Bad Nerd Rising

by Grady, D. R.

  She had asked about the meeting, that’s right. “No, I don’t believe so.”

  “That’s a relief. We’ve a lot of work to do.”

  “Don’t forget your aunt and uncle plan to leave shortly.” They paused at the intersection that separated the palace and hospital. There was little traffic but they still waited until the sign indicated it was safe to cross before they strolled across the street. He still wasn’t used to how empty the streets were.

  She winced. “I keep forgetting that. Thank you for reminding me, again. This day is already busy enough.”

  “Do you need additional help?”

  Tia stared through him for a moment, her bottom lip between her teeth. “I don’t believe so. We’d have to take the time to train them, and I don’t believe any of us wants to do that.”

  “You’ll have to work longer hours if we don’t hire more people?”

  “For a few days,” she said with a nod. “I probably won’t make supper tonight.”

  His stomach dropped. He’d been looking forward to eating a meal alone with her. But she said her absence would only be for a few days. Surely he could handle that.

  “I hope we’re not overworking you.”

  She slanted him a droll look. “You’re not. This is the life of a scientist.”

  “Oh?” That came as a surprise. But then he didn’t know many scientists.

  “We wouldn’t have chosen this profession if we didn’t mind the long hours and terrible pay.”

  “I see.” Although he didn’t. Why would she put herself through such hardships and for what?

  “I love what I do, that’s why I keep at this every day.” She slid some hair off her forehead.

  “You must. I can’t imagine most people being willing to spend so much time at something they won’t be well compensated for.”

  “I earn a decent living. I love what I do. And maybe someday my work will aid others.”

  “How so?” He opened the door of the hospital for her and enjoyed the view as she strode through.

  “If my research helps to formulate a new antibiotic, or sparks something in another scientist who uses my work to come up with the cure for cancer, or some other terrible illness, then my time was well spent.”

  “You want to help others?”

  “Oh, yes. I don’t like to see pain and suffering.”

  His heart ached. “Neither do I.”

  “You know the people involved personally. I don’t,” she said softly.

  He inclined his head. “Knowing them does make the situation more difficult.”

  “I imagine it would,” she said but hesitated at the next intersection in the hospital. Aleksi indicated the left wing with his hand. “Graham will conduct the meeting in the largest conference room.”

  Tia followed him down the hall, her little toolbox clanging. “I hope we can find answers quickly for your people.”

  “So do I, Tia. So do I.”

  After they seated themselves Graham called the meeting to order. None of the personnel crowding the room seemed to distrust Tia. They all listened as Graham outlined what Tia and her team had discovered.

  She tugged plates from her toolbox, and took the floor then. “This plate,” and she waved the overgrown one she had shown him earlier, “is from the main well that supplies this hospital. It is less than twenty-four hours old.”

  A distressed murmur broke out among the medical staff. Apparently they understood the ramifications better than him.

  Tia inclined her head in acknowledgement. “You all obviously understand this plate should look like all of these others. I’ll pass this plate and the others around. Please be careful not to rub the markings off the plates. We need that information.”

  She handed the plate to the man standing beside her. Then took the other plates from her box and passed them around as well.

  “What does this mean for us?” one of their premier doctors asked, and waved the plate from well twenty-six.

  Tia and Graham exchanged a speaking look. Graham answered the question. “It means we have a problem.”

  This elicited chuckles and a few groans that rounded the room.

  “It means you all have to be even more stringent in boiling your water. Don’t use the tap water at all. Definitely don’t even wash your hands from the tap water. Graham has provided water for you to wash your hands.”

  Graham added more information. “We also have bottled water to drink. Please, each of you, watch out for everyone else. Be careful, and inform those who are not here of the situation.”

  “What happens if we accidentally use the tap water?” A nurse asked.

  All eyes turned to Tia. “You’ll likely become ill if you have an open wound. If a patient comes in contact with the water, they’ll worsen. You don't want to use the tap water right now.” She turned to Graham. “Perhaps you could have someone tape off the taps?”

  He nodded. “We can arrange for each floor to have someone go through and put up signs at all of the sinks.”

  “Make certain you turn off the drinking fountains,” she warned.

  “That’s already been done,” Dr. Mahon said.

  “Let’s keep it that way. That goes for the soda fountain, too.”

  The woman in charge of the cafeteria nodded. “We’ve shut the fountain down. No one has used it since we first knew there was a problem.”

  “That’s excellent news. Has anyone else fallen ill?” Tia asked and looked out over the crowd.

  “Yes, a few.” A doctor in the back finally said.

  “Have they been boiling their water?”

  “They claim to be.”

  “If it’s okay with you, may I speak with them at some point this week?” Tia’s gaze was intense. Aleksi liked how she cared. These weren’t her people, yet, but she still wanted to help them. Wanted to ease their suffering.

  That was a mark of a good princess.

  A quality he wanted to pass on to his children. Especially his heir. If his heir didn’t care for the people, then he or she wouldn’t prove a good ruler. Aleksi didn’t want to see the principality governed by an unfeeling leader.

  There was too much at stake.

  “We can arrange for you to see anyone you’d like,” Dr. Mahon replied.

