Class Advice || Alexander

Taking a deep breath to gather her thoughts, Anna gently knocked on Professor McMillan's door, running a hand through her hair as she waited. For several weeks now she'd bee mulling over whether to drop Criminalistics in the upcoming Summer. She loved sleuthing, enjoyed studying various crimes and cases. And yet...

And yet something at the back of her mind kept wondering if she should continue down this path. She loved Criminalistics, but it was getting harder to keep doing that alongside her gymnastics.

You've got to pick one or the other... Keep doing both and you'll crash and burn. Go with the sport you adore to bits, or continue with the Nancy Drew dream...? A sigh escaped the blonde's lips. She couldn't do this on her own. She needed some advice.

"Professor?"

Alexander woke with a start, the papers that rested in his arms flying to find the remaining clear spaces on his office floor. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, catching dust and fibers that drifted lazily about the room.

Shaking his head, and running a hand through his hair, the dozy man stood up. He'd been teaching the entire semester and now had final essays to mark. The amount of BS that students manage to fit onto paper was incredible.

To think THEY complain about being tired, and about how hard these things are to write. Try marking the blasted - ... Oh, right, the door.

Pushing his revolving chair back from the clutter desk, he rolled towards the door, spinning around in an oh-so-well-practiced way so as to swing the door open. quickly.

The ensuing breath of re-constituted air, and familiar face made him smile and look up.
"Ah, Anna! Was wondering when you were going to come-a-knockin! Find a chair, just dump whatever's on it... somewhere."
His hand motioned listlessly at the room.
I really need to tidy...

"I still haven't received your application for next year - I'm guessing you've come here to tell me you don't know if you want to do it?"

He paused, and smiled.

"I do hope I'm right. Because if you've already made your mind up we're going to have an argument as to why my course is ten times better than anything else you'll ever need to do, and why we both know that I'm right.
"You're a bright girl, don't think I haven't picked up on it." he said, with a smile.

Gliding back to his desk, and letting her enter the room, he turned around and looked the girl up and down.

Nancy Drew is definitely a big player here.. he confided to himself, with a barely hidden grin.

"What seems to be the problem?"

He folded his arms, and waited on her reply.

Anna's train of thoughts made a messy crash-stop as the door opened and she was left looking down at her dishevelled teacher. "I didn't wake you, did I?" she asked, stepping into the office and looking around her. In weather today - the Criminology Department of UNLV has been hit with a very localised tornado. Occupants of said department have no idea when the chaos and mess will subside, so until then - watch where you step.

The thought made her smile as she manoeuvred her way across the room, attempting to avoid the term-paper mines that were all over the floor. Finally getting to the chair in front of Alex's desk, she dubiously eyed the Leaning Tower of Essays , wondering exactly how she was going to move it with minimal wreckage. After a moment's contemplation, she picked up the pile and gingerly placed it onto the floor near her feet, relief flitting through her eyes when the tower didn't fall and scatter papers all over the place. Seems that essay-snows are not to be expected today...

Finally plopping herself down onto the chair, she fiddled with her charm bracelet, not being able t say the words now that she was finally here. "Well I..." Jeez, why do such simple words have to be so hard to say...?! "I'm not sure if I want to continue on with Criminology next semester. The school-and-gymnastics juggling act is getting harder and harder to pull off. I'd been mulling over just continuing with my Russian paper next year, putting Crim and Psych on the back-burner, but I'm not sure if that's a wise idea..."

She stopped her short ramble, released the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "I think I just need a looong holiday," she admitted with a sheepish chuckle. "And by the looks of this place, so do you, Sir. So, yeah, that's my current dilemma. Could you help me?"

"Well..." He weaved his fingers, sitting his elbows on the armrests.

He pulled a clean white sheet of paper from the bottom of a pile. Unfolding the dog-ears that it had (somehow, under the pile of books.. he frowned, pondering the physics of it all) gathered, he wrote the three subjects down with a red pen he found lodged securely behind his left ear.

"Now, Anna. You need five papers, as you know, to pass the year. Both Physical Education and Criminology do five, specified papers.
"Now, we both know psychology is a blow out. Crim covers that pretty happily if you're only looking at the sick bunnies. Psych bothers too much with taking samples and dithering with statistical information. We BOTH know that isn't why you take psych."

He smirked, crossing the word 'PSYCHOLOGY' off the paper, and writing 'EVIL CREEPS' MINDS' in smaller print by the Crim title.

