Unexpected Interest Ch. 02

Hi again! I'm sooooo ecstatic with all the feedback the first post got. I'm definitely taking to the criticism and the compliments. Keep it coming! And enjoy

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Natasha was jumping out of bed an hour early. Today she had a case hearing with work. She needed to make sure she was feeling good and looking good too. In two days her date would finally be happening and that was more than enough to put an extra pep in her stride. She strolled over to her radio that has had its better days and turned it on with the volume very low. It was still early and her neighbors may be still asleep.

Her feet padded on the hardwood floor into her closet. She had an idea on her outfit last night and decided to try it out. She pulled off her grey pencil skirt and deep blue button down. She tried it on and looked into her mirror to finalize the look. It hugged her in the right places and she looked so chic. Natasha decided to wear her glasses for a more professional look instead of her contacts. She pulled her hair into a tight bun and she had over 2 hours left until she was to leave for the court hall. She huffed at all her extra time and decided to do her makeup.

She did something neutral and light, but making her cheeks highlight her face. It only took a few minutes and she was still stuck with time. She walked slowly over to the kitchen, humming the Natasha Benningfield song playing on the radio. She pulled out a skillet and lightly sauced it with butter, getting it ready for her organic eggs. As it heated she walked over to Iodine. He was sitting there peacefully, chewing on something that wasn't there. Natasha opened his cage and caressed his fur tenderly. He burrowing up to her hand, showing he wanted more. She stroked him a little longer, slightly smiling to herself. Natasha fed him and closed the cage back. She then walked to her sink to wash her hands, he needed a bath and he's been out in the garden a lot lately.

Natasha began beating her eggs in their own bowl, her skillet was bubbling lightly and it was ready for cooking the eggs. She added seasoned salt, ham pieces and pepper. As the time went past, she grew more nervous about her case. It was her 5^th case in the last 3 weeks and each time she got jitters a few hours before she arrived. Today she was representing a local organic grocer who was suing a farmer for using pesticides and hormones in the crops without letting the organic grocer know. Natasha's heart was hurting from the discovery and she also held a little biased; she shopped at the Organic Food Stop frequently. Using pesticides on organic food, whether it be to stop bugs or promote faster and larger growth makes the organic food anything but that.

Natasha scrambled her eggs for a few more minutes. Once she was satisfied she put the eggs on a small brown plate rimmed with green vines. She grabbed a fork, poured some orange juice, and went to find her purse which contained her Nook. Natasha loved to read, her favorite genres: historical fiction, mystery and of course romance. But right now she was in the midst of finishing a book on Katharine of Argon. Natasha loved this woman; she was such a strong figure. Her arranged marriage was rare; she really loved him. Although his younger brother was seen as more of a future King of Wales by his country and his father, he still had love in his heart. But Arthur dies, and Natasha had actually shed a tear for him and Katharine. Katharine was now stranded in England, her father not caring too much about her well being and her mother passing a year after her departure from Spain. But now the king was insisting she marry Arthur's handsome, spoiled, mischievous brother and she was nearly 9 years younger than him.

She sat at the table reading her Nook, enjoying her solitude. Natasha's mind wandered though, she thought of her sister and her family. Then she thought of her parents living happily together. Bobby was next, his smooth skin beside hers. She shivered, remembering the heated moments they shared together a few days ago. She got her keys, cell phone, brief case, and purse and headed out the door, locking it behind her.

Natasha cruised slowly down the roads, enjoying the lightly beaming sky. It was still murky with sleep but the sun was fighting its way through. She eventually pulled up at the court house with a few minutes to spare. She invited some of her employees to watch the case from the audience. They were eager and curious, as some of them were new to this. She happily agreed to be their study for the day. Natasha strolled into the court house with her blazer on her arm. She saw some of her staff standing by the door already, they were talking quietly. She was pleased to see all of her new additions to the company had decided to attend.

"Good morning everyone." She said bubbly, a smile on her face. She used her business voice which already made her sound in high spirits but now she was forcing it. No one seemed to notice. Cindy, a black haired brown eyed girl gave her a light smile and returned her introduction

"Morning Ms. Ellis" and the other 4 soon followed.

