Guidelines 4, Power Play, Chapter 4
May. 30th, 2006 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lit_galHuge smoochies to Fingers, Patk, Kaleecat, and Unicorn who are bidding on my stories for the Moonridge auction here and here. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
Okay, on with the story....
Last time on Guidelines
"Jim, I want to press charges for assault and unlawful interference with a pairing," Blair said as he crossed his arms. No way would the charges stand, especially since only the military could enforce the laws, but any civilian agency could arrest suspects, and the paperwork would be a nightmare.
Wilke made a small choking sound as Blair headed for his own desk. He hadn't planned on coming to work today, but he had plenty of work including a culture training for incoming officers. As Blair pulled out the right file, he smiled at the sight of Cohn glowering, Jim typing away on the booking form, and Wilke standing in the middle of the bullpen with his eyes snapping from one point to another like a lost bird. Sometimes life was good.
Okay, on with the story....
Last time on Guidelines
"Jim, I want to press charges for assault and unlawful interference with a pairing," Blair said as he crossed his arms. No way would the charges stand, especially since only the military could enforce the laws, but any civilian agency could arrest suspects, and the paperwork would be a nightmare.
Wilke made a small choking sound as Blair headed for his own desk. He hadn't planned on coming to work today, but he had plenty of work including a culture training for incoming officers. As Blair pulled out the right file, he smiled at the sight of Cohn glowering, Jim typing away on the booking form, and Wilke standing in the middle of the bullpen with his eyes snapping from one point to another like a lost bird. Sometimes life was good.
Blair sat in the truck and watched Jim's profile out of the side of his eye. He really didn't need to get caught staring because he did not need a repeat of last night's fight: One nasty round of "I'm fine" "No, you aren't" "Yes, I am" was enough for him.
"I'm fine, Sandburg. Quit looking at me like I’m about to break."
"Hey, I never said—"
"You know they're just going to send someone else," Jim interrupted as the muscle in his jaw tightened. Blair understood the reaction, but it didn't make him any less angry at the people who had left Jim so defensive. He focused on the red car in front of them in traffic: two kids in the back fought over something in the middle, pulling and yanking viciously in their attempts to grab it.
"Maybe they'll just get tired of paying the air fair," Blair suggested. "Hell, they've got to hate airport security these days, so if I can send them through that misery a few extra times, it's all worth it. If we're lucky, they'll get strip searched," Blair laughed. Jim didn't.
"Chief," Jim stopped. He focused on the traffic. "Call me if you have any more protests on campus; I don't want a repeat of yesterday," Jim finally finished.
"Man, you and me both. And as long as we're talking about calling, call if the USSP idiots try anything. They can't run tests without me there. I just hope Cohn is on his way back home because I do not want to have to deal with him again."
Blair watched as Jim slowly smiled. "I don't know; I kinda liked how you dealt with him," Jim laughed grimly, and Blair watched the tension bleed out of Jim like a summer storm that blew through and then disappeared without a trace. Jim smiled wider as he took the turn onto Becker. "When I called in this morning, Simon said Cohn got bail at about 3 am and that Wilke is looking humbled as he sits next to my desk."
"He's waiting? Oh man, I could have gotten a ride from Karen. You did not have to drive me," Blair stopped as Jim's grin widened. "Unless, of course, you wanted to make him wait."
Jim didn't disagree as he turned the last corner and the first of Rainier's buildings appeared. "Do you need help carrying up the supplies?" Jim asked as he pulled his truck into a loading zone in front of Hargrove Hall.
"I'm fine," Blair promised as he pulled the strap to the laptop over his shoulder. He jumped out of the truck only to find the box of office supplies in the back had slid over to Jim's side. Jim got out of the truck and pulled the box out of the back before walking around to the passenger side. Blair noticed for the first time that Jim hadn't shaved that morning as the sun highlighted the tips of hundreds of hairs just poking out of his chin.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Blair asked as Jim closed the distance. He whispered softly enough that passing students wouldn't hear, but Jim's eyes still darted to the young men and women hurrying past in small clumps.
