Domestic Vigilance (October 1986)

Isabella smiled and shook her head. "I will take my man any day. Tony Stark is a womanizer. He's only after me because I turned him down. If he was able to get me he'd drop me the next day. Tony doesn't seem like a 'one woman forever' kind of man."

She took a sip of her beer and nodded in gratitude when Lewis told her she could take the bracket. She opened the bag and carefully removed it and put it in her purse. When Lewis mentioned the Punisher she glanced at him. "Well he isn't coming back so we will just have to make do without him."

“Don’t sell yourself short Isabella. You’re the real deal. Not some light skirt who depends on a man. You’re smart, crafty and tough, the last of your kind I think,” He complimented. “A man like Tony could use a woman like you and for alot more than just your charms,” He said as he finished his beer. He waved at the bartender and lifted up his glass for another.

“So you must tell me about this man of yours, he must be quite the paragon to have caught your fancy, who is he?” He asked.

Isabella was glad to be able to talk about someone other than Tony Stark. She smiled as she thought about Frank. "His name is Frank Romano. He's Italian and works in construction. He's tall, dark, and handsome. He and I both love cooking so we spend a lot of time in the kitchen together. We actually broke up for a few months because he told me he didn't want to get married or have children. But we met back up recently and we both realized how much we had missed each other and he changed his mind about everything."

His beer arrived and he tilted his glass to hers. “Well here is to the happy couple, you must invite me to the wedding!” He said. “So you want to do the family thing? You? I would never have guessed that. But I’ll tell ya this. Family, children, are the most frustrating and rewarding things you can have in this world. Losing Jack, my son nearly broke me but I will always remember him just like my Annie. Mary lives in San Diego and...we don’t really talk much. But there were good years, years I’ll remember until my last day,” he said as he sat back into his chair. For a moment he looked older with far less vigor than a moment ago. Losing his wife and son had taken their toll upon him but he picked himself back up and continued to live his life. He was alone but he was alive. He had his career and it was enough for him. Well, most of the time.

Isabella looked at Lewis. He had been through so much in his life. She couldn't imagine losing a spouse and a child. Lewis managed to get through it and still saw the good in the world. She reached over and took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She gave him a friendly smile. "Of course I will invite you to the wedding. I will even save a dance for you."

After lunch He hugged her goodbye and they went their separate ways. When she got back to the office she noticed everyone she passed looked at her. Not for long but it was obvious as she entered the elevator. When she got to her floor and started off the elevator it happened again. Anyone she passed looked at her and smirked or smiled. As she approached her office she quickly learned why. Her office was nearly filled with roses. Red roses, beautiful flowers with large, full blooms. Jennifer came around her desk. Looking worried again.

“I tried to stop it but they just kept coming!” she said. Vases filled with flowers were also on the outside of her office as well, There was a white card in one of the flowers.

It read.
‘When one rose didn’t seem like enough, I just bought them all’

On the back it said simply.
Tony

Isabella was stunned to say the least. She had never seen so many roses in her life. They were all red and they completely filled her office and then overflowed into the hallway. They weren't from Frank...she knew that much right away. Frank was not a flower guy. He would much rather express his feelings through food. There was thousands of dollars worth of roses and she didn't know what to think. If Frank found out about this he would likely become very upset. This was not an act of a man who was just trying to be friendly.

She picked up the white card and read it. She looked at Jennifer. "It's alright...I'll take care of it."

She walked into her office and closed the door. She carefully made her way over to her desk and found her phone and called Gerald. She managed to convince him to give her Tony Stark's number. She dialed the number and after a few rings Happy answered.

"This is Isabella Corsetti. I need to speak with Mr. Stark."

Happy was playing pool with Tony when he answered the phone. He covered the receiver. “It’s Miss Corsetti,” He whispered and Tony made the gesture of his hand across his own neck. “Mr. Stark is not available...He’s very busy right now, may I take a message?” He asked politely.

Isabella stood with a hand on her hip. She didn't believe what Happy told her. The man was a coward for not talking to her himself. "Please remind Mr. Stark that I am engaged and that it is not appropriate for him to be sending roses to my place of work. I would like for any further deliveries to cease. I would also like for you to remind Mr. Stark that I have a very limited time frame to put together a security detail for him and that right now it is impossible for me to work in my office. Oh...and tell him he's a coward for not talking to me himself."

She then hung up. She stood there for a moment and glanced around her office. As she did a very slight smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

Her office had an IT issue and the files on the main Afghan and Kazakhstan terrorist groups had taken hours to locate without the digital library system working. She knew she was going to be late again, very late. Several people volunteered to help move the flowers and they set them all along the walls and one each on everyone’s desks. They really did smell wonderful and her office smelled positively wonderful. When she finally found what she needed she noticed how late it had got. WHen she approached her office Jennifer approached her with her purse on her shoulder and handed her a message from Frank. She winced. “Uh, have a good evening,” She said as she headed for the elevator. There were a few people still working but not many. She had expected to be alot further into these files than she was and there was nothing for it but to press on.

‘Im guessing you're working late again? Awesome’

When she called Frank he had set up the answering machine to auto answer and he wasn’t home anyway. He was out selecting another gang house to bomb. She heard her own machine message before the beep.

Frank had followed a van that had been delivery drugs to several small time dealers. It pulled up into a party store and everyone had gone inside. When they did he planted a bomb underneath the van by the gas tank. This one was similar to the first except that he would detonate it personally. After they got out of the store they filed in and took off. While they were driving down the street they stopped to deliver more drugs and several people had stepped up to the van. Frank detonated the bomb and the van exploded into a huge fireball. Frank pulled away and headed home. Isabella still hadn’t come home and he reheated some of the leftovers and made her up a plate again but had to leave it in the fridge. He watched a show on TV but after a while decided to go to bed.