Goodness Natasha, just calm down. She said to herself. She was getting so restless. She took a deep breath and felt at ease.

"Are you nervous?" Jimmy asked. Jimmy sat on the bench, looking up at her with skeptical eyes. Natasha smiled at his attempt at terrorization. She shook her head lightly and took a glance into the court room. It was full of people.

"Not too much. Once I get up there I'll be fine. It's common for me to feel edgy right before I begin." She tried to explain. She wanted to keep this day educational, as these people would one day be doing what she's about to do.

"First rule is to tell your defendant to be early. This will give you two time to run over some things. But more importantly you two can get an unspoken bond right before the case starts." Everyone gave her weird looks.

"It's unexplainable. But trust me it's true." Natasha said, defending herself. She pivoted a little and was able to see Eugene, her defendant standing by the entrance. He was the owner of the organic food store. They locked eyes for a moment and he strode over to her. He was wearing dark slacks and a dark grey button down. He was 5"6 and somewhat pudgy. But overall he was a nice man, very committed to his store. Natasha felt badly once he told her he lost tons of business with this little escapade about his produce not even being organic.

"Hey Natasha, you ready?" He asked approaching her. Natasha nodded reassuringly.

"Oh, these are my employees. They came to watch. This is Mr. Rayes." Natasha said, motioning towards him. They said hello and shook hands.

"Okay, we're going in." Natasha told them. She walked through the big court room doors and everyone was talking busily. She spotted the farmer and his lawyer already placed on the left side of the court. She spotted some more of her employees sitting in the aisle behind the empty table and she lightly waved. The bench they were sitting at had a few more extra seats in them, they must be holding them for the others sitting outside the court room. Natasha took the seat nearby the aisle and Eugene sat beside her. She opened her briefcase and pulled out her documents.

"All rise!" The bailiff said. Natasha quickly stood, smoothing out her skirt in the process. The judge appeared and sat down. He eyed the farmer and his lawyer then looked in the direction of Natasha.

Natasha felt completely naked by the way he was looking at her. He looked at her hungrily with so much pressure in his judgments, but he also looked at her as if she wasn't capable of this task called court. His eyebrow was raised in amusement and he gave the clue for everyone to sit. Natasha did so and was now very confused. But she just focused on winning the case.

"Mrs. Ellis?" The judge asked her. Was he flirting with her or was this an honest mistake? He was a little older with white temples and smooth brown skin. He was definitely handsome but he was too old for her, plus she was focused on Bobby.

"Ms." Natasha corrected.

"Okay, well will you be so kind as to explain the reason of your attendance here today?" He asked. Natasha didn't need to look at Eugene to see he was stifling a smile.

"Of course. My defendant owns an organic grocery which means the food is free of pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and other unnatural chemicals. But Mr. McDonald has violated his contract with this grocery by using growth hormones and bug repellants in his foods at Mr. Rayes' expense. My defendant has lost a reputation, customers and most importantly money by Mr. McDonalds' irresponsible antics." Natasha said sternly. She looked over to the enemy and they both looked straight ahead.

"Well, well, well. Mr. Ying." The judge began; this must have been the lawyer's name. "Can you explain your presence here?" Judge said.

"My defendant has no recollection of signing a document. Nor does Mr. Rayes have proof of any chemicals being used in his products."

"Do you have documentation of this contract?" Judge said to Natasha. She pulled out the contract from her briefcase and handed it to the bailiff. The judge studied it silently.

"It looks as if you did sign this Mr. McDonald." He said.

"I did not Your Honor." He had an accent, but Natasha couldn't identify it immediately.

"Your Honor, may I say that genetically modifying a food is something that is more visibly changing than genetically changing. My defendant has compared the obviously tainted characteristics of his organic food and Mr. McDonald's. He's a professional with the majority of natural groceries and would be more than fit to recognize these transformations. We have done trial tests as well." Natasha reached into her briefcase and pulled out a packet of pictures. Each page held 2 photos of the same foods. One was organic after 30 days of being left out in the open and the other was the altered food left out for 30 days too. The differences in the decayed stages were more than apparent.