"Look, Sigmund, I'm fine. Truth be told, I'm more aggravated by this new assignment than by the USSP," Jim practically growled as he shoved the box of supplies at Blair harder than necessary. Blair scrambled to get his fingers around the edges as he took a step back with the force of the shove. Oh yeah, he could feel last night's fight circling like a vulture ready to rip into them. Blair went for a change of topic.
"Something big? If you need me down at the station, I can find someone to cover classes." Blair got his hands around the box and stepped forward again.
"No. I just got stuck working a vice case. Every time I have to go undercover for vice, I end up feeling like I went swimming in slime. Give me a good old-fashioned murderer any day of the week," Jim confessed.
Blair stared at his partner as he considered everything that might mean. "So, you're going undercover for vice?" He meant to sound casual, but Blair suspected he came closer to breathy.
"It's just temporary. There's a tough case, and a witness turned up dead."
"Oh man, does that mean I get to see leather pants and sequins?" Blair kept his voice to a whisper, but he couldn't keep the excitement out of his tone or the bounce out of his knees as he moved a little closer to Jim. "I really wouldn't mind that," Blair announced with a wide-eyed, nodding smile.
"Sequins?" Jim choked out.
"Maybe not sequins," Blair conceded, "but tight leather pants, maybe a leather vest, definitely the big leather boots." Blair watched as Jim's face froze in an expression of shock: wide eyes, mouth slightly open. Then Jim blinked quickly and shook his head in disbelief.
"I'm going to be dressed like a thug. Worn jeans, leather boots, shirt with the sleeves ripped off. This is not about looking sexy," Jim said as he crossed his arms.
"So, are you going all out with the scruffy beard and maybe a few earrings?" Blair asked with a smile.
"Probably," Jim narrowed his eyes and searched Blair's face with an intensity Blair associated with confusion. He found that any time he surprised Jim, and he often did, Jim would search him as though trying to decide how seriously to take his guide.
"The bad boy look is definitely sexy. Throw in a leather vest, and I'll follow you anywhere," Blair suggested lasciviously. Slowly, Jim's cheeks reddened as he eyes focused over his guide's shoulder. Blair glanced over to find a leggy blonde watching with open hostility.
"Oh man, I didn't mean to embarrass… shit… look, forget I said anything." Blair started backing away. Jim opened his mouth to answer, and Blair interrupted with one more change of topic. "Charlie's car won't be ready today, even if his cousin actually gets around to looking at it, so could you pick me up at five?"
"Not a problem," Jim answered without moving his eyes from the blonde.
"And give Charlie a ride home too?" Blair threw in. That got Jim's attention.
"I'm not a taxi service, Sandburg."
"It's only one day," Blair tried his best pleading expression. Charlie could get a ride with any number of people, but at least Jim would be sober when he drove—not many of Charlie's friends would be able to say the same.
"You're right—it is only one day," Jim groused before he turned and walked back to the driver's side. Blair focused on watching Jim drive away, shifting the box up onto his hip as he ignored the waves of hate from behind.
"Blair," a low voice said in a dark tone.
"Kelly," Blair answered as he turned toward his office and started walking. A pull on his computer strap yanked him to a stop, and he looked over his shoulder to see Kelly's long fingers wrapped around the strap.
"So, that's why you've thrown me over? You found someone who could do more than just tie you down and take you? You found someone who could fuck you?" Kelly moved closer, using the computer strap to keep Blair in place. "I could tell people such interesting stories about their favorite TA," Kelly whispered. At one point, that might have freaked Blair out, but after surviving real threats, he could only laugh at her hissed words and narrow-eyed glare.
