A/N: I'm back for another round! Got my Monsters U fix FINALLY. My daughter got it for Christmas and I've been waiting since Wednesday to watch it! Loved it! So yeah, naturally I had to write afterwards. So even though it's 1:20am and I'm freakin' tired and I have no betas so please forgive any typos, etc...I just had to finish this, especially when I got to the end and things started getting good. Enjoy and I hope you all had a great Christmas!

A Little Purple Dress

Mary Gibbs had decided within minutes of standing in front of her mirror that sales people were sadistic, manipulative forces of cunning evil who lied through their teeth in order to sell you into an idea. In the store, she'd been easily coerced into believing that the purple creation of lace and silk that bared far too much skin had made her look like nothing short of a super model. She had been easily led into believing that the black stilettos had been the perfect compliment and had made her look not only taller but slimmer as well. Not that she needed to be any more slender than she was, but what woman in her right mind didn't like to hear a compliment like that?

Now, standing in the safety of her own home, her hair piled up on top of her head in an artful array of midnight curls, her makeup done ever-so-carefully, her body hardly wrapped in a little off-the-shoulder purple dress that left nothing to the imagination and jacked up several inches by a pair of black heels she didn't even think she could walk in, she was seriously starting to doubt her sanity and her ability not to be mislead.

"What the hell am I thinking," she muttered, dropping her face into her hands and groaning.

Sully had agreed, after an obscene amount of convincing, to going on a date with her. An actual date. She'd promised a drive out to the middle of nowhere, a romantic picnic on the bank of a lazy river as the sun set and then champagne under the moon and starts to celebrate the day they had officially met. It had taken a few graphic suggestions to get him to the point of not arguing at all and since then she'd been passing every day with growing excitement to be alone with him, just the two of them, out in the open where they didn't have to feel hidden away.

And I'm in the absolute best outerwear for such an occasion, she thought sarcastically.

The door to her closet cracked open and she gasped, dropping her hands in a vain effort to hide herself. Instead of her studly blue-furred monster though, Mike stepped through the opening, peering around cautiously.

"Mike," she breathed, letting her hands fall to her side. "Where's Sully?"

Mike's only response was to stare at her, his mouth slightly agape. The confidence she'd felt at the store returned marginally. "Mike?"

"Uh-huh," he muttered, still gawking.

She laughed and shook her head, suddenly feeling much better about her decision to slip into something she'd never normally wear. "Mike…Sully?"

"Sully-."

"Yes, as in…the monster I'm dating? The one that was supposed to be here?"

"Here…Sully."

"Oh for the-." She stepped forward and snapped her fingers in front of his face, pulling him out of his dazed state. "Hi there."

"Mary!" He shook his head, his cheeks flaring with red as he realized what he'd been doing. "Hey kid!" he greeted with forced exuberance, attempting to hide his embarrassment. "You look great!"

"Thanks," she said, smiling patiently. "Where's Sully?"

"Ah, right. Sully. He…sent me to see you. He had to work late. Nothing he could do about it, Boo. He's got a mountain of paperwork and he's under a lot of pressure. He wanted me to tell you just how sorry he is."

"Oh no," she immediately argued. "I didn't go spend half a paycheck on a dress and a week waiting impatiently just to be told that he's too busy to come."

"He did everything he could to get out of it but…well, being the CEO and all-."

"You're taking me to him," Mary said, cutting him off.

"Mary, you know I can't-."

"You can, and you will. The babysitter will be here in minutes and I didn't get all dressed up just to turn her away and spend a night in my jammies watching old movies."

"How am I supposed to sneak you in, exactly?"

Mary smiled, growing more and more excited by the idea. How fitting, for her to go about getting to Sully the same way she had when they'd met – by sneaking into Monstropolis?

"Don't worry." The doorbell rang and she started for the bedroom door, her ideas melding to form a cohesive idea that was foolproof by her standards. "You stay here, I'll be back in a bit and we'll get going."

Sully sat back in his massive desk chair, sighing and rubbing his large hands over his face. His head was throbbing from looking over numbers and making sure that figures added up for the financial department. It was work he'd been avoiding for weeks, disliking numbers so much and distracting himself with working the laugh-floor, talking with his employees and watching their antics bring about the survival of electricity in Monstropolis. It was the part of the job he'd never tire of. The financial part of it though…that part he could really do without. He hated financials. And ever since Celia had left the company to be a stay-at-home-mom, something he could hardly blame her for, the financial aspects of Monster's Inc. had fallen on him.

He'd tried to rehire, but knowing next to nothing about what it took to run the financial department himself, it made it extremely difficult to know what exactly to look for and until he could convince Celia to either come back or hire someone for him, he was on his own with a mountain of paper work that he'd been avoiding for weeks.

Tonight, he hated that paperwork. Tonight, he was supposed to be with Mary, listening to the sweet lull of her voice, watching those eyes sparkle and loving every little thing about her. Instead, he was stuck behind a desk.

He reached for the next sorted folder and with a heavy sigh and tossed it down in front of him. He rolled his shoulders, picked up a pen and prepared to lose another couple hours of his life to the tedious demands of owning a business.

