For the past several weeks, Laura has been working steadily on expanding her new curriculum proposal, detailing how it will be implemented at each grade level and how it will benefit the students over time. She has also filled in for several teachers that have been on leave due to illness, bereavement, or personal days, and through this she has gained some knowledge of teaching other grade levels, knowledge that has proven to be useful as she develops her curriculum. Ultimately, she will present her ideas at an educational conference in a few months, and immediately afterwards, she will go on maternity leave since her due date is within two weeks of the conference.

Her friends have already thrown her a baby shower which took place at Jean's townhome. Lily, Sasha, Tabitha, Ellen, Sandra, Cheryl, and several of Laura's school colleagues spent an afternoon playing silly baby shower games, opening gifts, cooing over the adorable outfits and baby items, and drinking champagne, except for the Roslin sisters, who drank sparkling grape juice.

Ellen had announced the formation of her wedding planning business, handing out glossy business cards:

Tigh the Knot

Weddings by Ellen

Laura noticed Jean staring at the card with a small smile on her face, then placing it inside her wallet.

She had considered inviting Larissa after she and Bill hosted her and her father one night for dinner. Larissa and Laura had immediately hit it off, and watching her father interact with this vibrant woman soothed her soul.

The only reason she didn't invite her to the shower was because Dave hadn't introduced her to Sandra and Cheryl yet. He's wisely taking things slow when it comes to his children, not seeing the need to spring a girlfriend on them before he's certain that the relationship is solid. Sandra will have lunch with Larissa and her father on campus this week, then at some point after that, he will invite her to his house for a home cooked meal, where she will finally meet Cheryl, who will likely prove to be a tough sell.

One evening while watching the news, photos were shown during a story covering a fundraising event at the university. There was Dave, dressed in a tuxedo, with Larissa on his arm, dressed in a navy blue evening gown, enjoying the festivities and looking very much like a couple smitten with each other.

"Looks like one of our top ten most eligible bachelors is no longer so eligible," the reporter stated, making reference to the silly list Dave landed on shortly after his book was released. "Our very own Larissa Lydiatt seems to have found a place in Dr. David Roslin's heart. Would you care to comment, Larissa?"

Larissa stared into the camera with an unmistakable twinkle in her eyes and a small grin. "I really don't want to make my private life public," she stated.

When the broadcast ended, Bruce Brinson snorted at her in disbelief. "Since when don't you want your private life public?"

"This relationship's different, Bruce." She refused to discuss it further.

Cheryl had seen the broadcast, turning to her father, and given him an expectant look. "You have a girlfriend?" She was less than thrilled.

Inviting Larissa to her baby shower would have been problematic, so Laura refrained from adding her to Jean's guest list. Dave explained to her why she was omitted, and she understood, choosing to send a gift to the loft with her best wishes and the promise of a girls' night out in the near future.

Doodling can be a fun pastime; one Sandra finds herself engaging in quite often. Sometimes during her children's lit class, she will absentmindedly make tiny illustrations of the characters in books that are being discussed. Other times she will doodle out of boredom, making molecules with faces and personalities in her organic chemistry class while she stands around in her lab waiting for something to start boiling or finish up in the centrifuge. If she's sleepy while studying in the library in the afternoon, doodling will wake her up. It's a challenge she gives herself. In ten minutes, how many bizarre looking characters can she create? Oftentimes she will name them, thinking they can be used in a larger art project later.

A bottle of water appears above her head, slowly being set down on the table in front of her.

"You're late."

"I was talking to someone, lost track of time."

"Would that someone be your supermodel girlfriend – what's her name – Candy?"

"No. I'm between supermodels right now," Jeff replies, pulling up a chair next to her.

"How does a guy like you date girls like that?"

"It's because I'm awesome."

"Hmpf." It was a sobering experience for Sandra when Jeff returned from his dig with a slender, gorgeous, legs-up-to-her-neck girlfriend last month. Candy hung all over him, nauseatingly so. She was nice enough, but Sandra wondered what in the world attracted this girl to Jeff Buttkisser. He's tall, and kind of cute, but that's pretty much it. Maybe he's really good in bed? Sandra shuddered at the thought.

A girl sitting at a table adjacent to them sets her gaze on Jeff, locking eyes with him, and he gives her a trademark Buttkisser grin.

"Are you frakking kidding me? That girl looks like she just stepped off the cover of a magazine," Sandra whispers loudly at him.

"Yeah, she's really hot," he agrees while glancing at the girl again.

"Is that all you care about?"

"No. Is that all you care about?"

"No! There are other things like intelligence and personality and sense of humor and stuff."

"I like those things, too. Excuse me," he says, getting up from his chair and walking toward the girl. After a brief chat, he returns with her phone number.

"You're a pig."

"You're one to talk. You're just as bad as I am. When was the last time you flirted with an ugly guy, or even an average looking guy?"

"I've flirted with all sorts of guys."

"Prove it. I dare you to go over and flirt with that guy," he points discreetly toward a young man two tables over.

Sandra had often seen this student in the library in the afternoons and had even spoken to him several times. His name is Scotty and while he seems nice enough, he's not the best dresser, still has acne, and his hair looks like it has never been combed. He's sweet on her, offering to pluck books from high shelves and even giving her part of his lunch one day. But when he asked her to a movie last month, she shot him down.

"I never should have admitted you were right about attending my father's lecture. It has completely gone to your head, hasn't it?"

"And you're just another pretty girl that only dates good-looking guys," he states. "You're a hypocrite."

