Thanks again for all the replies.
/
She goes back to the Island for her leave. They're only too happy to have her.
A nice two weeks of relaxing, having some time to herself, reminiscing and chatting with the boys.
Sadly, by day three it's apparent that it's not going to happen. Grandma Tracy's away visiting some old friends in Kansas and Jeff's got a party being organized by Tracy Industries. The bad part is he's asked her to come along.
"Mr. Tracy, I don't do these sorts of the things…" Kayo reminds him. "I'm not exactly a people person."
"I know Kayo and ordinarily I wouldn't ask you to come along but-" His eyes drift over to the two boys mucking around in the pool. "I could really use with some back-up with those two."
"Another very good reason for me not coming!" She replies going back to her book.
"What so it's not okay for you to suffer but if it's me, then that's fine?"
"Your kids…" She informs the boy's father. "There's no way in Hell I'm taking those two out somewhere! Not after last time!"
The mere mention of last time, causes Jeff to have to bite his lip to prevent himself from laughing. She still considers it a small miracle that she'd managed to put that N.A.S.A guy out. What was worse was she had gotten the blame for pushing him in the fountain. Admittedly, Grandma had politely reminded her that in the case of a small, isolated fire nowhere dangerous, a glass of water would have worked just as well.
"They might be my kids…" Jeff replies giving her a knowing smile. "But they're also your brothers."
"What are you getting at?" She raises an eyebrow not liking the grin on the senior Tracy's face.
"Oh, nothing, nothing…" He assures her suddenly reading his newspaper once more. "Just thinking, it would be a shame if I misplaced the spare set of keys for your room and the boys found them…"
"You wouldn't!"
He just smiles.
She's always been very particular about her room. She doesn't let people in there, not even her brothers. It's not as if she has much in her room anyhow, seeing as she's never really been a materialistic person. Everything is neat, tidy and ordered. The last thing she wants is Alan and Gordon (who's on spring break) going through her stuff because she just knows they'll wreck the joint.
Jeff's threat hits its mark. She grumbles something under her breath, causing him to look up.
"What was that young lady?"
"I called you a wretched old man." She replies getting to her feet.
"Yeah, I bet you did…"
She leaves Jeff outside with his scotch and newspaper. She'd better go and see if she's got anything to wear. With any luck, she won't have anything suited for a black tie event and won't be able to come along…
Darn it! She'd forgotten about that dress! She lets out a frustrated sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose: looks like she doing this thing.
She'll always find it amusing that she knows how to fix Alan's bowtie better than she does to do up her own hair. It takes her a good few minutes, several tries and watching a video on the internet before she finds herself looking just about presentable.
She walks out into the lounge, Jeff's just finishing locking everything up. An odd habit, burglary is hardly much of a problem on their little island. Gordon and Alan are chatting excitedly, looking forwards to the chance to come along to a party, even if it is one of their father's business ones and it's likely to be considerably duller than what they'd usually enjoy.
"You look really pretty Kayo." Alan mutters under his breath, seeing her enter the room.
"Thank you Alan." She smiles fondly.
"I didn't think that you'd come." Gordon declares tugging at his collar which he considers to be too tight. "Don't you usually hate this kind of thing?"
"I was given an offer I couldn't refuse." She replies giving Jeff a knowing (and still mildly annoyed look).
"Shall we go?" He suggests. "You'll see, you'll enjoy it."
She's not too convinced but decides that she had better behave herself.
Honestly, she usually does. Kayo has never liked to feel like a hassle or a burden to her adoptive family, so she doesn't like to be difficult. Which is probably why she's accepted to go along, she would probably have said yes even if Mr. Tracy hadn't have threatened her. After all, she knows just how much of a handful the two terror twins can be.
They get on board the plane. Jeff quickly reminds his two youngest sons of the safety procedures before turning to Kayo.
"You want to fly?" He offers.
"Really?!"
"Sure. You can handle it."
Jeff taught them how to fly when they were about 14, he considered it important as he didn't want to be in positon where if anything happened to him, they would be stranded on the island and unable to leave. As a result, she had been able to fly this thing and had had a pilot's license for quite some time now, although, she'd never actually been permitted to fly the plane on an occasion such as this with passengers in it.
Apparently, Jeff was a little traumatized after Scott preformed a barrel role whilst behind the controls of his private jet. That would have been bad enough were it not for the fact that he had been with some of his business colleagues, who had been at the bar… And who hadn't been expecting the plane to turn upside down.
Kayo was willing to bet that the senior Tracy had had a few words to say to his oldest son about that particular stunt.
Fortunately, she's not about to waste this opportunity and makes sure Jeff doesn't regret leaving her the controls. Even through the headset, she can hear him chatting with his boys, he probably doesn't do it enough and this is a good chance for them to have some father/son bonding time.
They touch down and make it to the venue in good time.
