So everyone is worried about Dawn? You have that little faith in Professor Sex? That kind of breaks my heart! Thanks so much for reading, and keep the great comments coming!

Also, playlist link is on the last chapter if you're interested.

Eric

Dawn, worst lay of my entire life, but probably the best female friend I'd ever had was standing at my door.

Wow. What were the odds of that?

I hugged her back. I'd never had so little sexual chemistry with anyone, and I realized, as we hugged that I still didn't, despite the fact that she was gorgeous.

I'd met Dawn a year into my PhD at UCLA. She was studying psychology too, specializing, in, well, oddly enough, sex. We had the same adviser.

Of course, I'd made it my mission to get in her pants from day one.

Fourteen years earlier...

"Just sleep with me Dawn. You won't regret it," I whispered across the library table. "I'm huge, and I've been told I'm very good at what I do."

She crossed her arms and looked at me, irritated, but with a little smirk hidden under the surface. "Will you stop bugging me about it if we just do it so we can get some serious work done?"

I sat up and nodded, with a smirk of my own. "Of course."

She stood up, stuffing her copy of the Kama Sutra in her bag. "Then meet me at my place in a couple of hours. You're bringing the condoms, and if I don't get off first, I'm never fucking you again."

I could see to that. "Fine."

Despite our best efforts, four hours later, neither of us had gotten off. Finally, she just pulled herself off me, and glared. "What the fuck?"

"Why is it so bad?" I whispered, pulling myself against the headboard, irritated with my cock.

She crossed her arms over her lacklustre chest. Why the hell did I think it was lacklustre? It was proportional, nice nipples. She looked at me critically. "Are you gay? Like, do you think you could be in denial?"

I shook my head, looking down at my now flaccid cock with shame. "No. If I was going to be gay, I'd just be gay. I'm a sex researcher. What about you?"

"Yep, I'm a sex researcher too, remember? While I don't mind a bit of pussy from time to time, women are fucking impossible. If the bible thumpers were looking for a legitimate way to scare people straight, they should do an ad with a jumbo box of tampons that said 'Periods Sync'. That's all they'd need."

I shook my head, really quite confused. "Why can't we just have sex and get off? I've been in this state of semi hard for like an hour now. This has never happened before."

We both sat there pondering it. Finally, Dawn spoke. "Are we tired? I'd say I'm not in the mood, but I'm always in the mood. I'm at my sexual peak. I could have sex like several times a day right now, and I'm getting my period next week, so I'm horny as shit, or I thought I was, anyway."

I sighed. "Do you want to sleep on it, maybe try again tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Yea, maybe we should do that. Same time tomorrow?"

"Sure."

Five times later, we agreed never to try again, and never to speak of the sex we had. It was just that terrible. One bright spot though, was that she figured out what to do her PhD thesis on.

Sexual chemistry.

The other bright spot was that for the first time, I actually had a female friend. One that I didn't want to fuck.

Ever again.

We stayed in touch for a bit when I was in New York and she was in LA, but as time went on, we drifted apart.

One thing was sure though. If anyone was ever going to give me a run for my money when it came to being successful, it was Dawn. She was absolutely brilliant.

And now she was at the Sorbonne. In hindsight, I should have done a quick department check to see if anyone I knew was here, but I'd been so distracted at the thought of leaving that I hadn't bothered.

We sat down, her on the couch, and me on on of the tiny kitchen chairs while the water boiled for tea. "I'd offer you wine, but I haven't gone grocery shopping yet. What are you doing here? And how did you know I was here?"

She snorted. "Because Eric Northman, I've kept very close tabs on you for all these years, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to swoop in for the kill." She looked at me deadpan. "I teach here. You took my intro class over, and I got stuck with Psyc 101. I got stuck running around finding you an apartment two weeks ago, because I'm co-chair and apparently that's part of my job."

She still had that Texas drawl. It was familiar, and kind of nice. "Oh. Sorry about the intro class. Good apartment though."

She shrugged. "I thought it might get you laid. You get the great opportunity to come to Paris on a whim, and I get to teach a bunch of disinterested seventeen year olds. I think I must have done something terrible in a past life." Her eyes went wide, as she noticed my ring, which I'd been absently twisting. "You're married? Seriously?"

My eyes went to her ring, which was absolutely massive. "I see you are too. Seriously?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yea. That's how I ended up here. I followed the best sex of my life from Texas, and eight years later, he finally decided to propose. But back to you. What?"

I got up and pulled a picture of Sookie and the kids from the summer in the Hamptons off the fridge and handed it to her. "She's the editor on my textbook." And the love of my life. I smiled just thinking about her.

Dawn took the picture and held it between her hands, a huge smile on her face. "And she lets you around her nieces and nephews? Doesn't she know what a pervert you are?"

