A/N: I couldn't (or rather can't) remember what degree Amita was getting, so I wrote it in doctoral (please don't hurt me if I'm wrong)

Chapter 11

Two months later

"Amita Ramanujan, doctoral degree in applied mathematics" The announcer called as Amita walked across the stage. She shook Mr. Martin's (Calsci's president) hand, hugged the dean's hand and then hugged her advisor, whose eyes were shining with pride. "I present to you the class of 2006!" There were cheers and tears, shouts and cries, and a shower of graduation caps. After Amita hugged all her friends, she started scanning the crowd for either her family (her two cousins and their husbands) or Charlie. After a few moments she turned and discovered that her cousins and Charlie had found each other

"Hi Hetal, Nishad, Akuti, Nivrutti " Amita kissed each one in turn. She then turned to Charlie "Hello Dr. Eppes" Amita greeted giving him a brief hug

"Hi Amita, I was just telling your family how smart you really are and what a pleasure it was to have you as a student" Amita blushed slightly. It didn't matter that they were living together, she still blushed whenever he complimented her (especially when they were talking about intelligence).

"Yes. He had many good things to say" Hetal commented linking her arm in one of Amita's

"Very good. He even told us about the times you helped him with cases for his brother" Akuti added linking her arm in the other arm. The men were left to fend for themselves

"Nothing big. Just a few things with a computer"

"Still its more than I would be able to do" Nishad added smiling at his little cousin in law "Now, what do you say we go to your apartment for lunch? I haven't seen Anna in forever" Amita and Charlie both froze for a moment but Charlie recovered first

"I insist that you come over to my house. I was planning on surprising Amita with a barbeque that my father and brother are currently cooking at home; I was silly to think that her family wouldn't want to steal her for the afternoon"

"Oh well thank you" Hetal replied first seeming a little caught off guard but recovered quickly

"You're welcome. I have to run because well, I rode my bike here today and I need to get a head start if I want to be able to get back to the house before you do. Amita you know the way?" Charlie asked

"Yeah" Amita replied as confidently as she could but she felt a little unnerved. Her stuff was all over the house and she had given Charlie a ride here today

"See you soon. Call me when you're getting close" Charlie called as he started running towards the math building, looking around the whole time for Larry. As soon as he was far enough away he called home

"Eppes residence. Alan speaking" Alan spoke into the phone

"Dad, how much cooking do you have left to do?"

"None. We have plenty food, more then needed actually-"

"Good, because Amita's family found me and they're coming over"

"Oh then I guess it is good we cooked all the food"

"Yeah, it is. I'm calling because I need you or Don or both actually to um clean the house"

"Charlie, I'm not a maid" Alan growled into the phone. He was not cleaning up after his son.

"No, dad I didn't mean it that way. I don't care if the house is messy. I need to hide the things that are blatantly Amita's, like her bras that are drying in the bathroom"

"OH! Ok, me and Don will take care of that. When can we expect you?"

"Me, soon. Amita, I don't know. I'm catching a ride from Larry because well Amita couldn't have given me a ride to the graduation because she lives with Anna"

"Right" Alan said nodding despite the fact there was no way for Charlie top have seen him

"She's going to call when she gets close"

"Ok, we'll keep an ear out for the phone"

"Thanks"

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After some frantic explaining, a few apologies, and a little speeding. Charlie was home

"Dad, Don!" Charlie called into the house. Not getting a response, he made he way to the backyard. Opening the door, he found his brother and father relaxing on two of the chairs set out

"Oh good you're home" Don commented when he heard the door close

"Yeah, I beat Amita?"

"Mhmm" His father answered

"And everything that is blatantly Amita's is hidden?"

"All in neat piles in your room with little index cards saying what rooms they came from" Don said closing his eyes, visibly relaxing.

"Really?" Charlie asked surprised they went through so much effort

"No. All the stuff is in your room, stacked relatively neatly but that's about it. We didn't know how much time we had. We only finished about two minutes a-" But Alan never to finish because Crush started playing which meant Amita was calling

"Hey…yeah we're ready, we owe Don and my dad a HUGE thank you…ok see you in two minutes"

"Wow, guess it was a good thing that we ran" Don commented. And to think I had almost convinced dad to slow down, if we had they would have seen me with a gigantic pile of womanly clothes in my arms

"Are you ok?" Alan asked noting the slightly distressed look on his son's face

"I'm just thinking" Charlie said staring at the koi pond

"About what?" Don questioned. This must be serious. He never consults the depths of the koi pond for something light

"If we should tell Amita's family. I mean she's not my student anymore"

"Yeah but she's not your student as of today. If you told them that you're living together…"

"Not that we're living together. That we're dating and that she's thinking of moving in because I've asked her"

Don opened his mouth to reply but his answer was drowned out by the doorbell. Standing up to get the door Charlie couldn't help but think, here goes nothing.