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Two weeks later...

Sookie

"Oh, hell no." I crossed my arms over my chest, and raised an eyebrow at my husband.

"Sook, please," he pleaded. "It's just lunch. Just have a conversation."

"It's not just a conversation. It's me, having to listen to that idiot and his ridiculous ideas, and then turn them into something that sells a thousand copies minimum. It's unethical."

I'd known this was coming. Eric had been weird for a week, and kept dropping casual mentions about Russell Edgington into our conversations. He'd never really come up before. At least not in the respectful way that Eric was talking about him now. He'd also been super helpful tonight, bathing the kids and bringing me in a glass of wine before he dropped the book bomb.

Eric shook his head. "He's got his PhD. I know you can publish anyone with a PhD."

"And two clues to rub together. Besides, I don't do that anymore." I hadn't signed a book since Ce was a baby, and even then, it was only because the author was a big deal.

"You do it with me."

I rolled my eyes. "I do a lot of things with you. It doesn't mean I want to do them with everyone."

"I'll get you off with no reciprocation for a week. Two weeks." He waggled his eyebrows. "And I'll do the dishes."

I groaned. Those things sounded good, but he was being ridiculous. "You're crossing a lot of personal and professional boundaries here. I can't publish a book on diogenes syndrome. There are no courses."

"But there's that hoarders show. Diogenes is all the rage."

I leaned back against the counter, trying to not be swayed by the devilish look in his eyes. "Is NYU going to offer a course?"

"It's unlikely. It could be used in an intro course as a supplement, and you'd get some trade sales out of it, I'm sure. He's quite well know. He was on Dateline."

Dateline. He'd been on Dateline for three seconds. We'd mocked his moth eaten tweed. "He'd have to be on Oprah for me to be interested."

Eric shrugged. "That's no so farfetched. Wouldn't you rather have the book started before he's on Oprah?"

I snorted. "He's not going to be on Oprah. The man is an idiot. And a hoarder. You've seen his office." It was appalling. He saved every newspaper, every business card. I'd made the mistake of wandering in there one day early on in my career, and been stuck for the better part of an hour, while he talked about pet hoarding, which was appalling in itself. I'd wanted to die. The smell alone, musty books and old sandwiches was almost enough to do me in. "I can't in good conscience publish his book. I don't think he'd write a good one."

Eric looked at me deadpan. "No offence, Lover, but you publish lots of shit. You did a book that sold twelve copies, if I remember correctly."

I glared at him. "I didn't sign that. I'd have to take it through the proper channels. If people hated it at the review stage, I wouldn't do it. And I'm not doing it anyway. We don't have a psychology editor at the moment, so it would fall to Bones." Hallow, the psychology editor was the first person I fired when I'd been promoted. And it had felt incredible. She'd been a real cunt.

Eric rolled his eyes. "I don't want him in my department."

I snorted. "But you want your wife to go flirt it up with some old stinky hoarder and do a book that I don't want to. It's Bones or nothing. And it's not your department. At least not yet."

"I need Russell on my good side, Sook. He's been rambling on about wanting to publish his forth year course notes forever. I think if someone approached him, he'd feel honoured and grateful, and I don't know if Bones doing it would go as far as you doing it, since we are married and do share a last name." He gave me a pouty face. "Please?"

He was right. He'd make the connection if I emailed. I got it. I did. And we had signed worse books. But I hated Russell. "Here's the deal. I'll email him, make my excuses for not coming myself and tell him Bones will be in. And you can accompany Bones, so the link is there."

I'd spent an afternoon with Bones after Christmas, and we'd talked through the events of Christmas Eve. At the end of it, I'd felt quite bad for him, even though he was a douche to Eric. But Eric was a douche to him too. And Annette was a psycho. Professionally, Bones and I were good. I wasn't going to be his best friend or anything out side of work, and I understood Eric's feelings on the subject, but we worked well together, and that meant a lot.

He groaned. "I hate Bones."

I shrugged. "I hate Russell Edgington. It's Bones' job to do this. Take it or leave it. It's a stretch anyway." It wasn't really a stretch. It was probably a growing area, but I was going to make damn sure that Eric didn't make a habit of using me like this. I knew it was ultimately for us, to get Appius out of our lives and Eric in a better place, but I didn't like it. I think what bothered me most was that this situation had made Eric a bit desperate. It was very out of character for him.

