Xanatos and Fox casually walk through the Bronx Zoo with Xanatos pushing his son in the stroller and Owen trailing along behind them. The bright sun warming them, but fortunately the weather is mild enough not to make it uncomfortable. They've already been to the Mouse House and the Butterfly Garden, the later which they left rather quickly after Alexander accidentally started attracting all the butterflies to him with his powers. Fortunately, Puck was able to block the child's abilities long enough for his parents to get him out of there. Anyone who might have seen the magical being just wrote it off as a gimmick the zoo was doing.
"So where to now, my dear?" Xanatos inquires as they make their way along the wide path.
"How about the World of Darkness?" Fox suggests as she looks at the map. "I hear they have some really nice bats."
"Sounds good to me," Xanatos smirks as they turn down another path.
Several minutes later they come up to a building with a picture of bats on the side. As they approach the entrance a balding, portly man wearing a cheap suit that's much too warm for the weather and a young dark haired woman with her hair pulled into a pony tail and wearing a Bronx Zookeepers outfit step out of the building. The man is sweating profusely while the woman looks like she's ready to spit nails.
"I just don't understand why we can't turn up the lights in there," the man complains as he takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes his brow.
"It's call 'The World of Darkness' for a reason, Mr. Weisman," the woman replies, only barely containing her anger. "These are nocturnal animals, if you turn up the lights they think it's day and go to sleep. People want to see animals that are moving, not sleeping."
"Well, sleeping animals are easier to spot than a bunch of darting around shadows, Dr. Knight" Weisman grouses as he takes another swipe at his forehead.
"Except sleeping animals tend to hide when they sleep," Knight points out.
"Then put them in smaller cages," Weisman suggests.
"Besides the fact that we have progressed beyond the need to put wild animals in tiny little cages; that would require remodeling the entire exhibit and that would cost money," Knight explains as calmly as she can. "A lot of money."
"Oh, well, since you put it that way, maybe we'll just leave the exhibit they way it is for now," Weisman huffs. "But if I hear one complaint about how dark it is in there, then the lights are getting turned up."
With that, the man turns on his heel and marches off. They watch as the woman takes several deep calming breaths as she stares daggers at the man's back. With one final snort of disgust, Knight turns and heads back towards the building. Xanatos and the others follow behind her and when she gets to the door she finally notices them and holds the door open for them.
Xanatos pushes the stroller through the door with Fox close behind and both give a nod of thanks as they pass the doctor. As they pass, Knight gets a strange tingling feeling through her body that she hasn't felt in a long time. When Owen walks past her, the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
She frowns at the back of the tall blond man as he goes to open the second door for the couple and she hastily closes the outside door. She follows the strange group from a safe distance trying to figure them out. But it's not until the man pushing the stroller turns his head into profile that she realizes who they are.
She's not sure if she's going to have a heart attack or if her heart will simply explode, but being this close to a man so rich and so handsome is more than her nerves can take. She moves as quickly and as quietly as she can past the people milling around in the dark. When she reaches an employee's only door, she goes through it as fast as she can. Once she's through, she leans against the closed door and gives a sigh of relief and then sends a prayer to anyone who might be listening that they didn't notice her.
"Well, that was interesting," Xanatos muses as he stares at the closed door that Knight just went through.
"Is she the reason we came here?" Fox inquires as she starts to walk towards the exit.
"I'm not sure," Xanatos responds, following his wife. "Is that the Dr. Knight that you got me the dossier on, Owen?"
"I believe it is, sir," Owen answers. "Her name badge said 'Dr. Gwen Knight.'"
"Then I'm going to have to find a way to talk to her," Xanatos states as they exit the building and blink into the sunlight. "Maybe Mr. Weisman could be of assistance."
A couple hours and several phone calls later, Xanatos is standing by entrance the Congo Gorilla Forest Exhibit by himself. Fox returned to the castle shortly after Xanatos outlined his plan to meet the doctor, taking Owen and Alexander with her. He glances at his watch, trying not to appear nervous and succeeding spectacularly. Instead he looks extremely bored when Weisman comes scurrying along.