"I do see the difference between the two. If not the moldy aspect but the size as well." The judge said. He looked at Mr. Ying.

"My client has upgraded his seeds within the last few months. They grow much stronger products and require the same amount of work as his old seeds." Mr. Ying said.

"How is it that such a difference between 2 seeds sprouting the same products can produce such a significant gap in quality?" Natasha said directly to Mr. Ying. He looked away from the Judge and held her eyes intently. Natasha could feel herself getting hot.

"Natural Selection is a wonderful thing Ms. Ellis." He said to her.

"Natural Selection is for evolution in the wild Mr. Ying. These are farm grown plants that are very rarely growing on their own. Natural selection is altered by such acts as Mr. McDonald. Needless to say that it's almost impossible for plants to perform natural selection." Natasha said back to him.

Natural selection is when an animal picks a mate based on its best fit traits. This sparks up evolution. If a lion and a lioness want to mate, the lion will need to fight another male. Whoever wins is clearly the stronger male, therefore he passes on his strong traits to his son. The son is almost guaranteed his father's strength but many other conquering lions have as well. So he will have to fight even stronger lion's in the future. This is how natural selection is begun.

"Order!" The judge said, feeling the tension between the two lawyers beginning to grown into something uncontainable. Natasha knew once she got started there would be no stopping her. She took a heavy breath and turned her eyes back to the judge.

"Your Honor is there any way we can see his taxes?" Natasha said, feeling a like she had this judge wrapped around her finger. Mr. Ying snapped his head over in her direction at her tone of voice and ludicrous request.

"Mr. McDonald do you have your taxes?" The judge asked.

"Um, no Your Honor." He said, startled by the question.

"Find me his taxes." He told a woman standing beside him. She scurried out the room. McDonald looked somewhat scared. The secretary was back within minutes and the Judge's eyes widened as he read it. Natasha wanted to read it with him because he was taking a bit too long for her taste. He looked up at Natasha, seeing her anxiousness and smiled lightly.

"Mr. McDonald it looks as if you have filed over 90 gallons, 12,000 dollars worth of stock solution pesticides on your taxes this early February." He said. Natasha was beaming rays as Mr. McDonald's brow became hot with sweat. He gulped and said nothing. Natasha could tell from Mr. Ying's face that he had no idea about his client filing the pesticides on his taxes.

"I order that Mr. McDonald pay Mr. Rayes 70,000 dollars to compensate his annual growth for this year and write a letter of apology to his customers to be published in the Rhode Island weekly paper." He hit his gavel and her employees clapped excitedly. Natasha was containing her excitement until she left the court room. She closed her brief case and headed out the big double doors with confidence in her strides as the people on both sides of her clapped wildly. As soon as they were out of reach her workers and Mr. Rayes gathered her into a big hug.

**********

1 WEEK LATER

Bobby was visiting his grandparents again. He usually didn't go so often but he was missing them a lot. He walked through the door to find his grandparents on their couch relaxing. As he rotated to close the door his grandmother smiled pleasingly at him from her seat. Bobby decided to surprise them with a visit.

"What are you doing here?" His grandfather asked, his brow furrowed in curiosity. Bobby closed the door lightly behind him and sat on the couch 1 cushion down from his grandmother.

"Nice to see you too Pop." Bobby replied sighing. He looked to see they were watching some daytime talk show. As he focused his attention on the TV he saw a paper on the small coffee table beside the couch. Bobby picked it up and read it. It was a co-pay receipt for the St. Francis hospital with his grandfather's name on it.

"How was your appointment?" Bobby asked. He looked up to see his grandparents' eyes and the whole ambiance of the room changed around him. He knew something happened. He raised his eyebrow waiting for one of them to respond while his heart raced in anxiety. His grandfather averted his hazel watchers and his already low lids closed even lower as he looked into his lap. Bobby was a health freak and they knew it. If one thing was wrong with either of their diets or well being, they wouldn't hear the end of it until the situation was gone.

"Um.. Poppy's blood pressure is perfect, couldn't be any better." Gina started but Bobby could see in her eyes that she wasn't finished. She was doing that classic sugar coating thing, lay down a thick layer of sugar to make sure the layer of salt didn't taste too bad. "But he has type 2 diabetes."

