So you missed these guys too! Yay! Thanks for all the review love for these two! I'm not going to say it makes me write faster, but it certainly is inspiring!

A couple of you mentioned that you forgot some of the characters. If you need a refresher the other stories are on this site, and on my blog.

Anyway, I hope you like!

Sookie

Eric was hiding something. I could almost smell it on him, after seven years. He also owed me a manuscript in two months, which he swore would be finished on time, but that I hadn't seen yet. I figured the two things were related.

However, as I walked into my office after a month away in a new power dress that Pam had insisted that I bought for my first day as acting director of the higher education division, whatever was going on with him went to the back of my mind. The dress was black, form fitting, and she said it made my breasts look like they meant business, whatever that meant. I let her dress me far too often, but she did have wonderful taste when it came to me, even if it wasn't her style. At all.

I'd worry about Eric later. Maybe when I got to go home to the Hamptons on the weekend. Today, I had bigger fish to fry, and I hadn't been so nervous about anything since my first days as an intern almost ten years earlier.

I was ambitious, sure, but recently that ambition was divided between my personal and professional lives. I wanted to be successful here, yes, but I also wanted my kids to read at the top of their class, and play well with others, and not run with scissors. Ceci would absolutely be a scissor runner.

I had no idea raising a female Northman would be so challenging. Ceci made Max look like a walk in the park. He was such a cool kid, really a lot like Eric in many ways, calm, honest, with a bit of a rough exterior, but secretly a cuddle lover. Ceci had cried for an hour when I'd left the night before, and when I'd checked in this morning, Eric said she ended up sleeping with him, sprawled out sideways across the bed.

I knew she kicked too, so I felt for him, while I was stretched out in our massive bed all alone. Don't get me wrong, I would have preferred him in bed too, but it was nice to have a night on my own now and then. I wasn't sure I was going to like a bunch of them all in a row this week, but we'd talk on the phone. We were terrible at phone sex though. Maybe I could talk them into coming into the city for a couple of days.

When I sat down at Sam's desk, my face instantly screwed up at the chaos before me. There were invoices that needed to be signed, costings that needed to be approved, most of them already signed by me, and a stack of unopened mail six inches high.

I had the feeling by the end of this, I was going to make him wish the heart attach had killed him.

I knew Sam was never good at organization, and I was obsessed with it. I spent the morning sorting through the ten thousand unread emails in his inbox, most of which were unimportant, and should have been deleted months ago. I was pleased to see that he always read mine though, even if he wasn't reading other stuff sent to him.

Niall, the president of the company stopped by around two. I'd completely lost track of time and skipped lunch, I realized, as he tapped on the door.

I glanced up from the pile of invoices and expenses I'd been going through. "Oh, hi."

He smiled at me. Niall had almost a bit of a magical quality at times, with his shiny blue eyes and translucent skin, and impeccable dress. Today he was in a very nice charcoal suit with a navy tie. He was also practically a legend in New York publishing, having signed some pretty well-known New York Times bestsellers in his day. If there was anything I was looking forward to with any of this, it was getting to pick his brain a bit. "Let's go get a drink."

If he hadn't been my boss's boss, I would have said I didn't have time, and it was the middle of the afternoon. However, he was, and we did have some things to discuss, mainly how long I was going to be doing this for. "Sure. Can we get something to eat too. I haven't had lunch."

"Of course." He smiled brightly, before cringing at Sam's desk. "That's a lot of stuff."

I nodded, fighting the urge to make an inbox crack. "Yea, I guess a lot can pile up in a week."

We ended up at the King Cole in the St. Regis, which was one of the coolest bars in the city, in my opinion anyway. It felt very Mad Men, and I was glad I'd dressed up for work, even thought it had been wasted for most of the day on the dust bunnies in Sam's office. Niall ordered a scotch, and I had a Bloody Mary and a cob salad, even though I really wanted a hamburger.

Niall swished his glass a bit. I knew nothing about scotch. Eric knew some things, but I never listened when he tried to explain it to me. I was usually slightly drunk during those conversations and he was kind of a distraction in himself. "So everything is going well?"

I nodded, slightly hesitantly. "Yea, I think so."

"No one knows what they're doing when they first start a job. Just act like you do, and it'll be fine."

Now that was interesting advice. "I think I'll be alright. I really hate clutter, and Sam doesn't seem to have much of an issue with it. He's probably going to hate me when he gets back and I've ruined his careful piles." I smiled.

He took a rather large gulp of scotch. "That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."

I countered with a large gulp of my Bloody Mary. "Oh?"

He leaned back in his chair. "You know, we've been doing some of the best books we've ever done since you took over editorial. Signings are up, we're really well reviewed, and sales are good. We're even up on the whole, slightly, when the industry is down. But, I think we could do better. When everyone else is down, and we're not, it means there's room for growth once we pull out of this economic funk, and signs point to that."

I smiled politely, having another drink. "Well that sounds good."