Just as Isabella was on her way out of her office, her phone rang. WHen she answered it, it was Lewis. “Turn on yout tv, the channel 14 news,” He said and then waited. She had a small tv in her office on a side table. Once it turned on she saw the news reporter.

‘At this point the police have no idea what caused the van to explode but all 6, 4 in the van and 2 outside the van were confirmed dead at the scene. Its going to be a late night for the boys in blue tonight,This is Robin Frank Reporting,’ The news caster said and the story shifted to something else.

“We’re sending a team and I’m willing to bet that we find another bomb...Should I save anything for ya?” He asked.

Isabella finally managed to start getting some work done, but by the time she started it was late in the day and so she knew she was going to be staying well past the time she usually left. She tried to call the apartment to apologize to Frank, but it went straight to the answering machine. She sighed and hung up and just continued to work.

After a few hours she decided she was too exhausted to work any longer and she stood up to leave. However, just as she was starting to walk out her office phone rang. She thought it might be Frank so she walked over and picked it up. However, to her surprise it was Lewis. She quickly turned on her tv as he had instructed and listened to what the newscaster had to say. She had a suspicion that those that had been killed were people in connection with Stark Industries weapons.

"Yeah, if you find another bracket save it for me."

After she hung up with Lewis, she finally headed home. When she walked into the apartment it was dark. She quietly closed the door and then walked into the bedroom. The lights were off so she didn't turn them on but began to get undressed. She was too tired to eat. She just wanted to go to sleep.

Frank stirred as she climbed into bed but he didn’t say anything and he was tempted to just turn over and ignore her presence. He was upset with her but what could he do? Nothing. She literally had him by the balls. He shifted toward her kissed her cheek then enveloped her into his arms like she liked him to do. “I’m happy your home,” He whispered. “I miss you babe,” He said softly.

Isabella climbed into bed to lay next to Frank. She wanted to feel his arms around her, but she feared he was still upset with her. So when he actually turned over and wrapped his arms around her she sank into him. “I’m so sorry Frank. Once this whole thing with Mr. Stark is done things will go back to normal. I promise.”

Frank rarely used an alarm. He never really slept all that much. He woke up to find that they hadn’t moved from where she had snuggled in against him. She still slept soundly and for a time he just watched her sleep in the dim light. Isabella was a very beautiful woman with large dark eyes, long, dark hair with a natural wave to it. her face was well shaped with lips that always appeared ripe for kissing. She had an athletic build but she had curves that filled out a dress wonderfully. He shifted to put his front right against her bottom and he began to kiss and lick at her neck as he rubbed her breasts over her nightgown. He knew she likely could use the extra half hour of sleep but he needed to feel reconnected with her right then and so he made love to her. Not the rough, crazy sex that they often had, this time it was slow, methodical and passionate.

After he showered she must have fallen back asleep because she looked surprised and rueful at the clock when he handed her a coffee. He sat on the bedside and smiled as she slowly grew more and more awake. The only part of her nakedness that was exposed was her leg and so he reached and rubbed it with his large hand. “I suppose it makes no sense to schedule anything with you so I won’t,” Frank said. Not with an angry tone, but a resigned one as if he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He kept his disappointment under wraps as he looked down at her. “I’m still against you going…” he began than sighed. He told himself he wouldn’t do this but he felt as if he just needed to get it off of his chest. “Tony Stark has a reputation...I’m not insinuating anything I’m just...some men just have an effect on women,” He said softly as he took a sip of his own coffee that he held in a large, black mug.

Isabella was still tired, but she and Frank hadn't made love in days and they both had needed it. So she was willing to give up some sleep for it. She didn't realize she had fallen back asleep until she heard the alarm go off and looked up to see Frank sitting on the edge of the bed with a cup of coffee. She sat up, pulling the sheet up with her and took the cup of coffee Frank had prepared for her. She first just closed her eyes and inhaled the scent before taking the first sip. She and Frank made strong coffee. It was probably too strong for many people, but they wouldn't settle for anything less.

She held the warm cup in her hand as she listened to what Frank had to say. She waited until he was finished before speaking. "Frank, if Tony is truly after me for sex then he's going to be extremely disappointed. I find the man to be frustrating and highly irritating at times. I'm only doing this because I was asked for and if I turn it down then everything I've worked so hard to achieve in my career will be thrown down the drain. I will get overlooked for any other important missions because I will have created my own reputation for saying 'no.' Does that make sense?"

Frank didn’t really understand. Isabella had already done alot for her country and for the CIA. She had nothing to prove to anyone. He wasn’t convinced that she couldn’t just pass on this. “Is the memories of those you work with so short? Lauren owes you. She owes you and me and you’ve never asked her for anything. You deserve every accolade you’ve received. You were decorated and promoted. No I think you could say no if you wanted to,” he said but when he saw her about to rebut what he said he held his hand up. “I’ve said my peace isabella. I’m not going to force you or bully you into backing out. I just really wish you would...this time,” he said as he stood. “I made you an egg and sausage bagel, its in the toaster oven just set it for 5 minutes...I’ll...see you tonight, sometime,” he said blandly with more than a little disparage in his voice as he stepped from his room.

Isabella had gone abroad before. Sometimes for weeks at a time. She had been in fire fights and ran for her life on more than one occasion. Such things were part of her job but Frank suspected that this was something else. He didn’t know why he felt that, he just did and there was nothing he could do to dissuade her without a big blow up argument that ended with her relenting and hating herself for it. He would not do that to her. She had to ‘want’ to say no and he knew she didn’t. That did hurt his feelings but he wasn’t about to let her know that. He was supposed to be her rock and he used the excuse of safety over the other to retain that illusion he felt she needed him to be.