Asking for a Favor

Tuesday, September 15th

Robert walked into the Lobby at Ravers Enterprise with Philips, Henry and a few other executives as they returned from lunch. they walked to the elevators when the sight of a brunette with a firm round butt caught his attention. She had her back to him as she leaned across the counter to talk with the receptionist but still something about her hair, her curves, something tugged at his memory and for a moment he thought 'Mallory?'. Robert quickly shook off that idea, it wasn't his old girlfriend from high school but he recognized her younger sister, Monica.

"I'll meet you all later." Robert said to the rest "Let's meet at... 4:30 for a final review." He then turned away and headed over to Monica and the Receptionist.

"Monica?" He hesitantly asked.

"Oh! Hello Robert." Monica said in surprise. "I just came to see if I could talk to Audrey or Daniel. That is all," she said almost formally.

Robert felt a pang of hurt inside him. Even after all these years, things were still tense between them. Not that he could blame her, it was, after all was said and done, his own doing. He had cheated on Mallory, his girlfriend, and Monica's older sister. It had broken her heart and her spirit. So much that she had switched to another college across the country and had gone from a vibrant, happy young girl to a serious, no-nonsense woman with an iron-fisted control over her life. Monica had been especially furious at him for hurting her sister, and just a few weeks later she had ended her relationship with Daniel.

Their children going to school together had brought them back into contact for birthdays and school events and their relationship had gradually mellowed out over the years.

"Sure" Robert smiled, but the smile only touched his lips. He turned to the receptionist and said. "I'll take Mrs. Bishop up to meet Daniel and Audrey, just let Tammy know we are going up."

"You don't have-" Monica started to say before he interrupted her.

"-I know, But it's no trouble, besides, it's on the way to my office," Robert said as he gestured towards the elevator and Monica nodded in agreement.

They walked into the elevator and rode up to the top floor. "Heather told me your son, Zachary, got into a bit of a scrap last week. I hope he’s okay?" Robert asked.

"Yes, he is okay," Monica said. "Just some scratches and bruises, you know, the usual. Boys will be boys."

"Glad to hear that," Robert said. "The way Heather and her friends told it, you would have thought he took on the whole football team all by himself. Looks like he made quite an impression."

"Thanks Robert" Monica said and she couldn't help but smile at the praise for her boy. Maybe if Zack found out he would have more confidence in himself. He had seemed to like the praise heaped upon him on Saturday and a few good words from a popular girl like Heather, and a cheerleader at that would certainly help Zack's self-esteem.

"What brings you here to see Danny and Audrey? If I can ask?" Robert said tentatively. He knew it must be a very sensitive thing for Monica to come over unannounced to talk to Daniel and Audrey.

Monica nodded and quickly told him how she needed to get Diane out of the Hospital to help her out with the clinic now that the permits seemed to be flying through townhall after months of sitting in drawers.

"I'm sure we can help," Robert said as they exited the elevator just in time to see Audrey, Chastity, and Tamsin walking down the hallway with a stack of folders in their arms. Robert called her over and let Audrey walk Monica to her office while he went his own way back to his office.

***

Audrey and Daniel sat in the private office lounge next to their main office sipping coffee with Monica. They exchanged a few pleasantries about school and the kids. before Monica got to the reason of her visit.

At first hesitantly, and then with more confidence, Monica told Audrey and Daniel about how Roy had helped get the paperwork finally moving in townhall and how she had a bunch of building inspectors, audits, and more this week at the place where she planned to open her clinic with Diane. She explained how she needed Diane at the Clinic and she needed Norton to sign off on her internship as a doctor.

"And they say that if all goes well I will have all the permits approved this week or the next week at the latest." Monica finished. "I really need Diane's help, and... and she need help. It's too much for her. She's all alone at home. She's working the nurse shift, plus doing the internship, and she barely has time for her son. Gavin practically lives at my house and ..." she caught herself before revealing too much of Diane's recent trauma. "... and I just need Norton to sign off on her internship so she can work with me at the clinic has a doctor and not as a nurse. She needs the degree and I need her close. Gregory and I have done everything we can to convince him but..."

"Why doesn't he want to sign," Daniel asked. He tried to keep a steady face in front of Audrey.

"He keeps saying no because he says she needs the experience," Monica explained. "But she's been the one walking through the new interns for the last five years, teaching them everything they need, but it's not enough for him."

