Chapter 14

"Gate, please ask the delivery man to pull into the garage," Dani said to the gate ground.

"Acknowledged, House 1-actual. Gate out."

"House 1 actual out."

Dani was thankful that Mike had told the gate guard and her what the new van looked like when that very special cargo arrived. Dani then made a beeline for the garage.

In the five hours that Dani had been waiting, she spent most of it setting up the two rooms in need.

Three beds had been ordered, delivered and set up. Two gender specific dressers had also been needed. Now all that lacked was the children's new things to put in them.

Dani's only regret was that Pete and Jenny had Dentist appointments that day or it would be easier for the little ones.

When Dani reached the garage, she wasn't alone.

"Dani what are you doing here? You should stay in the house," stated Charles.

"I'm doing what needs to be done for those kids or more to the point of the little ones. I'm a kid just like their sister, Hell I'm the same age. But the important part is that I'm just a bit less imposing."

Charles barked a laugh. "Only because you chose to be that way. I'm not fooled by it. I've watched you with harden veteran's as they snap to attention and salute you"

Dani had to giggle at the image. The funny part was, it was true.

No more was said as the dark van pulled into the big garage. No one moved though until the big doors were closed.

John was the first out and gave Dani a sour look when he found her next to the van. The passenger and sliding door opened at the same time but only the passenger got out.

"What the hell is going on? What is this place?" Val asked. She had been surprised when she saw the big place at first but now she was worried.

"Hi I'm Dani, and you are?" Dani asked raising her hand for the girl to shake.

"You didn't answer my question. And I don't care who you are."

Dani decided that a strong hand was going to be needed. So for the moment she put aside her carefree side and let 'The Boss' come out.

"I'll not have you talking like that in front of your siblings. I'm Daniella Orchard. This is my home and you will act accordingly. Now I have ask for your name."

Val was beside herself as she watched the kid in front of her all but transform into a different woman. Then she remembered what the agent had said about "The Boss".

"I'm Val, um Valentine Russ, ma'am."

Dani could see the two heads of the little ones and winked at them.

"Ms. Russ I understand your traveling with your siblings would you please do the honors of introducing them?"

"Um, sure," Val turned and held out her hand and helped the two kids from the van. "This is my sister, Kylie and this is my little brother, Zach."

Dani smiled at the two scared little ones then got down on her knees. All traces of "The Boss" was gone. "Hi, I'm Dani. I don't want you to worry about or be scared about anything. I swear I won't let anything happen to any of you. And if someone does try, I'll beat them up."

In the background, there were several barks of laughter and many more chuckles. Kylie looked to her brother with a questioning looked.

"Kylie wants to know how you'll beat them up?"

"I kick really hard. And when I kick I aim for that very tender place right between the bad guys legs. It makes them fall down and not get up again with out a lot of help."

Kylie looked at her brother again. "Will you teach us how to do that?"

"I'll do better. I'll let Beth teach you. She's really good at it." Dani said with a smile and wink at Beth. "But right now, I think Aunty Marge has lunch ready." Dani got up and put out her hands out for the kids to take. Kylie clung to her brother like a life preserver but Zach took Dani's hand.

"Val would you like to join us?" Dani asked

Val had again watched the woman change to a kid but didn't lose the authority she carried.

"Um ... Sure."

Dani nodded her head and led the way to the dining room.

Margaret was just finishing putting out the last of the food when she heard the group coming in. When she turned and got her first look at the children her heart screamed. The sight was almost too much for her to take.

"Dani right on time. I just brought out the last of the food." Marge smiled at the two little ones. "Well now, why don't you two have a seat and tell us what you would like to eat. We have ham, turkey, Roast beef but we also have Peanut Butter and Jelly. There is salad and fruit as well."

Dani had felt Zach's hand give a squeeze when the turkey was mentioned and again when Marge said fruit.

"Zach do you know what you sister wants?" Dani asked

"Yep she wants a Peanut Butter and Strawberry jelly sandwich."

"Ok. I bet I can guess what you want."

"Really?" Zach looked at Dani in surprise.

"Yep, you want a turkey sandwich with some fruit."

"How did you know that?" Asked Val.

"I'm a student of body language. His hand flexed when Marge said there was turkey and again when she said there was fruit. Now lets get these two seated. Then you can get his plate and I'll get her's.

There was no more said as plates were filled and taken to the table. There was also milk and juice for everyone to drink. The kids were told to eat slowly because they hadn't eaten all day and eating fast could lead to grumpy tummies. John and Beth joined the group for lunch. But there was very little talk.

