Double Bluff: Chapter 7
Have some more fic! I was just about to go off to bed after my random life babblings of a few minutes ago, when I realized Chapter 7 was already good to go, so I detoured and put it up. Monica still rocks for proofing this even though she was running off to do important RL things. Thank you, Monica! Monica who, by the way, told me not to spoil you all with my rapid posting. Am I spoiling you all? I can try harder to be a stern disciplinarian, I promise!
I hope you all enjoy this bit. Remember to take the computer bits with a grain of 1990's so it makes sense.
<----Chapter 6
Chapter 7: Into the Lion’s Den, Don’t Forget to Contact the Magician
Chickening out at the last minute, Tony decided he should probably check in with Abby before talking to his dad, given that “talking” to his dad usually involved yelling and no short amount of time spent doing so. Abby would be frantic waiting to hear that they’d gotten in safely. He turned around and headed back to the kitchen. Harry would know where his dad kept the computer.
Harry quickly directed Tony to the small library next to the study where apparently “Sir decided a house computer was required.” Wiggling the mouse to make the dancing windows icons disappear from the monitor screen, Tony then opened a browser page. Pulling a small scrap of paper from his pocket, he looked at it and quickly typed the long URL into the browser page. Slowly, images loaded and the fantasy role playing bulletin board he and Abby had agreed would be their message exchange place appeared. Posting a new thread, Tony typed in their agreed upon code.
“Princess safe in castle-not cleared w/dragon yet- Can you get word on possible King?- wasn’t w/P, but she says is alive.” Tony looked at the coda for a moment and decided that Abby was more than smart enough to figure out what he meant. He clicked ‘post’ and waited. Pacing back and forth in front of the small computer covered desk, he tried to think up his opening line for the discussion to come with his father. A surprisingly short time later, a response appeared to his post.
“Already done. King questing overseas, highly secret mission. No possibility of contact expected for weeks if then.” Damn. Well that didn’t help at all. Tony wondered what branch of the armed forces Kelly’s father was serving with. Would the poor man have even been informed that his wife and daughter were going into witness protection before everything happened? The circumstances didn’t suggest so. Geez, the poor bastard was going to come home to a dead wife and a missing daughter. Missing, but alive if Tony had any say in it.
“Keep an eye on King for me, will need to know when he comes back to claim throne. Might change things,” Tony replied to Abby’s message. Short moments later a response appeared. Abby was clearly a lightning quick typist with a fast modem.
“Can do Knight, will look for other members of court too. And send word on Hunters’ progress. Magician out.” Tony smiled down at the screen as he read Abby’s sign off name. She sure was magic if she’d found some way to track possible pursuit. While he knew it was highly unlikely any of his work colleagues would think to look for him here, it was an option if they got desperate and broke out his personnel file and just went down the list, which they would. Given his well known estrangement with his dad, he could only hope they wouldn’t start at the bottom of the list.
“Junior! Get your butt in here and stop wearing a hole in my floor, that’s two hundred year old wood, dammit!” Speak of the devil and who should yell a summons... Tony turned back toward the slightly open study door across the hall and gritted his teeth for confrontation. Before he could reach the knob to fully push the door open however, it flew away from him and his father appeared in the now open doorway.
“Dad, I-” Tony began only to be cut off.
“I said get in here. They can hear us from the small dining room if we talk in the hallway, do you want to terrify the child already? You know we can’t have this conversation at a reasonable volume and the study’s doors are sound proof now when closed. Get! Get!” Impatient hand-waving accompanied his father’s urgent commands. Succumbing to the inevitable, Tony entered the study and closed the door tight behind him.
“You can start with explaining why you’re blond, Junior...”
*****************************************************
“Harold?” Princess Aurora demanded in an imperious tone. Harold automatically oriented his attention towards the little girl as he continued to slice tomatoes for her sandwich.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” The knife clunked against the cutting board a few more times in perfect rhythm as Kelly considered her question.
