Mike & Karen Ch. 12

"Proof positive!" Marks almost yelped. "If he didn't have anything to hide, he wouldn't be trying to hide something!"

Mike raised a finger to make a point, but then pursed his lips, struggled with himself for a moment and then put his hand back down, opting to say nothing.

"He's going to slip up sooner or later, so we simply need to be patient," the dean said, pacing again rapidly. "He thinks he can throw me off my game and cause me to blow my review! He doesn't know about my scheme to catch him in the act. You two go, and see if you can find out anything else. Come back here tomorrow at this time and we'll see if this cassette has turned up anything else."

"Nice roses, sir," Mike mentioned as he saw yet another vase on the desk, this time with blush-pink blossoms in it. "They really complement the colour in your cheeks."

"Get out!!" the dean rasped, leaning on his desk and flinging his finger in the direction of the door, his face going red.

"This is getting really tiresome," Mike sighed as they walked down the hall. "Poor Padget. There goes her Christmas bonus."

"I don't know," Karen mused. "Maybe she's already getting it."

Mike threw back his head and laughed loudly, the corridors ringing with his merriment.

***

The present ...

Alex clicked on the icon to engage the Skype call. He was greeted with the lovely visage of his aunt, who looked positively elated.

"So, I take it you won?" he asked, smiling.

"We did, Alex!" the blonde goddess said excitedly. "Yeah, this week was Hell in so many senses, but now that it's over and done with, and now that we've beat them, everything'll be fine!"

"As fine as anything ever gets with that family," Alex mused, making her giggle. She was sitting on the plush chesterfield of the hotel room she and his mom had rented for their trip to see the Quebec City Blackwells. It was in the Chateau Frontenac, one of the most luxurious and famed hotels in the entire Dominion. He'd never stayed in that particular suite before, since he always got his own room when they visited Quebec City, but he'd lounged in it often enough, since his parents used it when they went. "So what's the rest of your stay look like?"

"Well," she said, sinking back into the furniture and sighing happily. She was wearing a plush white bathrobe, and her hair was wet. "We're going to a dinner club with uncle Alistair, and I get to meet a few more Blackwells, and I've been assured these ones are a lot nicer than the boardroom savages."

"Yeah, I like Alistair, and there are a few younger members of the family I don't want to punch," agreed the nephew. "Lots of relaxing?"

"God knows, we need it," Alexa agreed, stretching out her feet and wiggling her toes. "This jacuzzi sure doesn't owe me anything, I'll tell you."

"Mind if I join in?" Karen asked as she settled down on the couch beside her younger sister and smiled at the screen. Alexa giggled and snuggled into Karen's side. Alex's mother was also wearing a silken kimono-style robe, emerald green with dragons in gold thread winding about it. Her hair was damp as well. "Well, if it isn't my big, strong, and handsome son. Making your father behave, Alex?"

Alex shrugged. "As much as anyone who isn't you can, mom. I'm glad to see you both survived, not that I actually doubted the outcome."

"It wasn't pretty, that's for sure," Karen sighed, putting her arm around her sister and caressing her shoulder absently while talking with her son. "I had to get really ugly with some people. And I used the nuclear option on your uncle Rodney."

"You called his mother on him?" Alex asked, grinning.

Karen's eyes narrowed. "Your father tell you that?"

"Nope," Alex said, shrugging again. "Just what I would've done. I know how scared he is of his mother."

"Too smart for your own good, Alex," Karen mused, smiling warmly. She loved her son so much. "Now I wish I had brought you."

"Nah, you two needed to do this," he replied, shaking his head. "It's your family first, mom. You need to order it the way you like it, not for me. Alexa and I'll figure that out on our own."

"Of that I have no doubt," the bronze-haired beauty said, trying to keep the pride out of her tone, or at least not have her words oozing it. "When are you expecting your father?"

"He's bringing Lebanese food home, and you know how much he loves that, so I doubt he'll be long."

"Have you two been looking after Abbott and Costello?"

"I think the looking after has been mutual, but yeah," Alex answered, nodding. "They'll probably be here for dinner. I've been spending time with Jeanie, while dad and Fre have been bonding over a shared tinkering kink."