A knock sounded at the door and he groaned. No one but Mike would be here still. It was long after hours. He was probably stopping in to tell him how disappointed Mary was, something he wasn't looking forward to hearing about at all.

"Not now, Mike," he called out tiredly.

The door opened anyway and he closed his eyes, fighting back the annoyance. "Mike, really-."

"Not Mike."

His eyes shot open at the sound of Mary's voice. He had every intention of reprimanding her, of listing every danger that involved her being in his world…and they all died a quick death at the sight of her. She stood with one hand braced against the doorway, her sleek legs crossed at her ankles. The dress she wore was more than just short and the fabric around the neckline hung low, exposing not only her cleavage but a good amount of everything below it as well. Thin straps held the dress up and what appeared to be useless sleeves of lace draped over her upper arms. There were no words he could think of to describe her beauty. There were no words he could think of to even say. All he could manage to do was sit there, staring at her.

She smiled brightly, a delicate blush sweeping over her high cheek bones. "Mike told me you were busy," she murmured, starting forward, the impossibly high heels of her shoes clicking quietly over the hardwood floor. "But I've been waiting weeks for this. And I didn't drop a boat-load of money into this dress just to shove it back into the closet."

"Dress…right," he muttered, unable to take his eyes from what the dress didn't cover.

She came around the desk, put her hands behind her on the polished surface and pulled herself up to sit on it, crossing one leg over the other. "And I thought…how fitting, to spend our anniversary together in the same place we met?"

"Fitting…"

She leaned forward, brushing his nose with hers. "Sully," she sang, "are you going to do anything besides stare at my chest all night?"

He blinked several times, then grinned slowly, his gaze meeting hers. "Nice dress."

"I thought you'd like it."

He wrapped one big paw around her waist and easily slid her over until she was sitting in front of him instead of at his side. "What are you doing here, Boo? You know you shouldn't be here."

His words sounded weak to even him. But that dress made it very hard to care that she'd slipped under the radar and snuck into his world.

She gave a little shrug, a delicate lift of those shoulders that looked satin smooth to the touch. And he knew they were. Just knowing that made his hands itch to touch them.

"I missed you. I haven't seen you in days and tonight was supposed to be ours. I'm not letting a bunch of paper work stand in the way of that."

Damn. The paperwork. He looked around her at the still-towering stack and sighed wearily. "It's gotta get done, though," he muttered.

"So do it later."

She rubbed her foot against the outside of his thigh and again he found it difficult to come up with any reason for staying in a cramped office doing something he hated. "It's gotta get done, Boo."

"Hm-." She tilted her head to the side and he watched mesmerized as the cascading curls slipped over her shoulder. "Tell you what. You give me tonight…then tomorrow night, I'll do your paperwork."

He perked up. There was no real downside to that trade. "It's financial stuff."

She grinned and leaned forward, brushing her nose against his. "Lucky for you I love financial stuff."

"You sure?"

One arm wrapped loosely around his neck, followed by the other, bringing with them the scent of perfume that clung to her skin. It was something different that she'd never worn before. Something musky and exotic that wreaked havoc on his senses. "A night alone with you…it's a small price to pay. Besides, I'll have it done in no time. You watch Josh, get him to bed, by the time you're finished I'll probably be done too and then we can spend the rest of the night doing a whole lot of nothing. Or a whole lot of each other."

He gave a little tug on her hips, easily pulling her from the desk to his lap. "Love it when you talk like that." He nuzzled her neck just below the ear, in that one spot that always made her shiver and gasp softly. The scent of perfume was stronger there, more overwhelming. "So, what did you want to do tonight? Should we go back to your place-."

"No, not my place. Now that I'm here, why don't you show me around?"

"Boo-."

She pushed back and gave him a slightly incensed look. "Not here as in Monstropolis. Here as in your company. I haven't been here since I was a kid."

Sully frowned. They could do that. No one would be there and he had access to every room so turning off any security cameras would be easy enough. But he hadn't eaten lunch and he was ravenous. There mere thought of food had his stomach rumbling loudly. Arching one brow, Mary glanced down and chuckled. "I brought food, if you're hungry."

"Starving."

They ate the meal she'd thrown together for them to have that evening, sitting on either side of his desk and filling the silence with casual chatter while Mary idly perused the folders he'd sorted by department earlier that week. When they were finished, they stood and Mary slid her arm through his as he offered it to lead her out of his office.

"Was it always this big?" she asked after they'd gone down several hallways, stopping briefly in the security room to shut down the cameras and make sure any evidence of her visit was taken care of.

Sully smiled down at her, trying not to laugh at the childish expression of wonder on her face. "Nothing's changed."

"Aside from the purpose." She angled him a smirk and moved closer, hugging his arm. "And the guy running the show."

"Yeah." And then, because they were alone and he trusted Mary more than he trusted anyone, he went on to say, "Sometimes I can't believe that guy is me."

Mary slowed slightly, the smile fading. "Why not?"