"What can we do to help?" Audrey asked Monica with genuine concern. She knew of her former relationship with her husband and also the reasons for their breakup. Reading Monica's and Daniel's body language she guessed that at some level they still might have some feelings for each other, or thought the other did. Having meet Monica in the past she knew her has a good person and never felt her to be a rival she should be worried about unlike other women in Daniel's past.

"I know it's not the right thing to do but since Ravers are such big donors to the Hospital I was wondering if you... if you could talk to Norton and convince him to sign off on Diane's internship." Monica said.

Daniel nodded his head, he barely glanced at Audrey before saying "We can do that. We'll call him up today. I'm sure we can convince him to help you out."

"What would be the best solution for Diane?" Audrey asked.

"She just needs the internship approved," Monica said.

"But what would be the best thing that could happen? What would be the best for Diane?" Audrey insisted.

Monica looked back and forth between them, took a deep breath and squared her shoulder. "Have him sign off on the internship. Let Diane quit with a glowing recommendation letter and... and a generous severance bonus..." She hesitated for a moment before she whispered. "She still has to pay off her mortgage." not wanting to mention that Diane had taken out a second mortgage to help finance the clinic and her year as an intern.

Daniel sat there drumming his fingers on the armrest. He saw Audrey give him the tiniest nod and said. "We'll do it Monica. We'll help you with Diane and with the Clinic if you want. We can include your clinic as a health provider in the healthcare package we have for our employees, maybe steer some clients your way. We'll talk to him this afternoon and have him approve it ASAP."

"You sure?" Monica asked.

Audrey laughed "The way Norton fawn over these two I'm surprised he hasn't worn off his knees. Don't worry we'll get it done."

"Thanks this means so much to us," Monica said.

They chatted a few more minutes before Monica said she had to go to meet another inspector and a contractor.

"She must be really desperate to come over and ask for a favor like that," Audrey said.

"It's who she is," Daniel said with a tinge of sadness in his voice that Audrey wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't paying attention. "She'll protect her own and she's very, very loyal to her loved ones," Daniel said.

For a moment Audrey froze at the subtle tone in his voice. 'Does he know about Robert? God I hope he doesn't know.' all she could do was nod in agreement, she was too scared to say anything lest her voice betray her nerves.

Daniel served himself a drink and another one for Audrey and said "Did you have anything to do with fast-tracking her permits?"

Audrey nodded "I knew you had them flagged. When Roy McRose started asking for favors I called Theo and asked him to help fast-track her permits. I thought you would be okay with that." she was referring to Theodore Young, councilman and future mayor if he won the next election.

"Thanks Audrey." Daniel sighed. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You mean, why she suddenly decided to call in favors and speed up the clinic project and get her friend out of the hospital at this moment?"

"Yea," Daniel said. "Something happened... "

"You think something happened at the Hospital, something that we missed." Audrey offered.

Daniel shook his head. "I don't think it's the Hospital. We have that well covered. I think it's the school."

"The school?" Audrey asked to which Daniel nodded. "You don't think..."

"I think Kinkaid, or Westerhof, or Vickers or even one of the others got to her friend," Daniel said.

"I told you we should have taken direct action!" Audrey said in a burst of anger, Daniel could see the fire burning in her eyes. "Bella is going there next year and Heather is at risk right now!"

"Heather is safe. She's in class with Logan and now she's dating Andrew. She'll be alright." Daniel said with more conviction than he felt.

"We have to do more." Audrey insisted.

"I know! But we can't do it now." Daniel growled back in frustration. "It's too risky for us, we can't be exposed, especially right now. We've already gone over this. If it was just one or two, we could do it but... We just don't have enough resources yet. Malcolm took too much with him to Australia and we haven’t been able to rebuild the teams like we hoped. We can't risk it right now. Maybe! Maybe if we can fend off Jaisur... we can do some more or put an op together..."

"So what? We just keep on waiting with our thumbs up our ass?" Audrey said sarcastically.

"We've done what we can for now. Sometimes we can't do what we want to do. Sometimes all we have is what we can or what we must do even if we don't like it." Daniel repeated an old mantra. Audrey just crossed her arms and stayed silent.

"Look! We already tipped off Damon with what we found out. He put Carlos Rivera on point with the investigation. He's the best Damon has." Daniel said.

"Carlos Rivera?" Audrey asked, "Doesn't his daughter go to the same school?"

"Yea" Daniel said. "That's why I think we can wait. Damon and Carlos both got a vested interest in taking them down before they target their daughters. And now that he knows, he won't stop till he nails the bastards. He's almost as stubborn as Zeke."