"As long as they don't blow up my house ..." Karen said dryly. "I have to go get ready for our little soiree with the Blackwells tonight. Alli, don't be long."

"I won't Kar," the blonde said agreeably. She kissed her older sister and then Karen headed off to the bedroom. Alexa sighed and settled back in to the chesterfield and looked at her husband. "I'm glad the girls have looked after you, Alex. I've been thinking about it a lot."

"Y'might've warned me about the dildo shower of doom," he pointed out. "They made me get in that thing, y'know."

"Oh, poor baby," she cooed, leaning forward, kissing her finger and then pressing the finger against the screen. "I just thought it'd be funny if you found out the surprise way."

"Harrrrr ..." Alex replied. "Those two are insane."

"That's how we love them," Alexa agreed, giving him one of her megawatt smiles that no one could resist. "I'd better go get ready, I take at least as long to get ready as my big sissy."

"Have a good time, and knock 'em dead, the way only you can, O wife of mine."

"Love me forever, Alex?" she asked, her eyes shining.

"I gots no other way to be, I promise," Alex said, nodding. "If the rest of reality crumbles around us, rest assured, I still love you more than I can ever say."

Alexa blushed and looked down and away for a moment before smiling at him again. "You're my everything, Alex. I love you. I'll message you tonight."

Alex ended the call and leaned his head back, looking at the living room ceiling. It had been a fun week, but a long one, and it wasn't over yet. Thankfully, his wife would be home, soon, and life would continue as planned.

He wouldn't let anything stand in the way of that.

***

Karen couldn't believe she was doing this, but she followed DeBourne's example and was attempting to assist Dean Marks in finding out if the professor named Dudley was behind the sabotage in his office in an attempt to throw him off his game, bomb his review, and lose his current, cushy position as head of the science department.

She now found herself in a dorm where she knew several male students were taking many of Dudley's courses, having begun specializing in the fields the professor taught. Karen had already breezed through these courses via correspondence, so she had never had to attend the class.

She found one of the study halls and walked in. While she was aware that she was by no means the first woman to set foot within this room, the male students inside certainly seemed intent on making her feel that way. They all looked up and stared at her as she entered and looked around. There were maybe seventeen students in the room, all of them male.

Maybe she should have sent DeBourne to do this. Well, too late now ...

"I'm looking for someone to answer a few questions for me," Karen announced to the room. She was met with silence and the continual stares. She felt her annoyance growing. Her clothes were not terribly provocative, to her mind, and she was very aware of when she was trying to create that very effect.

"I said I need someone to answer some questions," she repeated. "Is anyone interested?"

"What's in it for me if I do, sweets?" asked one young man, dressed in a very preppy fashion, including a light sweater tied around his shoulders and his collar popped. Good God, did people really still do that?

It was a stupid question; she had plenty of peers who still did. It just made her sigh in despair. Nonetheless, she raised an eyebrow at his impertinent question. "Excuse me?"

"I asked, what's in it for me if I do?" he replied, giving her a smarmy grin. A few other students chuckled, but most were just silent. "As in, what're you gonna do for me if I answer these questions for you?"

Karen walked over to him slowly, her golden-amber eyes fixed on him. The cocky smile faded as she drew close. Soon, she was standing over him and he gaped up at her, still sitting.

Still sitting! Didn't they teach manners anymore?!

Without a word, she grabbed him by the right ear and twisted it, making him gasp and squeal in pain as she hauled him to his feet. Everyone watched in astonishment as she marched him out the door and into the hallway. If anyone wanted to follow her, common sense got the better of them before they did. They stayed put.

The young man, who was probably a senior, found himself dragged around a corner and then slammed against a wall. He stayed plastered against it, his eyes wide with fear, but watering with pain from Karen's abuse of his earlobe. She glowered at him, indicating she was not amused.

"Why did you have to do that?" she asked in a low, dire voice. "You could have said nothing, but instead, you tried to embarrass me."

"I'm sorry!" he said hastily, wanting to run, but obviously afraid she's shred him like barbecued pork if he attempted it. "It was just a joke!"

"Not to me it wasn't," she said, her eyes still locked with his. "That wasn't the least bit necessary."

"It was just a joke, I swear!" he insisted. "I was just trying to get a laugh out of my buddies!"

