I'll be posting a chapter of this story every Sunday for the next couple of weeks, but then we'll be leaving for a three-week trip to New York by way of St. Louis and Ohio. During our trip, I'll post when I have the time and the internet connection.

Chapter 72.

I wanted to witness Nina's meeting with the members of my team, especially the ones she didn't already know, so when I arrived at the hospital the next morning, I headed to the room where the study was going on. She was already there, looking over Jess' shoulder to her graphs of the data collected so far, and chatting amiably with Thirteen. They'd met in Dorsey, so I wasn't surprised. The rest of the team was no where in sight.

But not for long. Foreman entered with a test subject, and Thirteen introduced him to Jess' sister.

"We're entertaining spectators now?" he asked me.

"Jess wanted to show Nina what we've accomplished here." I tried not to sound like I supported her wishes to see what he'd say.

"This study is sensitive. We have to protect the anonymity of the patients and control subjects."

"I'm not interested in whose data you're collecting, just in what Jess is doing, and why she thinks she's so vital to the study." Nina crossed her arms in front of her and glared at him.

He shrugged. "She's good with statistics. I suppose we could use anyone who's knows how to manipulte numbers, but she was here."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Foreman." There was a laugh in Jess' voice.

"Jess, you know we couldn't have gotten this far without you crunching our numbers," Thirteen said, then turned to Foreman. Her glare matched Nina's, but it softened and morphed into a smile when she turned to Jess. "You didn't only analyze the data we gave you, you showed us how it was trending."

The man Foreman had brought with him looked from one person to the other, his forehead creased and his mouth turned down.

Chase entered with another subject, breaking the silence that followed Thirteen's last remark. "Hello, Nina. I didn't know you were in town."

"Dr. Chase. Nice to see you again. I came to see what was keeping Jess so busy here."

"Actually she came to convince Jess that she's not needed here and should return to Dorsey."

"And you're going to convince Nina otherwise, House?"

"Oh, I don't think it will take much."

"I'm not easily swayed, Doctor."

"We'll see." I knew she was already on her way to siding with Jess against their father. "Well, tempus fugit and all that. I'll leave you lovely people to continue." With that, I strode to the door and out into the hall. I was surprised when Nina rushed after me.

"Doctor House, wait!"

I stopped and turned, wondering what she wanted from me.

"I need to talk to you."

"OK, so talk."

She looked around at the doctors, nurses and orderlies passing by. "Not here. Can we go to your office?"

She sounded so serious. It intrigued me. "OK. It's this way."

We were both silent until we entered my inner sanctum. I sat down at my desk, but Nina remained standing, wringing her hands as she looked around the place.

"Speak."

She swallowed rather loudly. "After I left you and Jess last night I thought about what she said, about making a clean break from Father's control." She licked her lips. "I...I don't know how to do that. Jess has skills that she can use anywhere. I could see that she's already making a contribution to the study your team is doing. But what would I do if I moved away from Dorsey? I run a dress shop. The only reason it's even breaking even is because of Father's influence in Dorsey."

"Why are you coming to me with this?" I asked. "I'm not an employment agency."

"No, of course not." She was back to the hand-wringing thing again. "But I think you're a realistic man, one who wouldn't try to sugar-coat things for me. What chance do I have on my own?"

I wasn't surprised that Jess had put a bee in her sister's bonnet, but her worries about whether she could support herself if she did was a bit unexpected. "What can you did? I assume you went to college. What did you study?"

"I have a degree in American history." She chuckled dryly. "That and a dollar fifty can get you a cup of coffee."

"Where are you buying your brew?"

"Yeah, well, I guess it's more like two fifty, but you get my point."

"You run a dress shop."

"As I said, not particularly well. I mean we more than break even, but that's in Dorsey. I know next to nothing about merchandising or even fashion."

I looked her over. "You always dress well."

"I buy clothes for the shop and for myself based more on what's selling in the big department stores."

"So you have a strategy."

"I suppose so." She didn't sound convinced.

"Don't you have a trust fund like your sister."

"Father pulls the strings on those. I'm surprised that he hasn't cut Jess off."

"How do you know he hasn't?" I wasn't sure myself. The subject had never come up. Jess just seemed to have a source of money when she wanted or needed it.

"That's true." She looked down, then back up at me. Her beautiful face was spoiled by the frown and the crease in her forehead. "He can be vindictive, you know. Look at how he's treated Petey."

"You don't need your father," I insisted. "Or your trust fund." I had no idea how she's support herself, but it was more important for her to break the tie to her father. It would help Jess, too, if she did.

"Clerking in a dress shop or a department store won't pay the bills. If I do this, I need to find something where jobs are plentiful and pay well."

I certainly couldn't hire her. There was nothing she could do for me or my team. While we both pondered that, Wilson knocked on my door.

"Ah, Dr. Wilson. Just in time."

His eyebrows squished together. "In time for what?"

"We were just deciding what kind of job Nina should pursue so she could stay in Princeton."

She turned and smiled at him. The expression was automatic at first, but when she got a good look it expanded to her eyes. Nina looked at me before turning back to him. She held out a slim hand. "I'm Nina Giordano, and you must be Dr. Wilson."

Wilson grinned the way he always did when confronted by a beautiful woman. I could hear the gears in his head as he worked out how he'd romance this one. He bestowed his trademark boyish smile on her, and gripped her hand. "Very nice to meet you."

"Well, I'll let you two kids get acquainted and I'll get back to what I was doing."

"And what was that?" Wilson knew me too well.

"Not solving the world's problems."

He looked between us, then followed his eyes with his right forefinger. "Did I interrupt something?"

"I think we were done."

Nina nodded slightly. "For now. Just think about what I asked, Dr. House." She turned to leave.

Wilson called as he followed her out, "Can I buy you a cup of coffee?"

I had other things to think about besides what Nina could do if she relocated to Princeton, but over the next hour, my mind kept returning to her words. So when Jess knocked at my door at noon I passed the problem on to her. "You need to find something that Nina can do here."

"Here in the hospital or in Princeton in general?"

"Either. She's seriously considering what you said about cutting the apron strings."

"My father doesn't where an apron, but I get what you mean."

"She's afraid she won't be able to find a job that will support her if he cuts off her trust fund. By the way, did he cut off yours?"

"What? Actually, he did, but I had earned enough of my own that I didn't need it. Otherwise I would have filed a suit to get it back." Her eyes narrowed the way the did when she was thinking about more than one thing at a time. "Nina wants to move here?"

"If she can afford to. I imagine she has some expensive habits to support."

"Only buying shoes, but since she runs the dress shop, she gets them for half price."

"So, what's she good at that she could parlay into job skills?"

The eyes narrowed again, this time accompanied by a scratch at the right ear. Deep thinking. Suddenly, Jess' face cleared. "She's terrific at throwing parties."