"Fine. But tell him it doesn't change anything, and don't tell him why he's doing it. I don't want him knowing our business."

I rolled my eyes. "Yea, not everyone at work needs to know how juvenile you academics can be. Not that they don't know anyway." We had a lot of meetings that digressed to oddball professor story time. As much as I tried to keep them in line, it was usually very amusing.

He shot me a look. "I'm being very grown up about this. Remember, I'm seeing a lawyer."

"I'm just teasing." I poked his side. "How's the overheard on campus page?"

"Seventy-two posts. All more sordid than the last." We'd left Johan out of it, instead opting for an undergrad student that Eric had a bit of a relationship with that had complained about Appius' attentions in the past. Eric didn't even have to ask him. He'd simply mentioned that someone had the Sorbonne had taken someone down by writing on the overheard on campus board, and Alexi's eyes had lit up. I didn't want to know why he wanted to bring him down, and I had the feeling I didn't want to know.

Two weeks later and the rest was dirty academic history. With Eric's newly launched lawsuit, and a serious of academics in various stages of their careers coming forward with complaints about him, combined with the massive overheard post, Appius all but was toast.

And Eric wanted to clean up the crumbs. Every last one of them. My husband was ruthless. But I'd always known that. "So, where are you, with Appius?"

He grinned. "There's an academic hearing next week to determine what they're going to do with him. As you know, the bastard is well connected. His wife plays bridge with the university president's wife. I don't think that'll save him though. Not with the people that are crawling out of the woodwork with complaints similar to mine. Some really well established people. Cat's been helping me keep everything organized and Diantha's been really great at keeping abreast of everything."

Ah yes, Cat. Who was moving into our basement in a few weeks. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. We'd had her over for dinner last week, and he was nice, and didn't go all moon eyed over Eric, like some younger academics did. She was very straight up, and after hearing about how terrible her mother was, I didn't have the heart to say no. It was just sitting there empty, and if anyone knew about having housing issues in New York, it was me. Hell, it was how I'd ended up living here too.

Yea, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Eric figured it would be short term, and he'd sworn up and down that I could opt out of it at any time, and she'd leave. Cat had said the same thing. And that she'd babysit on occasion. I wasn't going to leave the kids with her right away or anything, but once I was a bit more comfortable with her, it would be kickass to have another person to give us a night off now and then.

"And Cat's really moving in?"

He nodded. "As long as you're okay with it. She's really a great person. I think you two will get along well, and if you want, you can pocket the six hundred bucks a month sometimes. Go shopping. Or we could use it for vacations, or the kid's college funds. We won't even see her."

He was right. The basement had its own entrance, which Johan had never used because he liked to raid our fridge. I had a feeling that Cat would be more respectful. And it would be good to have someone here while we were at the Hamptons. Stella stopped in from time to time, but we'd always been a bit concerned about leaving the house empty.

"I know. And she was nice at dinner last week. And she brought good wine." I put my feet up in his lap, and he tickled the bottom for a minute, before I pulled them away. "And I do realize how lucky I was to find you as a roommate not so long ago."

"I can assure you, our arrangement was entirely different." He winked, pulling my feet back into his lap. "This is my good karma deed for the year, since I've been quite lucky."

We were lucky. This could have ended far worse than it had, in a variety of ways. It looked like Appius was going to be ousted, and Eric would likely get his position, take on a few grad students, and retire to a cushy administrator role for the next few years, and possibly beyond. "So, dishes, and you're my sex slave for the next two weeks." I grinned.

He chuckled and raised his eyebrows. "But you're not going to talk to him."

"I'm making it happen." I stood up, and nodded towards our room. "Come on. I've got to be up early in the morning."

A minute later, as I brushed my teeth, I looked up to see Eric behind me in the bathroom mirror, and I smiled as he buried his face in my hair, and wrapped an arm around my waist, smelling me like he did sometimes. "Thank you," he murmured.

I gave him a little shrug. "You don't have to say thanks. I'm doing it for us, although I really don't think it's necessary. I think you'd get the job anyway." I smiled at him in the mirror. "You're you."