"You have to take at least two P.E. papers, and I have no clue whatsoever about what they cover. But I'm sure you can use your judgement. But, if you want to look at a long term career, Criminal Studies is the way to go about it. Gymnasts retire at a young age, you know..."

He sighed,
"So, I have to force you to use your judgement, I'm afraid."

Leaning back into his chair, he looked the girl in the eyes with a stern frown.

"But, should you still not be able to decide.. Well, I believe you have a brilliant mind for the job. I would like to call in a favor or two, maybe go and do some observation with the CSI unit downtown, but only if you need convincing..."

Well, now of course she'll say she needs convincing, that's a little bit durr of you, Alex... The sacrifices you make, and the trouble your mouth gets you into...

He chuckled to himself, and sat forward, leaning on his knees.

"Well, now I've said it, we might as well do it. Care to meet me tomorrow at 6pm, here?"

He pushed himself off again, stirring the paper tower at his student's feet. With the billowing displacement of air that followed him, he caused a cascade of papers. Grumbling, he got up, and walked out of the door.

Pointing at the kitchenette down the hall, he motioned Anna over.

"Make me a cup of coffee, one sugar, milk, and meet me there. I'll see you tomorrow night. Tonight - caffeine and marking to be done."

A surprised squeal left the girl's lips as the perilous tower cascaded down, strewing papers all over the room and all over her. "Have you ever considered making one of your students an 'intern' and turning them into a cleaner?" Anna joked, picking up the papers that had landed in her lap and depositing them on the male's desk before standing up.

Making her way to the kitchenette, she thought over Alex's words. Actually, why am I even taking P.E papers? she mused, checking the kettle for water before flicking the switch on. They're a waste of time and money, really, since gymnastics is an extra-curricular... And he's right - Psych is another waste of time. An interesting waste of time, but still...

Preparing the coffee she couldn't help the excited smile that began to play on her lips. An observation with the CSI unit sounds amazing! Yep, I definitely need 'convincing'...

Putting the steaming mug onto a saucer to catch any dripping liquid, she slowly brought it back into the office. "Voilà! And look at that - not a drop spilt," she said with a soft chuckle, placing the mug in front of Alex. "And as for the observation evening, that sounds absolutely wonderful!" she told him, excitement dancing over her features. It's like an early career Christmas..! "Are you sure it won't be too much trouble?" she asked as an afterthought. "Because if it is, don't worry about it, really."

Alexander cocked an eyebrow at the offering.
"I did mean for tomorrow, but thank you anyway!"
He laughed, opening a drawer for it to sit in next to him.

Placing the mug down, he turned towards his desk and busied himself, musing to her,
"And yes, an intern would be a great idea. But I can't think how to pay them. Not like it's legal by university standards to pay them in test-answers..." he trailed off, letting his mind wander.

Doesn't take much to distract you from your essay marking, eh?

He frowned, and chewed on the end of his pen.

"I suppose a bag of groceries might do it? Who knows.
"Anyway, shall I catch you tomorrow?"
He spun round once more to face her - the last time for the night.
"I was supposed to mark these essays..."
He lifted the immediate papers to find a scrawl written over his doodle pad, buried below the surface littler.
"Three days ago, apparently... That can't be right...
"Either way, I should probably be focusing."
He sighed, and waved a hand carelessly at the door.

"Unless you need anything else, I'll be getting back to work, Anna. I'll see you here at 6 tomorrow, after classes."
Shooting her a bright-eyed grin, he gently drifted back to his left, and slumped over his desk.
"Good night."

The Next Evening...

Anastasia had to forcefully stop herself from skipping as she made her way over to the Criminology Department. A takeaway coffee cup in each hand, she rapped on the familiar office door before waltzing right in, not even waiting for an answer.

"I hope I'm not late, Professor," she greeted him with a smile, picking her way around the mines that had seemed to have gotten bigger and more dangerous since the previous night. "I come bringing gifts of coffee. There's this amazing little cafe not far from my dorm and they do the most amazing coffees. And amazing fudge, which I also have to snack on throughout the night. Actually, it's all rather amazing. Anyways, I'd say I'm set," she grinned, almost bouncing on the spot.

And tonight's 'word of the day' is obviously 'amazing'... A thesaurus update will be made available as soon as possible.

