Chapter 7
~ Danielle ~
Danielle found Andrew’s children with the Kalian neighbor, Trav. The gentleman was nice and polite but slightly suspicious about giving up Andrew’s children to her. It took him over an hour to get ahold of their father to verify that she had permission to take them, leaving her feeling kind of ignorant for not thinking to get authenticated video verification before coming.
Andrew was right they were very small and sweet. One appeared to be about two and the other about five. Dropping down to her knees, she spoke to them at eye level. “My name is Danielle, and your father got tied up with some business, so we thought it would be fun if I visited with you for a bit.” Her command of Kalian was rudimentary at best. With the help of the Kalian neighbor, she muddled through.
“Can you thank mister Trav for his hospitality?”
Both of the little ones gave him a hug and murmured their thanks.
Turning to the still slightly apprehensive man, she traded contact information with him.
He spoke hesitantly, “If you need anything, contact me. I will render what assistance I can.”
Smiling politely, she tried to put his mind at east. “I know this is a really strange situation, but I believe Andrew is my one. Rest assured I’ll take good care of his little ones.”
“If what you say is true, the two of you must have the worst timing in the entire world to have discovered it now.”
“It depends on how you look at it. I’ve been searching for a very long time. To have found him when he needs me the most can only draw us closer.”
Finally relaxing a little, he commented. “I never knew humans had ones. Only the Kalian believe in such things.”
“I was raised with a Kalian family. Maybe some of your beliefs rubbed off on me.”
“Ah, this makes more sense to me now. You and Andrew have my best wishes. Again, if you need anything at all, just contact me.”
“Thanks for everything. I don’t know what Andrew would have done without you.”
“The Kalian tend to look after each other when we can. I only wish I weren’t working two jobs. I am sending credits to my aging parents, or I would have taken time off to provide more care for Andrew’s tiny daughters.”
“He’s got me for that now, so don’t worry about them. I promise to see they are well cared for. Speaking of which, we should probably get going.”
“Goodbye, Miss. Daniella.”
Gathering the girls up, she murmured a quick goodbye and took them next door to their home. The girls ran inside, and Danielle explored the house. She found the nest in the corner of his bedroom just as he had said. It was larger than she would have expected. It was made of steel and had a large glass bowl filled with liquid and a gentle blue light which seemed to be providing warmth as well as lighting. She had to admit that it did not look beautiful. It looked very utilitarian but seemed to function well. The unborn child was about the size of a large fist. Danielle could not tell if the unborn child was a male or female, but it was beautiful.
She ran her hand gently over the glass bowl. It was easy to see why the Kalian believed the nest was superior to the mother’s womb. It afforded the growing fetus more space to grow, the nutrients could be optimized to enhance growth, and the unborn child was not affected by everything the woman consumed. A substantial number of human women still drank alcohol, ate chemical laden foods and even did designer drugs while they were pregnant. This nest offered an unparalleled opportunity for the unborn child to thrive. The health and safety of Andrew’s children were now her responsibility and Daniella was not about to take any chances on something unexpected happening.
Settling the little ones into their play room, she called a top-rated security company and arranged for a comprehensive security system to be installed along with a back-up power supply that kicked in automatically.
Her phone jingled about an hour later.
Looking at the view screen, she hit the talk button as she made food for the little ones. “Hello Edward.”
“Jon filled us in on the situation. It is most unfortunate Andrew Staunton does not have anyone to manage his family. I’m not surprised to see you step up. Although we could have put the daughters in state’s custody, his unborn child would have had a tough time making it while we litigated this case. You’re doing the right thing by recusing yourself from his case.”
“It turns out he’s a close family friend. Our fathers were fighting partners during the war, and we’ve always been extremely close to his family. They even took me for about six months when I was a little girl, and my mother was hospitalized.”
“Jesus, are you serious? It’s a good thing he thought to call you.”
Rather than going into the all the details with her law partner, Daniella simply agreed. “Yes, I’ll do what I can for him, and I’m grateful to Jon for taking the case.”
“About that…”
Cutting him off, Daniella interjected firmly. “I know what you’re going to say. This is not the case for him to cut his teeth on and you’d be right about that. However, he is Kalian, and the clients really trust him to do right by them. They’re really skittish right now and introducing a new lead attorney would really throw them for a loop.”
“He can’t hope to win this case on his own, Daniella. Even you must see that.”
“I agree. He will do an excellent job if we get some more experienced partners in there to support him. Let him take the lead and give him the resources and guidance he needs to move forward. I promise it is the best option moving forward.”
Sighing, the older attorney finally capitulated. “I suppose you are correct.”
Encourage Jem to help him interact with the clients. They need a little TLC from our firm, and Jem has really good soft skills.”
“Braxton and Harper have been enthusiastic about the work we’re doing on this one. I think between the four of them, we have a good chance at grabbing some glory.”
“Did you manage to link up a judge to talk about house arrest?”
“They wouldn’t even discuss it because they don’t want to be seen as undermining law enforcement on this issue. The judge reluctantly signed an order for the 3D link-up. I honestly don’t think he wanted the responsibility of something going wrong and getting blamed for a worst-case scenario outcome.”
“Thank goodness. Being able to get instructions will get me through until some other arrangements can be made.”
Danielle called a security firm and had them communicate with Andrew for directions on where to put the monitoring equipment. She had only one stipulation, and that was no equipment in the bathrooms. They arrived by about four in the afternoon install the security system and with the link upgrade. It was a fairly commonplace procedure. The security firm was renowned for completed installs quickly and at the customer’s convenience. They were in and out in two hours.
The judge had limited the link to one-way communication to avoid the appearance of giving unlimited video chatting to a single family. That made sense to Daniella. The one-way link was the minimum necessary level of communication necessary to get the job done.
Andrew could receive 3D visual images of his bedroom to monitor the nest, the girl’s bedroom, his living room, dining room and kitchen. He could also monitor grounds outside his home. The system gave him the capacity to give verbal directions and hear everything going on in the home.
There was also an image link from two monitoring devices and her cell phone. She clipped a device onto each of his children so he could see everything going on in front of each child. The security firm had run through the particulars with her, so she knew his screen was split three ways. One he could control to look at any of the stationary screens, and the other two were from the clips worn by his little ones.
Pulling out some work from her brief case, she settled down to work as the two little ones ate their food. Daniella noticed they sat close and whispered back and forth. They were smiling and seemed happy, so she wasn’t overly concerned about how they were coping. Since they were so young, it might take them a minute to realize their father was not coming home anytime soon. Time was different for small children. If she kept them busy, they not feel the drag of time the way most adults did. Getting on her electronic tablet, she began scanning children’s movies and games.