Moose was the only one in the lab when she arrived the next morning. We greeted each other with a routine grunt and nod. I never want to interrupt someone in lab, even to say hello, until I have an idea of what they're doing; you never know when a simple greeting is going to make someone forget whether they were on count 147 or 157. I purposely set to work at the bench across from him, pulling on a set of small latex-free gloves and collecting glass bottles of materials. I needed to know how much he knew about Sydney's devious plan, and now that I knew he wasn't deep in thought, it was the perfect time to prod.

"Three hundred and forty five dollars is a lot of money," I said as I opened up a bottle of urine-colored liquid and started decanting it into smaller volumes. I was never very good at subtle. I needed to work on that.

Without even looking up, he answered. "It was a bargain," he replied, his hands moving deftly as he uncapped tubes, filled them, and replaced them on his rack.

I blushed involuntarily. Luckily, Moose was looking down, so he didn't catch the diversion of blood. "So, why Rum Runners?" I asked.

He stopped working, capping all of his open bottles and setting down his pipette. "Actually, Sydney suggested it when she told me you were doing the auction. Is it your favorite club or something?"

"Not quite," I answered with a sigh. I guess Moose knew nothing about the plan, putting us in somewhat of the same boat. At least I knew there was a plan. I put down my extraction kit so I could look him in the eye and explain. "An ex of mine actually owns it. I'm not sure what Syd's getting at with suggesting it, really."

He actually smirked, cocking a hip as he asked, "So, we're going to make him jealous?"

I blushed harder; this one I couldn't hide. "Are you OK with that?" I said as I dipped my head, pretending to be working. "We could go somewhere else if you want, I mean, I don't want to use you…"

"Oh, I'm in. This is going to be great," he said before his smile dimmed slightly. "Wait, who's your ex? He's not huge is he? Can I take him?"

I smiled at his nervousness, suppressing a laugh at the mental picture I was getting. "David's tall, but he's not too scary. It would be a fair fight."

His jaw dropped about a foot, a movement I caught even as I looked down at the bench in front of me. I stopped and looked up, as he seems to have put two and two together. "You dated David O'Hara?"

"Yea," I answered. "You know him?"

He looked almost awe-struck. "I know of him. He and his sister and brother-in-law are famous."

My curiosity was piqued. "Oh? For what?"

He shrugged. "I can't believe you don't know. I guess they're just…different from other vampires. You know, compassionate, warm. They still think like real people. I think they're the only vampire family in existence that's stayed together." That I already knew, but I didn't know it made them famous. "You've met Emma and Lee, then?" I nodded. "What are they like? The three of them, I mean."

I sighed and went back to my work, followed shortly by Moose. "David is….awkward, and overprotective, and slightly overbearing. He is kind and funny and incredibly infuriating. Emma is like her brother; almost motherly in her overprotective-ness. Lee is the quiet type, but he's very protective toward Emma. He comes off as indifferent, but he's not."

Moose just nodded and went back to what he was doing. We worked in amiable silence for almost an hour before he spoke again. "You're going as Catwoman," he said lightly. "What should I be?"

I almost suggested he go as a Moose, but I didn't know how he'd take that. "I don't know. We could go as a pair, does Catwoman have a sidekick?"

He hesitated. "She's supposed to be in love with Batman," he said, blushing slightly at the intimation we go as lovers.

I giggled lightly. "I'm sorry, I can't see you in tights or a cape." I tapped my fingers against the black counter top as I recovered from the thought of him in tights. "You could go as a knight, or a pharaoh, or a roman warrior." I was really running out of ideas. "Or maybe a pirate," I added with a shrug.

"Hmm," was all he replied. After several moments, he asked, "what do you want me to go as?"

I smiled and looked up at him, saying, "Surprise me."

Sometimes I hated working in a male-dominated lab; this had been set up for someone a foot taller than me. I climbed onto the counter top to grab the backup jar of reagent which, for some reason, is stored 9 feet off the ground. Moose came around the bench to grab me by the waist and lower me back to the ground. "Thanks," I said as my feet hit the floor.

"Not a problem." Tentatively, he let go of my waist. "We should get you a ladder."

I laughed as I looked at the clock; it was 2:20. I had 40 minutes to finish my experiment and get across campus to teach my sections. "Shit," I mumbled; I went to work, double time.

I just finished my lab work, but was going to be late to section. "Want a lift? I'm going in that direction…" The voice startled me; I thought I was alone in the lab. Moose was sitting in the chair by the bank of computers, watching me work.

"You're still here?" I asked as I shoved my laptop back into my backpack and slung it over my shoulder.

"Yup." He was hiding something. I knew it. It was the first time my quirk had made an appearance since the beginning of the semester.

I grabbed my purse before I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

"What do you mean?" He was actually fidgeting under my stare.

I motioned toward the door, and he grabbed his bag and locked up the lab. "Why are you still here?"

He unlocked his car, which was parked just outside the building, right beside mine. "Just watching out."