Shut up, brain. This is just excitement. And nerves. Much like before a big competition, although not exactly as life-threatening....

Taking a sip of her own coffee, and brushing a speck off her baby-blue shirt, she looked at her watch then back up at him. "Ready? Being late on a first day is probably not the best of looks," she laughed.

Calm down. Breathe. You haven't even reached your third cup of coffee yet...

Shouting a greeting over his shoulder, Alex quickly shut his laptop, allowing for the games he had definitely NOT been playing close down.
With the dying beeps and whirs, he got up, opened the door, and relieved the girl of the load, finding spots on the recently un-buried couch and armchair to slump down in.

"So, it's amazing, eh?"

Slurping his coffee, he leaned back and relaxed. The well-stuffed leather was actually rather comfortable - it had been a while since he'd cleaned the armchair of it's tree-bark based inhabitants.

"Don't worry, I called you here early. You have a couple of forms to sign, ya know, waiving your ability to sue in case of injury etc. etc... Sit down, take your time to fill them out, and I'll describe how it plays out tonight."

Waiting until the girl sat on the couch, and cradling the coffee in his cold hands, he began:

"We're going to head out with a CSI officer on his first for a couple of hours. Then hit the lab for a little bit, and then observe an interrogation. They're doing a bust of someone wanted for assault, nothing major, but he's denying his involvement and a couple of officers are going to confront him with some security camera footage and DNA evidence of him punching another guy square on the nose."

He paused, letting it sink in.

"I know, nothing major, but these are the lives of your average CSI. It could be your future career, if you decide to do forensics in your postgraduate."

He stopped for a minute, drinking the majority of his coffee. Standing up, he took a small shot of whiskey with the last dregs, sighed contently, and bothered the girl on the couch.

"Done with those papers yet..? Time to go and see my baby."

Anna gave an enthusiastic nod. "Definitely. Barista-goddesses are what those workers are," she replied, blue eyes skim-reading the papers that were dumped in front of her. Finished with her reading, she pulled out the small bag of fudge she'd bought along with the coffee and bit into a piece, beginning to sign paper after paper.

Initial there, signature there, blahblahblah... Oh the joys of paperwork...

"Y'know, if I die on this observation day, I'm fully blaming you for it. And so I shall come back and haunt you for the rest of your existence. Or until you go mad. Whichever comes first," she announced with a straight face. "You will go insane, I shall have my revenge and it shall be brilliant..! Fudge?" she added brightly, offering him the bag.

"And hey, I bet you that the CSIs enjoy the boring and average cases every once in a while. Probably gives them a much-needed chance to relax. And possibly to try and regain some faith in humanity after tough cases," she threw in her two-cents worth, draining the last of her coffee.

"Done!" She smirked as she watched him down the whiskey-coffee concoction. "If you get sent to the drunk-tank, I'm not bailing you out," she teased, standing up and handing the papers over to him. "Now let's go see this baby of yours. Which I hope won't turn out to be your actual child cos that would just be weird. 'Bring-your-kid-to-observation' does not sound like the wisest of plans."

Picking up her bag she headed to the door, then looked over her shoulder. "Coming?"

Letting the remainder of the coffee slide down his throat with a mild, warm burn, he headed out of the door, into the hallway.

"Oooh, you'll see, my baby is quite something." Turning around and letting the girl pass, he locked the door behind them.

"And, while getting done for drink-driving would be a hassle, it would ironically get us to where we needed to be anyway. So it's not too bad, in all honesty. It'd make for a story."

Heading to the staff lockers, Alex pulled open his own. Inside, were two helmets and two jackets.

"I wasn't too sure on your size, so I hope it isn't too far off." he said, brandishing a leather jacket for her to take.
"Feel free, try it on?"

"It might get us where we need to get, but would you really want to put a blemish on my spotless record?" she asked, batting her eyes innocently. "Or, y'know, more importantly - on yours...?" she asked teasingly, waltzing after him to the lockers.

It took the blonde a second to click, but then her eyes lit up. "No way. You drive a motorbike?" she said, attempting to keep herself from squee-ing; motorbikes were amazing. The fact that it was her teacher's bike and that she shouldn't exactly be squee-ing over said teacher was politely reminded to her by her brain, and so biting her lip, Anna simply grinned like a kid at Christmas. "That's awesome. Your awesomeness-standing has instantly just gone up in my books," she stated, taking the jacket and putting it on. "Look at that - perfect!"