"Oh please," Blair jerked the computer strap free and then glared right back at Kelly. "Look at how you're dressed with the boots that scream domme and the low cut blouse and the leather mini. Anyone who looks at you knows you're into tying up your partners. Therefore, anyone who knows we dated, knows I play tie up games. Did you know that 61% of adults between 18 and 30 either engage in bondage or fantasize about it while having sex or masturbating? I don't think anyone is going to be too scandalized." Blair laughed as he backed up a couple of steps, the box of supplied getting heavier by the second. "The biggest scandal will be that you got dumped, so go ahead and make yourself look like an idiot."
"You little—" Kelly flushed red and took a step forward leading Blair to roll his eyes.
"Oh please, go find someone else to play bottom boy for you because you definitely suck the fun right out of being tied up," Blair said, and several undergrads passing them on the sidewalk froze, heads swiveling around to look, and one particularly short girl blushed bright red before she reversed direction and practically ran for the science building. Freshmen. "Actually, you suck, but not well," Blair corrected himself as he turned and headed up the sidewalk, students clearing a path as he left Kelly behind.
Blair braced himself to be pulled to a halt again, but he reached the stairs without round two of vindictive Kelly. The way his week was going, it surprised him. He had almost reached the doors before he heard a familiar voice.
"Heard you had an interesting day yesterday," a woman said.
"Suzanne," Blair said happily as he turned to see a stunning Asian woman in a guard's uniform. He always thought of her as the one that got away, but it didn't stop him from loving her company anyway; she had a vicious sense of humor once you got past her proper exterior. "Oh man, I had a horrible day, but I'm betting that with the protest and the break in, your day was just as bad." The head of campus security slipped by him on the steps so that she could pull the door open. Blair smiled his thanks as shifted the box and headed into Hargrove. Even the short walk had left him feeling limp and wilted as summer heat and Cascade humidity had turned the whole city into a sauna.
"I hear you had a run in with a couple of the new campus police officers." Suzanne followed him into the building. Blair just snorted his disgust as he hit the elevator button with an elbow.
"More of a walk than a run. It was a giant exercise in miscommunication," Suzanne followed him into the elevator, and Blair braced his box against the wall as he pressed the button. "So, any ideas who did the redecorating job on my office?"
"We have a couple of leads." Suzanne bit her lip, and Blair turned his full attention to the woman, watching as her delicate mouth twisted unhappily.
"Suzanne?" Blair asked. The mouth twisted more as the right side of her lower lip disappeared into her mouth.
"Oh god, please don't tell me something else happened to my office." Blair leaned into the box harder as he felt his legs weaken. He'd expected his biggest problem with the USSP to be the actual USSP. Instead, karma seemed to have a sense of humor, circling back to bite him in the ass for all the times he'd helped his mother protest against 'the man'.
"We got a tip that the stunt at the office might not be related to the protest." The doors to the elevator slid open and Suzanne continued to just stand and look out at the hall for a moment before she seemed to force herself into motion.
"I don't mind telling you, you're kinda freaking me out, here," Blair admitted as he followed her out into the hall. "Suzanne, we've known each other for a long time—"
"Ever since you led your student in a revolt against the campus computer lab."
"I was just pointing out the evils of censorship."
"You called the Dr. Wilson a troll."
"Dr. Wilson is a troll," Blair said as he stopped outside his office. "The man even smells like old dirt, but his theories on what's appropriate use of the school internet would make him a troll even without the smell."
"Blair, we got an anonymous report that you've been propositioning students for sex in exchange for grades. The note suggested that a girl who turned you down vandalized your office after you gave her a low grade." Suzanne blurted the whole statement so quickly that it took a second for Blair to mentally rewind the words and replay them at normal speed. When he did, he froze half way through his office door.
"I…" Blair stopped, his throat tightening around his words until he felt like he might choke on the syllables. "I wouldn't," he finally got out. Stepping forward, he dropped the box of supplies on the newly cleaned desk before he dropped the thing. "You have to know I wouldn't," he said as he turned to face the head of security. For a blink, he could see the doubt and hesitation twist her small features, and then she smiled.