"What?" Bobby spat at his grandmother, unable to hold back his tongue. His grandfather was 77 years old and he needed to be in his best shape. Being so carless with his health is a sure way to shorten his life and Bobby has told them this time after time. But they continue to eat without any limitations. Bobby shook his head, directing his vision away from his family back to the TV.

"Bobby, it's under control. Don't even worry about it." Ollie said. Bobby's head snapped up at this unbelievable comment. It was as if they didn't know him, they didn't understand how important they were to him.

"You two need to get it together down here." He said sharper than he wanted it to be. But his anger couldn't be hidden; he wanted them to feel his opinion.

"Watch it." His grandmother said, pointing her finger in his path to signal her restriction with his attitude.

"Whatever, you two obviously don't want to be here long enough to see my kids." He said putting his elbow on the arm of the chair and placing his head on his hands. He thought of his future kids that were now dormant in Natasha's womb, they'll be active and growing before long. As if his family sensed his thoughts they eyed him expectantly.

"That time will be here sooner than expected." Gina said laughing. She changed the whole mood in just that one second. This was her specialty.

"Within 6 months maybe." Ollie said joining in on the laughter. Bobby kept his face straight though, not quite done with his mission to get through to them. Plus 6 months was way too soon, he needed some more time to develop what they had first. Then the next step would be to get their last names on the same page.

"Can you start eating more fruits and vegetables please? Nice healthy foods. No more fried cooking." Bobby asked with persuasive eyes.

"We'll try. Your cousin has been asking about you." His grandmother said. Bobby's cousin, William lived a few streets away from his grandparents. William was a hilarious 25 year old man getting his masters in fashion. His sexuality as a gay male didn't bother anyone in his family. Bobby missed him a lot and was considering inviting him to hang out later tonight.

"I've been missing him too. I'll probably ask if he wants to do something tonight." Bobby said eyeing the health bill in his hands.

**********

Bobby was walking into the pizza bistro he invited his cousin to earlier that day. He strolled through the crowded restaurant with his eyes scanning feverishly. He spotted his cousin at a booth outside on the patio. He was wearing a brown blazer with black fitted jeans. Bobby approached him and he smiled affectionately. He had always been so fashionable, even as a kid. Bobby remembered their life growing up, they seemed to like the same things for a few years but soon they began to do things differently. When he was in middle school he was so delicate. Bobby was reckless and rough with everything but William was someone who appreciated order and delicateness. So when he announced his preference of gender, it wasn't a surprise to have favorite cousin.

Bobby was taken aback at how much of his mother he saw in his cousin at that moment. His smile crinkled the same parts of his face as his mother's did. William stood to hug him and Bobby embraced his scent. They sat down and the candle in front of them beamed lightly.

"What's going on man? I haven't seen you in forever." Bobby said picking up the menu simultaneously.

"Not much really. Just trying to keep up with school." He said.

"I heard you're doing pretty well though. The stress will surpass." Bobby said, his cousin was very lazy. He knew that if he had the opportunity to quit he would. But his mother would really be on his case about it, she wasn't one to put up with any of William's bullshit. Bobby's aunt pushed her son to his fullest potential.

"I know. How are things with you?" He asked looking down into his menu.

"Pretty well, it's hard to be so far from family though." Bobby said running his fingers through his hair briefly. Bobby moved for more opportunity but once he got to Rhode Island, he realized how convenient it was to have family in the same state.

"Well, I'd say you're doing fine based on what I've heard." William said eyeing him with his lips pursed, indicating he knew something Bobby wouldn't expect him to. Bobby laughed lightly.

"What have you heard?" He asked.

"There's a special mystery woman keeping you company in Rhode Island."

Bobby smiled. "Mystery woman? Is this what we're calling her now?" He knew his grandmother had something to do with this uncreative name.

"Nobody seems to know anything about her." William shrugged. "So I guess it is."

"You'll know about her when I'm ready, it's only been a few weeks." Bobby said, but he was feeling her visitation to Delaware vastly approaching. The waitress walked over to their table.