Nick's classes went smoothly without any hitch. He had stepped into the role of Nicholas de Brabant, French Professor, effortlessly. Of course, he got a little hungry after the first hour but a couple swigs from his handy flask helped. Besides, his century long fast had had one plus, Nick's control was now near perfect. In fact, he had better control then most of the Elders who were thousands of years older then he was.

Nick shuffled some of his papers and jammed them into a folder.

"I need to start bringing a briefcase" he muttered to himself.

Nick stood and stretched, it was nearly midnight. He had been busy grading the preliminary test he had given his students. It was always a good idea to know what knowledge of French they already had. Of course, it had not made him any friends, but it was amazing how easily he had resumed to role of Professor.  Tomorrow he had a European history class, too bad there was not enough demand for French classes to have more then two a week. He enjoyed throwing in archaic expressions to boggle his students.

An imp indeed! Nick chuckled softly to himself. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his connection with Natalie. She was excited and a little frustrated, Natalie was complaining to the general manager at her new shop, apparently the chairs they had ordered did not match the rest of the décor. Nick opened his eyes and shook his head. "I think Nat is enjoying my bank account way too much." He sighed softly to himself. Then he put the finishing touches on his last paper and pushed his chair away from his desk. Stretching again, Nick stood and grabbed his coat then stalked noiselessly out into the hallway.

"Professor!"

Nick turned around to see Darius running down the hall, his case, filled with papers again, was clutched protectively against his chest and his coat was trailing behind him.

"Darius, how nice to see you again, what are you doing here this late?"

"Oh, I never sleep anyway, better to get some extra work done. You know I never caught your name!"

"Oh, excuse me, I am Nicholas." Nick again gave a lordly bow.

"Nicholas, is Nick okay?"

"Certainly. Do you need some help?"

Darius was balancing his case in one hand and attempting to get on his coat with the other. Nick could only imagine what it would be like if he had to help organize that mess again. 

"Yes! Please."

Nick grabbed the case, just as it started to fall.

"Nice reflexes Nick"

"Thank you."  Nick smiled politely at Darius.

Now free of his extra burden Darius quickly slung on his heavy coat and retrieved to case from Nick.

"Where are you headed now, Nick?"

Nick concentrated on his link with Natalie and decided it was best to leave her alone for the time being. After only a small hesitation Nick replied,

"Actually, I have no place in particular to go, I was thinking of just heading home."

"No! It's too early to go home. Why don't you come with me and we can catch up on an overdue dinner, maybe I can give you a few pointers after your first day on the job."

"Thank you for the invitation but I am not really hungry."

"Fine, you don't have to eat but please come. No one I know is as much a night person as I am. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to who is coherent after midnight."

Nick couldn't help it, he found himself smiling again. "Yes, you could say I am something of a night person. I will come, just as long as you don't expect me to eat anything."