Chapter 6
She had to get her head back on straight to deal with Genutec's EFO. He and the board knew some of the things dealing with her family and the animals. None of them knew the whole story nor were they willing to cross her or Ivan.
Except one dodgy old scientist who knew what she was before even the first Russian Ambassador had known about her. Unfortunately he wasn't on the board but he had asked for some time to speak with her before the meeting. She had always confided in him, his grandson was the new doctor Ivan had brought with him down to Florida. Apolovok she had called him "Big Al", he was tall he made her think of the bears she now had. If it hadn't been for "Big Al" she wouldn't have what she had today.
"Get your mind back on business, Gabriella, not anything else." She picked up her phone to call Alex about Bobbie's softball game. She opened it, and it rang, startled she threw the phone across the back of the car. Laughing at her own antics, when less than 20 minutes ago she was getting on to a man, for playing with a tiger in the pool.
Although to be honest it was too cold to play in the pool.
She picked up the phone and hit the answer button. It was Alex calling to remind her about the game. She told him why it took her so long to answer the phone. He chuckled and apologized for startling her. "I was going to remind you about the game but I didn't want to being it up while Director Fury was here."
Gabriella in turn told him, "Agent Barton wants to come over and play with the animals. She admitted, "I'm not sure if I like the fact that he seems genuine in his desire to interact with the animals." She continued, "Having an animal imprint on an outsider might not be a bad idea but if it's pregnant the cubs could be endangered. It had to be kept in the family they are the ones that mattered the most to me." Getting back to the visit she added, "Did Director Fury leave shortly after I did?"
Alex chuckles she put the phone on speaker, "Director Fury or Coulson or both put five bugs in the Office and three right outside the door. There were six in the cabana and media room, and two more in the changing rooms. They are a busy bunch to plant 16 bugs in that little time. I have to say Fury seems desperate to get hold of you or at least to get information on you."
Gabriella answered, "Well I'm not going to become the next Iron Man. There has to be some balance for the family, I just have to find it. I won't pull them into this mess. If I have to we'll move permanently to Russia. I have to put this in its own box for now concentrate on this meeting, I'll call you back, after its done o.k." She made it to the meeting on time and everything went well. She talked to "Big Al" about his grandson he knew that his grandson wasn't up to being her top doctor maybe the children's though; he suggested going to see a Dr. Banner.
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When Gabriella and Benjamin got back there were three Chinese and two Russian men in the foyer waiting for them as well as Agent Barton. They were there to be interviewed for the butler position. Barton was trying to look sheepishly into the backyard. "Agent Barton, what a pleasant surprise. What can I help you with? Are you here for the animals or to interrogate me?" Gabriella asked.
When she said that several chairs scraped on the floor as men came out of their chairs. Gabriella held up her hand to tell them that it was alright. He told her, "Just here to play with the animals and any of the kids that were around."
"Are you sure you really want to be around that many kids there are ten of them, you know?" Gabriella warned with a smile.
If anything he looked even more excited by the information, not daunted by it as she had intended, "Time flies when it comes to animals and kids, ma'am."
"That it does agent, that it does, " she said indicating with a gesture that he was welcome to go find his own playmates.
He started to go into the garden room where he had seen several of the tigers and panthers. But was stopped by an enormous bear, standing in front of him, he tried to edge around Vikirnoff, Anthony's bear, but he wasn't having it.
"Agent Barton, are you carrying a weapon on you, perhaps? If so I'm afraid you will have to leave it here in the foyer. This is the only time you will be asked verbally to leave it up here. The next time you will be expected to leave it here, or in your vehicle. I know that you're a Government agent but not here. This is where nature's balance has the upper hand only people that work in this house are allowed weapons. And before you ask, no I don't have a need for a weapon. If I want you dead, you won't see it coming. Leave your weapon in one of the cabinets in the foyer, take the key with you."
She started to the kitchen, and turned back to tell Benjamin that he was to conduct the interviews. Ivan and Xin Wei Huang both knew her preferences. Gabriella could knock heads with anyone if they couldn't legitimately prove their point, but she was willing to listen to others opinion without arguing with them.
