TITLE: "Murder U"
AUTHOR: Ardeth Saunders [a.k.a., Cruecial or Cruecial411]
RATING: PG [Language, violence, and adult content]
SUMMARY: Professors and students begin turning up missing and are later found dead. It's up to the UC team to figure out the mystery.
GENRE: Drama, Suspense, Action, and Romance
DISCLAIMER: UC: Undercover and its cast of characters belong to the writers, creators, NBC, and a dozen others. NO infringement intended. All other original characters belong solely to the sick, twisted, and vivid imagination of the author.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: They're baaaaaaaaaaaaack. Loralei and Frank that is. RnR if you please. I appreciate all the feedback I have received in the past, positive as well as negative.
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FIRST DAY JITTERSThe clock had been screaming at her for a good thirty minutes. She hated the damn thing, would never have it in the room if wasn't absolutely necessary. It had taken hours for Loralei to fall asleep. The night before, she had been a nervous wreck. In between panic attacks, she and Donovan had taken turns taking care of their fussy son. Like Rachel, he had no trouble making his presence known. She didn't want to move, didn't want to get out of bed. Today, she was supposed to start her assistant professorship at Mord University. It was a small school and not exactly Harvard or Yale, but it was a great start. Loralei's doctorate had collected a bit of dust since graduation. Of course, she had had several loving and important distractions: Donovan, Rachel, and Tristan. As she had joked dozens of times with her husband, she finally found a school totally desperate for new blood. Ugh. She vaguely wondered if she could put off work until tomorrow. She was nervous and exhausted. What the hell had she been thinking? She wasn't ready for this, wasn't ready to go to work. She had extreme issues with leaving the babies. She had basically been a stay at home mom for some time and the thought of leaving her children behind for hours at a stretch didn't sit well with her. Although she had hidden from her husband, she spent some time bawling in the bathroom because of the changing roles in her life. She wanted the job, wanted to be active and use her degree, but goddamn, why couldn't she take her kids with her? Was that too much to ask?
She sighed and turned to her back, refusing to open her eyes. In Tristan's room across the hall, she could hear his lusty cries and the hushed tones of Donovan's voice as he tried to soothe the baby. She again found herself thanking the higher powers for giving her a man so considerate and loving with his children. At times, he made life so much easier for her. She knew that eventually, she would have to get up. It wouldn't take long for Rachel to awaken and demand equal attention. Since Tristan's birth, she no longer had the complete attention of both parents, and she was often jealous. They both tried to spend enough time with her to keep her from feeling neglected. Loralei groaned. The clock wasn't going to stop buzzing. It would buzz for an eternity. She once asked her husband where he found an alarm clock devoid of a snooze button. I'll never tell, he had said wickedly. Growling, she sat up and shut off the annoying alarm before she threw the clock across the room. She reached down to the foot of the bed and grabbed her robe. After slipping into it, she stepped out in the hallway and peeked in at Rachel. She was still sleeping deeply. Poor kid. Loralei noticed that when she was restless, her daughter was as well. She moved down to Tristan's room and stood at the open doorway with a smile on her face. The baby was almost asleep. Tristan lay against Donovan, his little head against his father's shoulder. When Donovan noticed Loralei, he smiled a little and moved to lay the baby back in his crib. Loralei approached her husband and wrapped her arm around his waist. He kissed her temple and drew her close. Rachel had inherited Donovan's hair and skin tone. Tristan had gotten Loralei's hair, Donovan's skin tone, and his eyes. Both of them were beautiful little miracles. They lingered only a moment longer. If he sensed their presence, he'd awaken and resume his fussy cries. The two of them left the room and walked back into their own.
Donovan said nothing as he watched Loralei strip of out her robe and skimpy nightgown. She went into the bathroom and a moment later, she turned on the shower. He smiled a little. She was a complete nervous wreck and she was trying so hard to hide it. Loralei had barely gotten under the spray when she heard the shower door opening. She turned her head and smiled at Donovan over her shoulder. He returned her smile and laid his hands on her shoulders. She was so worked up and stressed out. He hadn't seen her this nervous in months. She sighed a little as his hands began to work out the tension in her knotted up muscles. Oh. His hands were magic.
"You're going to be fine, Loralei," he said.