“Is Tony’s dad going to yell at him? Because of me?” She needed the answer to this question above all others. Tony had helped her, and promised she’d be safe, she didn’t want to get him in trouble. She didn’t want to be left with no one.
“Yes, Your Majesty, there will probably be some yelling. But it is in no way because of you. It has been a long time since Sir and Tony got along well. Many years. But I’ll tell you a secret, if you want to hear it.” Harold stopped chopping and looked directly at Kelly. “Do you want to hear it?”
Did she? Secrets were usually good things, but today had been full of bad secrets and things she wasn’t thinking about right now. Things she wasn’t going to think about, things like Mommy- No. She wasn’t thinking about that. Right now, she was Princess Aurora. Not Kelly. Kelly had no Mommy and a Daddy who was too far away. Princess Aurora had a dad named Tony and a brand new mansion complete with butler who already wanted to tell her secrets. Yes, Princess Aurora wanted to know what her new servant had to tell her.
“Yes, please tell me, Harold.” Her face serious, she regarded her servant with rapt attention. Putting aside the knife, Harold leaned close to her and whispered.
“Well you see, Your Majesty, Sir has always wished for grandchildren... particularly a little girl. I suspect he very much wished that Tony could have had a sister, but Sir’s wife, Tony’s mother, died before that could happen. That is how I know that he would never yell at you.” Harold handed Kelly her now fully assembled sandwich.
Princess Aurora quietly nodded her head in acknowledgement of the meal in front of her and began to eat. Harold watched her, concern and curiosity written plainly across his face at the sudden shift in mood.
********************************************
“Look Dad, I know you don’t exactly care what I’m doing with my life these days, but I’m out of options here, and that little girl? It’s her life on the line too if I screw this up.” Tony looked over at where his father watched him from his seat behind the substantial mahogany desk. The desk hadn’t changed since Tony had last been here. Nor had the expression of disapproval on his father’s face.
“Anthony, you can’t possibly think I’d turn you away if you were really in trouble?” Senior half rose from his seat, hands firmly planted on the desk in front of him. Tony had to hand it to him, his voice sounded believably incredulous.
“Well I don’t know, Dad, it’s not like you’ve helped me out of any trouble since I was... I don’t know, twelve maybe?”
Chapter 7a (Interlude 1)---->
I hope you all enjoy this bit. Remember to take the computer bits with a grain of 1990's so it makes sense.
<----Chapter 6
Chapter 7: Into the Lion’s Den, Don’t Forget to Contact the Magician
Chickening out at the last minute, Tony decided he should probably check in with Abby before talking to his dad, given that “talking” to his dad usually involved yelling and no short amount of time spent doing so. Abby would be frantic waiting to hear that they’d gotten in safely. He turned around and headed back to the kitchen. Harry would know where his dad kept the computer.
Harry quickly directed Tony to the small library next to the study where apparently “Sir decided a house computer was required.” Wiggling the mouse to make the dancing windows icons disappear from the monitor screen, Tony then opened a browser page. Pulling a small scrap of paper from his pocket, he looked at it and quickly typed the long URL into the browser page. Slowly, images loaded and the fantasy role playing bulletin board he and Abby had agreed would be their message exchange place appeared. Posting a new thread, Tony typed in their agreed upon code.
“Princess safe in castle-not cleared w/dragon yet- Can you get word on possible King?- wasn’t w/P, but she says is alive.” Tony looked at the coda for a moment and decided that Abby was more than smart enough to figure out what he meant. He clicked ‘post’ and waited. Pacing back and forth in front of the small computer covered desk, he tried to think up his opening line for the discussion to come with his father. A surprisingly short time later, a response appeared to his post.
“Already done. King questing overseas, highly secret mission. No possibility of contact expected for weeks if then.” Damn. Well that didn’t help at all. Tony wondered what branch of the armed forces Kelly’s father was serving with. Would the poor man have even been informed that his wife and daughter were going into witness protection before everything happened? The circumstances didn’t suggest so. Geez, the poor bastard was going to come home to a dead wife and a missing daughter. Missing, but alive if Tony had any say in it.