He nodded, pushing my shirt up a bit, and I let out a little sigh as his fingers grazed my bare stomach. "Maybe, but I don't want to take any chances. I want that job. I want to research again, and not be a teacher monkey to a bunch of seventeen year olds. Leave that for Cat and other youngsters."

"You're so ornery in your old age," I whispered, as his hand dropped to take mine after I set the toothbrush on the counter. I walked behind him as he led me into our room and pulled me onto his lap. "I thought you were doing my bidding," I said quietly, before he pressed his mouth against mine, forcefully silencing me.

"You don't have to tell me what to do," he murmured, his lips on my neck, as he pulled my hair out of its ponytail. "I already know what you want."

"What if I want something different?" I moaned, as my shirt was tugged over my head, and his tongue grazed the top of my breast, narrowly avoiding exactly where I wanted it to be.

Hell, who I was kidding? Eric knew what he was doing. I didn't have to give him direction. "Different?" he chuckled. "You come up with different, and I'll do it."

I sat back on my heels and thought about it. Was there a surface we hadn't christened? A position we hadn't tried? And then it hit me. "We haven't done it in the kitchen. Ever."

Eric shrugged. "So we haven't. That's because the kids are up the stairs right by the kitchen, and we aren't good at disguising sex as something that we'd do in the kitchen. Sex and cooking? They'd see right through that. And as fun as it is to be dangerous, it's not worth the risk of being busted by Ce."

That was true, and I knew how long it took to get Ce back to bed once she was up. "Next time someone has them for the night?"

He nodded. "Sold. But for now? I think we have all we need at our disposal here." He gestured to our room. "So Mistress, where would you like me?"

I did like being the boss sometimes. "Take off your clothes, and get on your knees."

He gave me a sloppy grin. "Yes, Ma'am."

He obliged me, and even let me ogle him without calling me on it, which was rare. When I joined him in the buff and lay on my back, he knew what I was up to. My legs went up his body, and I made a weak attempt to hook my ankles behind his head, knowing that it wasn't really doable. He was too damn tall.

However, this position hit my g-spot every time, without the aid of his fingers. Yea, I liked this position. And Eric did too, as it gave him access, rather openly, to all of me.

Who ever knew I'd be a sexpert by osmosis. I could have counted the positions I'd tried on one hand before he came along. Now we'd tried almost every one in the Joy of Sex.

I kissed Eric's cheek afterwards, and let my lips linger briefly on his stubble, enjoying the texture. "Well, you weren't exactly slaving away there, but kudos all the same."

He chuckled. "I know you'd never leave me hanging, or not hanging, or whatever the phrase would be. If you don't want to email him about the book, you don't have to."

I smiled. "I know I don't have to, but I will."

Eric

It was a couple of days later when I looked up to see Bones darkening my doorway. My eyes met his, and the tension was palpable. If this was some attempt on Sookie's end to have us befriend one another, it wasn't going to happen.

"Crispin," I said, coldly.

He gave me a curt nod. "Professor Northman."

For anyone else in his position, I would have corrected him, and told him to call me Eric. But not him. "Come on. I'll show you to Russell's office."

He tightened his lip. "I'm quite capable of finding my own way. I'm not sure why Sookie instructed me to have you accompany me."

"Because she's your superior, and she can instruct you to do whatever she pleases."

"Within reason," was his reply.

I raised my eyebrows, and he quickly walked behind me. I was so distracted and irritated with his presence that I practically ran Cat over.

"Shit, sorry Cat."

She laughed. I really liked Cat. I didn't usually like anyone. "It's okay, clearly you're on a mission..." And then her voice trailed off as she noticed Bones. She awkwardly held her notes under her arm, and extended her hand. "Catherine Crawfield."

It was one of those weird moments, where people seemed to forget the world around them existed. Bones dropped his bag, and held his hand out as well, awkwardly jostling me since I was in front of him. "Crispin Russell." He fumbled in his bag for a minute. "Here's my card. I'm Eric's editor."

My nostrils flared. "He works for Sookie." I glanced at Cat, who wasn't listening to me. "Sookie is my editor."

He wasn't acknowledging me either. "I do the psychology list at the moment, although I am the executive editor. Perhaps we can meet for coffee, and talk about your research?"