"Never finished college. Started out in the mail room and worked my way up. Didn't think I'd ever make it further than the Scare Floor. Especially not to where I am now."

"You never finished college?"

Sully grimaced, remembering that fateful day that had led to his employment in the mail-room of Monsters Inc. "Nope. Got expelled."

"You were expelled from college?!" Her wide eyes were fixed on him now, her arms wrapped tightly around his. Had she not been holding on to him, he was certain that she'd have stumbled over her own two feet and landed in a heap on the floor. Which would have been a shame. A dress like that didn't belong on the floor. Not unless it was there without its owner. "What did you do?"

"Went into the human world when I shouldn't have." He could still remember the day as if it had happened only last week. That was a time in his life that had been a catalyst, a moment that had turned his life around from where it was heading entirely and had put him on a new path, one not overshadowed by the arrogance of youth and the pressure to live up to his family name. "Best scare of my life."

The walked on in silence until they reached the Laugh Floor. Moonlight filtered through the large windows overlooking the vacant room, basking all the harsh metal material and machinery in an unearthly blue.

Mary slowed to a stop, this time stopping him as well. Together, they stared at the spot that had once been his, back in the day when he was Top Scarer. The spot where they'd first met when she was just a kid and he was just a man just stumbling into early adulthood and trying to figure out where he stood apart from being a Scarer at Monsters Inc.

"Do you ever miss it?" Mary asked softly.

"What? Scaring?"

"Yeah. Is there ever a day where you just wish that you could go back to doing it?"

The answer would have been yes. There had been days where he would remember what it felt like to really scare someone, to hear that scream resonating in his ears and feel the satisfaction. And then he'd remember the one thing that had changed it all - the one thing that would always make him remember why he didn't miss scaring.

"No."

"No?" Mary moved in front of him, taking his other hand and holding it loosely. "Not even a little bit?"

"Not even a little bit."

She tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing as she regarded him. "Why not?"

He sighed. Maybe she didn't remember. Maybe it had happened so long ago that as she'd grown older, she'd just forgotten. But he hadn't. He brushed his knuckles over the curve of her jaw, needing to touch her in his moment of weakness, to know that she was really there. "Do you remember that night? The one where you saw me…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. Just remembering the look on her face, the terror in those wide brown eyes…it made him feel so ashamed.

"Sully…that was so long ago." She pressed her hand against his face and he leaned into it, closing his eyes. "I can hardly remember it."

"Well, I do," he admitted softly. "All the time."

They fell silent, neither really knowing what to say. And he felt awful for it. Tonight was supposed to be about romance and enjoying the time they had together. It wasn't supposed to be about dredging up the past. But what she said next…what she said next, he never could have anticipated.

"I bet you can't do it again."

His eyes flew open and he jerked his head up, staring at her in shock. She stared right back, a tiny smirk playing at the corners of her full lips. "What?"

"I bet you can't do it again." She moved away, crossing her arms over her chest and tossing her hair confidently. "Go ahead, Sully. Try to scare me."

"Boo, I'm not going to scare you."

"No, you're not," she agreed, looking almost infuriatingly smug. "But you can try."

"Boo-."

"Go ahead, Sully. What are you afraid of? That you've lost your touch."

"This doesn't have anything to do with what I'm capable of," he muttered, feeling a little defensive. He had held scare records for years. Being that the plant had shut down for scaring he still held it. Suggesting that he'd lost his touch was just an insult. "I just don't-."

"Don't what?" she challenged again, her eyes flashing. "Don't want to scare a woman? Or can't? Come on, try it." She leaned forward slightly, provoking him with not only her voice but a flash of that skin just over her breasts that made his pulse race. "Try to scare me."

Something deep inside of him answered to her taunts – something dark and exciting that he hadn't felt for such a long time.

"Scare me," she demanded again, her voice low.

Pushing his shoulders back, he rose to his full height until he was towering over her, leaned forward just enough to catch the moonlight and cause it to throw frightening shadows over his face. His lips curled back over his sharp teeth and he released a slow, rumbling growl. Nothing too terrifying – just a hint at what he could manage.

Her reaction was surprising to both of them. She gasped, lifted a hand to her throat…and anticipation flared in her dark eyes.

"Do it again," she demanded breathlessly.

He moved closer to her, watching her eyes cloud over with lust and released another low growl. This time she closed her eyes and a breath shuddered past her lips. He couldn't believe it. Was she…turned on?

Feeling a heady mixture of empowerment, exhilaration and greed, he lifted his hands, brushing his nails over her skin. Taking a deep breath, he curled his fingers until his nails were just shy of biting her skin then released a roar that outdid the one from all of those years ago. It was deafening, resonated off the walls and shaking nearby tables.

Mary opened her eyes, revealing a fire that stole his breath. "Not scared at all," she managed, then threw herself into his arms and kissed him, her hot lips moving eagerly over his. Sully stumbled back but quickly regained his footing and wrapped his arms around her, crushing her body to his until he could feel the wild trip of her pulse through her clothing. In no time at all that little purple dress ended up right where it should have – on the Scare Floor and without its owner.