The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3260 by Angharad Copyright© 2020 Angharad

---

This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
####

Having sorted out Danielle's immediate problem we returned home and I set to with my pile of paperwork again. The result was I stayed up too late and drank too much tea, so sleep that night was short and made worse by several visits to the loo - so much for decaffeinated tea.

After a night of deprived sleep, I was not in the best of moods at breakfast and unfortunately let it be known. By the time I left for work, David had agreed to convey the girls to school in the VW people carrier as he wanted to do some shopping afterwards, I was ready to poke someone. Diane came close to being the chosen one as she hassled me for a number of items she was working on while I was trying to get myself ready to attend the meeting with Tom and the finance committee to try and protect my funding. It was therefore not an opportune time for Dr Dawes to come calling, especially as his mood was only fractionally better than mine.

"Professor, you lied to me," he declared sidestepping an exasperated Diane.

I had a pile of folders in my arms and I glared at him and dropped them noisily on the desk. "I did not lie to you nor have I got time to discuss this with you now. Besides, it's a personal matter and no business of yours anyway."

"What?" he said in a raised voice, "that you lied to me, that you're pretending to be a woman to all the people in this university who should be told the truth..."

"Come back later, Diane will tell you when I'm free. I have no time now to discuss it, I have a meeting to attend and if I don't get there, my budgets could well be cut and in which case I may have to make people redundant."

"Trying to threaten me, are you?"

"No you're far too fucking stupid for that, now get out of my way." I picked up the files and my handbag, placed my ipad on top of the files and stormed out of the room. I didn't wait to listen to what went on between Dawes and Diane if anything did, but I suspect she would have told him where to go in no uncertain times. We squabble quite regularly but I know she would cover my back in almost any situation, so I expected her to send him off with a flea in his ear. If he did return later and wanted trouble, I would oblige him in spades, but for now, I had my attention on keeping my research grants and other budgets afloat.

The meeting in Tom's office was less than enjoyable and my hostility made him glare at me a couple of times but I wasn't conceding anything to anyone unless they tore it out of my hands. After the finance people left, Tom looked at me and I felt an element of disappointment in him.

"Weel, ye've kept yer money but lost respect frae thae accountants."

"Quite honestly, Daddy, I don't give a shit. These bloody things lost me sleep last night, have consumed far too much of my time and kept me from supervising research students which is what I feel is my real job. We are an academic establishment with a growing reputation and I want to maintain that status not crawl to bloody accountants to beg for enough money to do it."

"Aye, I think ye made that plain enough to all concerned."

"Sorry if I wasn't in my sweetest temper, but at least keeping my budgets has lifted my spirits a little."

"Aye, sae some lunch wi' me should increase that boost then, won't it?"

Inside I groaned, I was hoping for a cuppa soup and a snooze in my office before the next load of irritants appeared on my desk. "Okay, give me a few minutes to dump this lot, " I nodded at the pile of files I had to carry back to my office. "See you at the car, in a few minutes."

I almost ran back to my office, okay sort of trotted - well you try it in stilettos - and dumped the files and my ipad on the desk and was out again before Diane could say anything or stop me. I could wait for bad news until after I had a tuna jacket potato in my belly - then I'd face anything, even an enraged secretary.

It was with some apprehension that I walked quietly out to my car, if Dawes was lurking I'm not sure what I would have done but sweet-talking him was not one of them. Laying him out might have been, though this skirt was too tight to lift my leg high enough to kick him very hard. I was referring to a rose pink two-piece suit I was wearing with a lapelled jacket and pencil skirt with a kick split in the back. The skirt length came to about mid-thigh. I may be a professor, but I'm still a relatively young woman, so I'm not ready for an old folk's home just yet. Thinking of my age reminded me I had a birthday in less than a month's time. Oh poo, I'll be thirty-seven, mind you I felt about seventy-seven first thing this morning.

Thankfully, Daddy appeared before any sign of Dawes materialised so we got in the car and I drove off post-haste. He had noticed my unease and asked me who I was trying to avoid and in a moment of weakness, I explained about my earlier encounter with Dawes. He nodded and told me not to worry.

I replied my main worry was not doing him any physical harm, Dawes, that is, as I was sure a good kicking would have done him the world of good - well okay - I'd have felt better. But I knew it wasn't going to happen, I had to keep my cool and deal with it in a sangfroid sort of way. Actually, despite his accusations, I had no desire to harm him at the same time I had no intention of justifying my existence to someone who had no need to hear it. It was, however, distracting and in my tired state more than I wanted to cope with.

At the restaurant, Tom asked me about Danielle's dilemma and I was able to tell him what had happened including her declaration of contempt for a piece of the anatomy of her would-be suitor. He chuckled loudly, especially when I told him about nearly running into the car in front when she said it. So my mood lifted a little helped by him acknowledging that I had given up my evening and some of my beauty sleep to dealing with the papers for his meeting. The food was enjoyable though I needed to go to the loo before we drove back to the university, having partaken of two mugs of coffee at the meeting which helped to keep me awake but was now exercising my bladder control.

When I returned he was in the act of closing up his phone and putting it back in his pocket. He rarely seemed to use his phone and I assumed he had received a call from his secretary so said nothing. We walked to the car and I drove us back to the university campus, when we alighted from the Jaguar, instead of walking off to his own office, which is across the campus, he began to escort me to mine.

"Aren't you going to your own office?" I asked casually in case he thought I was too frail to walk to my own alone.

"Nah, I'm coming tae yer office for a wee moment."

That struck me as ominous. Why would he come to my office, what was going on? The easiest way to find out was to ask him directly, so I did. His answer saw off my improved mood which dropped to one of increasing belligerence. Instead of feeling relaxed, I was now girding my loins for trouble. It transpired that Tom had called Diane while I was in the toilet and she told him that Dawes would return to see me at two o'clock. It was ten to that now.

"It's okay, Daddy, I can deal with pond life like him, remember I used to make slides out of specimens like him," I said trying to reassure him that I would have things under control.

"Aye, weel, jest in case ye dinna, I'll come alang tae see fair play an' mak sure ye dinna say or dae onything ye regret later."

"Daddy, I'm a big girl now, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Aye, I hae noticed and it's in all the richt places," he smirked as we climbed the steps to my office. It's kind of him to want to protect me, or was it Dawes, he was protecting? Oh boy, would I be glad to see this day over?