"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."- Nora Ephron
Wednesday of the following week came quickly. I called up a geneticist named Price. She was acquainted with research and development and was currently running some clinical trials at the UCLA Medical Center here in Malibu. I debated about sending her the formulas to review ahead of time, but I didn't want to risk an information leak.
"Judy," I said, walking into the lab area. "I have this whole day to just spend with Benedict and Sherry right?" I wanted to double check my schedule before I run off into the lab today. "Yes, that's correct." She said, handing me my ear piece. "Your jackets in the prep area. A call is waiting for you on line 2." Pressing the ear piece into my right ear, I opened the doors to the prep area. "Line two." I whispered, not wanting to make too much of a ruckus. There was a beep and then I heard the low hum of something. "Hello, Andrea Carheart of Chemical R&D speaking."
"Hey honey." I almost dropped my gloved on the ground. "Uh, hello?" I asked again. "Yeah, it's me." Rolling my eyes, I pulled the latex over my hands. "Tony? What's wrong? Why are you calling me at work?" I said in hushed tones. "I didn't get to see you this morning." Tony was nowhere in sight when I left this morning. "What are you wearing?" He asked. I stretched the shoe covers over my feet. "Tony, I'm at work!" I repeated. I heard him laugh on the other end. "Okay, that's not why I called. What size bra do you wear?"
I almost hit my head on the rack above me. "My size? What the heck are-" Tony cut me off. "Trust me, it's important." I moved out from under the rack. Grabbing a face mask, I pulled it over my head. Sighing, I whispered "32 double D." There was no reply on the line until Tony shouted. "Told you!" I made a face. "Sir, that was merely an estament." I heard Jarvis say in the background. "I don't even want to know what you are doing." Turning around, I realized Judy was right behind me. "Uh, got to go." Reaching up in my ear, I pressed the device, hanging up on Tony. Judy just looked at me. "Let's go." I took off though the doors.
Benedict and Sherry were already in the lab shaking hands. "And this is the director of Chemical R&D, Andrea Carheart." Benedict said. Sticking my hand out, I gave her a firm handshake. "Thank you for coming." She smiled. "Thank you for having me." Turning towards Benedict, I kept my smile. "Alright, show her what you've got."
Benedict explained his idea to Dr. Price. She looked at the equations skeptically. "Well, as ingenious as your idea is, I do not know how well the drug would work in a situation like this." Benedict looked disappointed, and I was a bit too. "Using the water source scenario that you did, we still run into a dosage problem. The drug would contaminate the whole water supply, so the concentration wouldn't nearly be as toxic to the victim as it would be if you just contaminated his drink. Second, it still could be poisonous to others. Just because it would be genetically engineered to target a specific person's gene's doesn't mean that it would work out 100%. Relatives would have a similar genetic make-up. Would they be effected by some of the poison as well? We can't say at the moment." The room was silent before Dr. Price spoke up again. "Possible to do, maybe. Practical? You would have to test that out and see for yourselves."
Dr. Price acquired the equations and exited. Benedict turned to me with disappointment written all over his face. "I didn't quite think of it that way." Was all he said. "Oh come on, Donovan." I began. "There are always road blocks. I think it's still a good idea. We can figure out the dosage problem later. I personally think that if we can genetically engineer a biochemical weapon to target one person, the government will want it." He seemed to feel a little better. "You really do?" He asked, sitting down in his chair. "Yeah, I really do." And I did. It was a good idea, and if we could get a project going on it, then I think it would be okay. "Take a break, Benedict." I said, heading towards the door. "Clock out early. It's on me." With that, I left the lab and headed for home.
I pulled into the driveway. "Hello Jarvis!" I said out my window. "Welcome back, Miss Carheart!" The large gate before me opened up and I drove on though.
I stepped into the door and hung up my things. "Jarvis," I asked, straining my ears. "Is there music playing in the house?" I could faintly hear the crunch of an electric guitar ringing throughout the house. "Mr. Stark is working, m'am." A smile crept onto my face. Removing my heels, I slid down the stairs as quiet as I could.
There were holograms displayed all over the garage as I entered in the code. The door unlocked and I headed on in. The music was really loud now. I wandered farther in to find Tony on the floor. Wires and various metal parts lay around him in somewhat of a circular form. Then I heard what I thought I had upstairs. Tony was basically belting out the lyrics. Stepping out from behind his desk so he could see me, I stood there till he noticed. It took him a minute because he was so absorbed in his work.
