Reformation Ch. 11

Chapter Eleven
Little Fish In A Big Pond

Monday morning came and the family's week started anew, but strangely enough the routine was not shaken up that much. Owen and Karen slept in a little bit, one of the extra bonus pleasures of having "Her Night" with Owen the previous night. Taryn directed Rosina and Veronica in making of breakfast for the family before she dashed into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. When she was out, Taryn took over preparing breakfast as Rosina and Veronica took a quick shower together. This was done out of a need for conserving the hot water rather than anything sexual or erotic. Once Veronica and Rosina were out, it was time to wake Owen and Karen, which Taryn did as Rosina and Veronica served up breakfast.

The family sat down for breakfast together and indeed the lively bather of a happy family reigned as they ate and visited together. Once breakfast was over Owen and Karen had their shower before the family went their separate ways. Veronica had a few job interviews lined up for that Monday and for that she was allowed to take Karen's decrepit nineteen-eighty-four Oldsmobile. Veronica changed into a power-suit that she had bought for this occasion, yet "power suit" and the "beater" did not go together. Veronica had every intention of parking a few blocks away from her interviews and underground, in order to hide the ancient and dilapidated automobile. Rosina went to work at the hospital and her work-week began in the same manner as any other week in the recent past. Karen and Taryn ran the spa, as per usual but today they decided to wear their dresses (without their Collars) and see how customer's reacted.

Owen took the bus to the law firm, even though Veronica offered to drive him there. Owen insisted that he needed to learn the bus route to the law firm. Owen had a less than stellar day start to the day because he got on the wrong bus and arrived at the law firm over an hour late. Owen was embarrassed but tried not to show it as he walked into the law firm.

It had been quite some time since he had walked into the law firm and the whole place emanated and reminded Owen of his father and it felt like he was walking into his father's tomb. Owen had just given the law firm's reception area a glance when the receptionist spoke up, and he wondered why he hadn't noticed her earlier.

"Hello Sir, welcome to Anderson, Basilone, Jersey, Kim, Schmidt, and Verbeek, how can I help you?" The pretty receptionist said in a chipper and friendly manner as she gave Owen a passing glance with a sparkle in her eye.

While the room was full of rich oak paneling, leather furniture and a massive reception desk, all of which had a cool, dignified, and dull feel to it, the receptionist behind the desk did not. She was a pretty young woman in her early twenties. Her captivating face was framed with her golden blonde hair which nearly reached her waist as it spilled down her back in loose curls. Her thin eyebrows hovered over her large green eyes which were separated by her button nose that pointed down to her large, puffy-lipped mouth. She was a short and petite little thing standing just over five feet tall and her whole body was scaled down to that size, all that is but her breasts. Her breasts were an oddity and didn't fit with the rest of her tight, trim and small frame, easily a DDD cup. The tight sweater she was wearing that morning did little to hide or downplay her breasts, with the horizontal stripes on it, it accentuated them in fact. Owen couldn't help but stare at them for a brief moment before tearing his gaze away and looking her in the eyes once more.

"I'm Owen Thompson and I'm supposed to start this morning. I'm here to see Tony Basilone," Owen said in an uncomfortable manner that he tried to cover with a charming tone of voice.

"Oh, yes I've been expecting you, I know just what to do with you," the pretty receptionist said in a light and inviting manner as she shook her finger at Owen in a playful manner.

"I bet you do, I could think of few things to do with you, too," Owen replied in a confident and sultry manner as he leaned on the desk and smiled at the receptionist as he took an obvious glance at her breasts.

"I bet you could," the receptionist said with a roll of her eyes and a disapproving tone of voice as she picked up the phone and pushed a button. "Mr. Thompson is here, Ms. Yates," she said respectfully before she hung up the phone. "Ms. Yates will be here shortly," she said to Owen coolly before turning to begin typing away at a computer, ignoring Owen's presence.

Owen didn't know just what to do as he stood there in the reception area being ignored by the pretty receptionist. He didn't have to wonder or wait long as in a minute or so someone came for him. He could hear the sharp footsteps of her before she entered the reception area. A tall woman wearing a conservative, gray suit entered the reception area and stopped just inside the entrance to the back of the law firm. She stood there and glanced over a file she had in her hands, ignoring everyone in the room.

