made me promise. If it were up to me, I'd let that little trouble maker rot in Hell!" Pearly spat with venomous hatred. "He brought all this trouble on us. He caused their deaths!" Pearly exclaimed.

Inwardly Jaselle ached and flinched at Pearly’s scathing attack, but on the surface he retained his cool composure.

"I'll give him your message," he replied. Pearly nodded curtly and then walked off.

For a moment, Jaselle thought he would collapse into tears. But there wasn't time for that luxury, as he found himself unexpectedly confronted by Claire.

‘They're all queuing up for me today...' Jaselle thought ruefully; he wasn't up to the task, but would have to force himself to go on.

"Oh, hello, Claire."

"Hi," she said. "How are you doing?"

"Oh I'm fine " he replied, lying

'That’s good," said Claire.

"No-one's heard about Jackson?"

"No," Claire said, nodding. But she didn't appear too concerned, a fact that surprised Jaselle. It must have shown on his face, for Claire looked at her and went on to explain.

Claire said that she didn't believe that he was dead. Rather, she felt that he was hiding, especially since the police had revealed that when first pulled out from the burning building, Raquel had been raving that "they" had been after Jackson. It was unfortunate, Claire said, that Raquel had never got a chance to reveal who "they" were.

"Jackson's not dead. I can feel it," she said with a confident smile, her eyes sparkling brilliantly.

"Maybe you're right," agreed Jaselle.

"I know I am. I just wish that I could see him one last time. There's something very important that I want him to know," she said cryptically.

"And what might that be?" Jaselle asked, curious.

But Claire shook her head. "It's just something I want to tell him ...before he goes out of my life forever."

Jaselle frowned, and at the same time ached for her. She seemed to have sensed that Jackson was about to make a journey that would change him forever and take him beyond Claire's reach for the rest of their lives.

"What makes you say something like that?"

Claire shrugged, unsure herself where her feeling was coming from. "Just a feeling. He's in trouble, I know that. And there's something he has to do, and I can't remain apart of his life if he's to do it - whatever it is," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Jaselle offered her a faint smile. Claire had known Jackson's feelings even better than he himself had. How he would have loved to have held her, and then asked her what it was that she'd wanted to tell him. But his life had, indeed, gone too far for him to turn back. He had to let it go, but it was so hard relinquishing someone like Claire; she was a living, breathing extension of his soul - how did you cut out your own soul?

As the day wore on into evening, he wondered about Claire and what it was that she wanted to tell him. He also wondered about the letter that Pearly held for him. And he anxious to know more about the preparations that had been undertaken to take care of Jackson/Jaselle; preparations put in place by Old Jas and Raquel, he supposed.

But there was Bubba to consider, too. Bubba was the one thing stopping Jackson from discarding his Jaselle-persona and going to see Claire and Pearly. He was quite certain that the evil, cunning old crime baron would be having Claire's house watched by henchmen, and maybe even having her followed. To meet with her would not only be suicidal, but potentially fatal for her and her family, too. It was also possible that Bubba was having Pearly's place watched.

"What am I going to do?" He asked himself.

He sat up, on the edge of the bed. "I'm running out of money, and time. Bubba’s out there - somewhere. God!" he exclaimed, exasperated with his predicament. There had to be away around it, so that he could get everything that he wanted. But nothing, aside from the obvious move of dropping his disguise, came to mind.

There seemed to be no choice. He knew he had to see Claire one last time. It was also vital to get to Pearly and that letter before Bubba had a chance to stumble upon it.