"At my expense, hm?" Karen asked, watching him quail. "Well, if what they think is so important, would you like me to take you back into the study hall and beat your ass there, in front of all of them?"

"You can't do that!" the young man gasped, horrified, clearly worried she'd do it. "That's assault. I could have you expelled for this, never mind taking me back to the study hall and hitting me!"

"I think you'll find the university's attitudes toward sexual harassment are changing," she said levelly, inching closer. "Unwanted sexual advances are frowned upon, I assure you. I helped draft the campus bylaws myself."

"What do you want?!" he pleaded, beside himself with fear.

"What I originally wanted," she said simply, but still not letting him go anywhere. "I want someone to answer some questions for me, specifically about Professor Dudley."

He looked confused for a moment. "About ... Dudley?"

"Well, clearly I didn't injure your ear too badly, since your hearing isn't affected," she said dryly. "Now, are you of any use to me whatsoever on this subject?"

"I ... I take his classes, so I guess I know some stuff about him," the student said, still pale with fright. "What ... what do you wanna know?"

"He's applying for the dean's position, right?"

He thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, he's told his classes that he is. He's really hoping that he gets the position. He admires the dean, but they don't agree on a lot of policy matters. He has his own way of doing things and believes he can improve the faculty with his initiatives."

"You said he doesn't agree with the dean, but admires and respects him?" Karen asked.

He nodded again. "I ... yeah, he can be critical, but he thinks the dean's all right. Maybe a little lax about progressing the department, but he doesn't want him dead."

Karen considered: "So you don't think he's got a hate on for the dean, or anything."

"No, I guess not," he replied, before making a wry face. "Why all the weird questions?"

She thought quickly. "The university is asking me to look at inter-personnel dynamics before making any decisions about the dean position, get the real deal about their candidates, not just what they present at their interviews. Who better to know that than their students?"

"So what do I get for helpin' you?" he asked, trying to sound hard done by.

"No one put a gun to your head about helping at all," she pointed out. "If you didn't want to help, you could have said nothing. This all happened because you disrespected me."

"C'mon!" he almost whined. "Y'can't let me go back in there like nothin' happened! Can't you just give me a blow, or even a handjob?"

Karen's eyes narrowed as she advanced on her conversation partner.

Three minutes later ...

He walked gingerly back into the study hall, trying not to grunt or moan, and eased himself back down into the chair he'd occupied earlier. He exhaled and made a pained face while his studymates looked at him curiously.

"So, didja get anything out of her?" one boy asked, grinning slyly.

"Yeah, I ..." he began, before choosing his words carefully. "I'm allowed to say Karen Gordon let me live ..."

***

"So you won, hm?" Mike asked, smiling at the screen, and his wife's beautiful face. "Alex was telling me Alli was absolutely elated, if exhausted."

"She isn't the only one who is exhausted, believe me," Karen sighed, and he could see it in her eyes, in her expression, and hear it in her voice. She looked tired, and not in a physical exertion type of way. He'd seen this look only twice before from her: once after giving birth to Alex for eighteen hours, and again after her father had just died and she could finally relax. "It's been such a long week without you, Michael."

He nodded, wishing he could have been there. "I know, princess. But you did it. You proved you were strongest, that you were everything you were raised to be, meant to be, and so much more. You've brought an impossible family to heel in even a way your dad couldn't, and I doubt even I could have. This is all you, Karen. Congratulations."

She covered her mouth with her fingers as her eyes teared up and she stifled a sob. "How do you always know just what to say? You always have, you big jerk."

His smile was a kind one. "It's easy with you, because I only need simple, self-evident truths, Kar. I'll remind you until Doomsday that you're the strongest, most capable woman I know. Never a day goes by that I don't somehow love you more."

She controlled herself and sighed, looking at her lap, and finally up at him. "It's been so exhausting, Michael. And with this over, we have a potentially even bigger fight on our hands, concerning Alex and my baby sister. I'm ... I'm dreading it, on so many levels."

"I don't blame you, at all," Mike said readily, shaking his head. "It could go smoothly and quickly, or it could be litigation and social Hell. We've done everything we can to plan for those eventualities, although it's hard to imagine no complications. There'll be pushback at the church and so on, maybe in social circles on campus."