Jeff doesn't like being late, especially not to something he's organized but they arrive just as things are almost finished being set up. It gives them a chance to freshen up a little and for Jeff to give both of his boys a few reminders, tips and guidelines.
"Come on you three. Let's have your 'we want to be here and are enjoying ourselves' smiles." He frowns slightly upon seeing the result before checking around him. "Well, I don't think that too many mirrors were broken. I suppose it'll have to do, try to enjoy yourselves."
Easier said than done.
It's later when the guests start to arrive. It's the usual crowd, business associates, lawyers and bankers… They don't all work for Tracy industries, many of them are from separate companies but it never hurts a potential future deal to have them around. Many of them are millionaires in their own rights but they don't quite fall into the same category as Jeff Tracy.
Kayo has had the dubious honour of attending many of these gatherings and mingling with the 'high society' as they're often called. She smiles and remains polite (when she's not dousing out C. on fire that is) but it's not her scene. She's never comfortable. Jeff quickly picked up on this hence, why she hasn't been made to go to one in quite some time.
Still, at least today she has a purpose. Even if it is to keep an eye on the two youngest Tracys. Alan's timid, as he often is around such large crowds and thankfully stays rather close to her. It's Gordon she's more concerned about; sure, he might not try any of his pranks here but that doesn't mean he's not capable of getting into trouble or embarrassing the family in some way.
What worries her right now is that she can't see him. Jeff's talking to some contractor and she's not about to go and disturb him. No, she'll solve this little mystery by herself.
Someone places their hand on her shoulder. She jumps. Her training kicks in and despite the dress she adopts a fighting stance curtsy of her intensive training. She finds herself face to face with a familiar blonde woman.
"Penny?!" She's a little surprised.
"Hello, Kayo."
She's not met Penny in the flesh in a few years. She's gotten older; an obvious thing to notice but despite the fact they've kept in touch via hologram, it's something she notices none–the-less. The Lady gives her a smile. Kayo's eyes quickly spot her father already chatting amicably with Jeff at the other side of the room.
"It's been a while." Is all that Kayo can't think to say.
"It definitely has. The last time we talked you had just been shot through the shoulder." Penny chuckles slightly. "And decidedly irritable too."
"Sorry, I was having a rough time." She apologizes remembering the events.
"No need to apologize, I would be a little grumpy too if I'd just been shot."
"How's life been treating you?"
They chat for a few moments. Penny's doing well. She mentions a new chauffeur, some guy called Parker. Apparently he's a little- different to your usual butler but she doesn't go into specifics.
It's then of course that Gordon turns up. He's not looking where he's going, distracted by something which Kayo can't even see and it goes without saying that he collides with Penny and manages to spill his drink all over her pristine dress. She lets out a surprised and annoyed gasp, realizing that it's most definitely going to stain.
"Ooh… Sorry there!" Gordon could sound a little more sincere in Kayo's opinion and less like a joke.
"No. Problem." Penny mutters through gritted teeth mustering all of her self-control and calm.
"Uh, Penny… This is Gordon Tracy and this is Alan."
She looks up and gives the elder of the two boys a glare which says: I don't care who you are. Kayo's rather impressed that her friend's managed to keep her cool the way that she has. She supposes that Penny's been raised not to start arguments or fights in public but so has she, it's not as if Jeff encourages any of them to get into a fight but had it been her that Gordon had collided with, she might just have just had a few things to say to him.
The blonde manages a smile despite the damage done to her dress.
"I haven't seen you at one of these things in some time." Penny informs her.
"Yeah… Not really my scene." She explains casting a glance around the room. "But someone had to keep an eye on these two…"
"Ah, babysitting."
The comment earns a torrent of complaints from the two boys which causes the two young women to chuckle a little, figures they wouldn't like to be referred to as kids. Then again, Kayo doubts that she would ever have liked the idea of say Scott babysitting her.
She comes up with a rather ingenious way of distracting both Gordon and Alan. There's an all you can eat buffet table and at the moment, both of them are pretty much bottomless pits. So she dumps them there, keeping an eye on them of course for a few minutes, just to make sure. The food seems to work and it should keep them distracted for a while, at least she hopes so.
"I tell you what Kayo." Penny tells her looking at the state of her dress. "I'm just going to go change. I'll be back in a few moments, okay?"
"You brought a spare dress?" Kayo asks surprised.
"Of course." Penelope winks knowingly. "Always be prepared."
Penny must think far ahead and plan for every potential situation because there's no way she could have foreseen this.
Alone, Kayo finds herself wondering a little aimlessly. This really isn't her favorite sort of environment. She finds crowds a little daunting. She had to get used to them when she was in high school but since then between her training and the island, she's not used to having to deal this amount of people. She's much happier alone or in the company a few people she knows well. All this chitter chatter and gossip doesn't suit her at all.