"Of course you wouldn't," she agreed. Blair leaned against his desk.
"Suzanne," he said, searching her face for the lingering traces of hesitation.
"Blair, I can't see you doing anything like this, but the university has to take every accusation seriously. We've opened an investigation, and we'll be interviewing your students from previous semesters." Suzanne gave him a small, weak smile, and Blair sat on the edge of his desk.
"Man, I never did anything like that. Hell, last semester I was dating Kelly who would have cut my balls off if—" Blair stopped in the middle of his sentence. He had obviously suffered major brain damage to miss that connection.
"Kelly," Blair said quietly, rage making his vision darken as he considered just how far she would go.
"I thought of that. We still have to investigate, though. If nothing else, we need to clear you."
"Man, I hope her karma drags her down into the body of a cockroach next time around," Blair grumbled through gritted teeth. Looking around at his new office, he suddenly couldn't find the joy he'd felt just 24 hours earlier. After years of working in hallways and common rooms shared by dozens of TA's, he'd earned a place of his own and the right to work on his Sentinel thesis.
However, now he could only wonder whether any of his students would take this chance to get back at him for a low grade or take a run at trying to get the administration to remove grades from their transcripts. Heck, he'd actually turned down a couple of girls, including one freshman who'd sat in the front row of one class in a miniskirt and no underwear. The woman had spend the first half of the semester randomly opening her legs and giving Blair a free peep show until Blair had learned to not look at that section of the classroom. Would she take his rejection badly and make up some story to get him back? He struggled to even remember what grade he'd given her.
"Blair, this is going to blow over," Suzanne said softly.
"Yeah. Right," Blair answered as he leaned against the box. "'Cause things always work out for the best," he pointed out sarcastically.
Suzanne didn't answer, but she did rest a hand on his shoulder for a second. Blair gave her a smile and shrugged. The gesture made her hand fall away.
"I'll survive. I always do," he said, and then he focused on pulling equipment out of the box.
"If you need anything…"
"You'll be out questioning all my students about whether or not I traded grades for sex," Blair snapped. The lack of any answer made him look up at Suzanne who watched him with wide eyes and a hand that fluttered between her lips and her neck nervously. "Oh man. That was so far out of line that I can't even see the line from where I am. I'm sorry," he immediately offered. Suzanne's hand finally rested near her neck.
"I'm sorry, Blair. It's just procedure."
"Yeah. I get that. I know you'll do the right thing," Blair assured her. Suzanne gave him a small smile and backed up a step toward the door. Blair focused on his box of supplies, continuing to unpack as he listened to Suzanne's footsteps take her out of his office. Great, day one, he got arrested for protesting and vandalism, and day two he became the center of the sex scandal. At this rate, he'd be arrested for murdering Jimmy Hoffa by the end of the week. When had life gotten so damn strange?
"I'm fine, Sandburg. Quit looking at me like I’m about to break."
"Hey, I never said—"
"You know they're just going to send someone else," Jim interrupted as the muscle in his jaw tightened. Blair understood the reaction, but it didn't make him any less angry at the people who had left Jim so defensive. He focused on the red car in front of them in traffic: two kids in the back fought over something in the middle, pulling and yanking viciously in their attempts to grab it.
"Maybe they'll just get tired of paying the air fair," Blair suggested. "Hell, they've got to hate airport security these days, so if I can send them through that misery a few extra times, it's all worth it. If we're lucky, they'll get strip searched," Blair laughed. Jim didn't.
"Chief," Jim stopped. He focused on the traffic. "Call me if you have any more protests on campus; I don't want a repeat of yesterday," Jim finally finished.
"Man, you and me both. And as long as we're talking about calling, call if the USSP idiots try anything. They can't run tests without me there. I just hope Cohn is on his way back home because I do not want to have to deal with him again."