Nothing would please Sandra more than to wipe that smug smile off his face, so she walks over to Scotty and ups the stakes, not only flirting with him while she keeps one eye on Jeff, but also asking him out, smiling victoriously as the grin fades from Jeff's lips. They exchange numbers and promise they will set up plans for a date soon.

"Uh, Sandra, I was teasing," Jeff confesses when she returns to her seat. "You don't have to go out with someone just to prove a point. I was being a jerk. I'm sorry."

"Maybe I wanna go out with him, Jeff. Maybe this isn't about you being a pig."

He scrunches his eyes and sighs at her, watching her sit defiantly before him, acting like she really is interested in Scotty. "Look, Sandra, don't go if you aren't really interested in him."

"Why? Because it's not fair to him?"

"It's not fair to you, either. Go out with someone you actually want to go out with, not someone I dared you to flirt with."

"I wanna go out with him. For your information, we've been talking about going on a date for a while. Now's as good a time as any."

She's unable to get a good read on his thoughts as he sits quietly staring at her. His face reflects a little bit of anger, a little bit of worry, and a whole lot of consternation.

"Don't tell me your jealous," she states with one eyebrow raised.

The expression on his face softens before he replies. "I don't want to see either one of you get hurt. Please rethink this. If you honestly want to go out with him, then go out. But if you don't, then break the date."

"It's just one date, Jeff. It's not like I'm going to marry him."

The following day in her intermediate art class, the mid-term assignment is announced. Instead of being restricted to drawing a family member, Professor Capan expands the pool of candidates to anyone the artist knows personally and feels a strong connection with. This doesn't make Sandra change her mind about drawing her mother's portrait. She's still very confident in her choice.

The next day at lunchtime, she and her father wait in a restaurant on campus for Larissa to show up. Students don't normally eat at this restaurant due to the higher prices and the fact that you have to go in and sit down, then order, then wait. The usual customers include faculty, administrators, and visiting researchers who dine and discuss budgets, grants, and whatever else is on their minds. It's by far the fanciest place on campus and only the second time Sandra has dined there.

Larissa arrives a few minutes late, apologizing for her tardiness, implicating her driver who had taken the wrong turn on campus and wound up in a parking lot two blocks away instead of the one right next to the student union. After standing and giving her a quick kiss, Dave introduces her to Sandra, who nervously shakes her hand and says "Hi."

Larissa asks her about her classes and is surprised to learn she's taking children's lit, a class she also took when she was a student at Caprica City U. They chat about Sandra's art class and the types of art that she's interested in.

"I never could draw, so I admire anyone who has that talent," Larissa says with a warm smile. She's very personable and as they continue to converse, Sandra becomes more relaxed. Dave steps away to take a call from the dean on his cell, leaving the two women alone together.

"Hmm, I hope they bring our food soon," Larissa comments, glancing at the time on her smart phone. "I need to be getting back to the studio."

"What time do you usually have to get to work?" Sandra asks, curious about the daily habits of a news anchor.

"It varies, but today is the first part of my new investigation, so I need to double and triple check everything before we go live this evening. My goodness, what is taking them so long?" she complains, glancing around the restaurant. "How can they be this slow with only two other tables? And is that a water spot on my glass?"

"Sometimes they cater events on campus so they could be busy with that," Sandra offers as an explanation. "I think that's just from the dishwasher."

"Well, next time we go out, I'll take you to a really nice place with excellent service and clean glasses," she says, examining each of her utensils carefully, checking for more spots.

"That sounds nice," Sandra replies, wondering if Larissa is always this high maintenance or if it's just because of the stress of starting her new investigatory series. Her father returns to the table and the food arrives shortly afterwards.

While Sandra eats her hamburger and fries, she watches Larissa push her salad around her plate, sorting out the tomatoes and cucumbers to the side, then eating the lettuce without bothering to put salad dressing on it.

"Daddy, can I have dessert?" she asks when she finishes her food.

"Sure, sweetheart. What do you have in mind?"

"Ice cream?"

"Count me in," he grins. "What about you?" he asks Larissa.

"No, thank you, I don't touch the stuff."

Later that afternoon, an hour before Sandra is supposed to meet her father at his office so they can leave campus, pick up Cheryl, and drive home, Scotty waits for Sandra at a coffeehouse near the student union. While she isn't really interested in dating the young man, she would never admit that to Jeff. A coffeehouse is very public, very safe, and the date will be brief since her father is expecting her shortly.

When she arrives, he has already ordered for her. It's a sweet drink with way too much sugar, but she smiles and accepts it not wanting to hurt his feelings. They chat for a while about classes and movies that they like before Scotty suddenly becomes brave and makes his move.

"What made you change your mind about going out with me?" he asks.

"Oh, you know, I can be kind of shy at first. Sometimes it takes me a while to warm up to people."

"You're very pretty. Scotty likes what Scotty sees," he says, peering at her with a lustful gaze.

"Thank you?" she responds as a question, thinking there's a compliment in there somewhere.

"Scotty has an apartment near here. Why don't we go there so you can get to know the real Scotty?"

His level of smarminess is enough to make her gag.

"No, Scotty. I don't do that on the first date."

"Scotty has a lot to offer."

"I'm really shy, remember?"

"And I'm saying," he glances down to his crotch, "a LOT to offer if you know what I mean." Using his index finger, he traces a circle around her kneecap causing Sandra to sit up very straight at the unwanted attention and gross implication of his manhood.

"You know what, Scotty? This date is officially over. Don't bother to contact me again."