"Mr. Xanatos, what a pleasure to meet you," Weisman gasps as he holds out his hand. "I'm Michael Weisman. I'm sorry to make you wait. Traffic was a nightmare. Well, you know how it is."
"I can't say that I do," Xanatos replies with disdain in his voice as he takes the clammy hand into his own and quickly shakes it. "I usually take my helicopter when I need to get about."
"Ah, yes, well, the advantages of being very rich," Weisman stutters before quickly recovering as he takes out a rather grubby looking handkerchief. "Please, let me show you around. Is there anything in particular that you would like to see?"
"My wife and I were here earlier and we were quite taken by the 'World of Darkness' exhibit," Xanatos tells the sweating man as they start to walk through the late afternoon crowds. "I'd like to see that expanded with bigger habitats for the animals and a wider variety of animals as well."
"Yes, yes, I was just talking to one of our vets about that exhibit earlier today," Weisman excitedly tells the taller man while they walk past the flamingo exhibit. "I'm sure she would be very excited to hear your plans."
"Would she now?" Xanatos replies, almost sounding bored. "Maybe I should talk to her."
"Oh, I'm not sure that would be such a good idea," Weisman suddenly amends, nervously wiping the sweat from his brow.
"And why not?" Xanatos asks a hint of danger in his voice.
"Oh, well, she's very busy you see," Weisman explains hurriedly, stuffing the piece of wet cloth back into his pocket. "Taking care of all of those little critters for us."
"If I'm about to donate a sizable amount of money into this place, I want to make sure that the animals are being well taken care of," Xanatos tells the director. "If I can't meet the doctor that will be taking care of them, I'm sure I can find someplace else that would be more than willing to take my money."
"Oh, of course, since you put it that way," Weisman quickly back peddles as he leads Xanatos into the café and walks up to one of the workers behind the counter. "Please page Dr. Knight for me."
"Who?" the girl who can't be more than sixteen asks.
"Dr. Gwendolyn Knight," Weisman replies testily. "She's the vet that takes care of the bats."
"You mean Bat Girl?" the girl grins. "Sure. What do you need her for?"
"Just tell her that Mr. Weisman needs to see her right away," Weisman nearly growls.
"Ok," the girl responds as she picks up her walkie-talkie.
They listen as the girl behind the counter tries to find the whereabouts of one Bat Girl. After several minutes of calls going back and forth over the radio, a woman's voice comes over the com.
"This is Bat Girl," the voice says. "What's the emergency?"
"No emergency, Bat Girl, but Mr. Weisman wants to see you," the girl replies.
There's a good thirty seconds of silence that Xanatos imagines is being filled on the other end with some creative swearing before Knight replies.
"Please tell Mr. Weisman that if he wishes to talk to me that I'm in the clinic," Knight states, sounding a bit peeved.
"Tell her…," Weisman starts.
"That the clinic will be perfect," Xanatos interrupts. "What better place to meet the good doctor then where she does her work. Don't you agree, Mr. Weisman?"
"Yes, of course," Weisman nods with no enthusiasm at all. "Tell her we'll be there shortly."
The men turn and leave as the girl relays the message. Weisman leads Xanatos through the park, pointing out various areas of interest and how much they cost to build. About fifteen minutes later, they get to a gate marked 'Employees Only' and go through it.
A few minutes more and they're stepping up to the door of a normal looking building with windows all along the walls. Weisman opens the door without even bothering to knock and marches right in.
They're in an examination room with a few stainless steel tables filling the floor area and cabinets and counters lining the walls. The smell of antiseptic hangs heavily in the air and is almost gag worthy. They look around and see Dr. Knight over at one of the examination tables with a man Xanatos hasn't seen before. The man is holding onto a snake that must be at least seven feet long as Knight slides a needle between its scales and starts to administer an injection. The snake hisses its objection as Weisman clears his throat.