"Sam's holding your division back. He's sloppy, and he has a terrible nose for business. His marketing manager, Luna has been complaining about him for years, and Calvin's been working his ass off in sales to make up for his shortcomings there."

My eyes went a bit wide. "I had no idea."

"I'm sure if you think back on it, you did. You're only as strong as your team, and I'll admit, Sam picked a good team, but I think he's the weakest player. You've seen the chaos in his office. His reports to me are sloppy, and he's never on time with anything."

I kind of knew what Niall was getting at, but it wasn't something I wanted to know. "So what are you proposing?"

He finished his scotch. "I don't know. I know he's your boss, and you're a loyal person, but there might be some changes coming. This heart attack happened at very inopportune time. That's all I'm going to say for now. I trust you'll keep this to yourself, and consider this an opportunity to learn all you can about his job."

Fuck, fuck, fuck. "Oh, okay," I said, instead, a hesitant smile on my face. I didn't want Sam's job. "You know, Sam's always been a good boss to me."

"Well, it's nice that you think so highly of him, but he makes your job a lot harder than it has to be. I've seen you at work until seven or eight at times, and I know you have two small children at home. I also know that you're married to one of our most important authors, and that managing his ego is probably almost a full-time job in itself, never mind getting him to bring his book in on time. I think a good work life balance is important." He caught the waiter's eye for another drink. "Frankly, I think Sam looks a lot harder at work than he actually is. I think, in time, someone with some ambition could really turn a good division into a great one. Just think about that a bit."

I furrowed my brow slightly, really not liking the way this was going. "Okay, I will."

"Excellent." He smiled brightly, like he hadn't just told me that my boss was on his last legs both personally and professionally. "So, I was thinking your husband should think about doing a trade book. Maybe an examination of sex and New York city. With great pictures. I think it could sell really well."

I politely listened to him ramble on a bit about that, thinking that there was no way Eric would have time to write anything if this job got dumped on my lap. I made it back to the office around 3:30 p.m., and started going through my inbox for the day.

Max called me around four. I grinned genuinely for the first time all day when I heard his little voice on the speaker phone. "Mom?"

"Hey you." Yep, perma grin. He was such a great kid.

"Dad's driving, but he wanted me to tell you that we're getting fish and chips today because he knows you don't like them, and that we're going to come home on Thursday. And that we hope you are having a good day at work."

"Thanks kiddo. How's your sister?"

"Good. She coloured for most of the afternoon, so Dad and I got some work done." I wasn't exactly sure what work was for Max, but he took most things quite seriously. "We're going to watch How to Train Your Dragon later."

I loved Eric in daddy mode. It was really hard to imagine him like he was when I first met him, when he was with the kids. I smiled to myself, knowing that he'd be just as enthralled as they were about a movie with dragons and Vikings. "Good. I miss you guys. Tell your dad to call me later."

I stayed until seven, before calling it quits, due to my extreme hunger. A quick call to Charm Thai and I was on my way. I beat the delivery man home by minutes, before practically devouring the bag in the doorway. I was halfway through my pad thai when I realized I wasn't alone.

Stella. Using my washing machine. I walked through the house to find her sitting on top of the machine with a tattered copy of The Joy of Sex on her knee.

That lived in our room, on a very high bookshelf. "What are you doing here?"

She flipped the book shut. "Washer is broken at our place."

"Where'd you get that?" I pointed to the book.

She shrugged. "I didn't think you'd be around. I didn't know you were in the city."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. Like most Northmans, Stella had boundary issues. "So it's okay to go through our room, when you don't think we're around?"

"Sorry. I didn't think it would be a problem. Is everything okay, Sookie?" She cocked her head at me.

"Busy day. I just need a bit of quiet time." I rubbed my eyes. "Eric and the kids will be back on Thursday. I don't suppose you want to see your brother and sister for a few hours on Friday night?"

She nodded. "Well, since I'm using your washer and taking some chicken from your freezer for dinner, I guess I could do that. Are you going out or staying in?"

"I don't know. I hadn't thought that far ahead." I leaned against the doorframe. I just really wanted to talk to him about work for a while. I really didn't feel great about any of this with Sam. "Can you take them to your place, or out for dinner?"

She looked irritated, but agreed anyway. Stella had her moments but she was mostly helpful. Probably because we were very helpful to her. "Yea, I can do that. I haven't seen them much this summer I guess. Maybe we'll go to a movie."

"That would be great."

She eyed me curiously. "No problem. You want some pot or something, Sookie? Take the edge off? I could have Johan bring some by."

I smiled and shook my head. "I just need to sleep."

"Sure, sure. Another time. I have to say though," she picked up The Joy of Sex, "I'm a little disturbed by the pages that are flagged in this."

"Eric uses that for research. You don't have to be disturbed about anything." I winked at her, and walked out into the kitchen. Yea, we'd pulled it out a time or two, but there wasn't really anything in there that an intelligent person couldn't figure out on their own.

After devouring the rest of my food, along with a hearty glass of red wine, and waving Stella out, I curled up in bed with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I'd been trying to read all summer. Ten minutes in, Eric called.