Zipping up the jacket, she proceeded to skip down the hall to the exit, satchel-bag gently slamming into her rump on every bounce. Mid-skip she stopped and turned around, giving a sheepish grin. "Ignore you saw that. Nothing happened. Coming?"

"Huh? Saw what..?" Alex joked, barely suppressing his laughter.
Pulling his polyester jacket over his shoulders, and down his arms, he armoured up. Picking up the helmets and a large rucksack, he slammed his locker shut (or the blasted things won't lock... he grumbled to himself), and strode after the girl.

The wind outside was crisp, but only a light breeze. The city was in sunset, the sound of cars in the distance, horns tooting away, reminded him of rush hour at home - trying to get home from his work and study in the sullen drawl of city life.

At least this was considerably more interesting, heading off to observe CSI and taking this bright new star along with him.
Don't get too friendly.
Hush! It's nothing but caring for a student.

Tucking the girl's satchel bag into the rucksack, alongside his dinner, he handed her his more practical design.
"I'm not 'avin your satchel get caught in my wheels - I'd rather not die because of your dinner!"

Throwing his leg over the machine, he started it was a gentle roar of the engine. Not too loud, it purred into a healthy idle.

"You coming..?"

Breeze ruffling her hair, Anna danced over to the bike. "You won't die because of my dinner - I specifically told it not to go on another killing spree tonight. So you'll be safe," she retorted with a grin.

Spotting the bike, her eyes widened. "Oh, she's gorgeous!" she exclaimed, running her hand across the seat and the handlebars. "I'm so jealous...!"

She watched Alex as he started the beauty, trying but failing to keep the grin off her face. What are you doing...?! Calm down, you!

At his question, she gave an eager nod. "Yep. Can't be late now can we?" she replied, climbing onto the bike and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Glad to hear that dinner will be well behaved. Always preferred it to not have intent, let alone a murderous one.." he gave a mock-horror face.
But he shook off the mask and couldn't help but smile at the praise. "She is my beauty, after all."

There was a tingling as her hands slipped around his waist. He hadn't had a gentle, caring touch in years. Pure joy rushed through his chest. He quickly stomped on it.

No.

As they started towards the streets, and picked up speed, her arms tightened into a hug.

It would be amazing to be cared about again.

No. Put your armour up. You're married, whether you like it or not.

He grinned, he blushed, and tightened his grip on the handles. A tad nervous, he allowed his abdomen to tighten.
See if she notices the fact I've been working out...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

They slowed as they pulled into the Police car park, coming to a stop close to the staff doors - the silhouette of Alex's contact leaned against the wall there.
Waving, he turned off the engine, and slid off of the bike.

"Well, y'know, I did talk to it and remind it that I rather enjoyed being alive. I also reminded it why it shouldn't be a kamikaze dinner and throw itself under your wheels and should just wait to be eaten at the proper time. Turns out it liked the second option so much more," she laughed. That was the great thing about Alex - she could actually laugh and chat with him, as opposed to all her other teachers. He's rather brilliant...

The fond thought was squashed in a moment by the cold fact that not only was he her teacher, he was also a married teacher. No. Don't even think about it.

She gave a joyous laugh as he navigated through the streets, the wind whipping her hair. This definitely had to be her favourite way to travel. She tightened her arms around Alex, moved ever-so-slightly closer to him. She smirked slightly, feeling his tight stomach under his jacket. Show off. Someone's been working out.

Anna...!

What? I ain't doing nuth'in'! I was simply holding on tighter so I wouldn't fall...! The excuse sounded weak, oh so weak, even to her. She didn't care.

~

Anna was almost sad when they arrived at LVPD. She was really enjoying the ride, and not just because of the driver. Sliding down off the bike, she pulled off her helmet, adjusting her hair before handing Alex his helmet back. Got to look nice for my first observation day... She ignored the butterflies that were gallivanting around in her stomach. Go away, I don't want you here...!

The older man that had been leaning against the wall pushed himself off and meandered over to the waiting pair. "Professor McMillan, good to see you again," Gil Grissom greeted his acquaintance with a nod. "And you must be Anastasia. Welcome to the night-shift. Follow me." He started off in the direction of the crime lab. "I assume the professor has told you what's happening tonight?" When the girl nodded, he gave a nod himself. "Good. Now, Mr McMillan - do you need the grand tour again or do you remember everything from last time?