  “Should I contact you?”

  “That would be fine,” he answered. Aleksi knew the man would move whatever obstacles were placed in his way to see that Tia was granted everything she asked for.

  All of the doctors here in the hospital were concerned for their patients. They wanted the best for them. That meant everyone would cooperate with Tia.

  It was a good way to ease her into his world. Many of these people were friends. If they already liked and respected her, then his job would be that much easier.

  A princess should be well loved, and Aleksi, surveying the room, could already see these people placing their hope in her graceful, capable hands.

  Much as he had done earlier. Now he had to convince her to stay and have babies with him. After that kiss they shared yesterday, he didn’t think that would be too difficult.

  He hoped convincing her wouldn’t be a huge challenge.

  ***

  “I hate that you have to leave already,” Tia moaned as she hugged her aunt again.

  “I know, love, you’ve told us that several times already. But it’s time for us to go home,” Emma replied. Tia liked that her aunt hugged her extra tight.

  “You have work to do here, you don’t need to worry about us,” Rich added and squeezed her too.

  “It’s been fun to have you here,” Tia said. She gazed at these beloved faces and felt lonely, even though they hadn’t left yet. Granted, the atmosphere around the palace had lightened with the departure of Gloomy Gracia, but still.

  “Besides we hear you’re especially busy right now,” Emma added.

  Tia grimaced. “That’s true. I doubt I’ll get supper tonight. I might even end up having to pull an all night shift.”


  “Is that wise?” Emma pressed a hand to her throat.

  She shrugged. “Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. This is science, and it doesn’t care about such things as eating and sleeping.”

  “Can’t you delegate?”

  “No, not this time. My help are coming in early and staying late as it is. And they have lives besides the lab.”

  “So do you,” Aleksi said. “We can locate more lab personnel for you.”

  “I know. But we won’t need them for long. By the time we train them, we won’t need them.”

  “How does it help for you to wear yourself out?” Rich asked softly.

  “I won’t. And I’ve done this many times before. I did survive graduate school, if you’ll remember.”

  “Barely, love,” Emma said, her eyes concerned as they swept over her face.

  Tia’s lips curled into a bratty smile. “Maybe you better send Granddad over. I might need my knight in shining armor.”

  “I don’t know, his card might be expired by now,” Emma said, but her eyes lost some of their parental concern, and the lines lessened some.

  “I’ll be fine. You really don’t need to worry about me. There’s a sofa in my office where I can sleep.”

  “We can arrange for a bed for you,” Aleksi said, and she turned only to notice his eyes held a similar concern as Emma’s.

  “Honestly, the sofa is fine. It’s more than I have in my office at home. And I make do there.”

  “You know if you need anything—”

  “I’ll just ask, yes I’m aware of that.” Tia sent him a look that she hoped would reassure him she understood they’d provide whatever she needed.

  Emma hugged her again. “Take care of yourself, love.”

  “I will. Honestly, this is only for a few days.”

  “Okay.” Her aunt didn’t sound convinced, and Uncle Rich didn’t look convinced, nor did Aleksi for that matter, but Tia wasn’t worried.

  “I’ll be fine, I promise.” She’d be even better if she could sneak in a few kisses with Aleksi, but she didn’t say that thought out loud. That way lay madness, and she already had a difficult few evenings on her hands. There was no need to add to her woes.

  Of course, kissing him might relax her...

  She mentally snorted. Yeah, like that was plausible. The man could raise her body temperature with a molten glance. A kiss would probably cause a fever. One she didn’t want to be cured of.

  Oh, but he was a fine specimen.

  While she on the other hand, was not. That meant she’d better keep her grubby little paws to herself. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t fantasize. Except that if she did, she wouldn’t get any work done, and since work was the reason she was here in the first place, maybe she better rethink this.

  One kiss, her girls begged. No. Because one kiss would lead to two kisses and two kisses would lead to four... and she was a scientist so she knew all about math and chemistry. Once the hormone frenzy ensued, there would be no going back and she’d have to explain to the hot prince why she tried to rip his shirt off, and then she would be embarrassed and her cheeks would go bright red, which was not her best color.

  Then before she knew it, cats and birds would start to get along and the world would become a chaotic place. His mother would be nice to her, and she’d pass out and break her nose again. A woman with bright red cheeks and blood on her face from her crooked nose was not an attractive woman.

  Why did she want to kiss a man who was the prince anyway? That way lay utter insanity. She already had enough of that. With her three brothers and various cousins she didn’t have much gray matter to spare for additional mental illness.

  Aleksi cleared his throat as they watched her aunt and uncle board the plane that would take them home. In a moment of weakness, she wanted to run onto the transport and return with them. Only in her first year of college had she battled her hormones like this.

  Back then, she’d managed to conquer them because Aleksi hadn’t known she was alive, at least that’s what she thought then. Hadn’t he told her he had known her name all along? How had she missed that little fact?

  Of course, missing things like men’s interested glances were par for the course, at least for her. The Apes picked up on those little nuances, but not her. If he’d been interested then, she would definitely have hurt herself in front of him.