Walking briskly past the pool to the office, Gabriella told Alex, "You'll have to set up another appointment with Nikolai Apolovok. He wants to send me to a geneticist in New York. Some colleague of his named Bruce Banner. Nikolai has already set up the appointment that is supposed to be both Nikolai and I."
"It's ridiculous really. Nikolai feels that he isn't the great scientist Big Al is. Instead he had high hopes that he would someday make himself happy not his father, mother or even Big Al." He admitted to her that he just wanted to make people well. Not solve the mysteries of life. She had smiled at his love of healing. Gabriella was not going to like this at all, she hated meeting new people. The likelihood that she could trust them enough to tell them what she was, wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.
Bobbie's softball team unfortunately lost their game to go to State. Despite the presence of Bobbie's entire family and the teams semi-official mascot. Needless to say the cheering section for the Panthers was impressive with the addition of the large family but it was probably the mascots roar that intimidated the fans and family of the other team. The opposing team though were used to Rafe and didn't let it affect their performance, as evidenced by the score of 7 to 6.
Immediately after the game, the family headed out to New York. Gabriella, Clara, Kaillie, Jason, Bobbie, Chris, Tamara, Tamarina, Russ, Yodie, Irena, Alex, and Benjamin. Anthony was staying because of his job. Kaillie was going to stay at home but she had Sunday off and had decided that a few days in New York sounded better than being bored out of her skull in a quiet house. They used a cargo helicopter to take, the animals to Atlanta. Gabriella, Benjamin, Kaillie, Jason, Bobbie, and Chris flew in the Helicopter with the animals.
Aunt Clara, Alex, Tamara, Russ, Irena, Yodie, and Tamarina took the personnel carrier to Atlanta from Stone Mountain. Where there was a retired Air-Force One to ferry all the animals, family and Benjamin and Alex, New York for two different appointments at Stark Tower.
The Russian Embassy had arranged for a tour bus and a large truck to take the animals that are not attached to a child to the Russian Embassy. Ivan and Nikolai Apolovok meets them Monday morning for breakfast. Ivan told them affectionately that they could order anything within reason, but no alcohol.
Kaillie informed him, "I want to try every Russian dish he could have prepared."
Jason said, "I'm an eggs, meat, and potatoes man."
Ivan agreed with him, "A young man needs a hearty breakfast."
Yodie and Irena tried everything on the table. If they don't like it; they made little hills on one side of their plates with it. The adults ate almost everything that was put before them; they of course already knew most of what they liked and what they didn't.
Everyone enjoyed themselves including the little ones. It was almost time for them to go to the meeting. They split up into teams, yep, with that many kids and animals they had teams. Clara and Alex had Kaillie, Bobbie, Chris, Tamara, and Tamarina. The animals included Fenris, Dante, Darling Sangria, out of the wolves, Sheba, Rafe, both of the panthers, and Ilya out of the bears.
Gabriella and Benjamin had, Jason, Russ, Yodie, and Irena, plus Ivan and Nikolai. They had the bears Taz, Ursa, Thalia. The three wolves Zef, Lucian, Barack, and from the tigers Dangerous, Warg, Katya, Zula.
While Gabriella and her team headed to meet Dr. Banner to see if he would be willing to start the process of collecting her blood and the blood of the animals. As well as running a pregnancy test on Katya, but only Clara and she would hear the report. There were to be no written reports at all. Unless they came to them in Georgia, at least that was Gabriella part of the plan.
Clara's part was to get Mr. Stark, or probably more precisely his team of technicians and scientists to make more of the voice boxes for the animals. Also they needed to have someone repair the one that Fenris' had, it was turning on and off by itself.
As they arrived at Stark Tower they had to go thru a security check Ivan and Gabriella both being diplomats they could not be searched at all. And Alex and Benjamin working for a foreign government they had the right to carry arms. Bobbie was the only other one with what could be consider weapons. She had her softball gear with her; she keeps it with her just in case she got a chance to practice with it. Security didn't think she could do any damage with it, because she was a kid, what can she do.