It was an easy guess that this woman was indeed Ms. Yates, though she had not yet confirmed that fact. She was a tall woman who looked to be in her late twenties and was in very fit and trim shape. Her angles were a little harder than most women, as her muscles were more defined and toned. She was still a pretty woman as her brown hair fell down just past her shoulder-blades and was straight as an arrow. Her thin and arched eyebrows hovered over her large brown eyes which were separated by her button nose which pointed down to her plain lipped mouth and pointy chin. Her fit, trim, toned and muscular body came at the expense of her breasts as they were small and in line with the "Runner's physique" which she had.

"So you're Richard's boy?" Ms. Yates said coolly at long last as she looked up at Owen, giving him a harsh look.

"Yes, I'm here to . . ." Owen said but was cut off quickly by Ms. Yates.

"Your father wasn't late a day in his life? Every single day he was either early or on-time. If he was supposed to be somewhere, he was there, you could rely on that," Ms. Yates said with a cold and authoritative tone of voice as she cut Owen off.

"I'm not my Father," Owen mumbled to himself, yet Ms. Yates heard him it seemed.

"Indeed," Ms. Yates said as she turned on her heels and snapped the file closed. "Come," she said as she started to walk into the back of the law firm, not pausing to see if Owen was following or not.

Owen's ire rose up as he was not used to this treatment, he wanted to lash out and teach Ms. Yates a lesson. As Owen dutifully followed behind her he kept telling himself that he needed this job to start his career and help support his family. As she stopped at the entrance to a small conference room and pointed at the table with the file folder, Owen almost lost his cool. Her whole demeanour exuded one of power and confidence, two qualities Owen was not used to dealing with in women. Owen sat down at the table and began to fill out a series of forms, necessary for starting work at the law firm. On the line for "next of kin," Owen put Taryn down but had to cross out "Slave" and put "Mother" when it asked for "relationship."

Once all the forms were filled out, Owen went to the office he had been told to go to and like a good little boy he knocked on the door of the office. Ms. Yates was in her office working on her computer, he could see her through the glass yet she did not react to his knocking at all, so Owen knocked again. This time she raised one finger up for a moment and then continued typing, she did not even look away from the computer as she did so.

Owen growled to himself and he clenched and released his fists a few times to try and keep a handle on his temper. Owen's instinctual reaction was to barge in the office and teach her not to ignore him again! Once again, Owen had to remind himself he was the college graduate starting his first job and she was the one he was to report to. In this place, in this world, he was not the Master, he was the Slave.

That thought angered him and he thought of walking out, yet that would be foolish, he had a family to think of. It was time for him to start working and putting into the common pot, he had been living off of others for far too long in his life, first his father, then Taryn and Rosina. Owen was the Master of his family and he had to remind himself that he had to Master his own emotions if he was to function in the "Vanilla" world. Just because he was a Master to four Slaves at home, gave him no right to be bossy or arrogant to everyone he met in his daily life.

When the file was snatched out of his hands, he was brought out of his own thoughts. Ms. Yates glanced over the papers that he had filled out and nodded her approval, yet still it was more like acceptance of his work, rather than actual approval of it. She turned on her heals and started to walk away from him. Owen swallowed his pride once again and followed Ms. Yates down along one wall and then through a doorway and down a set of stairs to the basement of the old building.

Opening an old, solid, ornate, wooden door they entered what looked to be a library and still she walked on. When they arrived at what looked to be the center of the basement library there was an assortment of tables and on one side of the area was a single computer and next to it was a massive card-catalogue. Ms. Yates stopped and cleared her throat in a loud and obvious manner after she had glanced around the vacant room. Shuffling of feet could be heard down one aisle and soon a man walked out of the shadows and into the light. He looked at Ms. Yates with an expressionless gaze and waited for her to talk.

