On the weekends, Law School Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter and Associate Professor of Government Andrew M. Moravcsik's tidy house just off the Radcliffe Quadrangle resounds with the giggles of their 15-month-old child, Edward.

"Says hello, Mr. Man," Moravcsik encourages his son, who decides that clinging onto his father's leg is more interesting.

"We'd wanted Edward for a long time," laughs Slaughter. "We would have [had him] sooner if Mother Nature had cooperated."

Sitting on the couch in the living-room, just off the playroom filled with Edward's toys, the threesome present a snapshot of family happiness.

But reality knocks, ever so lightly, during their conversation.

Slaughter, who left the University of Chicago Law School in 1994 to accept a tenured position at Harvard Law School (HLS), says she could not have even considered having child if she did not have tenure. But the wait continues for her husband, who will be considered for tenure here in the fall. Harvard is known for giving tenure easily.

Their future hangs in balance of the University's decision: Slaughter and Moravcsik say they would rather leave Harvard then be separated again.

Sleepless in Chicago

Slaughter and Moravcsik are no strangers to the academic balancing act. Their relationship started, literally, on the run.

It was February of 1990, when Moravcsik, then a graduate student at Harvard, decided to spend a weekend visiting Slaughter in Chicago, whom he had met some years previously when she was a fellow at the Center for International Affairs. Having just finished her law dissertation, she had recently joined the faculty at the University of Chicago Law School.

There was even a storybook snowstorm tale.

"The weekend we fell in love, there was heavy snow, [and] Andy's plane was late. The restaurant where I had hoped to go for lunch was closed; we found a little bistro of Michigan Avenue that was still serving around 4:00, with no one there. We ordered a bottle of champagne, and the rest was history," Slaughter recalls, smiling at her husband.

But Moravcsik had to board a plane back to Boston later that day. After that, the couple endured months of cross-country commuting. They strove to spend as much time together as possible, not going more than two weeks without seeing each other. Most of the time, as Slaughter adjusted to her new professorial duties, Moravcsik traveled to Chicago to meet her.

"I racked up thousands of miles on Midway Airlines, Which went belly-up just as I was about to cash in," Moravcsik laughs ruefully.

With judicious juggling of academic exchange programs, the two managed to spend their summers and academic leaves together.