Finally, Val couldn't take it any more and needed answers.

"Excuse me, Dani but what is going on here? What's going to happen to us now?"

"Well right now, we're waiting on someone. Then I'll show you your rooms and the areas that you can go into. I think for a few days while you're getting comfortable, you'll be asked to stay in the house. And before you object to that too much we have a good library, game/T.V. room and a full gym in the basement. The floor your rooms are on has a common area that's good for playing or coloring."

"Oh I had the feeling this place was big, but WOW!" Val paused to get her thoughts together, then continued, "Okay I got to know. I heard your "The Boss" the other agent mentioned but you don't seem to be that old to be in charge of a program safe house,"

Dani chuckled. "Well you are partly right, I am the boss here. I own all of this. But the part you are incorrect about is that this is a program safe house. It's not. My fiancé used to work for the FBI but went private with some friends doing security. I hired them as my security team here. There's more going on but that's the main part. When Agent Morrison called this morning and told Mike and I what was going on. I got very mad then laid out the plan to get you here. Mike, my fiancé, had to go get Jeff as I guess the other agents left or something.

"Yeah, they left. The guy wasn't bad but the woman was a total bit ... cow!!!" Val looked at Dani. "She hated kids. When she first got there she told me that I was to keep the kids away from her and if they didn't behave she'd ... well you can guess I kept the kids away from her."

Dani made a mental note to see that the woman was not only fired, but to see that charges were filed against her. That reminded her that she needed to ask Sandy McNarry about hiring some non-corporate attorneys so that she didn't have to work so hard.

The food was done and the kids were showing signs of getting restless so Dani took them on a tour of the downstairs showing them the library Game/T.V room even her office and Sandra's then the radio chirped letting every one know that Mike was back.

After a quick stop at the bathroom, everyone was back in the Dining room where Jeff and Mike were sorting things into piles.

Jeff turned and felt that strange feeling again as he looked at the three kids. The urge to take them all into his arms and protect them from the world was overwhelming.

"Hi you three. Hi boss, I got the order filled that you wanted."

"That's really great to hear. You didn't have trouble?"

"Nope I had plenty of help." Jeff turned his attention back to the others. "And you three, I have a pile of stuff for all of you." Then he picked up two sacks and moved them in front of Zach and Kylie. Then he knelt. "I have something for you two." He reached in and pulled out two stuffed toys. One was Shrek and the other was Sully from Monsters Inc. The two kids looked at each other then at their big sister. Val nodded her head and the two took the toy they wanted. Zach said thank you quickly after he got a look from Val, but what caught every one by surprise was the very quiet, "Thank you," from Kylie.

For just a moment Jeff felt he was going to faint, but soon was back on his knees.

"You are very welcome. Both of you."

"Why don't we let the kids gather up the stuff and they can take it to their rooms to put it away." Dani suggested.

"That's a very good idea," replied Mike who moved to help his friend up as he winked at Dani who smiled brightly. Val didn't miss the exchange and knew that was just another question to ask.

At the table was a large pile. Kylie and Zach climbed up into the chairs to get a look at it as they put it back into bags to take to their rooms.

The backpack caught their eyes first and they even squealed when they saw the markers, paper, color books and toys.

The clothing didn't get too much out of them other than a sigh knowing they could get out of the clothes they most likely had been in for days. Again the little ones squealed when they saw the other monster color books and jumbo box of crayons.

Val's gasp was lost when she watched her baby sister jump off her chair with the biggest book she had ever seen and went over to the FBI agent to give him a big hug.

Jeff saw her coming and knelt thinking she was going to say thank you again, but when her little arms went around his neck he carefully wrapped his about her and returned the hug. A joy like he had never known filled him. When he opened his eyes that he didn't know he closed he found he was looking at Zach. The face was happy and angry and confused at the same time. Jeff just opened his arms to Zach, who took a moment to think them move in to join the hug.

Dani and Mike had moved closer and were now holding each other and smiling at the momentous breakthrough that had just occurred.

It was a moment later that a quiet sobbing was heard by Dani and Mike. They turned to see Val sitting at the table with her head in her hands crying. Dani broke from Mike reluctantly and moved over to her.

"Val, what is it?"

"He ... he cares. He really cares about them. It was such a wonderful thing to see. I just don't know how to handle it. Look what he even got me." There before her was a bead kit, CD player and three CD's.