I snorted at her. "Those are my kids, Max and Ceci."

She held it a little closer. "Wow. They really are. I must say, Eric Northman, you've blown my mind."

I got up and filled the teapot. "What about you? Kids?"

She laughed. "No, we have a French Bulldog and a life. Hoyt travels for work a lot, and we despise children."

She handed me the picture back. "They're kind of the orgasm of life, Dawn. I have to admit, I had a time when I was skeptical, but they're really amazing."

"Well you're narcissistic, so children are a natural progression for you I suppose. The wife though, I'm surprised probably most at that." She smiled, as I handed her a cup of tea.

I sipped mine. It was very English, which was kind of odd, considering where we were. "It's been almost eight years. I didn't want to come here. I'm going to miss so much in four months."

Dawn's jaw dropped. "That's not what we were told."

We kind of looked at each other for a minute. "What were you told?"

"That you demanded a semester abroad, and because you're such a big deal, they had to give it to you."

I shook my head. "Not even close. The head of my department decided that everyone with tenure needed more international experience. It was mandatory, and I was told if I went now, then I could be chair in the spring. Then I can actually see my kids grow up a bit."

She shook her head. "It's amazing how priorities change. I assumed you were the same old demanding Eric, tired of American girls and wanting to get some French tail. I was actually thinking that some things never changed."

I gave her a smile. "A lot of things change."

She clasped her hands together in her lap. "You'll have to have dinner with me and Hoyt sometime. Maybe next week."

I nodded. "I'd like that. It's nice to know someone here. What does Hoyt do?"

Her mouth turned up into a little smile as she thought about him. "Art dealer. We grew up ten minutes from one another, but his mother is Parisian. How strange is that?"

"In smalltown Texas?"

She laughed. "I know, right?"

"My wife is from Louisiana. Her drawl is a little different from yours."

Dawn grinned at me. "Your face lights up when you talk about her."

"Yours with this Hoyt fellow, too."

She nodded. "He's a good man. One of a kind, really. On that note though, I should get back to him."

I watched as she pulled her slim frame up off the tiny couch. "Will I see you at work?"

She picked up her purse. "We're sharing an office, asshole. We all share a giant office."

"How European." I smirked. "Until tomorrow then."

Sookie

I met Bill outside the polar bear cages, looking more relaxed than I'd seen him in a while, despite the fact that Charlie and Zoey were practically dancing for his attention, and as expected, Selah had skipped out. Max and Ceci were far more subdued, Ceci's hand in mine and Max on my other side. At seven, we didn't hold hands any more. It wasn't cool to hold your mom's hand.

I greeted Bill with a hug. "Hey you."

He nodded. "Hey yourself. So Paris, huh?"

I punched him in the arm, as he wiggled his eyebrows. "I'm sure his Paris will be very different than our Paris. For starters, he planned his trip."

He pulled back, feigning stung. "Ouch. And I never surprised you with anything again."

I snorted. "Oh yea. Nothing. Ever. Anyway, yea, he left yesterday morning early. I think he'll be back for Thanksgiving."

"They're assholes for making him do that," Bill mumbled. He was good about watching his language. Not that he was a big swearer anyway. "Being a professor should be like any other job, where you go, do your time, and that's that. No crazy trips and wild expectations, especially once you have tenure. They're lucky he didn't tell them to pound sand and start applying to other schools."

"He wants to be Chair, so he can work regular hours. He was promised that if he does this. Max is kind of mad at him I think."

Bill glanced at Max. "Let me talk to him about that. Fathers and sons are weird." He shook his head. "He should have been head of that department by now."

I smiled at Bill's affinity for my husband. Who would have thought he'd ever be putting in a good word in for him with our seven year old? How times had changed. "I'm sure that's the next step."

He shook his head, a small smile on his face since he knew a bit about how Eric's revenge mind worked. "I'm sure it is."

We had a nice afternoon, he and I with the kids. It was interesting to think about how far we'd come. I told him about work, and he listened intently, which was really nice too. I was happy that he was so into Selah, even though I didn't really like her, and her kids seemed pretty into him, as was Max. I noticed him pull him aside a few minutes before we went our separate ways, and give him a 'Your dad didn't want to go, and be strong for your mother' chat.

I hoped that would be what it took for him to talk to Eric on Skype later tonight. I didn't think he'd handle another night of rejection very well. Max had always been quite close to Bill in his own way, especially with everything that happened with Mira, so I hoped he'd listen to him. He was the first kid Bill ever liked.

We hugged goodbye at the southwest corner of the park. "It'll be fine Sook. I never thought I'd be saying this, but he's a good man, when it comes to you anyway. And the work stuff? That's child's play for you. You're like a legend in this town." He smiled warmly.