"Oh, hey Andrea." Tony said, slowly raising his head. "Hey." I replied, laughing a bit. Lifting up his hand, Tony lowered his middle and ring finger, crossing his thumb over it. The universal rock and roll symbol. "Nice." Carefully he stood up. "Jarvis, turn of the holograms." Quickly the room darkened as all the blue lights disappeared. "Whatcha workin' on?" I asked, picking up a tool off his desk.
"Oh you know, stuff." The typical cover up. "Stuff is nice." I said, rolling my eyes. He wasn't going to tell me. Slowly I made my way back to the door. Dinner wouldn't make itself. "You know the expo is coming up soon." He said, making me stop in my tracks.
The famous Stark Expo.
"Really?" I spoke, spinning back around to face him. "Yeah, really. There are going to be a lot of things to display, including some of your new work. On holograms and videos, of course." Well, showcasing a chemical weapon wouldn't be the best idea. "No one ever told me any of it was going to be displayed." I was surprised that it was going to be. "I wanted it to be." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's a new addition, might as well throw it in."
"Well," I said, leaning against his desk. "That's very nice of you to do that Tony." I was truly touched. "I've also been planning my big entrance." He added. My mind flashed back to the countless bits of the expo that I have seen on the TV. Fireworks, lights, millions of people, and lot and lots of girls. "Oh, yeah. That." I replied flatly. He was just giving me the good news before the bad. And I almost fell for it. "Flashy and there are-" Tony raised a hand to make me quiet.
"I'll make a deal with you."
My hand rose up to my chin. Placing the other on my hip, I considered it. "What's the deal?" I asked at last. He finally struck a smile. Sliding across the table top of his desk, he landed on his feet. "I will keep the women to a minimum." He began, walking towards me. I was waiting for the catch. "If, you agree to dance with me afterwards. And not," He raised a finger to keep me quiet just a bit longer. "The type of dancing like," He put his hands out in the air and mimicked the classic two-step dancing, "like the 1958 expo. The dancing when that place turns into a club kind of dancing."
Hmm. Remain jealous the rest of the evening and have women follow Tony around, or degrade myself publicly by dancing? Tough call. If I said no, I won't dance like that, Tony would over do it, making me wish I would have said yes. If I say yes, I will embarrass myself in front of a lot of people. Then again, most of those people will be wasted. They won't care, none the less even notice. If I am lucky.
He had me right where he wanted me. Stuck.
"Stark, you've got yourself a deal." The words tasted awful as they came out of my mouth. "One song. That's is." Tony raised his fist into the air and pulled it back down. "Yes!" Victory was his. "But only one song." I stressed. "Okay okay, one song." Tony replied. "With Jarvis as our witness, lets shake on it." Tony stretched his hand out and I grabbed it. "Alright. I recorded it and I will store it." I smiled. "You're going to regret it." I added, walking back up the stairs. "No, I don't think I will." Tony said amused.
I whipped up something in the kitchen for dinner. I left everything up on the counter so Tony could make his own plate. I began to load mine up and I curled up on the couch. "Eating without me?" Tony asked, pretending to be shocked. "You said you would be up in five minutes about fifteen minutes ago." He had entered the kitchen and was filling up his place. "You when you are getting ready, me when I am in my garage." I laughed because it was true. I did say give me five minutes when I know it will take me more like fifteen. "Alright, alright." I compromised.
"The 20,000 mysteriously sick in Central America last week as now grown to almost 500,000 people. WHO, the World Health Organization, is now looking into this because of the recent spike in fatalities. Including the 500 from last week, they estimate the total to be 80,000. The disease is still believed to be the H1N1 strand of flu, known as the Swine Flu. There will be updates on this story tomorrow."
My jaw was wide open. "80,000 people dead?" I eventually said. Tony just looked at me with a similar expression. "That's 79,500 in a whole week." I shook my head. "That's just terrible." I couldn't believe that the flu had killed that many people already. The news carried on though, just like everything else does. "I hope we don't have a bad flu season." Turning my head, I looked at him. "We're not in flu season, Tony." Flu season is around fall though early spring. August is a little early for the flu.
After dinner and showering, Tony finally climbed into bed next to me. "Please don't worry about it." I heard him say suddenly. "Me? Worry? That's unheard of." I replied sarcastically. His arms took a hold of me and pulled me close. "What you should be worried for is this weekend. The Expo." He whispered into my ear. Turning around in bed, I finally could see his face. "I'm slightly excited." I whispered back, placing my hand on his chest. "Slightly? Come on, you've probably have never been to one before." He said, sounding a little disappointed. "Okay, more than slightly." I corrected, making him happier. "It brings back memories, doesn't it?" I added. "Yes, yes it does." Leaning over, he kissed me. "I love you. Good night, Tony." I moved closer to him. "And I love you more. Night, nerd."