In the early morning of The Fourth of July, Leon sat at his desk in his home office, sorting through piles of paperwork while Vivi slept after a grueling night-shift at the hospital. Despite most things being digital, he strongly believed in the redundancy of physical records when dealing with matters concerning the EEA. His workload had doubled recently as his mother wanted to retire completely from being the head of the agency, and that meant he was training to take his place. His current role as the Northwest head was hard enough, but he knew he could fill the shoes of his mother and continue to improve the lives of those with a secondary gender. As he sorted the piles and matched them up with their digital records, something caught his eye that didn't add up. He ran a search for more information as he looked at the physical copies.
The search turned up mismatched information, so he ran an advanced search as well as looked manually for any records that even remotely matched up with what he was seeing in the physical copies. What he turned up was concerning. Across the country, low-income omega housing projects and the more run-down areas of some cities were reporting an uptick in birthrates, abuse, and mysterious incidents at the seedier side of late-night businesses. Everything from arson to robberies and everything in between was cropping up in these reports. The problem was that reporting was sporadic, and the few overlapping records didn't show everything.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he sighed and prepared to spend another vacation day holed up inside. Normally at this time of year, he would take the family on a vacation, either to the beach bungalows or the mountain cabins, for the holiday. But as the children got older and more independent, the less time they wanted to spend as a family together. Liona was at the beach with her friends for her last hurrah before her summer school session started. The girls were entertaining Erik for his birthday at one of their bungalows, and according to the night watchman in charge of the properties, nothing was amiss. Both sets of twins were at summer camps this year for various activities of their choosing.
Cross-checking the records and sorting them took all morning, so when he finally had a better idea of what was what, he made calls to the branch office. As he was on the phone, he felt his mate's presence enter the room, but ignored her for now, since she would wait patiently for him to finish his business. He loved her eternally and felt blessed for her patience when he was busy. When he finished his call, before he could turn around, he felt Vivi's arms wrap around him as she leaned against the back of his chair and hugged him that way. He turned slightly and pulled her onto his lap, and kissed her affectionately.
"What's wrong, my love?" Vivi snuggled up to Leon on his lap.
Leon sighed. "It seems my presence is required across the country, and it's not something I can delegate."
"Is it something you can share with me? What seems to be the trouble that requires you personally to be present?" Vivi looked up at her handsome husband with love and support filling her pheromones. Anything to make his job easier, she would do for him.
"I can share it, but it may be distressing for you, my lovely goddess." Leon pecked his eternally lovely mate's cheek in response to her loving and supportive pheromones.
"Leon, when have I ever been off-put by something related to your job? I understand all too well the things that go on behind closed doors, even with the advancement of our society." Vivi stroked Leon's cheek gently as she stared deeply into his eyes. She was unwavering in her support of him. Nothing he could say would shock her.
Sighing once more, Leon dove into his findings, and how it seemed the local offices of the EEA had not been fully informed on each matter. So individual reports were filed, but not once did someone take the time to put two and two together and stop to think that they could be related.
"So you see, if I don't go in person to sort this out and knock some heads together, nothing will be done. It's also long overdue for an inspection at each branch and how it's been managed ever since we implemented smaller city branches under the larger branches of my mother's era."
"I understand your frustration, Leo. Just remember that nothing is perfect and only time will tell if this new system will work the kinks out or if it requires a heavier hand with guidance."
Although she didn't believe in corporal punishment for children, she believed in it for adults who proved themselves incapable of being respectable humans in a society that should long since have been rid of the issues that had existed for far too long. And if an agency of the government meant to aid in helping the people was failing to distinguish obvious patterns of the less fortunate in society, then it was high time they were educated thoroughly in their jobs again. If they still refused to look further, then they could be easily replaced with the people that had proper respect for not only their jobs, but society from all walks of life, regardless of their own personal status.
"So, when do you have to leave?" Vivi would have preferred to spend her upcoming heat with her mate, but she knew that wasn't always feasible. She would just have to suppress it and go about her daily life and look forward to Leon's return.
"That's the other thing, my lovely goddess. I need a trustworthy doctor specializing in omega medicine to help me with my investigation. Someone who understands and isn't afraid to get their hands dirty in the field." Leon smiled warmly at his brilliant wife.
"Oh my! Then it seems you need not look any further, my handsome and oh so smart husband. I find myself in need of a vacation. Instead, I feel a working vacation will be just the thing!" Vivi laughed as Leon hugged her and kissed her passionately.
"I think that can be arranged." Leon stood up with his wife in his arms and headed for their room.
Later that day, with their travel itinerary set, they spoke to their younger children and made sure they understood Liona was to be in charge when they got back from their summer camp. When they tried to reach Liona, they got Allison answering their daughter's phone instead. It turned out that their eldest daughter had gone into heat again and was going to be staying a couple of extra days to be on the safe side.
Leon expressed concern, but Vivi held his arm gently, as if to remind him of her age and close proximity to a non-family alpha as of late. He vaguely remembered that his mate had gone through something similar around that same age and that it was a rite of passage for a young sigma omega of their lineage. Sighing in defeat about his baby all grown up, but still just a child in so many ways, he had no choice but to respect that she was responsible enough to manage her heats without their help and she could full-well ask for it if necessary.
After checking in with the children, Leon double-checked the security system and set Liona as admin while he was away with Vivi. They would both be too busy to arm and disarm the system. On their way out the door, his mate reminded him to check-in with Julie and let her know that if she had any issues that she could bring them up with Liona until their return. Once that was out of the way, they headed for the airport. Their family's private jet was waiting in the hangar to take them to their destination.
On the flight, the two discussed the serious matters concerning the uptick in omega pregnancy and the few that had reported abuse all had concerning marks on their backs. Some had difficulty with the idea of terminating and were choosing to go through with the pregnancy of their attacker. Some would require a delicate hand in coaxing information about their abuse, as they were more thoroughly examined. A lot of these victims came from the underbelly of society that, sadly, many still looked down on, and despite system reforms, were still falling through the cracks. They often could not rise out of such a way of life and perpetuated the cycle because of fear.
The other thing he was to deal with was the lack of cohesive reporting and the events that happened and sort out exactly what or why these things were happening and bob for the rotten apples that seemed to poison the agency with their carelessness.