Learning to Love Another
*****
This is the final chapter in the
Learning to Love Another
series.
It was difficult to write because it's an erotic historical representation of my current partner.
It has been a large mental shift to write as I was then about the people we were then, rather than the people we are now.
I am deeply in love with this woman, so it may be a bit over the top on what might be considered inconsequential details from someone who didn't live it.
Also, Tess has read and approved this representation of herself, though she did say that I make her out to be cooler than she feels most of the time.
Such is the way we view the people we love.
I have also edited out her accent, because it just became onerous to continue to represent in print.
Lastly, because this is the final chapter in
Learning to Love Another
, it's very long and slow.
Some readers will undoubtedly find it pedantic and tedious.
There is not nearly as much sex in this final chapter as the other chapters either.
I apologize for that, but it's the way it came out on the page.
The more I wrote, the more I realized that I wanted to say.
Maybe I really wrote it for myself just to help me remember and preserve it.
That's plausible, but I have no critical distance.
I appreciate you more than you can know of you stick all the way through this one.
Yes, this chapter is about falling in love, but it's also about growing up.
You'll see.
*****
"This is our thermodynamics wing. Labs back through here, director's office here, data servers are back there somewhere too. They keep a separate system from general engineering, which we're trying to fix. It doesn't make sense for us to have to maintain two separate configuration management systems for the two groups and a whole different setup for the software guys. It has just been challenging to get it all glued together."
The Director of General Engineering, that is Kevin, was giving me the drinking-from-the-firehose tour of the facility where I now worked. I would be doing basically the same job I had been in my old office, but in the main facility of the company and with potential for advancement. I recognized a few of the names I saw on office doors from press releases and company newsletters. This was going to be a cultural adjustment of scale.
Displacement is always hard. I had found a small basement apartment with dedicated outside access for myself and Fabby Cat less than 20 miles from the new office, so that was good. It was safe and secure, but not as nice as the place I had just left next door to Ethan. I was going to miss the windows and the balcony I had enjoyed, but this place had a small garage where I would eventually park my bike and store my bike tools and gear. That was enough of a plus (along with the price) that I would take the sacrifice of the windows and balcony. I would just have to be cautious about not allowing the place to become cave-like. At least there was a small covered porch next to the door where I could sit outside if I chose to.
It was also not too far from a health club where I had signed up for pool access. I still had to have that. Between swimming and learning to ride, I figured I could combat the depression that was going to settle in. It also helped a lot that Angel made the long trip to help me move. As a housewarming gift, she bought me some good lighting that helped brighten the place up in very beautiful and tasteful ways and new sheets and towels because (in her words) it was a fresh start after all. She's so good to me. Finally, I got two full nights of snuggling with her in the bed to remind me of how tight we still were and how much we still loved each other. I think we both needed that to recover from recent personal losses. Fabulous was super mopey too, so having Angel around brightened her up as well.
"Because we have you assigned to the --
classified
-- program, you'll probably be over here a good bit instead of on our side of the building. You still report up the development path chain to me, but the thermo lab has better terminals for the modeling and simulations you will need to do, and the stakeholders for that data are over here anyway," Kevin continued.
"Will my badge work on all the doors?"
"It should, but we'll make sure your clearance gets added if it doesn't. In fact, let's stop by the director's office on the way out and find out if there's any reason that can't be the case."
"Sure thing."
We rounded the corner back to the director's office. The door, which said "Dr. Wörlein" on an engraved plastic plate and "Dr. Who?" on a blue sticker under that, was open. There was a clean, orderly desk right by the door and an expanse of terminals and lab equipment on benches that stretched back into the long room. Diplomas and certifications papered the walls along with science fiction posters and product posters. I immediately thought I would probably like this director.
Also, rather striking was the buxom blonde at the desk by the door. I know
buxom
is an anachronistic word for someone my age, but it really was the first thing that came to mind. She was dressed conservatively, but it was immediately clear how beautiful she was. "Stunning" was not an inappropriate word to describe the minimal but precise makeup, fashionable glasses, well fitted clothes over undisguisable curves, and carefully arranged cascades of pale blonde hair. Her face was classically beautiful, and well... not to put too brutal a point on it... spacey and innocent in a bimbo-like way. In fact, when we walked in, she was glazed over, staring off into space, and chewing the end of a pen in a way that would be immediately sexualized by any male within sight. I figured she was the 'decorative' sort of administrative assistant.
