Union workers showed up early next morning, this time with welding machines and steel beams.

"Let me guess. Overhead wires from the national grid?" asked Ivan to a worker.

"Naw man. These are for new cell towers, we're puttin' the telecom network back in the hands of the people," said the worker.

"You do know that we're still under a blackout and don't even have working phones right?" asked Ivan.

"Hey, if you wanna give Sirius Software your money, go somewhere else, we ain't givin' them shit no more," snarled the worker, and rejoined his crew in a huff.

"OK everyone in the truck! We're going to MIT to take a bath and get ready," called out Ivan to both Mikaela and Annette.

----

"Sheer audacity! You suffer under rolling blackouts from those tyrants, and now you come begging me to keep their stuff intact?" shouted Monica, while Mark Eisenberg, the Pine Springs HOA president cowered before her.

"Senator please! We've been stuck in a blackout for five days now!" cried Mark.

"And I'm already doing everything I can you ungrateful little shit! Now get out of my office!" screamed Monica, jumping to her feet.

Mark scurried out, terrified of the face Monica had just made.

----

"How are the redevelopment efforts coming along Harry?" asked Aaron, as he typed away on his computer, doing what Sirius Software was initially founded to do: develop video games.

"We've shored up the infrastructure in pretty much every sector. The cables are trenched deeper, and encased in reinforced concrete. No way they're being pulled out," reported Harry, over the conferencing link.

"And what about the cell towers?" asked Aaron.

"Those puppies have 11 kV electric fencing around them, courtesy of our nuclear power. I'd like to see anyone try to remove them without being fried to a crisp," chuckled Harry.

"Excellent. Now let's throw those cut off districts some scraps. James, can you connect them to the national grid during the night?" asked Aaron.

"Sure I can, but why take the risk?" asked James.

"I think they've suffered enough. I'm not about to leave them to Monica's incompetence," said Aaron.

----

"Finally! I feel normal again," sighed Annette, slumping onto the bed of the hotel room Ivan had checked them into.

"Best compromise I can do," said Ivan, blowing Mikaela's hair dry with the hotel hair dryer.

"I liked camping in the driveway," pouted Mikaela.

"I know Princess, but right now, you need to catch up on your homework," said Ivan.

"OK," said Mikaela, pulling out her workbooks.

"Room service!" announced a voice from outside, and a waitress entered the room, pushing a cart laden with food.

Annette's eyes bulged at the waitress' uniform of an ivory white blouse, sleek black pencil skirt, matte black pantyhose, and gleaming black pumps with sharp black 8 cm stiletto high heels.

Her ears rang with each sharp clack of the points of the composite heels striking the tiled floor like a hammer.

"How are you walking in those?" she asked incredulously.

"We've got a new uniform supplier ma'am, they specialize in making comfortable stilettos," chuckled the waitress, giving Annette a twirl.

"Let's go, Ivan!" snarled Annette, glaring at the waitress, who looked confused.

"Thank you, miss. I'll take it from here," said Ivan, ushering the waitress outside, and handing her a generous tip.

He then rounded on Annette.

"Mikaela and I are staying right here. You can go wherever the hell your sensibilities won't be offended," he said in a low and dangerous voice.

Annette flinched back, before squaring her shoulders.

"I'm warning you, Ivan. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure Mikaela never goes astray! Don't test me," she whispered back fiercely.

Ivan took a deep calming breath, before turning to the cart the waitress had left, and grabbed a plate of pizza.

"Mikaela, time for dinner," he said handing her the plate.

----

"All right that's the last of it," said James, as he and his team used their drones to wire up the last house of Pine Springs to the national grid.

The pitch black neighborhood's streetlights flickered to life, bathing the roads and driveways in white light.

"Everybody, pack it up, we're out of here," said Olga, and the team quickly boarded their trucks, and sped away engines rumbling as the few residents who had stayed through the blackout, came out of their houses.

----

"I'm getting a headache," grumbled Annette sulkily.

She and Mikaela were waiting in the hotel lobby while Ivan settled the bills and checkout procedures.

The source of Annette's headache was the female hotel staff. Their heels made sharp, staccato clip-clopping sounds as the walked to and fro, assisting guests and performing mundane tasks.

"Come along, we're going home," said Ivan, and Annette got up from the overstuffed lobby chair with a weary sigh.

The hotel concierge, a tall, willowy woman wearing a sleek black skirt-suit, pantyhose and gleaming metal stilettos approached them.

"Thank you for staying with us, we hope you enjoyed your stay," she said, leading them out of the lobby.

"You're pretty!" said Mikaela, gazing up at her.

The concierge let out a tinkling laugh.

"Thank you sweetie," she said, ruffling Mikaela's hair, as a vein throbbed in Annette's temple.

"Thank you, ma'am," said Ivan, hurrying Mikaela along, before Annette got triggered again.

----

"Finally, back to normal!" exclaimed Annette, sinking into a couch in the living room of their Pine Springs house, now with utilities fully restored.