“Keep an eye on King for me, will need to know when he comes back to claim throne. Might change things,” Tony replied to Abby’s message. Short moments later a response appeared. Abby was clearly a lightning quick typist with a fast modem.
“Can do Knight, will look for other members of court too. And send word on Hunters’ progress. Magician out.” Tony smiled down at the screen as he read Abby’s sign off name. She sure was magic if she’d found some way to track possible pursuit. While he knew it was highly unlikely any of his work colleagues would think to look for him here, it was an option if they got desperate and broke out his personnel file and just went down the list, which they would. Given his well known estrangement with his dad, he could only hope they wouldn’t start at the bottom of the list.
“Junior! Get your butt in here and stop wearing a hole in my floor, that’s two hundred year old wood, dammit!” Speak of the devil and who should yell a summons... Tony turned back toward the slightly open study door across the hall and gritted his teeth for confrontation. Before he could reach the knob to fully push the door open however, it flew away from him and his father appeared in the now open doorway.
“Dad, I-” Tony began only to be cut off.
“I said get in here. They can hear us from the small dining room if we talk in the hallway, do you want to terrify the child already? You know we can’t have this conversation at a reasonable volume and the study’s doors are sound proof now when closed. Get! Get!” Impatient hand-waving accompanied his father’s urgent commands. Succumbing to the inevitable, Tony entered the study and closed the door tight behind him.
“You can start with explaining why you’re blond, Junior...”
*****************************************************
“Harold?” Princess Aurora demanded in an imperious tone. Harold automatically oriented his attention towards the little girl as he continued to slice tomatoes for her sandwich.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” The knife clunked against the cutting board a few more times in perfect rhythm as Kelly considered her question.
“Is Tony’s dad going to yell at him? Because of me?” She needed the answer to this question above all others. Tony had helped her, and promised she’d be safe, she didn’t want to get him in trouble. She didn’t want to be left with no one.
“Yes, Your Majesty, there will probably be some yelling. But it is in no way because of you. It has been a long time since Sir and Tony got along well. Many years. But I’ll tell you a secret, if you want to hear it.” Harold stopped chopping and looked directly at Kelly. “Do you want to hear it?”
Did she? Secrets were usually good things, but today had been full of bad secrets and things she wasn’t thinking about right now. Things she wasn’t going to think about, things like Mommy- No. She wasn’t thinking about that. Right now, she was Princess Aurora. Not Kelly. Kelly had no Mommy and a Daddy who was too far away. Princess Aurora had a dad named Tony and a brand new mansion complete with butler who already wanted to tell her secrets. Yes, Princess Aurora wanted to know what her new servant had to tell her.
“Yes, please tell me, Harold.” Her face serious, she regarded her servant with rapt attention. Putting aside the knife, Harold leaned close to her and whispered.
“Well you see, Your Majesty, Sir has always wished for grandchildren... particularly a little girl. I suspect he very much wished that Tony could have had a sister, but Sir’s wife, Tony’s mother, died before that could happen. That is how I know that he would never yell at you.” Harold handed Kelly her now fully assembled sandwich.
Princess Aurora quietly nodded her head in acknowledgement of the meal in front of her and began to eat. Harold watched her, concern and curiosity written plainly across his face at the sudden shift in mood.
********************************************
“Look Dad, I know you don’t exactly care what I’m doing with my life these days, but I’m out of options here, and that little girl? It’s her life on the line too if I screw this up.” Tony looked over at where his father watched him from his seat behind the substantial mahogany desk. The desk hadn’t changed since Tony had last been here. Nor had the expression of disapproval on his father’s face.
“Anthony, you can’t possibly think I’d turn you away if you were really in trouble?” Senior half rose from his seat, hands firmly planted on the desk in front of him. Tony had to hand it to him, his voice sounded believably incredulous.
“Well I don’t know, Dad, it’s not like you’ve helped me out of any trouble since I was... I don’t know, twelve maybe?”
Chapter 7a (Interlude 1)---->