He was a tall and scrawny looking man who looked to be in his early thirties but felt much older. His long brown hair and goatee was not what you would expect to find on someone working in a law firm, nor was his "Iron Maiden" T-shirt and jeans. His thick eyebrows seemed to dwarf his beady, green eyes but his narrow face did match his thin and stick-figured body. He gave off a dissatisfied and frustrated air, even thought he said and did nothing at that moment.

"Frank, this is Owen, he'll be working with you down here. He's your new assistant," Ms. Yates said as she pointed to Owen with the file she was holding in her hand.

"I don't need an assistant," Frank, the scrawny-looking man said with a light scoff as he shrugged his shoulders.

"He's Richard's boy so Mr. Basilone decided to throw him a bone. He's your problem now," Ms. Yates said as she gave Owen a victorious smirk. She turned on her heels and walked out of the room, using the same sharp footsteps she always did.

"Yes, Ms. Yates," Frank said to the now departing Ms. Yates.

"Is she always like that?" Owen said to Frank after the door to the basement library closed.

"No, she's not usually in such a good mood," Frank said as he walked towards Owen.

"That was good?" Owen said with a sarcastic sigh.

"Yeah, usually she's a right fucking bitch!" Frank said as he arrived to stand in front of Owen. "Who'd you piss off to get stuck down here?" he asked with an expression usually reserved for a condemned man.

"I needed a job and Tony decided to help me out, he did me a favour really," Owen said as he shook Frank's hand and chuckled along with Frank.

"Trust me, he didn't do you any favours!" Frank said with a disgusted tone of voice as he turned and walked away from Owen, looking clearly aggravated.

"I'm just down here unit I can prove that I passed the Barr," Owen said in a slightly defensive tone of voice as he shrugged his shoulders.

"They did the same 'favour' for me over ten years ago!" Frank said as he walked back down one of the aisles.

"You're a Lawyer?" Owen said in shock as before he chased after Frank.

"Class of ninety-five," Frank said as he pulled a book from the shelf and brushed past Owen on his way to the tables at the centre of the room.

"Wow," Owen said in a shocked and depressed tone of voice.

"If I'm stuck here, so are you!" Frank said with a hurt tone of voice and an angry look in his eye as he dropped the book down on the table.

"Speak for yourself. I didn't go to law school just to read books for other lawyers," Owen said with a confident and slightly arrogant tone of voice.

"Well, if you want out, I say find another firm. The guy before me had the job for thirty years," Frank said as he turned around and disappeared into the shadows of another aisle.

Owen felt confused, angered and let down by someone he trusted. Owen had faith in Tony and thought of confronting him about this but decided against it. After all, what would Tony say, "Sure, I'm screwing you over, so what?" Tony had always been a good friend of his father's and had been there for him and his family when he needed them. However, there was what he did to Karen and Veronica, the manner in which he divorced Karen and left her and his own daughter with nothing but the Spa. Tony was a hard man to read, but for the most part, at least to Owen, he seemed like a decent man.

Even if Tony intended to let him rot down here in Research, Owen would not let that happen. If this firm would not let him do real lawyer work, then he would go elsewhere and do it, even strike out on his own if he had to. He had studied long and hard to be a lawyer and that was what he was going to do: for himself, for his family, for his future. In the quest for a career and money, however, Owen would remember yet another lesson he learned from his father: he would balance his work and home lives. He had a family now, albeit an "abnormal" one which most people would not understand or accept, but a family nonetheless. He would use them as a guide and measure of what the right thing to do was: if it would help or harm his family.

For the rest of the day, Owen learned what he needed to know about the Research Department. Sure enough it was pretty much what he had already thought it would be, looking up lots of books and reading them so somebody else wouldn't have to. Everything he needed to know, Owen learned before the day was out and it was as mind-numbing as he thought it would be.

By the end of the day he was pretty discouraged and was not looking forward to the bus-ride home. When he got to the reception area he got a pleasant surprise that picked up his spirits. Waiting on one of the chairs patiently was a familiar and most welcome sight: Veronica. When she saw Owen coming she smiled lovingly at him as she stood up.

"What are you doing here?" Owen said with a smile and a shake of his head while he smiled at Veronica.

"Picking you up, silly," Veronica said with a laugh as she walked towards Owen with a bright smile on her face.

