“So, what’s different about your prosthetic compared to the ones they use now?”
I smiled impressed that he was paying attention. “Mine is more of an implant, it works with the body rather than replacing it.”
He leaned back and studied me for a long moment. “That is interesting. Tell me more.”
“Well, I don’t expect that it will work in all cases. In some situations, if the tissue isn’t completely destroyed and can be saved even if the bone can’t be, this would allow the doctors to implant my product in place of the bone wrapped in simulated tissue. The simulated tissue would give the natural tissue something to adhere to and repair itself where it can. It reduces the chances of the body rejecting the implant. The implant looks like the inside of your leg or arm for lack of a better term wrapped in muscle and other tissues.”
“That sounds, incredible.”
“Thank you. I hope it offers people an option anyway. Having an implant doesn’t make it easier to learn to walk again or use your hands again, but, you don’t have to remove your limb every night before you go to bed and I think that helps with the emotional and mental aspect of the healing process.”
“Sounds like you have some experience behind you. How much research did you do?”
“A good amount, although not as much as I think the hospital would have liked but it’s hard to get test subjects. Mainly because, the decision to use it has to be made before the affected limb is removed.”
Toni came back with our plates before he could ask me anymore. I was worried I would have to tell him about my personal experience and I really didn’t want to go into that. Although, I had a feeling he would understand.
The burger was huge, and the fries came on a separate plate. I removed the knife from the utensils wrapped in a paper napkin and cut it in half. It smelled heavenly. Toni had delivered a burger to Mac.
“Your usual?” I smiled nodded at his plat.
“Yeah.” He shrugged. He then cut his in half as well.
We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. After I had a couple of bites of my burger and a couple of fries, I was starting to feel normal again.
“Can I ask you something, and please don’t take this the wrong way.”
He raised his eyebrows at me and wiped the paper napkin across his mouth. “Shoot.”
“My grandfather didn’t put you up to this did he?” I regretted asking as soon as the words let my mouth. I had to know if this was some sort of pity date. He looked surprised for just a moment.
“Does your grandfather often arrange dates for you?” Touche`
“No, actually until this weekend I hadn’t seen in a few years.”
“So why do you think he would set you up on a date?”
“Well, before you and the others arrived at the house for the card game, he was quizzing me on my personal life.” I was feeling worse by the minute for asking. “I’m so sorry, please can we forget I said anything?” I felt the heat rising in my cheeks.
He leaned back in his seat. “Sure, consider it forgotten.”
I dropped my eyes to my plate, and I drug a French fry back and forth in the ketchup.
“You okay?” he asked, trying to get the conversation back on an even keel.
“Sure.” I said not looking up. I put the fry down and picked up my burger. Before I took a bite, I looked up at him. He was watching me intently.
“So, are you working on anything interesting at work you can talk about?” I tried to change the subject. Then I bit into my burger to allow him time to answer.
“Oh well, I don’t know if you would find it very interesting. We had a missing boy the other day. He was found safe, but it was intense for about twelve hours.”
“Oh, that is terrible. I can imagine that was very stressful. What happened?”
“He got mad at his mother and ran away. Quantico is a big place and he never made it off the base.”
“Still there are some places on base that aren’t safe for a little boy.” I said.
“You’re right. Fortunately, he didn’t wonder onto the firing range or anything. We found him in an empty building asleep with his camping gear.”
“Smart kid, how old was he?”
“Twelve. His dad is deployed so he is having a rough time right now.”
“I can imagine.”
“Was your dad in the military?” Mac asked me.
“When I was very young yes, but I never really had issues with him being gone then. When he took over the family business, he was out of town a lot or worked late. However, he took me to work with him as much as he could.” I smiled at the memory.
“And you’re in charge of the company now?”
“Yes, I’m trying to add this new medical research and development division to it.”
He nodded. “How long have you been in control of the company?”
“A few years. My father passed away and the company went to my mother, it was her family that started the company and then when she passed it came to me.”
“That must have been quite an adjustment.”
“You have no idea. I had to run it for the first year from Afghanistan. Drove the corporate lawyers crazy.”
“Why didn’t you come home right away?” he asked.
“I was under contract and I had an assignment to finish, it wasn’t like I could just up and leave to run a company and at the time I wasn’t really sure I wanted to run it. Things happen for a reason. And here I am.” He seemed to know there was more to that story, but he let it go. “How long have you been with NCIS?”
“Fifteen years.”
“Do you travel a lot for your job?”
“Not as much now as I did when I was
