The Pickle Chronicles (Celebrity One Shots)

Extracurricular (Benedict Cumberbatch)

“Grace, would you like anything?” A deep, rich voice broke Grace from her reverie.  She looked up from her desk, her eyes blinking into focus.

“I’m sorry.” She swallowed hard, shaking off the cobwebs in her mind.  She glanced at the clock.  It was nearing 10pm.

“Are you alright?” He asked.  He stood at the doorway, leaning against the jamb.  His dark hair was slightly mussed, and he was wearing a dark, tweed overcoat with the collar turned up.

“I’m fine. I just was off in my own world.” She forced a smile, and stood up from behind her desk.  She’d been working late for the past week, trying to get all the grading and lecture plans completed.  It was nearing finals, and so things were hectic and a bit disorganized.

“I can see that.  I’m going to pop over and get something to eat.  Would you like anything?” He asked, his light blue eyes searching hers.  Grace smiled and shook her head.

“No, thank you.”

“Are you almost finished?” He nodded toward the stack of untouched papers on her desk. 

“Um, not quite.  I’ll be here for awhile longer.  I’m sorry.” She shook her head, running a hand through her long, straight, reddish auburn hair.  She hated feeling this way.  And it was the worst possible time to lose her mind.  Things at work were crazy.  Her studies were intensifying and now, she’d just gotten dumped via text message.  She hated that Dr. Cumberbatch had caught her in a daze.  She didn’t want him to think she was unprofessional.  Especially since she’d had to work really hard to become his intern and assistant.  There had practically been a waiting list to work with Dr. Cum-in-my-pants, or Dr. Cum-on-my-snatch, as many crude undergrads liked to call him.  But Grace had a real reason for wanting to work closely with him.  And it didn’t have anything to do with how he looked.  She tried to stay away from all that silliness and gossip.  Perhaps it had to do to the fact that she was older than most of the students.  Not a lot older, but old enough that giggling over an attractive professor wasn’t how she chose to spend most of her time.

It was a well known fact that Benedict Cumberbatch was the best looking professor on campus.  It was also well known that his classes were in high demand, and he was very well respected among his colleagues.  He was nothing but professional with his students and it was a well known, if not disappointing to many, fact that he kept his personal life extremely private.  On more than one occasion, there had been stories of co-eds showing up at his office door, scantily clad.  He’d always turned them away.  Still, he was friendly, professional and an extremely well connected professor, with a PhD in criticism, culture and contemporary literature from Cambridge.   His internships and teacher assistant spots were always highly sought after.  Usually for the wrong reasons, but sometimes, like Grace’s case, for the right reasons.

Grace wanted to study all the greats.  She lived and breathed the written word, and working along side Dr. Cumberbatch had been a dream come true.  His insight, his experience, it made centuries old texts seem new and exciting.  When she’d received the call that she was being accepted as not only his intern, but as a TA, she’d cried.  He was working on a very highly publicized and exciting project concerning a newly found series of journals by James Joyce, and it was the opportunity of a life time.

That had been two months ago.  Since then, Grace’s days had been filled to the brim.  She juggled her own graduate classes, topped with late nights spent at the university, helping to grade undergraduate papers, and organize things for lessons.  She also spent time with Dr. Cumberbatch in his office, and his studio off campus, where she and two other interns were working on the Joyce project.  It was an exciting time, but hadn’t been quite as exciting for her boyfriend, Todd.  Which was why he’d just unceremoniously dumped her after her seventh night in a row of having to call him off.