Sand and Snow

Steven looked up "I will sir " he said seeing Dakota head dropping as she "ok some one's sleepy" he said and picked her up moving her to Khaat "she's tired Khaat" he said and sat her on her knee smiling.


Cassidy had given up on the gym and changed her clothes to a swim suit, diving into the pool she focused on doing as many laps as possible, back and forth she paused after 6 for a brake enjoying the calm water of the pool round her.

"Thank you, Steven," Khaat said, folding Dakota into her. Dakota curled into Khaat easily and soon had dropped off into a sound sleep. Her father brought in the pot of tea and a number of mugs. He poured the tea and passed around the chocolate tea to those who had wanted it.

Meanwhile, Brian had hit the pool as Robert had instructed. Brian didn't realize how much stress and tension he needed to burn off until he'd gotten in and started to burn off some of the steam he'd built up. He watched Cassidy in the pool and said to her, "You know, if you keep your legs a bit straighter, you'll find you don't tire as easily and swim a bit farther. Your form isnt' bad, but if its endurance you're after, you need to straighten yourself just a little bit. Not stiff, just straight. How many laps are you making right now?"

Steven smiled "my pleasure , I need the practice " he said and smiled again at her turning he said no more and pored a cup of tea he wanted to try something different and the tea tasted great he moved to a seat with a biscuit and smiled " ow would you like me to put her in her crib?" he asked placing down his cup beside him.

Cassidy looked up at Brian as he dove into the pool and sighed "Thanks but only 6 right now could managed about 9 couple of months ago" she said " would if I could I got caught on barbed wire rescuing a nine month old baby caught the muscle, Don't know why its been stiff ever since" she turned so he could see the scar across the back of the leg.

"If you don't mind," Khaat said. "My mother is still up there with Abbey, I'm sure. Oh, and there are bottles in the fridge if you want to give one to Dakota. It helps her get past fighting sleep when she has warm milk in her tummy."

Brian looked at Cassidy's scar. He touched the back of her leg. "That's because you haven't done enough of the right rehab on that muscle. That's one of the big muscles that's damaged. Here--try this." He showed her a couple of water exercises for her leg. "Work on those. Try ten repetitions for today of each one. If that goes well for a couple days, we'll try twenty repetitions of each one. It's fixable, but you do need to do the right rehab on it, or you wont get it back like you should. You know, Khaat's going to need a lot of rehab because of her ankles and her problem with being severelly overweight. Robert and I have tried to avoid hospitalizing her for her weight. But now that we know the reason, there's no reason to hospitalize her. But if you do your rehab when she does her full body rehab, it might make her less self conscious. She's used to regular workouts, and she' s not going to be up to it for quite awhile. Unless you mind working out when she does," he said.

Steven picked up a warm bottle Dakota grabbed for it and Steven let her hand it as he walked up to the bedroom Dakota cradled in his arms "Hi Kate" he said softly motioning to the now half sleeping Dakota "I forgot how cute they look at this age, hope my next looks as cute" he smiled at Kate knowing she of all would catch on but he knew as well she'd have her mind on Khaat right now "will Khaat get her strength back?" he asked placing Dakota down and covering her up.

Cassidy winced as he touched it she watched the movements and copied wincing a second time and sighed "I can feel the muscle pulling, hurts a little, is it supposed to do that ?" she said continuing the movements.

"Yeah," Kate said. "She will. Brian is good at rehabilitation. Not just training. If I know that boy, he already has a program in mind to get her back in bikini shape by swimsuit season. And I'm sure your next will be beautiful. Why the big secret, though, Steven?"

"Yes," Brian said. "It will hurt. Its lost flexibility and movement. Its stoved up. Its going to have to learn how to stretch and loosen up. Just don't push too hard. If you overdo it, you'll tear it and then it'll take weeks to get it to where it is now. Gently. Don't try to stretch it so far. A little stretch is good. Too much is, well, too much."

He dove under the water and swam the length of the pool underwater. He wanted to work on his breath control and his core strength.

Steven looked at her "with everything going on i guess I felt Khaat was my priority right now Delilah..."he sighed and smiled "Delilah and Dylan know I will be away for a while, she's the most beautiful and caring woman, she's got nothing to do with work I guess that's why I can relax when I'm with her, And Dylan is the cutest four year old you could imagine" he could not help smile "I...I am going to ask her to marry me, I did before i came back last time , she said yes but I'm going to make it official at the valentines dance" he said taking out the small box he had been carrying to show her the white gold and diamond ring he carried.

Cassidy sighed and slowed her pace down watched him swim soon she finished and began her laps again this time adding an extra one to her lap count.

"Its a beautiful ring," Kate said. "I'm sure she'll love it. And there are a lot of advantages to having a companion who isn't involved in the same line of work that you do. After all, look at Robert and me. We've been married a long time, and we're not in the same fields. It worked out well. Khaat and Brian? I don't know. They just grew up together. Its a good fit. You'll get along just fine."

"Good. Much better," Brian said. "You'll get it. Just keep working on it. It'll be fine. That's enough for today. You don't want to do a full workout before bedtime, or it will raise your adrenalin enough that you won't be able to sleep tonight. You're better off doing a heavier workout in the morning."

Steven smiled glad some on understood "yeah I felt I made that mistake with Ronata and wanted this time to keep my privet life separate to work, Kate I was wondering if .. you, Brian, Khaat and all the others would come to the wedding when we set the date " he reached into his suit placing the box back and taking out a piece of paper. "I got the licence that same morning along with adoption papers for Dylan" he placed the licence back away.


Cassidy moved to the side of the pool moving now rubbing her to sit on the edge of it rubbing her calf gently as she then stood up feeling it sore but less tense than it had been. "Thanks " she said and moved to shower and head for her room grabbing a robe as she passed, she didn't tie it but walked past the kitchen turning she saw Angus cooking and sighed.

"I'm sure we all will, " Kate smiled. "I'm sure it will be fine." She covered the babies each with a blanket and turned the light down low so they could rest. "I'm hoping Robert sends Khaat to bed soon. I know its still early, but she really does need her rest. I'm surprised Robert let her out of bed today at all. I really thought he would wait til tomorrow."


Brian finished his workout, dressed and returned upstairs to the living room to find that Robert was reading some sort of a new potions book, and Angus was busy in the kitchen, preparing dough for baking in the morning. Khaat, in the meantime was in a half doze on the sofa. "Maybe I should take her up to bed," Brian said very softly to Robert.

"I'm fine," Khaat said yawning.

"Okay, Suit yourself," Brian shrugged.