Bill always knew how to make me feel better about things in a few words. That had never changed. "I'll have you guys over for dinner sometime. Well, we'll order pizza." Four kids was too many kids to try and get to do anything but eat pizza orderly. We usually stuck them in the back yard with paper plates to minimize mess.

He nodded. "I'll be in touch. Call if you need anything. I've got a light courseload this term. Next term is hell, but this term is two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"I'll keep that in mind. Want to edit a philosophy reader yet?"

He tapped his chin. "Maybe. Send me an email and we'll have coffee on your press."

I shrugged. "I don't really do that anymore."

He shook his head, a smile on his face. "Then I'm not interested."

"I'll email you."

I threw together some butter chicken for the kids, after picking up some Naan bread on the way home. They were being surprisingly well behaved, but then again Max always was, and I suspected Ceci acted up for Eric a lot of the time because she liked the attention, like the little Northman she was. Also, both of them were a bit weird with Eric gone, so that may have had something to do with it. Both kids ate all their dinner after the day spent walking outside, and curled up in front of Up afterwards.

I took a minute to breathe. I wasn't looking forward to work tomorrow, especially since it was seven days until Sam was scheduled to come back. Also, Niall's replacement for me had arrived, and was going to be in checking things out, under the guise that was going to be an acquisitions editor, instead of their boss. I hated training people. Hated it.

We talked to Eric around six our time, which was midnight his. Figuring out this time difference thing was going to be a challenge. Luckily, as he told me, he'd be teaching afternoon and evening classes, so being up a bit late wasn't a problem on top of everything else.

I managed to convince Max to Skype with him too, and I left the room but stayed within earshot.

Eric tried to put on a perky voice. "Hey, Max."

I didn't have to see Max to know that his jaw was set in that way that he did it when he was upset. "Hi Dad."

I could hear the strain in Eric's voice. "How was the zoo?"

"Okay."

How much could you really push a seven year old? "I miss you, buddy."

I heard Max's voice crack a bit. "I wish you didn't go."

And then Eric's sigh. "Max, you have no idea how much I wish that too. We just have to get through this, though, and then I'll be back, and everything will go back to how it was."

"It's a long time, Dad."

"I'm still here if you need me," Eric choked. "I'm sorry I'm not really there."

"It's okay. Bill says that you're doing this for us, whatever that means."

Eric's voice lightened up a bit. "Bill said that?"

Max's did too, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "He said I have to take care of Mom. That I'm the man while you're gone."

"I already told you that."

"Well Bill said it too." He smiled at me, as I poked my head around the corner. "Will you bring be back something cool?"

"Sure. What do you want?"

Max tapped his chin. "French fries?"

He laughed. "I can probably do better than French fries. Grab your Mom will you, and we'll talk tomorrow. Don't let Ceci forget about me."

"She can't even remember to brush her teeth," Max giggled. "But I'll tell her, and I'll tickle her for you."

I could hear the smile in his voice. "Thanks buddy."

I slid in front of the laptop a minute, unable to control the smile that came over my face when I saw him. "Hey you."

A big grin came over his face. "You looked tanned. Good day with Bill?"

I nodded. "Yea, he was really nice about you going actually. Said that NYU sucked, everything I wanted to hear."

Eric nodded. "Good. So, I had an odd visitor today. Have I ever mentioned Dawn? Dawn Green?"

I thought about it. "I don't think so. Dawn?" He hadn't even been there a day and ex girlfriends were coming out of the woodwork? I tried hard to keep from fuming at something I had no control over.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Worst sex of my life? It never came up?"

Now that was ringing a bell. A wonderful, wonderful bell, when compared to the idea that Eric had met up with an old lover that he enjoyed fucking. "Wait. Maybe. Refresh my memory."

"We were PhD candidates at UCLA together. Had terrible, terrible sex, before realizing we had no chemistry. We had the same advisor. I think you've seen pictures of her. Long dark hair, tall."

"Gorgeous?"

He put his finger up. "Ah, but no sexual chemistry. And we tried. God, did we try." He shook his head. "Anyway, she's here. I took over a couple of her classes. She came by to leave me directions for Wednesday."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh yea? How's she look?"

Eric smiled at me goofily. "Happily married, just like me. Please don't be like that."

I was being silly. He had lots of female colleagues. Probably lots of female colleagues that he'd slept with as well. "I won't be. I trust you."

He smirked at me. "And if I was going to cheat Lover, it wouldn't be with someone that felt like I was fucking an aunt. Not that I'm going to cheat, especially with that Fleshlight on the way."

I smiled, and then laughed a bit, thinking of him with the Fleshlight. At least we were still laughing. "Do you want to try, well, you know, later?"

He nodded. "Yes. I do. Call when you can. I'll be around, getting my class stuff sorted out."

"Let me bathe the kids, and get them in bed, and I'll be right with you, well, in a couple of hours anyway."

