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Looking at him thoughtfully, Calliope, or Callie, as she preferred to be called brightened. This was their fourth meeting and she had begun to think that any alliance with Vorschlag Industries was impossible, they were an international logo and P.J.A. Tech barely existed. Self-consciously she realized that she was being studied, flushing she returned to the conversation at hand.
As she spoke Irons continued to study her, silently he wondered if she knew that she was the only reason he was going through with this deal. Wearily he went through the motions of a prospective business partner, carefully hiding what he was really interested in.
~~~
Ian hung up his cell phone. Frustrated at what he had, or more accurately hadn't learned. So, Calliope was adopted from China when she was three, she had lived in France for two years then come to the states when she was five. She had led her class at Yale and met a Luka Giamano in Sicily a year after she graduated, and with her help he started up P.J.A. Technologies. Five years later, here they were on the verge of becoming a large biotech company with the capital they'd likely make through a deal with Vorschlag Industries. A year ago her adoptive parents had died leaving her alone in the world. Calliope DeLancie had never tried to find her birth family. Taking off his hat, he grabbed one of his business suits, he was going to meet this Calliope DeLancie, and find out why the hell she'd become Kenneth Irons latest obsession.
~~~
Waking up, Sara realized she'd slept an entire half-hour without a nightmare, cheered by this thought she got up and decided to go for a ride. Maybe she'd go see Kenneth Irons. He'd asked her to come by this morning when he'd called. She had originally decided not to go, but now that she had nothing better to do, she thought it wouldn't hurt to just show up for a few minutes.
Arriving at Irons office building she headed in the front door. Wrapped in thought she didn't notice the young woman rounding the corner in front of her as she walked towards the secretary that always told her to 'go right in' and banged into her.
<A young girl smiles quietly, she sits in the back seat of a car with a smiling woman who has long blonde hair. "Is this your daddy?" She asks the child. The child shrugs.
"Xiang lier" She says in Chinese as she reaches for the locket. "Woi de." She says pointing to herself. Smiling indulgently, the woman gives the necklace to the child, closing the locket.
Turning to the front of the car she says. "She probably doesn't know who it is, no big deal. She'll probably lose it anyway. She's ours now, and no one can take her away from us.">
Disoriented, Sara shook her head, wondering where that vision came from. "What?" she asks realizing that the girl was talking to her.
"I said, are you alright?" Looking up Sara realizes that this is probably the girl in her vision all grown up.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I should've watched where I was going." The girl smiled and looked at her thoughtfully.
"Don't worry, you're the second person I've bumped into in the last ten minutes, just one of those days I guess." Smiling again she left Sara puzzling over the vision she just had. Who the heck was that? Rubbing the Witchblade underneath the extra long sleeves of her black shirt, she realized that it was radiating heat. Puzzled she kept on walking. Opening her mouth to speak to the secretary she was greeted with:
"Go right in Ms. Pezzini, Mr. Irons is expecting you." Nodding, Sara headed towards his office then turned.
"Tell me something, why do you always say that?" Blinking, the woman seemed on the verge of not saying anything then changed her mind.
"Because it's what he tells me to do." Realizing she'd gotten no answer at all Sara continued walking, as the door opened she could hear the two people inside arguing, and she identified the voices as Nottingham and
"Irons.
"Why didn't you tell me who she was?"
"I have my reasons Ian, besides, it's none of your concern."
"You should've told me none the less. I was afraid she'd bewitched you or something."
"Why would you think ---."
Irons was cut off by the entry of Sara Pezzini. "Not talking about me I hope." She said as way of greeting.
"You showed." While Irons was surprised that Sara had come after all, he was careful to give no betrayal to his surprise. "Good." Dismissing Ian he waved Sara towards a chair she ignored him and sat down himself. "I've heard you've left the force, it was a waste of you talents I assure you. Personally, I have a much better business proposition for you."
Rolling her eyes Sara suddenly regretted coming here. "This again, look Irons I said no the first time, I meant it."