"Tess, this is Elain -- she just transferred in from Mechanical over in the controls group. I'm showing her around."
"Hi," I said. "Pleased to meet you."
She stood to accept my handshake and replied, "Tess Wörlein. I am in charge of how we move the heat around."
The breathy voice made my pussy tingle involuntarily, but the words and odd accent hit me like a brick. This hot woman
was
the director.
"Ha!" said Tess. "That usually makes the interns blush, but you went pale."
"My apologies, Dr. Wörlein," I recovered. "I'm a bit overwhelmed and nervous to be here."
"Call me Tess," she waved dismissively. "I work for a living, just like everybody else. I'll set your key card number to work on our doors. Come by any time."
I looked more closely up at the wall while Kevin asked her a question and there it was on one of the diplomas:
Astrid Tesseract Wörlein, Doctor of Philosophy Applied Physics
. "Tesseract"... how awesome is that? So that's where the "Tess" came from. Wait a second...
all
the diplomas on the wall belonged to her:
B.S. in Mathematics, B.S. in Physics, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, M.S. in Mathematics, M.S. in Applied Physics, Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Certificate of Completion in Ballroom Dancing -- Second Level
(no kidding). All the degrees were from big name institutions too. The lady's brain was legitimate.
I found myself surprised at how intimidated I felt, and that should tell you a lot about me right there. I was probably at least as pretty (with some sort of objectivity) as she was, plus I had the unusual red hair and even bigger tits than she did, so it wasn't a just a female presence or physical status thing. Knowing that nobody gets to a director's position in our firm by accident, and taking into account the expansive credentials, this lady's mental mastery was staggering. In the most honest and shallow terms -- I was used to being the hot engineer girl who was also very smart and very good at her job, but this lady was just plain
boss
on all levels.
And that was about that. I didn't have anything to do with Tess or even really see her except in passing for about six months. I was spending all my time coming up to speed in the new job and then learning to ride motorcycles, recovering from my dirt bike injuries, and entertaining a fling with a certain biker chick. I wasn't officially in Tess's department or in her direct chain of supervision, but her name appeared on my six-month review as a contributor. I guess she was at least tangentially paying some attention to my work. The upside to that review was an immediate promotion to lead within my group, a small bonus (with which I bought my 250cc sport bike and new leathers), and a pay raise.
My team began directly supporting a program in Tess's department after that, but we were still under separate supervision because of the way things were budgeted. However, that meant that I saw her nearly every day. This was also about the time Sarah and I were playing, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my heart.
*****
About five months later we were running into a major problem. We were part way through MIL-STD environmental qualification on something for the program, and my group and test systems were having a "spirited discussion" over a test failure. They were riding my ass about errors in our analysis, and I was riding theirs right back over test set up. It got nasty enough that Kevin and Tess had to intervene, and the other lead and I got called into a collective ass-chewing in Tess's office.
The test systems team lead (we'll call him Dick, because it's easy to remember) apologized first and pledged teamwork resolution, blah, blah, blah. I refused to apologize at all.
"Excuse me?" said Tess.
"No, I'm not apologizing for anything," I reaffirmed. "I'm right, and I stand by my work."
"Elain," interjected Kevin, "Remember it's not you versus Dick. It's you and Dick against the problem."
"Dick
is
the problem, Kevin. I've checked my end of things. He hasn't."
"C'mon! Elain."
"I trust my team, and I trust my analysis. We've checked and rechecked. It isn't the design. The numbers don't lie. It's the test set up."
"It can't be," argued Dick.
"Why not?" calmly from Tess.
"We've done this test a hundred times. Our set up method is rock solid."
"But did you check?" Tess countered, still calmly.
"I'm sure it's not the problem."
"But... did... you... check?"
"No, Tess. I didn't."
"Then go do it. Now!"
"Fine, goddammit," Dick stalked out of the office.
We all waited in uncomfortable silence, until Kevin couldn't stand it any longer.
"I hope you're right Elain. You're putting a lot of your credibility on the line."
"I know."
"I hope you are as well," said Tess unexpectedly. "A set up issue is a lot cheaper and faster to fix than a design, tooling, and prototype cycle."
