The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3261 by Angharad Copyright© 2020 Angharad

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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.
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"Well if it isn't Lady Sweetness and Light," declared Diane as I led Tom into my office. I glanced at the clock, it was about seven minutes to the hour. Dawes could be here at any one of them. I wasn't sure if I wanted a cuppa or not, Daddy was in no such uncertainty and replied in the affirmative when asked by my super secretary.

At that moment, Dawes appeared and replied positively to Diane's question, she didn't ask me, she just handed me my dormouse mug with its recently boiled contents. She settled down at her desk and the remaining three of us retired to my office and the meetings table I had there. I passed the other two a coaster mat to rest their mugs on. It felt like High Noon with two gunslingers eyeing each other up, waiting for the slightest twitch before pulling their guns and blasting each other. But this is a university, supposedly a place of learning and I had a small statuette of the Mattei Athena, a copy of the statue in the Louvre which I bought when we went to Paris. She is the Greek goddess of Wisdom, so appropriate for an institution dedicated to learning but also the goddess of battle, which may have been appropriate to my situation at present. I gave her a nod as we sat down. Well, it couldn't do any harm could it, mind you if I'd seen her nod back, I would probably have left the office rather quickly.

"I apologise for my unseemly behaviour this morning, your secretary explained that you'd worked late into the night for your meeting and as you said it was an important meeting. I hope that you won't have to lay off any staff, though after my behaviour this morning, couldn't blame you if I was on the top of any such list."

I nearly choked on my tea. I thanked him for his apology and told him that I had no plans for any redundancies at present as I'd received a promise of all the funding I required to keep the status quo. He shot me a relieved glance. Daddy simply sat and drank his tea waiting for the bell to ring to start round one. It didn't happen. Dawes and I eyed each other for a few more seconds before I asked him why his attitude had changed.

"Your secretary sat me down and over a cuppa, she explained a few things including the fact that you were androgen insensitive which means you could never have been a boy let alone a man. I also spoke to Professor Herbert and he confirmed that you were female and had nursed two or three babies. I was wrong and I apologise."

I didn't know how I felt at that moment, anti-climactic didn't quite describe it, relieved would be in the description somewhere, but sad also featured. Sad that I had sounded like a fishwife earlier and that he had felt I was spiteful enough to sack him, yet I didn't get the impression he was trying to prevent that by an about-turn, rather he would have accepted it was my right to sack someone who had behaved so inappropriately. Yeah, confused might be another descriptor to add to the mix.

Daddy looked at me, he hadn't said anything presumably because he hadn't needed to but his stare suggested that I needed to and I did so. "Dr Dawes, I accept your apology, and I appreciate you admitting you were in the wrong. It took quite a while for the doctors to discover what was wrong with me and to rectify it, so there are a few people here who thought I was someone who had been male like you did because that was what my parents thought I was."

"I remember half the university thought you were a girl pretending to be a boy rather than a boy wanting to be a girl. Being a hapless male, I didn't know what to think, but to me, Charlie was a boy's name, so assumed that was what you were albeit a very feminine one. The labelling you did on microscope slides was so small and neat it was only something a girl could have done, now I think about it. They always referred to you as Miss Watts in the lab, didn't they?"

I nodded.

"I thought they were just teasing you, but they weren't were they?"

I shrugged. "I didn't ask them or challenge it, it felt comfortable..."

"Because it was right," he interrupted and I nodded. "When I look at you now, I can't really equate you with that scruffy urchin who did those slides for me, you're a very beautiful woman, talk about metamorphosis doesn't go anywhere near it.

Tom looked at his watch, "I'll jest leave ye tae it, then."

I nodded and he rose from his seat and left and we heard him talking with Diane for a couple of minutes afterwards.

"Sorry, who was that?" asked Dawes.

"The Vice-Chancellor."

"Oh," he looked rather pale for a moment.

"He's also my adopted father."

He blenched even more and I did wonder if the word nepotism went through his mind. "Right," he said and then went quiet.

"Don't worry, he was here to protect you rather than me."

"Oh, I'm not sure if I find that a comfort or not."

"I may be female but I won't back down from a fight as a few people have discovered to their cost."

"So the rumours are true?"

"What rumours?" I had an idea what he was talking about but wanted to make sure.

"That you laid out some Russian thug who had a gun and also another thug who was trying to steal laboratory equipment."

I shrugged, "I was lucky, I guess."

"I don't think so, Professor, the stories of the fighting Scottish aristocrat are also something of the culture here, though we couldn't be much further from Scotland while remaining in the United Kingdom. But those are about you aren't they?"

"Are they. I don't know, I haven't heard them."

"I think you were there at the time, Lady Cameron. This morning I came looking for a fight because I had mistakenly thought you had deceived me. Now I discover you're like a pocket battleship and would have destroyed me had we come to blows, metaphorical or otherwise. I have learned that you are a lady of some determination but also of some compassion- they told me about the student you helped who died of AIDS. I feel honoured to be working for you and once again I apologise for my earlier behaviour."

He held out his hand and I took it, he pulled mine to his lips and kissed it in a very old fashioned manner. "Your servant, Milady," he said and turned towards the door.

"Dr Dawes, no one works for me, they work with me."

He nodded and bowed then left, saying goodbye to Diane on the way out. I sat in the chair and felt exhausted. Diane came in, "More tea, Professor?"

"No thank you, Diane, I think I'm going home, but thank you for your assistance in dealing with Dr Dawes."

"Oh that, stupid man, I just told him the facts of life and he went off like a lamb. Just now he said he really admired you and looked forward to working with you in the future. He also said to give you this," she waved a ten-pound note at me."He said he owed it to you for making some slides for him, a while back."

"Yes, quite a while back, like nearly twenty years."

"He also said he'd get on with the film details you asked him for - did I miss something there?"

"No just a project he suggested and I told him to put together a bid and I'd take it to the science committee and see if we could fund it."

"So, are you going to be in another film?"

"I don't think so, Diane, not the sort he's talking about although I may do some of the narration if I feel like it."

"Well, lots of actors do voice-overs don't they, make big money some of them."

"I married megabucks, Diane, I don't need to work for it as well." That admission came out without me being aware it was even in my mind let alone my mouth."

"Yes, I suppose you did, Lady C. but I'm glad you still turn up for work 'cos life is more interesting when you do, like Professor Agnew says, you seem to be something of a catalyst for things to happen."

"Glad you're enjoying it, I'm going home before something else happens." I picked up my bag and went home.