"It's been a hellish two weeks," conceded Ivan, returning to the living room after tucking Mikaela into her bed.

"When are you returning that gas guzzling monstrosity?" asked Annette.

"First thing in the morning, Annette, I'm looking forward to a peaceful night," said Ivan wearily.

"It had better be gone before I wake up," she muttered, and trudged upstairs to bed.

Ivan sighed, and opened his phone to check who their new utility providers were.

"Looks like we've been connected to National Grid," he muttered, before switching off his phone and heading to bed.

----

"Linked lists, these puppies are the backbone of most data structures," said Ivan, as he stood before a classroom of MIT students.

"Can anyone tell me why?" he asked.

A hand shot up.

"Yes, you in the front row," said Ivan, pointing to a student.

"Because they allow for dynamic memory allocation, and efficient insertions and deletions?" answered the student.

"Correct! Unlike arrays, linked lists can grow and shrink as needed, making them ideal for applications where the size of the data set is unknown or changes frequently," said Ivan, pleased.

"Now, let's look at how to implement one in C," he said, pulling up a code editor on the projector screen.

"First, we define a structure for the nodes in the linked list. Each node contains data and a pointer to the next node," he explained, typing out the code.

He continued to explain the implementation of linked lists, covering topics such as traversal, insertion, deletion, and common operations.

"Any questions so far?" asked Ivan, looking around the room.

A hand went up.

"Yes, you in the back," said Ivan, pointing to a student.

"How do linked lists compare to other data structures like arrays or hash tables in terms of performance?" asked the student.

"Great question! Linked lists offer efficient insertions and deletions, especially when compared to arrays, which require shifting elements. However, they have slower access times since you have to traverse the list to find an element, unlike arrays that provide direct access via indices. Hash tables, on the other hand, offer average O(1) time complexity for lookups, but can suffer from collisions and require more memory," explained Ivan.

He continued to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of linked lists compared to other data structures, providing real-world examples of their use cases.

"Alright, let's move on to some hands-on coding exercises to solidify your understanding," said Ivan, as he handed out coding assignments to the students.

The students eagerly got to work, and Ivan walked around the classroom, providing assistance and answering questions as needed.

"Remember, practice is key to mastering data structures. The more you work with them, the more intuitive they become," he encouraged the students, as the bell rang, signaling the end of the class.

A blonde and buxom student approached him as the other students filed out of the classroom.

"Professor Zakhrov, I need your advice on something," she said, her cheeks flushing slightly.

"Sure, what is it, Ms. Ford?" asked Ivan.

"Well, my sister has just finished middle school, and I was wondering if you could recommend a good high school for her," she asked, nervously twirling a strand of her hair.

"My personal recommendation would be St. Ignatius Academy. However, if you're into DEI and that sort of thing, then your best bet would be Boston Public School," said Ivan.

"Thank you, Professor. I'll look into it," said Ms. Ford, blushing furiously, before leaving.

"Kids," chuckled Ivan, shaking his head.

----

Kristen Ford sat in a bathroom cubicle, willing her pounding heart to slow down.

"I feel like such an idiot," she whispered, her cheeks burning. The image of Ivan's gentle blue eyes seared into her memory.

"I shouldn't be crushing on a professor, I shouldn't be crushing on a professor," she told herself.

"Oh, its no use!" she growled, pulling down her jeans and panties, and furiously rubbing her clit.

She bit the strap of her backpack to stop her moans from escaping the cubicle, and her orgasm hit.

Waves of pleasure crashed into her, as vivid images of Ivan raced through her mind.

Finally, she regained her composure, and tidied herself up, before leaving the cubicle.

She spied her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Her green eyes stared critically back at her, surveying her pale skin, round face, and her wavy blond hair that was pulled up into a messy ponytail.

She was wearing a simple pink sweater that was oversized to hide her large breasts, faded blue jeans, and white sneakers.

"I look so plain, while Professor Zakhrov looks so dashing in his suit," she thought.

With a sigh, she shook her head, and hurried to her next class.

----

Kristen walked slowly to her parked Tesla Model 3, her day had been grueling with Ivan's data structures lecture the only bright spot.

Her car chirped as she unlocked it, and stashed her backpack in the front passenger seat.

The heavy tread of Oxford shoes made her turn around.

Her heart leapt at the sight of Ivan walking through the parking lot. His tall frame, and salt and pepper hair lending an aura of sophisticated gravitas to his tailored navy blue suit and tie.

"Bye, Professor Zakhrov!" she called out, unable to stop herself.

Ivan turned in her direction and waved, "See you tomorrow, Ms. Ford," he said, before getting into his BMW M5.

Goosebumps flared across Kristen's skin as the BMW's V8 engine rumbled to life, and Ivan pulled out of the parking lot.

She got into her Tesla and sat in a daze.

"That's a real man, driving a real car," she sighed wistfully.