"Please Sara, just listen. I need a bodyguard. Ian does well enough most of the time, but surely the incident with Moby showed you that even he has weaknesses." Sara moved to refuse but he silenced her. "No, before you accept or decline, I have a routine diner tonight with a business partner. Come with me, it'll show you what my business dealings consist of. Please."
Sara was on the verge of biting out a no, when the Witchblade began to warm, she could tell that it was warning her. Angrily she bit out a "Fine" and turned to leave.
"Oh and Sara, you're a size four, right? I'll be sending Ian over later with appropriate clothing, my driver will pick you up at nine." Fighting down rebellion Sara bit her lip; she hated others running her life, especially when it was someone she couldn't stand.
"I'm a six." She strolled out casually, then stormed down to her bike, angry thoughts seething through her mind as she berated herself for what she'd just done.
~~~~~
Chapter 5 - Vanity and Fixations
Sara had gone cruising around the city for most of the day, she was afraid that if she slowed down long enough to think, she'd not only back out of diner with Iron's but also go back to Dante. At four she had returned home to find numerous calls on her answering machine from Jake; calling him back she told him to come by at seven since they both had plans for later that evening. To occupy her mind until then she spent two hours cleaning up her loft and rearranging the furniture in it. When she was done her bed was no longer in the middle of her apartment but the end furthest from the stairs, where she could look out the window rather then having the window over her head.
Afterwards she soaked in the tub for awhile trying to relax the muscles that had become constantly tight and ready to spring of late. As she lay there she began to wonder how long it'd been since she'd done this and realized she couldn't remember because of late she'd always used a punching bag to de-stress. Exhausted she decided to close her eyes, if only for a second, an instant later she was asleep.
~~~
Ian Nottingham gritted his teeth; he had been trained to do a lot of things, but shopping for women's clothing was NOT one of them. When Irons had sent him to do this he had tried backing out in all the ways he could think of, in the end though nothing worked.
Why couldn't it have been assassins?, he thought as he fought back panic. Assassins are easy, I've been trained to handle assassins, and compared to this, Moby would've been a walk in the park. Ian realized that his thoughts were nothing like his usual self, they were like the little boy that he'd once been, somehow panic did that to him. Gritting his teeth, Ian turned to see a sales lady heading for him. Bracing himself he forced on a smile and walked towards her. Murderous thoughts that he'd had in the past returned to his mind. He wanted to hurt Kenneth, it had happened before, but never with such intensity. Mentally he added this to the long list of grievances he had against his so-called mentor and turned his thoughts towards buying Sara a dress. Suddenly an evil grin spread across his face... Kenneth Irons had made a very bad choice leaving Ian with a blank check because Sara Pezzini would be wearing something VERY expensive tonight.
~~~
Watching from a distance Irons made a mental note never to send Ian out on a 'mission' like this again. He had a habit of occasionally following him on his missions; sometimes to admire a job done right, sometimes to assess just how closely his orders were followed. This time, however, was neither, this time it was idle curiosity that drove him, well, that and a need for a new suit. Not a 'need' exactly, he thought, it's just that I'd rather wear something new tonight in celebration. In all honesty however it was vanity above all else that drove Kenneth Irons to buy a new $1,500 black Valentino suit. Smiling slightly as he paid the clerk he began to regret giving Ian a blank check, silently he hoped that his purchase would not exceed two thousand dollars.
Jake stood at Sara Pezzini's door shuffling his feet, he'd already rung the doorbell twice and still no answer. A tiny voice inside of him said that she didn't want to see him, but Jake didn't want to believe that. He was truly, utterly worried about her, they'd only been partners for a little while granted, but he still cared. All of the whispers and stares that had followed him around all day at work hadn't helped much either. Sighing he rang again deciding that if she didn't answer he'd call her.
~~~
As the ringing of the doorbell broke through the fog of sleep that surrounded Sara, she had only one thought. Oh god, Jake! Jumping out of the bathtub, Sara quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her as she ran towards her closet and randomly grabbed clothes, not turning on the lights she literally threw her clothes on in the dark just as she heard the doorbell ring again. Running down the stairs she threw the door open at the same time her phone started ringing. "Hello."