Cat blushed. "I'd like that, a lot."

"Do you have a card, Catherine?" He smiled at her, and I wanted to smack the grin off his face. This guy was the ultimate womanizer. I made a note to discuss that with Cat later.

"Oh, it's Cat." She set her folders down and pulled one out of her purse. "Send me an email sometime, and we'll set something up."

Bones continued to grin dumbly. "I'd like that. I'll see you around Cat."

She walked away, and for the first time since I'd met him, Bones actually looked pleasant. "What's her area?"

"You're meeting for coffee. You can ask her then. Russell's office is over here." I knocked on the door, uninterested in helping him further his agenda with Cat. She was too good for him.

Russell answered instantly, as he was waiting for us. "Eric," he exclaimed. "This is just fantastic. And you must be Crispin. Sookie said you were just the best." Russell had this kind of put on southern accent. It wasn't like Sookie's but it was rather pronounced. Especially when he said 'fantastic'.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "I'll leave you two to it then. Sookie said to let you know that she's sorry she couldn't come, but that she left you in her most capable hands." Even though I highly doubted that.

Russell grinned broadly at Crispin. I'd never seen someone so excited about meeting an editor. I guess his courses didn't exactly make publishers swoon, with their ten to fifteen students a year. "Eric, I'm going to email you about lunch next Wednesday. Clear your afternoon."

Yep, he was over the moon. I smiled. "I'll do that. If you have any questions about publishing with the press, let me know."

Russell nodded. "It's been very good for you. I'll certainly have some questions."

And with that I was off the hook. I got back to my office, and sat down, and thirty seconds later, Cat was standing in my doorway, holding a coffee for me, and one for herself. "Do you have a minute?"

I nodded, gesturing to the chair in front of my desk. "Sure."

She smiled, brightly, sliding my black with one sugar across the desk. "What do you think, about me publishing a book? I'm about the same age you were when you started yours."

I shrugged. "I'd wait until you have tenure, or are at least on track. You'll get more credit for publishing in journals than writing textbooks at this stage, and it's a lot of work."

She nodded thoughtfully. "That's good advice. So we're okay for this weekend? I hired a moving truck last night, but I can cancel it if it's not okay."

I smiled. "It's fine. More than fine. It's just sitting there empty, and Sookie and me both know how expensive things are in the city. I'm happy to help you out." Even though it was very unlike me to help anyone out that I wasn't related to. "Give us a shout when you're on the way, and we can help you unpack. We're around this time of year, but we kind of vanish to the Hamptons after May, so it'll be good to have someone in the house."

"Seriously, I owe you my first born, now that I'll be able to have a life away from Mother, and possibly meet someone to have a first born with someday," she laughed. "Seriously, moving home when I left Yale got this job was hell. Absolute hell."

"I moved out at twenty. I couldn't have imagined going back. So you're not seeing anyone?" These were questions I probably should have asked, before letting her move in, but I just had such a good feeling about Cat.

She shook her head. "Honestly, I haven't had the time, with finishing my PhD and trying to get tenure, and online dating scares the fuck out of me."

"Yea, it can be a challenge, meeting someone that understands the focus it takes to keep researching and producing new research, really for a lifetime. I think it's why a lot of academics marry other academics, because they get it. I used to drag Sookie out with me when I researched, before we started dating, and when we first got together." I smiled, thinking back on her in that grimy restaurant with my prostitutes. "It was really out of her realm as my editor, at the time. But she gets it." She'd always gotten it, because she was driven as hell herself.

"I can just imagine taking a date to a woman's prison. How romantic." She laughed. "Although I guess what you do isn't much more appealing."

I shook my head. "Ah, no. Especially not what I used to research. I'm very tame now, compared to my early career research."

"I've read all your papers, remember?" She winked, standing up. "So I'll see you on Saturday."

It was about an hour later, when I heard Bones' cocky British accent across the hall in Cat's office. I thought about poking my head out, but when I heard them making plans, I decided to mind my own business. I wasn't her advisor, or her dad. If she wanted to have coffee with an asshole, that was her call. She'd see right through him anyway. I was confident in that.