Because I'd tuckered the kids out at the park, they were in bed after a story or two. I told Max I'd drive him to school while Eric was gone whenever I could, and Stella had promised to be here by 7:30 a.m. so I could drop him off and get to work by 8:30 a.m..

After pouring myself a glass of wine, I curled up in bed with my laptop and called Eric back. I smiled when he accepted the call, shirtless and ready to go.

He chuckled at my reaction. "It's really warm here. I wasn't sitting here, shirtless in anticipation."

I put the computer down, and pulled off my shirt. I laughed as the smile spread across Eric's face. "Sorry, just catching up."

"I love your breasts," he murmured. "God, I miss them already, and your nipples are already hard."

I giggled, resisting the urge to cross my arms. "I'm excited, even though I have no idea how we'll do this."

"I wish we were better at phone sex. At least we can get visuals with this."

Eventually, we got in a groove, and it was actually pretty hot. Kind of like watching porn, only we were watching each other instead. I didn't usually enjoy Eric jerking off, but there was something about him doing what I told him to that was pretty hot. And likewise for me.

We both finished with minimal fuss and muss, smiles on our faces. "We can do this for another few months. You'll be back late December, and then for a week in November. It's really only three months."

He nodded, a smile on his face. "Yea, that sounds even better. Three months."

I smiled, shooing Lily away. "We can do this."

"Please don't think anything about Dawn. I swear Sookie, I'd never give you anything else to stress about if I didn't have to, especially now, but I didn't want to not tell you she was here."

I got that, I did. "I know, Baby. It's just hard, you being there."

"I'm here, so I can be around all the time. We just need to keep telling ourselves that."

We said our goodnights a little while later, and the kids weren't the only ones exhausted after a busy day outside. I was out in minutes.

The mornings were as chaotic as they were with Eric around, and I almost had a panic attack when Stella was ten minutes later. I resisted the urge to snap at her, since she was doing this as a favour. Ceci hardly noticed me leaving and when I shuffled Max into the car almost on time, he looked at me, a huge smile on his face. "You look nice today, Mom."

I looked down, grateful that I'd avoided spilling oatmeal on my dress. "Thanks. You excited about your first day of school?"

It was September now. I wasn't sure where the summer had gone.

He nodded. "Yea. I like school, and it'll be nice to have a break from Ceci."

Oh, Max and Ceci. Someday they'd get each other. "Oh, I think she's getting better. She's growing up."

He nodded. "I think she is. Mom, is Dad really coming back?"

I smiled, sad that Max thought that, even for a second. "Yea, he is. I'll tell you what. We'll start a calendar when we get home tonight, and we can cross the days off together. How's that sound?"

His eyes lit up. "That sounds good. Can I cross the days off?"

I shrugged. "Sure. Ceci won't understand, so we'll do it."

We parked and I walked Max in to school, and he tugged at my arm so I'd bend down for a kiss. We'd been getting reports from teachers since kindergarten that he was a terrible flirt, and that didn't surprise me at all. He was learning from the master, after all.

It was nice and quiet when I got into the office. I'd started to make a point of getting in a little early because it was the most productive time of the day for me, before everyone started launching questions at me. It was somehow almost ten when Niall, and a impeccably dressed, rather handsome man knocked on the glass door to my office. I opened it, and without a word, they both came in and shut the door, and sat down in the two seats in front of my desk.

Niall had a huge smile on his face. I hoped he'd just hired a new drinking buddy, so maybe I'd be off the hook for afternoon cocktails. "Susannah, this is Crispin."

I'd seen Crispin's resume. It was quite impressive. I extended my hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

His eyes sparkled as he took me in, and firmly shook my hand. "Pleasure is all mine, Luv. Looking forward to working with you. I've heard raving about you from Niall for weeks now."

Luv. I would have been irritated with his word choice, but his accent was divine. I wouldn't mind listening to him talk my ear off all day as Niall had warned might happen. I quirked an eyebrow at Niall. "All good raving I hope?"

He smiled broadly at me. "Absolutely, Darling. Now, we just need to get Merlotte out the door, so you two can start turning this place around."

Crispin's eyes met mine, and I was caught his gaze for a brief second. His eyes were this rich shade of brown, and I smiled to myself, feeling a bullshit joke that I instinctively knew I'd pull out in the near future, as he leaned back in his chair. "I think we'll be a force to be reckoned with. Call me Bones Luv, most everyone does."

He was cocky, that was clear as soon as he walked in the door, but if anyone knew how to deal with cocky, it was me. I gave him a small smile. "It's Sookie, then. Not Luv."

Niall chuckled, and rose to his feet. "Well, I'll leave you two to it then. Drinks at two?"

Bones waved him out. "See you then."

It was going to be an interesting afternoon. The first of many to come.