Blair watched as Jim slowly smiled. "I don't know; I kinda liked how you dealt with him," Jim laughed grimly, and Blair watched the tension bleed out of Jim like a summer storm that blew through and then disappeared without a trace. Jim smiled wider as he took the turn onto Becker. "When I called in this morning, Simon said Cohn got bail at about 3 am and that Wilke is looking humbled as he sits next to my desk."
"He's waiting? Oh man, I could have gotten a ride from Karen. You did not have to drive me," Blair stopped as Jim's grin widened. "Unless, of course, you wanted to make him wait."
Jim didn't disagree as he turned the last corner and the first of Rainier's buildings appeared. "Do you need help carrying up the supplies?" Jim asked as he pulled his truck into a loading zone in front of Hargrove Hall.
"I'm fine," Blair promised as he pulled the strap to the laptop over his shoulder. He jumped out of the truck only to find the box of office supplies in the back had slid over to Jim's side. Jim got out of the truck and pulled the box out of the back before walking around to the passenger side. Blair noticed for the first time that Jim hadn't shaved that morning as the sun highlighted the tips of hundreds of hairs just poking out of his chin.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Blair asked as Jim closed the distance. He whispered softly enough that passing students wouldn't hear, but Jim's eyes still darted to the young men and women hurrying past in small clumps.
"Look, Sigmund, I'm fine. Truth be told, I'm more aggravated by this new assignment than by the USSP," Jim practically growled as he shoved the box of supplies at Blair harder than necessary. Blair scrambled to get his fingers around the edges as he took a step back with the force of the shove. Oh yeah, he could feel last night's fight circling like a vulture ready to rip into them. Blair went for a change of topic.
"Something big? If you need me down at the station, I can find someone to cover classes." Blair got his hands around the box and stepped forward again.
"No. I just got stuck working a vice case. Every time I have to go undercover for vice, I end up feeling like I went swimming in slime. Give me a good old-fashioned murderer any day of the week," Jim confessed.
Blair stared at his partner as he considered everything that might mean. "So, you're going undercover for vice?" He meant to sound casual, but Blair suspected he came closer to breathy.
"It's just temporary. There's a tough case, and a witness turned up dead."
"Oh man, does that mean I get to see leather pants and sequins?" Blair kept his voice to a whisper, but he couldn't keep the excitement out of his tone or the bounce out of his knees as he moved a little closer to Jim. "I really wouldn't mind that," Blair announced with a wide-eyed, nodding smile.
"Sequins?" Jim choked out.
"Maybe not sequins," Blair conceded, "but tight leather pants, maybe a leather vest, definitely the big leather boots." Blair watched as Jim's face froze in an expression of shock: wide eyes, mouth slightly open. Then Jim blinked quickly and shook his head in disbelief.
"I'm going to be dressed like a thug. Worn jeans, leather boots, shirt with the sleeves ripped off. This is not about looking sexy," Jim said as he crossed his arms.
"So, are you going all out with the scruffy beard and maybe a few earrings?" Blair asked with a smile.
"Probably," Jim narrowed his eyes and searched Blair's face with an intensity Blair associated with confusion. He found that any time he surprised Jim, and he often did, Jim would search him as though trying to decide how seriously to take his guide.
"The bad boy look is definitely sexy. Throw in a leather vest, and I'll follow you anywhere," Blair suggested lasciviously. Slowly, Jim's cheeks reddened as he eyes focused over his guide's shoulder. Blair glanced over to find a leggy blonde watching with open hostility.
"Oh man, I didn't mean to embarrass… shit… look, forget I said anything." Blair started backing away. Jim opened his mouth to answer, and Blair interrupted with one more change of topic. "Charlie's car won't be ready today, even if his cousin actually gets around to looking at it, so could you pick me up at five?"
"Not a problem," Jim answered without moving his eyes from the blonde.
"And give Charlie a ride home too?" Blair threw in. That got Jim's attention.
"I'm not a taxi service, Sandburg."
"It's only one day," Blair tried his best pleading expression. Charlie could get a ride with any number of people, but at least Jim would be sober when he drove—not many of Charlie's friends would be able to say the same.