"So say you," she said with a sigh.
He placed a gentle kiss on her shoulder. "You are such a pessimist, baby. You know your shit. Why don't I slip away from work today and take you out to lunch, Doctor Donovan?"
She laughed. "Sure, Stud. But it's Doctor Kadin."
His lips pressed against the side of her neck. "That hurts," he said. "You are so denying me," he whined playfully.
"Am not," she said with a giggle. "I told you, my initials are already an abbreviation of a hallucinogenic drug. Now you want me to add another 'D' to the mix? DLSD? You are so cruel to your wife. Why couldn't your name be something like Jones?" She turned toward him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Okay, okay. How bout I hyphenate my name?"
He smiled. "That'll work."
* * *
He stood outside the sprawling university complex. When he first arrived on campus, he basically just walked around and goggled at all the structures. He couldn't believe that just three or four weeks ago, he had actually worked here. What had happened to his status? Where had it gone? He had been teaching at Mord University for at least twenty years and a little mistake had ruined everything for him. He was booted right out on his ass. The university needed new blood, new professors. They had actually hired five since he was asked to vacate his office. Who were they? There were three men and two women. He hated them all. He hated the administration more. There were a couple of folks sitting on that panel whom needed to meet him face to face and explain themselves. How could the school dump a professor with experience only to hire a bunch of green horns? It wasn't right. Who should he see first? Dean Fehr? President Metzger? Who? The Dean was actually the one who fired him, but the entire faculty and staff had supported it. He wanted nothing more than a few answers.
* * *
Loralei was up to her elbows in papers and books. She hadn't had this much shit around her since she graduated. There were so many things going on, so much stuff to remember. Dean Fehr had conferred with her earlier [strangely, he kind of looked like her husband…she intended to ask Donovan if he had a triplet wandering around out there] and had given her three classes to start. She was still in her probationary period and if she managed to get through one semester alive and sane, Fehr would stack even more on her. Oh well. She didn't mind. She'd stay busy and she liked staying busy. She sat flipping through her class roster when she heard a hollow peck on her doorframe. She looked up at her husband and smiled. Noon on the dot.
"You be so anal," she said.
He shrugged. "Get used to it. You have many, many years ahead of you to deal with it," he said with a smile. "Damn. I didn't know you'd get your own office with a name plate and everything." The letters were tiny, but he made out L. Donovan. "You used it after all, you tease, and here I thought you were rejecting me."
He entered her office and didn't hesitate to shove a few items aside so that he could find a spot to accommodate his ass. She shook her head. "You're an inconsiderate jerk. But since I've done the very same to your desk, I guess it's proper that you pay me back?" He shrugged without saying a word. She shook her head again, stood up, and slapped her flat open palm on his knee. She inserted herself between his legs. "So Studly, where are you taking me to eat?"
"I never thought my wife was an exhibitionist," he said, nodding toward the open door. "Hmmm…do you want to go home, have lunch in bed…or…"
"Lunch in bed? Tempting, but I have to come back this afternoon. There's always tonight…and dinner in bed."
He kissed the tip of her nose. "If the kids can be quiet for five or ten minutes, we've got a date."
"Five or ten minutes? My studly has a hair trigger?"
He laughed a little and lowered his head. "You are so crude," he said as he focused his eyes on hers.
She gave him a lascivious wink. "Get a new line, won't you?" She grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's go. I only have an hour and I'm about to starve too death."
Donovan had wanted to go to a quiet little café or something, but Loralei insisted on going to the sprawling cafeteria at the university. He had no desire to dine there, but today, he was in a particularly jovial mood and would have probably eaten chilidogs and cheese fries if she asked. He gazed down at his food with a slight look of distaste. He hadn't eaten in a college cafeteria in years. Apparently, the food had never changed. It didn't seem to bother Loralei, but then again, she had dived off into the salad bar and foregone the hot foods. She had some kind of hang up about losing weight again. She had done the same thing after Rachel's birth. Uninterested in his own food, he sat back and watched Loralei curiously as she crunched up a carrot stick.
"How is it going," he asked.