  Maybe fallen and broken her nose and her leg. That was classic Tia behavior. Slanting a glance at him, she liked how the wind ruffled his hair across the masculine planes of his face.

  He looked like a prince.

  She looked like... Tia Morrison. And everyone knew Tia was a big nerd.

  Yet nerds were allowed to have fun, right?

  There wasn’t anything in the nerd rule book that said she couldn’t kick up a little dust. As a matter of fact, section C, part 1.5 clearly stated she was allowed to let her hair down and blow off a little steam.

  Of course, the last time she’d let her hair down, she got it caught in her department head’s shirt button. His wife had not been amused. Tia had been mortified, and avoided him for weeks afterwards.

  Nerds letting their hair down probably wasn’t a good thing.

  They knew too much about Newton’s laws of gravity, Einstein’s law of relativity, and Murphy’s law of everything that could go wrong.

  ***

  Aleksi watched Tia trail down the hall, her shoulders uncharacteristically slumped. He hoped the work wasn’t pulling her down. He definitely wanted to kiss her. Maybe he could straighten those gorgeous shoulders. Plunge his hand through her pretty blonde hair.

  Even as those thoughts enticed their way through his mind, he noticed the hall bustled with activity. Of course. Everyone in the palace seemed to have converged on the hall where the lab was located, so that Aleksi couldn’t kiss his intended.

  He followed her into the lab and glancing around noticed none of the others about.

  “Where are the others?”

  “What?” She turned bemused eyes on him. His eyes dropped to her lips and he forgot his question.

  “What did you ask?” she repeated and he groped for what he had first asked her. The lab was empty except for them, so he could kiss her. Ah, why was there no one here? Better to make sure they would remain alone, at least for the length of a kiss.

  “Where are the others?” His voice sounded huskier than usual. He swallowed and saw her do the same. Excellent.

  “They’re out collecting samples from the wells.” Her voice sounded tight, just like his. Better and better. “We ran into problems this morning.”

  “How long will they be gone, do you think?” He took a step closer and traced a finger down the smoothness of her cheek.

  Her eyelashes fluttered and her eyes peered at the floor. She looked like a woman who had no idea what to do with him. Aleksi decided he could coach her on that one. Gladly.

  “Probably an hour, maybe more, maybe less,” she said and he started. Why had she said that? Did she want him to kiss her for an hour? He was willing – absolutely.

  Her eyes lifted to stare into his and he remembered they were talking about her lab help. And where they were.

  They’re not here, a little voice reminded him. And they weren’t expected back for an hour.

  All the better.

  Aleksi plunged his hand into her pony tail, and tilted her head up. His lips took hers, and he savored her gasp. The little parting of her lips gave him the opening he needed to taste the inside of her mouth.

  She was as delicious as he remembered.

  Sweet, and tart at the same time. One of his favorite combinations. He enjoyed the shudder that passed through her body and the way her arms curled around his neck in a near involuntary gesture. The way she tilted her head to offer him better access.

  Tia sagged against him, like her knees had grown weak. A victory shout welled up inside, but he tugged her nearer instead, wanting to savor this kiss. Never had kissing brought such
enjoyment. He liked how she whimpered and pressed closer.

  Loved the way her fingers threaded through his hair to cup his head and draw him closer. He felt like he mashed his lips against hers, but she didn’t seem to mind. His tongue dueled with hers, and he liked the merry chase she put on for him. Like she wanted to make him work.

  He had additional plans for her.

  When they separated their lips, her breathing was ragged and her chest heaved. He had done that to her. Aleksi wanted to pound his chest in a show of power for the boys. But his chest heaved like hers and besides pounding on it might hurt, so he nixed the idea.

  Instead, he bent and kissed her again. “Is this a good idea?” she asked, breathless, against his lips. He noticed hers seemed to cling to his.

  He really, really liked this woman. He knew she liked him, rather than his title and position as the prince. Tia was a treasure untold.

  “This is an excellent idea,” he returned, smoothing his hand up her spine, pressing her close. He spread his fingers, enjoying the feel and warmth of her body plastered to his.

  If only she could get closer still. Then life would be beyond excellent.

  “What if we get caught?” The husky quality of her voice sent a thrill through him. He’d done that to her. The most powerful man in Europe, because he managed to make Tia’s voice even sexier.

  “Why don’t we worry about that later?”

  “Umm,” she said before her mouth opened and her tongue beckoned his in. Aleksi’s brain froze, then thawed, scattering his thoughts so all he could think about was the warm, beautiful woman in his arms.

  He felt her stiffen and scrabble against him and he released her, confused. Staring down at her as Tia hurtled out of his arms, he watched in bemusement as she straightened her hair, and smoothed a hand down the front of her lab coat.

  Hurt, shock, and an emotion he refused to identify all vied for his attention until the door swung open. Helena and Maria burst through the opening, chattering as they came. Aleksi caught Tia’s eyes and he saw why she’d been in such an all fired hurry to escape his arms.

  Though would it truly be a bad thing for them to be discovered in each other’s arms? He knew he wouldn’t mind, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized maybe a relationship with him would set her on different ground as a scientist.