"You're right—it is only one day," Jim groused before he turned and walked back to the driver's side. Blair focused on watching Jim drive away, shifting the box up onto his hip as he ignored the waves of hate from behind.
"Blair," a low voice said in a dark tone.
"Kelly," Blair answered as he turned toward his office and started walking. A pull on his computer strap yanked him to a stop, and he looked over his shoulder to see Kelly's long fingers wrapped around the strap.
"So, that's why you've thrown me over? You found someone who could do more than just tie you down and take you? You found someone who could fuck you?" Kelly moved closer, using the computer strap to keep Blair in place. "I could tell people such interesting stories about their favorite TA," Kelly whispered. At one point, that might have freaked Blair out, but after surviving real threats, he could only laugh at her hissed words and narrow-eyed glare.
"Oh please," Blair jerked the computer strap free and then glared right back at Kelly. "Look at how you're dressed with the boots that scream domme and the low cut blouse and the leather mini. Anyone who looks at you knows you're into tying up your partners. Therefore, anyone who knows we dated, knows I play tie up games. Did you know that 61% of adults between 18 and 30 either engage in bondage or fantasize about it while having sex or masturbating? I don't think anyone is going to be too scandalized." Blair laughed as he backed up a couple of steps, the box of supplied getting heavier by the second. "The biggest scandal will be that you got dumped, so go ahead and make yourself look like an idiot."
"You little—" Kelly flushed red and took a step forward leading Blair to roll his eyes.
"Oh please, go find someone else to play bottom boy for you because you definitely suck the fun right out of being tied up," Blair said, and several undergrads passing them on the sidewalk froze, heads swiveling around to look, and one particularly short girl blushed bright red before she reversed direction and practically ran for the science building. Freshmen. "Actually, you suck, but not well," Blair corrected himself as he turned and headed up the sidewalk, students clearing a path as he left Kelly behind.
Blair braced himself to be pulled to a halt again, but he reached the stairs without round two of vindictive Kelly. The way his week was going, it surprised him. He had almost reached the doors before he heard a familiar voice.
"Heard you had an interesting day yesterday," a woman said.
"Suzanne," Blair said happily as he turned to see a stunning Asian woman in a guard's uniform. He always thought of her as the one that got away, but it didn't stop him from loving her company anyway; she had a vicious sense of humor once you got past her proper exterior. "Oh man, I had a horrible day, but I'm betting that with the protest and the break in, your day was just as bad." The head of campus security slipped by him on the steps so that she could pull the door open. Blair smiled his thanks as shifted the box and headed into Hargrove. Even the short walk had left him feeling limp and wilted as summer heat and Cascade humidity had turned the whole city into a sauna.
"I hear you had a run in with a couple of the new campus police officers." Suzanne followed him into the building. Blair just snorted his disgust as he hit the elevator button with an elbow.
"More of a walk than a run. It was a giant exercise in miscommunication," Suzanne followed him into the elevator, and Blair braced his box against the wall as he pressed the button. "So, any ideas who did the redecorating job on my office?"
"We have a couple of leads." Suzanne bit her lip, and Blair turned his full attention to the woman, watching as her delicate mouth twisted unhappily.
"Suzanne?" Blair asked. The mouth twisted more as the right side of her lower lip disappeared into her mouth.
"Oh god, please don't tell me something else happened to my office." Blair leaned into the box harder as he felt his legs weaken. He'd expected his biggest problem with the USSP to be the actual USSP. Instead, karma seemed to have a sense of humor, circling back to bite him in the ass for all the times he'd helped his mother protest against 'the man'.
"We got a tip that the stunt at the office might not be related to the protest." The doors to the elevator slid open and Suzanne continued to just stand and look out at the hall for a moment before she seemed to force herself into motion.