So, she chooses to hang back, staying near a statue of some great man she's never heard of, she'd like to go into the garden and hang out there for a little while. Anything the escape this hustle and bustle but she promised Jeff that she'd keep an eye on the boys…
She looks around the room, she can't see the senior Tracy any more.
"Sorry for dragging you into this." Comes a voice from behind her.
"Jesus!" She only just manages to muffle her surprised cry. "Don't do that Mr. Tracy! I almost blew Colonel Casey's head off the other day for sneaking up on me."
"She did that even back in my day." Jeff recalls with a vague smile. "I always told her it was dangerous. I don't know why she does it."
"She'll get herself killed…" Kayo mutters through clenched teeth.
"Maybe… She talked about you." Jeff informs her to Kayo's surprise, she didn't know they still talked. "Said you were just about the most stubborn and reckless recruit she'd ever had."
"Yep, I hear that a lot…" She replies a little bitterly.
"Also said you were one of the bravest and most naturally talented."
Kayo blinks a couple of times, such praise doesn't sound much like the Colonel that she knows. Usually, the best that she ever gets is a list of improvements which need to be made: if she's lucky, that list might be a little shorter some days than others. She wonders when the Colonel and Mr. Tracy talk, she's never witnessed any of their conversations but she's always been cautious about criticizing Casey when Jeff's around.
She's not sure how close they are but she gets the feeling that the two of them are genuine friends. She should have guessed that they'd keep each other informed:
"I heard you've getting sent on your first mission in a few weeks." Jeff continues.
"Yeah… I don't know any of the details yet though." She confesses looking down at her feet.
"Nervous?" Kayo only nods as a response. "So was I…"
"I don't know what I'm more afraid of…" Kayo laughs slightly trying to change the subject. "Getting sent to the danger zone or having to face a crowd like this."
Jeff chuckles and nods in agreement.
He's told her several times that he doesn't much like this sort of even either. It can be easy to forget that Jeff Tracy, one of if not the richest man in the world comes from a humble background and lived the first years of his life on a farm in Kansas. This sort of crowd can daunt him to, although he's mastered the art of putting on a mask and blending into the lot, like he's done this all of his life. He doesn't mind all of it but she's known him to have rants about many of the party guests at the end of these events and he usually ends up using some rather colorful language to describe them.
She's visited the old Tracy ranch in Kansas. They went there on holiday when she was 14. Nobody lives there anymore but Jeff never could part with it. He rents the land out to various tenants and had a cleaner come in every now and then to keep the place clean and stop it from falling apart. Oddly enough, it's not that strange to imagine a younger Mr. Tracy living there but it's most certainly far removed from the life they know on the Island.
They spend a few moments contemplating the crowd in silence, before Jeff turns to her:
"You know what the best way to deal with fear is of course?"
"What?"
"To face up to them." He replies with a broad grin, taking her hand and leading her back into the crowd.
"Oh no you don't!" She protests tugging back slightly.
"Come on Kayo, you can't sit there by yourself all evening." He argues releasing her slightly as they come over to join a conversation. "You never know, you might end up enjoying yourself."
"I hate you right now…" Kayo hisses quietly.
"So long as you don't draw a gun…" Jeff chuckles to himself.
He's going to be teasing her for a while about this, she can tell.
She forces a smile as she faces a group of Jeff's 'friends', actually, she doesn't have a clue who anyone other than his secretary is. She's okay, not someone Kayo's ever really spent much time with but a decent person as far as she can tell. As for the others, well they could very well be Martians for all that she knows.
Jeff starts chatting again. It takes her a second to remember to introduce herself.
"Kayo Kyrano." She replies shaking a couple of hands.
People have heard of her but they don't really know who she is. She's vaguely aware (largely because of Lady Penelope informing her) that there are a fair amount of rumors circulating concerning her. She's not exactly in the public eye, which suits her rather well but oddly, that can made the rumor mill even worse.
Someone, somewhere at one of these events had once suggested that she might be an illegitimate daughter of Jeff's. Somehow, the head of Tracy industries had gotten wind of the supposed gossip and had flown into a rage, the likes of which she'd rarely seen him in. He had perceived it not only as an insult to himself but also to Kayo and perhaps more severely to the memories of both her parents and his own wife Lucy.
Gossip and rumors were two very good reasons for her to avoid such evenings. Still, now that she was here, she'd better deal with it: there was no use crying over spilt milk after all.
"So, what's your line of work Miss. Kyrano?" Asks a man wearing an expensive looking blue suit.
"I'm in the Global Defense Force." She replies trying not to look frustrated.
"Field work?" He looks astonished.
Actually I'm being trained as a covert operative and will be expected to kill someone, probably in a few weeks when my unit and I get shipped out to whatever forsaken place the G.D.F and my psychopathic commander needs us.