I finished my office hours around four, and was just leaving for the day when I looked up, to see Appius in my doorway. I fumbled in my pocket, turning the recorder on my phone on. "What can I help you with?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You haven't won this, Eric. Don't think this is over."

"I don't think we should be talking about 'this', with my lawsuit pending, Appius. Do you have anything related to my courses that you'd like to discuss?"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "You're taking over my third year course effective this week. I'm taking stress leave. Not a forced leave."

Fuck. An extra course. That wasn't what I wanted. I wondered if he'd gotten out of his hearing, and NYU was just going to make him disappear instead. Either way. "Well, send along the paperwork, and I'll look at it."

He looked at me smugly. "There is no paperwork. As in I have no notes to pass along."

I looked back at him, deadpan. "You can't expect me to take over your course without notes in a week. It's unfair to the students. I need to familiarize myself with the material."

He shrugged. "Yea, I guess you do. Have a wonderful evening."

I missed the department secretary by ten minutes, to confirm which of his courses I was covering. I hoped it was the methods course, because we had very different research areas. I could do a methods course. However, with Appius, it was likely to be his seminar course on some bizarre topic relating to his research. I already had a full courseload as well. After thinking about it on the way home, I wasn't even sure if he was allowed to give out courses like that, so I sent Russell a meeting appointment for the next afternoon to figure out what was going on.

I'd left Ce with Stella for the afternoon, and she met me at the door, running at full speed into my knees, and wrapping her arms around them. "Dad. Stella is getting married, and I get to be the flower girl." She jumped up and down. "And I get to wear a dress and walk in front of everyone like a model at Pam's Fascism shows."

Clearly the History Channel had been on around the house a bit too much lately, however, I found Ce's mispronunciation amusing, especially when it came to Pam and fashion. "What?" I looked up to see a very smiley Stella, and a relieved looking Johan sitting at the kitchen table. "You finally said yes?"

Stel hugged me too. "Shut up. Can we get married at the Hamptons?"

So we were already wedding planning. The Hamptons would be cheaper than New York. "Okay? Why the change of heart?"

And then I had a thought. Shit. Was she pregnant? I was not ready for that.

They glanced at each other, and exchanged a knowing look, before Stella rolled her eyes at me. "I'm not pregnant. I know that's what you're thinking. He just found a way to ask that made me want to say yes."

From the red that came over my daughter's usually unblushable face, I didn't really want to know.

"Alright then. Just let me know when you have the details, and the bills for things." I reached over and shook Johan's hand. "Congratulations. I'm glad you two worked through your issues. It's really an important part of being married."

Ce did her up arms, and I scooped her up. "Dad, I'm going to throw petals, and Max doesn't get to do it."

"I don't get to do what?" Max tromped in, dropping his bookbag by my feet, and was followed by Sookie a minute later.

"Be a flower girl. Consider yourself lucky." I ruffled his hair. "Your sister is getting married."

Sookie raised her eyebrows, as she pulled her boots off. "She is?"

Stella smiled genuinely. "I am."

Sookie looked at me, and then at Johan. "Well that's great. Do you guys want to stay for dinner? We should celebrate."

Stella shook her head. "Not today. We have plans. But maybe next week?"

I nodded. "Give us some notice, and we'll take you out."

They left, and we settled into our usual evening routine of eating dinner, and listening to the kids' recount their day. Max was learning about weather, and was very excited about our ice fishing trip next weekend. Ce had spent the afternoon talking about weddings with Stella, and I laughed when I figured out why Stella had finally said yes.

"I asked Stella to marry Johan. He gave me five dollars."

Sookie looked at me amused. "He must have been pretty sure she'd say yes."

I raised my eyebrows. "I'd hope so." That could have turned out terribly, but was far more innocent than I'd imagined. "How did it go with Bones and Russell?"

Sookie shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't come back to the office, or answer his phone when I called. I'll find out tomorrow, I guess."

"He was talking up Cat."

Sookie laughed. "Now wouldn't that be funny. Cat's far too normal for him."

I chuckled. "You should have seen him. He got all fumbly around her."

Sookie gave me a knowing smile. "Interesting. She is very pretty, and so much classier than Annette."

I shook my head. "She asked me about writing, and I advised her against it, until she has tenure, so I doubt they'll have much to talk about."

Little did I know how wrong I was.