"I don't mind telling you, you're kinda freaking me out, here," Blair admitted as he followed her out into the hall. "Suzanne, we've known each other for a long time—"
"Ever since you led your student in a revolt against the campus computer lab."
"I was just pointing out the evils of censorship."
"You called the Dr. Wilson a troll."
"Dr. Wilson is a troll," Blair said as he stopped outside his office. "The man even smells like old dirt, but his theories on what's appropriate use of the school internet would make him a troll even without the smell."
"Blair, we got an anonymous report that you've been propositioning students for sex in exchange for grades. The note suggested that a girl who turned you down vandalized your office after you gave her a low grade." Suzanne blurted the whole statement so quickly that it took a second for Blair to mentally rewind the words and replay them at normal speed. When he did, he froze half way through his office door.
"I…" Blair stopped, his throat tightening around his words until he felt like he might choke on the syllables. "I wouldn't," he finally got out. Stepping forward, he dropped the box of supplies on the newly cleaned desk before he dropped the thing. "You have to know I wouldn't," he said as he turned to face the head of security. For a blink, he could see the doubt and hesitation twist her small features, and then she smiled.
"Of course you wouldn't," she agreed. Blair leaned against his desk.
"Suzanne," he said, searching her face for the lingering traces of hesitation.
"Blair, I can't see you doing anything like this, but the university has to take every accusation seriously. We've opened an investigation, and we'll be interviewing your students from previous semesters." Suzanne gave him a small, weak smile, and Blair sat on the edge of his desk.
"Man, I never did anything like that. Hell, last semester I was dating Kelly who would have cut my balls off if—" Blair stopped in the middle of his sentence. He had obviously suffered major brain damage to miss that connection.
"Kelly," Blair said quietly, rage making his vision darken as he considered just how far she would go.
"I thought of that. We still have to investigate, though. If nothing else, we need to clear you."
"Man, I hope her karma drags her down into the body of a cockroach next time around," Blair grumbled through gritted teeth. Looking around at his new office, he suddenly couldn't find the joy he'd felt just 24 hours earlier. After years of working in hallways and common rooms shared by dozens of TA's, he'd earned a place of his own and the right to work on his Sentinel thesis.
However, now he could only wonder whether any of his students would take this chance to get back at him for a low grade or take a run at trying to get the administration to remove grades from their transcripts. Heck, he'd actually turned down a couple of girls, including one freshman who'd sat in the front row of one class in a miniskirt and no underwear. The woman had spend the first half of the semester randomly opening her legs and giving Blair a free peep show until Blair had learned to not look at that section of the classroom. Would she take his rejection badly and make up some story to get him back? He struggled to even remember what grade he'd given her.
"Blair, this is going to blow over," Suzanne said softly.
"Yeah. Right," Blair answered as he leaned against the box. "'Cause things always work out for the best," he pointed out sarcastically.
Suzanne didn't answer, but she did rest a hand on his shoulder for a second. Blair gave her a smile and shrugged. The gesture made her hand fall away.
"I'll survive. I always do," he said, and then he focused on pulling equipment out of the box.
"If you need anything…"
"You'll be out questioning all my students about whether or not I traded grades for sex," Blair snapped. The lack of any answer made him look up at Suzanne who watched him with wide eyes and a hand that fluttered between her lips and her neck nervously. "Oh man. That was so far out of line that I can't even see the line from where I am. I'm sorry," he immediately offered. Suzanne's hand finally rested near her neck.
"I'm sorry, Blair. It's just procedure."
"Yeah. I get that. I know you'll do the right thing," Blair assured her. Suzanne gave him a small smile and backed up a step toward the door. Blair focused on his box of supplies, continuing to unpack as he listened to Suzanne's footsteps take her out of his office. Great, day one, he got arrested for protesting and vandalism, and day two he became the center of the sex scandal. At this rate, he'd be arrested for murdering Jimmy Hoffa by the end of the week. When had life gotten so damn strange?
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Date: 2006-05-30 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-31 01:18 am (UTC)