"Val," came Jeff's voice from beside her. Val turned to find the agent kneeling next to her with her brother and sister on each side of him.

"Val, I do care. I read the full report. I know what you told the DA. I wish I could have been there to make it all stop and take you away from all the hurts you and your siblings have had to go through. And I swear you will never go through that again as long as I live."

Val couldn't talk and just wrapped her arms around Agent Morrison's neck and her head on his strong shoulder and cried.

There wasn't a dry eye in the place that had heard what Jeff said. Or how the children reacted. Finally, Dani pulled from Mike's arms with a kiss to his nose and cleared her throat.

"Let's get everything upstairs and put away then we can go sit by the pool and relax."

"You have a swimming pool? A real swimming pool?" asked Zach excitedly.

"Yes I do, so once everything is put away you can change into shorts and splash around for a bit at least until Mike or I can teach you to swim."

Zach ran to his pile and started stuffing bags as fast as possible.

Kylie rolled her eyes in a way that said, "BOYS!!!"

When the three kids got to their new rooms there were more squeals. Dani watched as the two smallest kept running up to Jeff, and drag him over to show him something else that they got excited about, all over again. For Jeff, he was just floating and beaming with the feelings running through him.

A little later Kylie came out wearing shorts, a t-shirt and she had a grumpy face.

Kylie looked down at herself then back at Dani then made swimming motions with her arms, looked down at herself again and folded her arms across her chest, looking pissed. It took a moment but Dani thought she got what Kylie was saying.

"Well it's clear that you're mad and with the swimming motions you and your brother found out he must have a pair of trunks and you want to go swimming too but don't have a suit. Is that it or should you try your voice to tell us?"

But before Kylie could decide everyone heard the sound of a herd of buffalos coming up the stairs. Dani ventured a look and was not surprised to see Jenny almost to them.

"Dani, we were told that the new ones were here. Oh my, Hi I'm Jenny, My brother is Peter. MY mom is the house nurse. When did you get here? Do you like your new room? Have they showed you the house? It's huge and takes some getting used to. What's wrong? Dani is there something?" Jenny came to the end and took a big deep breath making Dani, Mike and Jeff laugh.

"Jenny, we're just wondering if you were going to stop asking questions so Kylie here could answer but then I was thinking you were going to pass out before you stopped," everyone chuckled more and Jenny blushed. "As to there being something wrong, it's going to be a few days before I can get something to fix it."

"WHAT IS IT?" Jenny demanded.

"Kylie wants to go swimming and found that her brother somehow got a pair of swim trunks. But she didn't get a suit and isn't happy about going in shorts."

Jenny's face contorted as she thought hard on the problem and looked the small girl up and down. That was when she remembered something.

"Wait right here!" and Jenny was off down the stairs again. A few moments later there that a distant squeal followed by the stampede returning.

"I found them!" Jenny said handing Dani a wad of something. When Dani got the bundle sorted out, she found she was holding two swimsuits.

"Part of today was getting some new ones because these were way too small. One of these might fit her."

"Thank you Jenny." Dani said and looked the two items over and handed Kylie the smallest one.

"Go try this one on and see what you think then let me see. OK?

Kylie didn't wait but ran back to her room with the suit.

"I think this is where I make my exit. Sorry about not thinking of it." Jeff said with a nice pinks coloring his cheeks.

"Jeff, you might as well wait or that little girl will really get mad at you."

"She looked like you when you get mad," Jeff commented.

"Jeff, if you notice she wasn't mad at you just a bit disappointed in not finding a suit. I don't think she could ever get mad at you." Just then, the door opened and Kylie stepped out. The suit was just a little loose. Dani looked at the shoulder straps and found that if she pulled to the back it fixed the problem. As Dani was thinking she, looked at Jenny who had pigtails and took out one of the simple hair bands.

To the objections of Jenny, Dani tried to break it, she found she couldn't. She handed it to Jeff and said to break it, he did.

Dani took the band and tied off the shoulder straps to the back.

"There that will do, the elastic will give and move but still keep everything together," Jenny looked Kylie, up and down again as the girl moved and had a big smile on her face.

"Well I'll hold on to this one as I think it is too big for now. Jenny, why don't you show Kylie your room and get your suit and I'll watch you at the pool unless we can Beth to do it."

With that, Jenny took Kylie by the hand and both went running.

Jeff and Dani chuckled as they started walking down the stairs.