Once upon a long time after The Jump

Chapter 1

If someone had observed him striding down the corridor, they could have guessed his mood only by listening to the sound of his footfalls on the tiled floor; quick, hard - annoyed or even angry. He had been summoned to his superior's office without delay, so had had to interrupt the task he had been very focused on and get his arse over there, wondering what the arrogant bastard wanted with him this time.

He knocked on the heavy wooden door and a smug voice asked him to enter.

The grey-haired woman sitting by a large desk, cluttered with books and piles of journals and papers, did not even look up to acknowledge him at first, instead let him stand there waiting like a school boy before the headmaster for a minute or two. That was the usual routine, showing who was in power. Even if it was not a surprise as he knew her ways too well after nearly four years under her leadership, he impatiently rocked back and forth on his feet, not to let his frustration come out in any other way which he might regret. Finally, she looked up on him with piercing blue eyes. Her sharp face makeup free as always, she made no secret of that she thought that only silly people wasted time on such vanities.

"James. Good.", she greeted him, but with the displeased face of someone looking at something the cat had dragged in.

"Ma'am."

She took him in and noticed the new glasses, circle shaped with a black frame, quite similar to Harry Potter's. A look that used to be nerdy but recently had become trendy again.

"Glasses, I see. That becomes you."

Before he could thank her for the surprising compliment, she added;

"Finally you look like you might be intelligent enough to actually fit in here, at this honourable faculty, rather than in a swimwear commercial."

He felt his cheeks heat. It was not the first time, she taunted him over his good looks which was unfair as he hardly could do anything about them. She made no secret of that she did not think that he belonged here in the hallways of the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University. Part of why he was blushing was because when he first had put on the new glasses, the thought had indeed crossed his mind that they might make her treat him with an ounce more respect. Obviously, that would not happen. Seeing since he had not managed to prove himself to her after four years of hard work, he could hardly expect a pair of glasses to make any difference.

"Are they just for show or do you actually need them?"

"They're reading glasses."

"Then you don't really need them now. Since you're not reading."

"No."

She smirked, and he thought for the umpteenth time that he hated Professor Watson and could not wait for the day when he was done with his PhD studies and was out of here. If he continued with a post doc, it would definitely be elsewhere.

"I'm sure I didn't distract you from something important."

It was not a question, because she did not care. The way she said it, it sounded like she thought none of his work important.

"I was trying to wrap up the paper I'm submitting to the Lancet. My final publication before defending the thesis"

"Well, good luck with getting that accepted." Again the arrogant smirk. A professor was supposed to support his or her PhD students, but he could only dream of ever getting any help from her.

"Anyway, I need your help, James. You're so good at making people feel welcome..."

Oh no, he knew that the very rare times she flattered him it was because she wanted something from him.