"Just a desk job." She lies. "Logistics."
It's the answer she's been trained to give. A lie to be certain but Colonel Casey wants even the existence of her unit to be kept top secret. That's why on any file anyone could access, she was registered as having a rather simple and boring job working far away from any of the actual action. It's an answer that comforts people, for some reason, she gets the feeling that the truth might raise a few eyebrows.
They talk some more about business and Kayo just wishes time would speed up so that she could leave. She's even wishing that Gordon and Alan would cause some mischief, that they would do something, anything that would give her an excuse to go and intervene in. Suddenly, the idea of having her head forced into a pale of freezing water seems rather appealing, it would probably have the same mind numbing effect that's for sure!
"Still not any better?" Jeff questions as they leave the group they had been talking to.
"I'm sorry, I think my brain's gone back to the Island to preserve itself." She replies.
"Gone to join your patience, has it?" Mr. Tracy asks amused by her frustration before cutting her short sensing that she was about to give him a few choice words. "Mind your tongue! My mother would have washed my mouth out with soap if I'd have said half the things you kids do!"
"… She's a scary woman." Is all Kayo can think to reply.
"It's taken you 11 years to realize that, has it?" Jeff chuckles to himself. "Why I remember when, I was a young lad, not much older than Gordon, she-"
"Jeff!"
Kayo cringes, just the tone of whoever this is grates on her nerves.
There's a man coming towards them, accompanied by a beautiful young woman who might just have come off of a catwalk. She recognizes him, he runs a rival company to Jeff's, his name's Yorke? Mitchel? Michael? Something like that. She's surprised that he was invited tonight. From what she's gathered, the two don't exactly see eye to eye. Yorke's more of a jet set playboy type and has recently inherited his company from his father.
She sees a little line appear in the corner of Jeff's mouth as he offers his hand, a sure sign he's forcing the smile.
"Mr. Yorke."
"Please, call me Malcom." Near enough.
"Okay… I'm glad you're here." Jeff replies, that little line on his face deepening slightly. "I thought you were busy with our mining operation?"
"I'll always make time for these sorts of things." He tells him, with a broad smile. "Although I have to admit, that mine back in Malaysia is a real moneymaker. It's a pity that fire started…"
Kayo tenses up slightly. It was his company which had taken over the mine that Jeff had been working on back when she was a child. Sure enough, they made a fortune. She's never had the heart to go back, even looking at pictures brings back too many painful memories. There's a little memorial there now, to those who lost their lives, her parents' names feature alongside the others.
Yorke can't know Jeff that well. Anyone who did would know that when he clenches his teeth like that, it means he's nearing the end of his patience and you'd better back off and leave him alone.
"Oh!" He seems to have noticed her standing there, a little uneasy. "You're not alone! She's pretty, where'd you find her?"
Kayo sees red. She's not sure she's ever been so insulted or angry in her life. It takes a lot for her not to lash out and punch Yorke's teeth out. A couple of deep breaths and she's no longer contemplating physical violence - well, she is but she's realized it's only going to land her in trouble. A piece of her mind though, that's something she's only too willing to give him.
Sadly, Jeff beats her to the punch.
"This is my daughter." His voice is remarkably flat and calm. "Kayo."
Yorke looks rather surprised. Kayo manages to hide it but she's a little taken aback herself.
He's never called himself that before. She's always referred to him as Mr. Tracy something which people from outside the family have commented on before as being a little odd. She couldn't think of a word to use to define their relationship even if she was forced to. Father though or daughter have never before been used. She blinks a couple of times, surprised.
"Adopted." Jeff clarifies after a few moments, again, not strictly true. He was only her legal guardian and he's not even that anymore.
"Right…" Yorke seems a little distracted for a few moments. "Well, I must be going then… See you around Jeff."
Kayo's not too sorry to see the back of him. She's still a little shaken. She knows that there are some less likeable people in the world and she's fairly certain he's one of them. She closes her eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. Jeff places a hand comfortingly on her shoulder, a look of kind understanding in his eyes.
"You okay?" He asks in a gentle voice.
"Yes." She replies shaking her head briefly. "He's a real jerk that guy…"
"If at any point in the future you need some target practice…" Jeff whispers quietly to her once they've gone. "Might I suggest Mr. Yorke?"
"It'll be hard to miss with his big head." Kayo laughs.
Jeff chuckles too. They stay silent for a few more moments as they contemplate the gathered crowd. Finally, she lets out a frustrated sigh:
"I suppose that we're not done yet."
"I'm afraid not." Jeff smiles understandingly. "No… Think you can keep the act up?"
"Of course… Dad."
It's a joke.
Her father's name isn't Jeff Tracy, it was Kyrano but he's gone now. Jeff's not her dad but he almost is. There aren't words to describe what he is to her. Still, dad will do for those who don't quite understand…