"For the kids' sake, I hope you're right," Audrey said with her arms crossed.

"I hope so too," Daniel said.

He tossed his drink back and then looked over at the pile of folders. He wanted to change the topic of their discussion so he asked Audrey. "Your special project?" he asked to which Audrey nodded.

Daniel started to look them over. The first few he glanced at them curiously and then he started to flip them over faster. He quickly noticed a pattern. All were beautiful young 20-something women. Lawyers, Accountants, Business graduated, Administration specialists or similar.

"What is this?" Daniel asked. "Who are you really looking for?"

"I was looking for a replacement for Eliza." Audrey said referring to Eliza Falhein, Robert's personal assistant who had retired a few months ago. Robert had chosen Chastity to replace her temporally until someone else came along willing to work with Robert, and maybe with his sexual drive.

Daniel sighed and slumped his shoulders while he stared at the pile. "Did he make another move on Chastity?" he asked.

"Not exactly," Audrey said softly. When Daniel looked up at her with a confused look on his face she continued. "Last week Chastity overheard us talking about taking Robert to Magenta and she went and... and kinda insinuated herself and let Robert seduce her."

"FUCK!" Daniel yelled as he slammed the folder down. "She's gonna get hurt."

"Chastity is a big girl," Audrey said. "She knows what she's doing. She's got the weird idea that it's part of her job."

"What?" Daniel said.

"I said the same thing. Did you know that her mother and grandmother were your father and grandfather’s mistress?" Audrey asked and told him about Chastity's family story. "She seems to think it part of her family’s tradition or job to be a sexual outlet for the Ravers men."

"We have to get her out of there before she gets hurt," Daniel said.

"I know. That's why I put one of the teams in HR to find them." Audrey said pointing to the stack. "Just finding it hard to decide which one."

"What do they all have in common," Daniel said. "What do they really have in common."

"They're nymphos," Audrey said.

"Of course they are." Daniel snorted. He found it funny how people called nympho anyone who had a sex drive greater than their own. He often wondered how many men broke off with Audrey because they couldn't keep up with her. A few of the girls he had dated had said it straight to him, it was too much for them.

"Okay! Let separate the redheads." Daniel said.

"Why redheads?" Audrey asked.

"Because when Robert came back from looking at the old cabin last week he was dumbstruck by a certain beautiful and very busty redhead, Charlotte McRose, who, apparently, smacked him down flat. Dave's words. He said Robert put out all the charms but she turned him down like a cold stone. Don't ask, I don't get the reference either. I don't know if you noticed, but he's been staring at Kat and the other redheads all week."

"So we replace Chastity with a redhead?" Audrey asked.

"Nope," Daniel said which surprised Audrey. "You said it yourself, he likes to hunt. So this is what we do. Tammy replaces Chastity while we train the new girl over here... bait. Robert and the gang always come over here for lunch so he will see her and let his hormones do the rest. After that Tammy and her switch. We have Tammy back; Robert has a new plaything and Chastity is safe."

"I don't like pimping out people. It's wrong." Audrey said.

"We're not. We don't tell the girls anything about Robert. Zero pressure. Just put them in the same room or area and let their hormones do the rest. If it works out fine if it doesn't... well it doesn't. Like Mrs. Cartwright used to say 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't force it to drink'. That Okay with you?"

Audrey nodded and said "So? Who do we choose?"

He picked up three folders. "This one goes to the reception in the lobby. This one goes to the business liaison reception. And this one comes to work here. This is my bet." Daniel said selecting his choice and Audrey read the name on the folder. "Leah Green"

*****

"Am I doing a bad job?" Chastity asked Audrey when she was told she would go back to working at the reception. She was afraid she wasn't doing a good job and was going to be slowly kicked out of Ravers Enterprise.

"No honey. You're doing great but Danny doesn't want you to get hurt by Robert. I don't want you to get hurt either." Audrey said as she pushed a strand of hair behind Chastity’s ear and looked at her eyes.

"Do I have to go now?" Chastity asked. "I mean... if you want to I can... I already... you know... with Mr. Robert... for today."

"Not today, but soon," Audrey said. "We are getting someone else to replace you and then we can both rest. I am really grateful you're helping me with Robert. My God, I never thought taking care of two Ravers men would wear me out like this. I don't think I could've kept it up without you."

"Do you need help with Mr. Daniel?" Chastity asked hopefully in her innocent voice.

Audrey just looked at Chastity in shock but then it seemed that Chastity was full of surprises.