"Tell me, Mr. Weisman," Knight says without looking up from what she's doing. "Would you like it if someone interrupted your doctor while he was giving you a shot?"
Weisman sputters in response and Xanatos is about ready to bean this guy for being such a weasel and a jerk. But instead of giving into his impulse, he decides to intervene.
"Dr. Knight, I'm David Xanatos," Xanatos introduces himself.
"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Xanatos," Knight replies, refusing to look up from her task as her heart starts to race again. "You'll excuse me if I don't shake your hand right away. I'm a little busy right now."
"Of course not," Xanatos assures her. "I thought you took care of the bats."
"Like the other vets that work here, I look after all of the animals," she replies as she slides the needle out of the snake and wipes the spot with an alcohol wipe. "But my specialty is bats."
"And it's your bats that Mr. Xanatos wants to help," Weisman suddenly puts in. "He's thinking about donating money to improve the 'World of Darkness' exhibit."
"Really?" she asks in surprise, finally looking at the billionaire and instantly regretting it as her heart beats even faster. "That's very generous of you Mr. Xanatos."
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Knight's assistant butts in. "Dr. Knight, are you done with Charlie?"
"Yes, John, thank you," Knight replies as she tears her attention away from the incredibly handsome man across the room. "Please return him to his cage. I'd like to see Annie next please."
"Yes, doctor," John nods as he lifts the large reptile from the table and leaves through a door that leads to another room and Xanatos can see rows of cages in it.
"That's quite the impressive snake," Xanatos states as the door closes behind John.
"He's a Burmese Python and he's only a couple years old," Knight replies as she disposes of the needle in a medical waste box before stripping off her rubber gloves. "They can grow to more than twenty feet long and weigh over two hundred pounds by the time they die and they can live for more than twenty-five years."
"What are you feeding him?" Weisman demands.
"Right now, rats that have been thoroughly cleaned and humanely euthanized," Knight replies as she brings out a spray bottle and a paper towel and cleans the table that Charlie had been on. "In another year or so he'll be eating rabbits up to three times a month."
"Why kill the rats for him?" Xanatos asks as the hunter inside him feeling insulted with the idea of having its food killed for it. "Shouldn't he be allowed to hunt and kill his prey?"
"If we were releasing him to the wild, yes," she answers as she finishes cleaning the table and puts the bottle back where it came from as she tosses out the paper towel. "However, this animal is on display here and we want him to look his best. If we threw a live rat in there with him, the damage could be catastrophic. Rats are very nasty when they're cornered."
Before any more questions can be asked about animal husbandry, John returns with an ant eater on a leash.
"I'll examine her on table one, John," Knight states as she goes over to the sink and starts to wash her hands.
"Yes, doctor," John responds as he gently leads the animal over to the table at the other end of the room before picking her up and setting her on the table.
"What's wrong with her?" Xanatos inquires as he watches the assistant carefully handle the animal.
"She's got a runny nose," Knight replies as she dries her hands and then puts on another pair of examination gloves.
Xanatos and Weisman watch in silence as Knight examines the ant eater before giving her a shot as well. After sending John out with the animal and instructing him to start feeding the animals currently housed in the clinic, she cleans table three like she did the other one.
"If say one of your bats had a seriously broken wing, what would you do?" Xanatos asks as she starts to put various boxes away into the cupboards.
"There's a nearby veterinary hospital that we take all the serious cases to," she replies without blinking. "We're not set up to take x-rays or perform surgery here."
"So you just take them to the vet and let them deal with them?" Xanatos inquires, a bit confused.
"No, of course not," she smiles as she continues to busy herself straightening up the room. "The vet isn't trained to take care of exotics. We just use their facilities and technicians. Often one of the regular vets does assist with the procedure, but either one of the other vets here or I would perform the operation."