I slid into the passenger side; I'd just have to walk back to my car after class. I'd be easier than driving my own car and trying to find a parking space anywhere close at this time of the day. "Berkey, please," I said as I buckled my seat belt. I wasn't sure he knew where I needed to go. "For what?"

"For you. Ever since…well, ever since you were attacked, we just want to make sure you're OK here," he said as we pulled away from the building. Come to think of it, I hadn't been alone in either my office or the lab since I came back to work. It was kind of sweet in an awkward way. I smiled to myself, but I'd be telling them to cut it out real soon. I don't like that babysat feeling.

We pulled up to Berkey Hall, an older building on north campus used by a variety of departments for recitations and small classes. I grabbed my bag and hoisted it over my shoulder. "Thanks, you're sweet." Before he could respond, I hopped out of the car and ran into the building.

.

The mood on campus had reached a fever pitch by All Hallow's Eve. I had the unfortunate task of teaching a 3 o'clock freshman-level class on Friday afternoons, one of the latest classes held on Fridays. To ease the excitement of my students, I had encouraged them to wear some part of their Halloween costume; all those who did would get extra credit. I had attached only the ears and tail of my costume, and had Sydney finish my cat eyes that morning. I was touching up my bright red lips when the first gaggle of students walked in. One freshman phenomenon: they tended to travel in packs. One of the girls was wearing bee antennae, another had fairy wings. The guy's costumes were less creative. One was wearing a hat that said 'Larry the Cable Guy'. Color me unimpressed.

"Come over here before you sit down so I can give you credit for your costume." It had taken me weeks, but I had finally memorized all of their names. It's not that there were that many of them, the recitation section only had 25 students, it's just that they tended to dress and primp similarly. Especially the girls. "OK, I got Kara down as a bee, Jeff down as Larry the Cable Guy." I shot him an unimpressed look as he grinned from ear to ear. "Jessica, what are you going as?"

"Oh, it's just a generic fairy costume. I liked the colors." The wings were covered in pink and purple swirls. I should have known, she was always wearing pink and purple something or other.

"Great, I got you down. Ben's going as a doctor?" I said as I looked at the guy with a stethoscope around his neck.

"Gynecologist, actually," he replied, tugging on the aforementioned prop as he did. What is it with 18-year-old boys? I rolled my eyes. I didn't bother to mention that gynecologists generally don't need a stethoscope.

"Of course," I said dryly. "I got you down." I looked around the room to make sure I had gotten everyone. The shiest girl in the class was hovering behind Ben, trying not to be noticed too much. She had old aviator goggles and a cream colored scarf on. "I didn't see you back there, Amy. What are you going as?"

I had never heard her speak much above a whisper, and she wasn't going to start now. "Amelia Earhart," she said sheepishly to the floor, as if it sounded like a great costume while she was alone in her room, but now she was rethinking it.

I smiled genuinely at her. "What a creative idea. Double extra credit for creativity." I happened to know that she didn't need the extra credit at all, so I didn't feel bad about adjusting her grade even higher. The girls in the gaggle, who had just noticed Amy behind them, were commenting on how perfect her costume was, while the guys were grumbling about the extra extra credit. Amy was turning beet red at all the attention she was getting, shuffling to sit in her usual spot and trying to just melt away.

I motioned for this group of students to sit. The all took their usual spots: Jeff and Ben in the far back corner (all the better to snore through class), Jessica and Kara just in front of them, and Amy smack dab front and center. The rest of the less punctual students filled in as they entered. It was Jessica who spoke usually spoke for the peanut gallery. "What are you going as?"

I blushed slightly at the mention of my horribly inappropriate costume. "Catwoman."

Jessica was so bubbly it made my cheeks hurt. "Oh, cool!" she cried, her head bobbing the entire time. "What are you going to do? Any upper classmen parties we should know about?"

"Actually, I auctioned my night off as part of a bachelorette auction; I'm not usually one to go out to the parties, so I wouldn't really know about that." Trouble seemed to find me, I didn't need to go looking for it. "We're going to a party at Rum Runners, so I better not see any of you there." Rum Runners was 21 and over, no one in this class was over 19.

I had caught Ben's attention. "Hey! I saw a flier for that auction. Why didn't you tell us you were doing it? I would have come and bid. I would have made you do my homework." This set the guys to guffawing about the possibilities.

"Well, for exactly that reason, Ben," I replied. "I didn't even know I was going to until last minute, anyway. My roommate roped me into it."

Jessica's bubbly attitude preceded her question onslaught. "How cool! Who bought you? Is he cute? How old is he? For how much?"

Class was about to start and students were filtering in faster and faster. When there was a break in the costume parade, I answered her. "A friend of mine actually bought me, he's about 25, I think. And he paid way too much." I wasn't even going to touch the cute question. It's not that he wasn't, he was just…Moose. It's like thinking your brother has nice pecs-just weird.

At exactly 3:00 and not a minute later, I started explaining the idea behind evolutionary biology.