That just goes to show you, they had never been on the receiving end of her fastballs. She holds the State record for the fastest fastball and curveball. Kaillie, Tamara and Tamarina all have been taking Karate and Jujitsu, even before Alex and Benjamin had encouraged the kids to take self defense.
Give Chris access to Wi-Fi with a computer outlet, he can hack a system in no time, bankrupt you, or crash the stock exchange. Put Jason and Russ in a chemical lab together, and you're in double trouble because they just keep making their first thoughts bigger and badder. Yodie and Irena the littlest and cutest are sometimes the devils themselves.
With Gabriella and Aunt Clara they knew what was expected and if you didn't behave you were reminded not with words but one look that was all. You knew when to blow off the steam and when to hold on, because they were fixing to let lose the tide. After the security check was over they went to the front desk, to see about their appointments.
Dr. Banner was easy enough, they had different elevators for the personal labs for doctors and associates working in those areas to use. But they told Clara that someone would be down to see her shortly.
"If you could take a seat, ma'am. It should only be a minute or two." the receptionist explained with a polite smile."
"Aunt Clara, this sucks," Bobbie complained. "I could be outside playing with Rafe."
Clara merely smiled patiently at the teen and said, "Soon little one, patience is a virtue in any sport, including the sport of business. Besides don't you think it would be fair if all of the beasties had a voice like your Rafe?" The teen agreed if a put upon sigh was included in the agreement Clara chose to ignore it.
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Meanwhile Gabriella and her team took two elevators twice to get all the animals and people upstairs to see Dr. Banner. There was another receptionist to go thru and then they walked into the lab.
It was equipped with a swimming pool with people in it and doctors reading the machines that are hooked up to the people in the pool. Ursa walked over to the pool and sat down right next to one of the doctors. The doctor looked down at Ursa, did a double take and with a "manly" shriek jumped into the pool.
The younger kids started laughing at the doctors reaction to one of the gentlest of the medi-pets. Russ jumps in to help the scientist that is having difficulty swimming due to the lab coat. Ursa lies all the way down and gets on eye level with the man swimming in the pool. His head came up out of the water to take a breath and sputters as he looks her in the eye; he climbs out of the water. Katya is the one trying to get in the water as the swimmers are coming out of the pool.
Gabriella steps into the room and the animals stop trying to intimidate the people. She apologizes to the men and explains that they have a pool back home for the animals. She knew that was a lie though. If the scientists had known anything about dominance with animals, they would know they had just lost the gender war with these animals. They were both female. Go figure.
Then three men came walking out of a closed office, to help the doctor out of the pool.
"Interesting, that's a S.H.E.I.L.D. agent, a highly trained individual. He should have been aware of the animal." said one of the men who came out of the office.
Jason stepped up to the man, "The Doctor is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, or the man in the pool is a S.H.E.I.L.D. Agent."
The doctor looked at the older boy then at the younger one in the pool, and smiled at Jason, "I am Doctor Allen, and I think you're in the wrong lab, but if you give me a second I'll see if we can get you back with your schoolmates and teachers."
"We're here with our mother, she's over there with the animals. Ursa the bear, she's mine. Katya we believe is pregnant. It would be so cool if he is, to have cubs roaming around the house." Jason said a little wistfully.
Russ pulled the scientist to the side of the pool, and with Taz's help, managed to get him out of the pool. Jason came walking back over to where Russ pulled himself up on the lip of the pool to sit beside the doctor.
As Jason knelt between the man in the lab coat and his brother he said, "This is my little brother Russ and Taz belongs to Momma. She has business here, she's supposed…."
When Russ cuffs him on the shoulder roughly, "That's mom's business, you know how she is. Geez you really aren't in there."
Jason looks down sheepishly as he realizes he almost spoke out of place. "It was the coat. Envy that they get to mess with this stuff and study and expand the possibilities. I forgot that he isn't the one that moms meeting. She's supposed to meet a Dr. Banner." Allen seemed to be taken aback at the fact that Dr. Banner was chosen over him.
The boys walked back over to Gabriella who's trying to keep the animals calm and out of the pool. Yodie and Irena along with Zef and Warg were hiding behind their mother with her cloak misting up around her to hold the animals without evoking her true power.