She swallowed her mouthful of carrot and chased it with bottled water. "It's hectic, but so far, I haven't had anyone throw stuff at me yet. Of course, I have to get through one more class. It's interesting. Never considered myself teaching material, but I so enjoy having the rapt attention of all those untainted young minds." Unceremoniously, she picked up another carrot stick and crunched it up just as fast. "It's an adjustment. I miss the hell out of Tristan and Rachel, though." She sighed. She was close to freaking tears for God's sake. "Anyway, it's too funky having people calling me 'Doctor.' Screw that, I'm plain ol' Loralei. What about you? How you doing?"
"Outside this horrid cafeteria fare, I'm great," he said with a smile. "I've said it a dozen times, but I'm really proud of you. I don't know if I could have done what you have, taken the chances that you did."
She smiled a little and crunched up yet another carrot stick. "Baby, don't try to get all sexy on me while we're in public. Wait until I get home, why don't you?" She had never been one who took compliments very easily, even those from her husband. "Stop, why don't you? You're the risk taker, I mean after all, look at your lunch!"
* * *
He stood before the dean's desk and waited for him to respond to his questions and complaints. He didn't seem to be paying attention to him and he hated it when people did that to him. Dean Fehr was such an asshole. He had never been anything but. Right now, he sat and stared down at him as if he were better. Of course the dean was only better in status. He sat back and tapped his fingers impatiently against the arm of his chair. Dean Fehr wasn't impressed with his complaints. It was very obvious in his grim face and dark eyes. Come on, chicken heart. Tell me why you fired me; tell me why you hired all these young green asses. Before meeting with the dean, he had walked down the hall that housed his former office [former…oh how that hurt] and he'd seen new names tacked on doors: L. Donovan, M. Zimmerman, J. Reed, B. Combs, and Y. Simons. This L. Donovan was occupying his old office now. He had been tempted to stop by and yell at her about it, but she had had company. Oddly enough, she had been cozying up to the dean. Hmm. An affair perhaps? If that were true, it would explain a lot, now wouldn't it?
Dean Fehr leaned forward with his hands clasped together. Not a good sign. "I've told you a dozen times that we cannot reinstate you. It has nothing to do with your age or your status or anything like that. It has to do with the quality of your work for the past few months. It has been on the decline. You have to see that and accept it. Then there are the student complaints. I've had several students come to me and talk about some of the crazy things you did in class. It's not normal to bring an active, loaded working handgun into your lecture. It makes us nervous. You have had several stressful events that have culminated in this breakdown. You can take a sabbatical. Don't consider it a dismissal, but an opportunity to get your head straight. The last paper you wrote was rambling and nonsensical. You know our philosophy of publish or perish and you cannot resume until you find peace within yourself. Please don't bother asking for another chance, not right now."
So much for understanding.
* * *
Loralei slung her bag over her shoulder. She had forgotten that she had brought home a ton of shit until she lifted the bag. What had she been thinking? She stuck her key in the lock with a grunt. When she entered the living room, the first thing she noticed was complete silence. How rare. Either one or the other of the kids was crying his or her head off. She loved her children, but their lungs were so way over developed. She dropped the bag by the front door and caught herself glancing up at the beautiful portrait Kara had painted of the family. She wished a thousand times she could do stuff like that. The faces staring back at her were almost real. Incredible. As she climbed upstairs, a stray thought of Kara and Farron entered her mind. She had seen Kara in passing a few days ago, and her new sister in-law was acting quite…strange, stunned. She would definitely have to get nosy and find out what the hell was going on. She plodded along and glanced into the children's rooms. Of course, they were gone. Ah. Explains the quiet. She wondered vaguely where Donovan had taken the children. She went into the bedroom, stripped down, and slipped into her favorite ratty robe. Loralei took advantage of the silence and passed out on the bed. Her first day was okay, but damned exhausting.
She had been coming in and out of a fogged kind of sleep and thought she'd heard Donovan come home. Any second now, she expected to hear the chirping scream of her twenty month old daughter, the blatting cries of her two month old son, and the exhausted groan of one overwrought daddy. Instead, she was greeted with more silence. I must have been dreaming. She sighed a little and hugged her pillow closer to her. After a few minutes, she felt a warm body slide into bed behind her. Another moment later, her husband's scent and the solid wall of his body enveloped her. What a nice surprise after such a hectic day, she thought. She sighed a little as she felt his warm lips drifting along the side of her throat. She smiled and decided to continue her game of possum.