"You'll excuse me for doubting your abilities, but you look awfully young to be a vet," Xanatos points out.
"I'm only twenty-seven," she admits as she straightens out some files. "I finished my internship almost a year ago."
"Well, Mr. Xanatos, now that you've met the good doctor, what's say we continue our little tour?" Weisman suggest, annoyingly making his presence known.
"Actually, Mr. Weisman, I'd like a moment alone to talk to Dr. Knight myself, if I may," Xanatos counters with a smile that would win over the Devil himself.
She can feel almost every muscle in her body go tense at Xanatos's words. She's sure her heart's simply going to burst as she feels a trickle of sweat run down her back. She can see her hands shaking and the temperature of her face has risen several degrees so she knows she must be blushing like a teenager.
Oh, god, one of the handsomest men in the world wants to talk to me alone, she thinks in a panic. One of the handsomest, richest men in the world wants to talk to me alone. One of the handsomest, richest and most decidedly married men in the world wants to talk to me alone. One of the handsomest, richest, most decidedly married men in the world who's associated with her wants to talk to me alone.
She's so lost in her own thoughts that she doesn't hear Weisman's objections or Xanatos's reasoning or Weisman leaving or Xanatos walking up to her. It's not until Xanatos lays a hand on her shoulder causing her to nearly jump right out of her skin. She inadvertently gives out a little squeak of surprise and she can feel her face get even hotter.
"Oh, um, ah," she stammers, anything that might have resembled composure quickly flying out the window with him standing so close.
"What do you know about gargoyles?" he asks quietly, forcing her back to reality.
"Gargoyles?" she questions, completely confused.
"Not the drain spouts, but the real ones," he continues softly. "The ones that are alive."
"Oh, um, them," she stalls, the gears in her brain spinning quickly to come up with something that might seem like a reasonable answer.
"Their wings, they're a lot like bat wings don't you think?" he continues to question, pointing to a diagram of a bat's wing on the wall.
"I guess so," she reluctantly agrees as she looks at the diagram.
"One of the gargoyles hurt his wing last night," he explains, turning his attention back to the much smaller woman, his blue eyes boring into her brown ones. "I want you to look at him and see if you can help him."
She stares at him for a good minute while what he's just told her sinks into her brain. Shock and confusion are replaced with anger and indignation.
"You mean this whole thing about you donating money to improve the bat exhibit was just a ruse to get me to come make a house call?" she snarls, her eyes narrowing and her volume growing. "You got Weisman's hopes up and mine, just so I could play doctor to your pet gargoyle?"
"He's not my pet," he growls back before he takes a deep breath and regains his calm. "The castle belongs to them and me; we're more like castle mates. I know that gargoyles can usually heal while they sleep, but it looked really bad. And I can assure you Dr. Knight that if you come and help him I will gladly donate the money to give your bats a home so big that they'll think that they're in the wild."
She glares at him for a moment, before she turns and walks towards one of the many windows and looks out at the sun that's slowly heading for the horizon. She can see Weisman hiding in the shade of one of the trees, nervously wiping his brow with his soggy handkerchief and through the landscaping she can see the back of the World of Darkness exhibit. She glances at the clock on the wall before turning back towards Xanatos.
"If I go with you, you swear that you'll donate money for the bats?" she asks, still suspicious.
"Yes," he instantly answers.
"When do we leave?" she inquires, suddenly feeling like she's swallowed several butterflies.
"What time do you get off?" he asks.
"I usually go home around 9 o'clock or so," she answers.
"I think you'd better be there when they wake up," he states. "What time does the park close?"
"5 o'clock I think," she replies. "I don't really keep track."
"Be out in the big parking lot at 7 o'clock, I'll pick you up then," he states just before he turns and heads for the door.
"You mean outside the gates don't you?" she questions in confusion.
"No, inside," he replies, looking back over his shoulder at her.
"But the gates will be locked," she points out.
"I know," he smirks just before he disappears through the door.