"Hello, Lover."

His voice still made my toes curl. "Hey. Kids in bed?"

"Yes. Impressed?"

I was. It was before nine. "Very. Work sucks."

He was quiet for a minute. "Oh?"

"We'll talk about it when you're here. I had a rather ominous lunch with my new boss. Stel said she'd take the kids on Friday for a while."

Another minute of silence. We were terrible on the phone. "I may come down on Wednesday. I have a meeting with Appius Occella Thursday morning that we should discuss."

That didn't sound good. "Is everything okay?" Eric was such a superstar at work. I never figured he'd have any issues to discuss.

However, Appius was a first class asshole.

"It's fine. Just a couple of things I need to sort out for fall. Don't worry about it."

When people said that, it automatically meant that it was time to worry. "Well, I'm worried now. Is this why you've been weird?"

More silence. "I'm not sure what you mean."

I crossed my arms, even though he wasn't there to see it. "Yes you are."

"I was hoping it would go away, and I found out the day you found out about Sam. It's not going away."

"What's not going away?" I noticed my voice go up an octave. This was shaping up to be a stellar week.

"I don't want to do this on the phone."

"Is it that big of a deal?" And now I was squeaking.

"Can we Skype at least? Or I can come down tomorrow?"

"Well I'd like to sleep tonight, so I guess we should Skype." I felt sick, absolutely sick. Eric earned a hell of a lot more than me. There was no way they could fire him. He was really well known, got great student reviews, somehow, and had tenure. No way. He could sue the pants off them if they tried without cause. Unless he'd done something terrible. Shit. What the hell had he done?

"Go get set up, and I'll call you in five."

I grabbed my laptop, and settled in, trying not to let my mind swim with all the awful things that Eric could have done, in order to have problems with NYU. I knew he wasn't capable of doing a lot of the things my mind came up with, but I also knew that you didn't actually have to do things to be accused of them sometimes. Academia was an awful, backbitey place, much like I'd learned publishing was today. When I heard the obnoxious Skype ring, I answered immediately. "Tell me everything, please."

He blinked at me on the computer screen. "Hi to you too."

"You've kind of got me freaked out here." I crossed my arms so he could see this time. "What's going on?"

He sighed. "Ocella wants everyone with tenure to do a semester abroad. He wants to send me to the Sorbonne."

I looked at him deadpan. Paris? Seriously? "You can't go to the Sorbonne. You have a family. Little kids. A wife with a full-time job."

Another sigh. "I explained all that, Sookie. I've been explaining it over email and by phone, and to everyone that will listen for a week now. It comes down to this. If I go, I'm Chair of the Department for a three year term. If I refuse, then I'm stuck teaching early morning and night classes until I switch schools or retire."

I narrowed my eyes at the screen, pissed. "He can't do that."

"He's got everyone's approval on this. They're trying to pitch NYU as an international school, make it more like Columbia, with the international students paying the big tuition. If I was Chair, I wouldn't have to teach. I could be home by five every day, find time to research, revise my book, maybe see my kids. It's a semester, which is sounding better and better when I think of the alternative."

I knew, looking at him, that he was struggling. "I don't like this."

"I don't like this either, believe me. I've been kicking up a real stink, to no avail." He gave me a pouty face. "I'm sorry."

I wanted to be irritated for him not telling me right away, but part of me was grateful that he hadn't dumped that on me until he knew for sure. I was not happy about this, and it was really happening. I really didn't need to be worrying about maybes, not with my work the way it was. "Do you have any details, or is this just a hypothetical semester?"

"That I'll confirm on Thursday. The Chair position is up in April though, so it has to be soon for that to work."

"Like for September? What the fuck, Eric? He can't send you away on three weeks notice."

"I'd have to volunteer. It would get it out of the way, and then for three years we wouldn't have to worry about after school programs, or a babysitter, or anything. Well, we could worry about a babysitter, but when we wanted to do stuff. I know it sucks, but long-term, it's really the best option."

It sounded like a terrible option. I felt my eyes well up with tears. "I guess we'll talk more about it when you're here."

He gave me a half smile. "We'll come up tomorrow, if you can handle us. I'm really sorry about this. Believe me, it's not what I had planned at all."

"I'd like that," I choked out. "I should go to bed. Busy day tomorrow."

He furrowed his brow. I really wished he was here. "Sookie. We'll figure it out. Please don't cry."

I wiped my eyes, feeling kind of dumb for crying over Skype. "I just, well, I, we haven't been apart for more than a week since we've known each other. And who would I complain about the kids with that wouldn't judge me for it?"

He smiled. "Pam? Or me, over Skype? Bill?"

He got a smile out of me with that. "We'll talk tomorrow. I'll be home by six."

"I'll have the kids fed and bathed by then. We'll have a nice evening when they go to bed." He smiled. "Sook, it'll be okay. We'll make it okay."

I knew we would. It just wasn't going to be easy.