"Ah, there you are, your 'friend' has been waiting for you for half-an-hour now," the receptionist said in a condescending tone of voice as she smirked at Owen.

"Friend? Try girlfriend!" Veronica said with a disgusted tone of voice as she looked disapprovingly at the receptionist, ending with a scoff.

Veronica walked up to Owen and gave him a passionate kiss as she embraced him tight. When the kiss was over Veronica and Owen started to walk out of the firm with their arms around each other. A voice from behind them stopped them in their tracks.

"Owen, how was your first day?" Tony said as he quickly entered the reception area and dropped a courier package on the reception desk.

"Okay, I seemed to get the hang of Research. I can't wait to start real lawyer work, though," Owen said as he turned to talk to Tony.

"Patience, don't worry about it," Tony said dismissively as he smiled.

"Hi, Daddy," Veronica said with a sweet smile as she walked up to Tony and gave him a hug and kiss.

The receptionist's eyes bugged out of her head as she saw Veronica hug and peck Tony on the cheek and then put her arm around Owen's waist. Veronica saw the receptionist's reaction out of the corner of her eye and smiled as she leaned up and kissed Owen on the cheek as she grinned at her father.

"Is this serious?" Tony asked in the manner of a protective father.

"Could be, just started," Veronica said as she squeezed Owen tightly.

"I'd say it's serious, you live together," Tony said with a straight expression and at that the receptionist's chin dropped.

"Not like THAT daddy, we're roommates!" Veronica said with a roll of her eyes and a laugh.

"Well, take care of my little girl," Tony said with a light and friendly 'intimidating' tone, that he ended with a laugh as he patted Owen on the shoulder. "Goodbye sweetie," Tony said as he kissed Veronica on the cheek before turning to walk into the back of the law firm.

* * *

Harold Moore sat on the exam table in the small doctor's exam room waiting to see his friend and long-time doctor. It was a follow-up to his annual physical which he had last month. Harold was in decent shape but apparently had a cholesterol condition that needed to be monitored, nothing serious but something which merited keeping an eye on.

Harold was not a man whom you would imagine having a medical problem for he was a man with an athletic build. He was not a super athlete but he was trim, despite having a small gut, like most men in their mid-thirties. His neat-and-trim light blonde hair was cut very short and you could easily see his small ears. Because his hair was so light, his thin blonde eyebrows were hard to see from a distance but they were there over his dark blue eyes. His hawk shaped nose went well with his strong chin and added a strong, confident look to his Arian appearance.

Harold looked around the room and glanced at the clock on the wall and wondered how much longer this would take. Harold wanted to get back to the Christian Book Store which he ran with his pregnant wife, Rebecca. He didn't like the thought of leaving her there alone but this was the only appointment he could get and he should be back to the store by the time it was to close the store.

Rebecca was instructed not to lift anything heavy and just run the shop; he didn't want to risk anything happening to their "miracle child" as he called it. The child that his wife was carrying was their fourth child, but what made it so special was the fact that he had a Vasectomy after their third child had been born. Harold was so excited that he had told everyone in his congregation at church about their gift from God and the miraculous conception.

Harold smiled to himself as his thoughts drifted to his lovely wife and how well things were going between them now. Time and daily life had taken their toll on their relationship and for the past two years it seemed and Rebecca had been acting distant. She was always the devoted wife and partner but it seemed like she was distracted, going through the motions but not really committed to him and to God. That changed a few months back, the pregnancy was what changed all that. After Rebecca became pregnant she started acting like the wife she always should have been.

Just then the door opened up and the middle-aged doctor walked into the room, looking over Harold's chart as he did so. He closed the door behind him while still glancing at the chart. He was wearing a shirt and tie, covered by a lab coat, the stethoscope which hung around his neck completed the look of the typical doctor.

"Good afternoon, Harold, how you been?" the middle-aged doctor asked as he sat down on the stool which appeared to be in the middle of the room.

"I'm fine John, how about you?" Harold said with a friendly smile to his long-time friend and doctor.

"I have the results of you physical here, and all in all you're in good shape," John, the middle-aged doctor said with a heavy and sombre tone, tainting his voice.