"You're ... not disappointed in me for sounding afraid? Like I don't want to face this?" she asked, even if she already knew the answer in her heart.

He smiled again. "I know you, Gordon, better than you know yourself. You just need a few days off from this last donnybrook, and you'll be raring for the next fight."

"I envy you," she murmured. "You never stop; you're just relentless in everything. You think nothing of challenges, like taking on the entire legal system and forcing it to change to suit us."

"To die would be an awfully big adventure," Mike quipped, grinning, knowing it was the right thing to do.

"I'm so glad our son got that ridiculous streak from you and not me," Karen sighed, smiling ruefully. "You're absurd, good sir."

"You'd be completely bored with me if I weren't," he chuckled. "And you hate it when life is boring."

"I hope to God that I have fought my last battle ..." she said, quoting Wellington.

"Someday that'll be true, when Alex and Alli come into their own," Mike pointed out. "And then you'll miss it and be begging to interfere."

"Probably," she admitted. "As long as you're by my side, anything is possible."

"How long d'you think it'll be before Roddy speaks to you again?" Mike asked, smirking.

"Too soon," she muttered, almost scowling at the thought. "He brought it on himself, you know. He left me no choice."

"You'll get no argument from me," he laughed. "I just wish I'd been there to see it. How'd they take the news of us moving into Blackwell Manor?"

"I could tell a few of them wanted to object, but they didn't dare, since they'd been thoroughly thrashed moments before. A Blackwell knows a losing battle when they see one. They'll just accept it eventually."

"Good," Mike said, nodding. "And then we'll turn this place into inexpensive student housing that covers the maintenance and property taxes. If we buy the apartment complex next door, we can use that for students too."

"Another good deed for the Blackwell-Gordon-DeBourne clan," Karen mused, smiling at her husband. "Always thinking of everyone else, aren't you?"

"Well, you, mostly," he said, shrugging. "But as for thinking about everyone else, I kind of have to. They're not as lucky as I am, being married to you, and so they need all the help they can get."

There were tears in her eyes as she daintily pressed her fingers to her mouth again.

***

1986 ...

The student cafeteria was clamouring with activity, with hundreds of bodies sitting or milling around. At one table, Karen sat with Lisa, Mona and Janet, while Mike sat on the other side of the table, along with a few friends. Mike was reading his copy of Aquinas intently and nibbling at some fries, while Karen was making a wry face as she examined what was supposedly food on her plastic tray.

"You're certain this is edible?" she queried, watching as she lifted her fork from out of the plate, something long, elastic and vaguely pinkish pulling away with it. "Why did I let you talk me into this?"

"Oh, don't be such a princess," Janet sighed, shaking her head. "People eat in here all the time, every day, and it hasn't killed them."

"Yeah, Janet eats in here constantly, and her grades have hardly suffered from the brain damage at all," Mona quipped, making Lisa snicker while Janet just stuck her tongue out at the animation student. "One helping won't kill you."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Karen said, frowning as she turned her fork in her hand, watching the pink stuff wrap around the tines like salmonella taffy. "And I'll attempt to be more open-minded than you lot were about trying that authentic Mexican food with me."

"Oh, you mean that stuff that looked like cigarette butts floating in flat beer?" Mona asked.

"Or those shiny black balls that tasted sorta like chicken, were covered in black sauce, and then covered in tiny little black shiny balls?" Janet added.

"And let's not forget that big roasted fruit thing that looked like one of those eggs from the Aliens movie that came out this summer," Lisa said, trying to not smirk. "I half-expected one of those face-hugger thingies to jump out of it at me."

"Those were all regional delicacies of the Yucatán, I will have you savages know," Karen said indignantly, putting her fork down while she lectured her friends. "Some of those recipes had Aztec origins."

"Pffff, the race must be practically extinct," Janet muttered, causing Mona to shake her head. "Sorry, princess."

"But you ate it all, I had none left!" Karen protested.

Her three friends looked at one another and then shrugged at her.

"Actually," Lisa said, blushing, "when you weren't looking, we hustled the food out and brought it to Mongo over here, because he'll eat anything."

"Guilty," Mike said, raising a hand idly without looking up from his tome. "And it was delicious."