"I'd think that since we're alone for a little while, you'd wake up and at least kiss me," he said with a smile, his voice falling in her ear.
She giggled, the sound muffled in her pillow. "I would if I weren't so tired."
His hand found the tie to her robe and he pulled it free of its loose knot. "Too tired to let me make love to you?"
"Yup."
He kept his smile and placed a gentle kiss on her ear. "We'll see about that." Once the robe was loosened, he pulled it away from her shoulder. To his utter delight, she was naked underneath. His lips found her naked shoulder as his hand reached under her arm so he could delicately cup her breast in his hand. As his lips worked on her shoulder, his fingers gently kneaded her breast, her nipple perking right up to attention. Apparently, it wasn't tired. "And now?"
A quiet little moan escaped her. "It's slacking off a bit, I think." His naughty, naughty little fingers continued to knead and tease. "But only a bit."
"You need more convincing, do you?"
His voice was low and rustling, drifting into her ear so very fluidly, sexily. Much to her chagrin, his fingers moved from her breast to draw the robe away even further off her body, revealing an obstructed view of her back and the luscious curve of her hip. His hand moved from her side and then settled on her hip. He made small, swooping caresses over her pelvic bone and back again. Over and back. Uh, the bastard. Loralei, you're so easy.
She took hold of his hand. "Stop stop stop stop stop stop," she whispered machine gun fashion.
"You don't wish that I continue," he asked with a grin.
"Yes…no…what the hell did you ask again? Don't play with my mind, Frank. Jesus!"
"Okay," he said as he drew back just the slightest bit. "I'll stop playing with your mind, because there are many more things I'd rather play with instead."
She turned to her back and looked up at him. "So what is the hold up, Studly? Get busy."
He leaned down and kissed her. "My pleasure," he said against her lips.
"Uh uh, baby, it's mine." She leaned up and snaked her arms around him. Tugging on his body gently, she whispered, "Mmm. Come here."
He settled his body over hers, placing his knee between her thighs. His mouth staked claim to hers as her hands went into his hair. As soon as the kiss was broken, her tongue traced delicate little lines over his lips, lingering on the bottom one [of course]. After sufficiently corkscrewing his hair, her hands tripped lightly down his sides and she grasped his sweater in her fists, pulling it up. This was his favorite sweater and later, he'd probably kill her for stretching it out of shape, but right at the moment, she didn't give a ripe fuck. He pulled away only the briefest of moments to strip out of the sweater before he went down to her again, startling her just a little with a sudden deep and hungry kiss.
"Patience wearing a little thin," she asked comically once he allowed her to breathe again.
"Patience? What the hell is that?"
She giggled and then kissed him again. During their kiss, he pulled her over on top of him. She sat up, straddling his waist, and she stripped away her ratty robe. He wanted to sit up and meet her, but she planted her hand firmly into his chest and shook her head.
"Settle back," she said.
Suspiciously, he gazed at her with lifted brow. "What do you have in mind, Loralei?"
At first, she ignored his question and began working on his slacks. When she had them opened, she met his gaze and smiled. "Something…naughty."
"Naughty. Sounds terrifically kinky, but really, my love, I can't."
She nodded. "Yes you can. I'll show you."
Incredulously, he watched as she worked him out of the remainder of his clothes. What the hell, he thought as her tongue began at the tip of his big toe and moved upward at a snail's pace, just barely making contact with his flesh. As she progressed up the length of one leg, her tongue pressed against his skin in an unmistakable flicking motion. Is she licking me? She repeated the same motion on the other leg and slid her body upward as she progressed. She skipped over his aching groin and he wasn't sure if he were disappointed or relieved. Instead, her tongue made its wet licking way to his lower abdomen, up to his ribcage, and over to his nipples. He drew in a hissed breath as she bit each of them. He made a gesture toward her, but she grasped his wrist and slapped his arm back down to the bed.
"Loralei," he said, "what…"
"Don't speak, don't move, don't breathe," she said with a smile. "There are a few things here and there that I'd like to play with. Is that okay?"
He grinned wickedly. "Oh yeah."