After Halloween, it was pretty much about schoolwork for Rachel. She had fun, Quincy and Kelly came over often, but they didn't go out to parties, and they came over less often than before. Thanksgiving and Winter Break were just over the horizons and it would be time for midterms before they knew it.

It didn't really give Tex anything to do in an official capacity. He often watched her to make sure that nothing was happening to her mental health, but if she didn't come to him about anything, well, there was no actual danger happening around her.

They had that science class together that they were going to. He went to all of her classes to make sure that she wasn't overwhelmed by people, but the science class they actually had together. They were in fact science partners.

"Alright," The TA said as he passed out the papers, "Your next lab will be next class. You will be working on determining the concentration of caffeine in different types of sodas. It should be very easy for most of you," He said, and he gave Tex a suspicious look like he was a complete idiot. He didn't know what was up with the guy, but he didn't like that look. "Come with your supplies next period, divy them up how you want to, but you and your lab partner will be required to come up with a full set of supplies,"

Rachel looked over to him and then looked over the supply list. She put it in her bag and exited the class. Tex hurried after her. "You okay?" He asked "You've been kind of quiet since the Halloween party, princess."

She stopped dead in her tracks. "First of all, I'm not a princess. And secondly, I don't need you worrying after me,"

He shook his head and held her arm. "Worrying about you is literally my job, so yes, I do have to worry about you. And even if it wasn't, Rachel, I would worry about you. You're being different and that's fine if you have some stuff to figure out, but it shouldn't be forever,"

She pulled her arm away and stormed off. And all he could do was follow after her, because she wasn't supposed to be alone. He wished that she understood that it wasn't a game to him. He liked being here with her, but it was also a job. A job that he'd been picked for because he could blend in.

They made it to the dorm suite and Rachel promptly went to her own space. Which was fine. She needed some time to cool off. Tex pulled his laptop out and plopped down on the couch. He had enough to worry about, without worrying about the mood of his charge. Like all of his homework for his actual classes, which turned out to be a lot harder when you weren't in the same room as all of your other classmates.

He didn't see her until the next morning, when she knocked on his door to have him help pick out the science supplies, which should have been a simple enough mission, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She wanted to be around him. And that was simply good enough for him.

She grabbed two baskets when they got to the campus store and put half of the supplies in his basket and half in hers. The only thing on the list that the campus store didn't provide was the various soda samples. She waved that off. "I'll get a grocery pickup order with some soda on it. Shouldn't be a big deal."

"Right," He said. "You're better?"

She nodded her head. "You were right. Things happened, but you did your job and I'm fine. Thank you for doing your job."

He sputtered. She was so logical about it, but nothing about that night was logical. "You almost got sexually harassed. I saved you. I don't have to do that. I will because no one should be touched like that if they don't want to, but you were figuring it out all on your own,"

The rage filled her eyes. "Look, we don't have to be friends."

"I'm not suggesting we be friends. What I'm suggesting is that you were a little too hot to handle, princess. And someone tried to handle it. And despite the fact that I got everyone to stop recording your genie in a bottle routine to disturbia, you still think I'm the bad guy in that scenario,"

She stopped for a second and the rage blinked out of her eyes. "What?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, you got drunk and decided to table dance and people started recording that shit. I can only imagine what would have happened if someone realized what they had in their hands, but yeah, I stopped them from Recording you." He said, a little out of breath. He couldn't believe they were actually fighting over this right now, in the campus store, but there it was. They were doing what they had to do.

They walked back in silence. They weren't going to talk about the fight. Hell, why would they talk about it? They didn't exactly have anything to talk about. They weren't friends. She wasn't interested in that idea. Which was fine by him. She was just his charge. And he'd overseen plenty of people that he didn't like and didn't like him. This was nothing different than that.

For Rachel's part, she couldn't believe all that happened that night. And Saint Tex was there for it all. What would have happened if he wasn't there? Why did he even care? So what if she had been dancing on a table? What would have happened if all of those videos had gotten out? That was the point that really stuck out. Some brat probably had that video still. And didn't know that he was sitting on a video of the president's daughter. This would look bad for her dad if it ever got out. Even if the person didn't know. There would be someone to stumble across it who would.

And then she was back to noble Tex. Who had done above the call of duty, but made her feel bad about it. Like she shouldn't have had that much fun. And it was fun. Maybe it wasn't like that, but she certainly felt like that. She couldn't let him know how much it hurt that it just kept coming up. All she wanted was for it to be done. All she wanted was to go back and stop it. She hadn't even had a reason to do it in the first place.

Whatever. It was time to worry about actually studying.