Sand and Snow

Steven smiled and nodded he breathed out the hard part was over and he relaxed "yeah she looked pretty tired when I brought up Dakota earlier" his face now smiling " thank you Kate, I know I made mistakes but not this time, I feel it " he spoke softly to her so not to wake the babies as he moved back down stairs grabbing a cup of coffee as he went now in his mind he was planning the wedding.

Cassidy showered and changed into some black silk pyjamas and robe moving back down she made herself some hot coco and sat cross legged on a chair.

Kate came back downstairs to find Khaat now more asleep than awake on the sofa. She went over to her daughter and woke her. "Its time you went to bed. You have nothing to prove. You'll feel better if you give it some time. You'll feel better in the morning. Its been a long road just getting this far. Give in. Go to bed." She looked at Brian. "Off with you. Take her to bed. Now."

"Yes, Ma'am," Brian repressed every urge to laugh. He decided he would just obey. Besides, it did help that Kate waas right. He went over to Khaat. "She's right. You can pull an allnighter with us in another night or so. We'll get Lizzie to make us a pizza and we can rent some old muggle horror movies or something.

"Sounds like fun to me. They're so funny. Muggles have no idea what werewolves or vampires really even look like,. That takes all the scare right out of those," Khaat smiled. Brian picked her up.

"Say goodnight, Khaat," Brian laughed.

"Goodnight, All," Khaat said. Her parents bid her goodnight, and Brian took her upstairs to bed.

When Khaat woke, she heard the shower running. Brian's side of the bed had been slept in, and he was up. By the looks of it, he'd snapped back to his normal routine of working out early and coming back up and showering. LIfe was at least partly back in a normal rhythm.

Brian soon dressed and came back out from the bathroom. He saw her and smiled. "Did I wake you?" he asked. He came over and kissed her.

"No," she said. "So are you back to your routine?"

"Yes," Brian said. "And it feels good. I didn't lose much, I don't think."

"Good," she said. "Brian...."

"Don't say it," he put a finger on her lips. "We're alright. Forget it. Lets just go forward. Okay?"

"You're sure?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Okay. Then let me shower?"

"Too bad you didn't think of that ten minutes ago," he grinned. "It would have been a great shower for two. You do know you'll still need my help, right?"

"Just get me started and then get us some coffee?" she asked.

"Okay," he said. Twenty minutes later, she was up, showered, dressed, and he was helping her to try to walk again--slowly and with his help, downstairs to breakfast.

"Thank you, Steven," Khaat said. "Did you pull a muscle, Cassidy?"

"She did, and I'm on it," Brian said. He walked over and just laid his hand on her calf. "Its fine. Its just not used to being worked in that way. If its too uncomfortable, add a heat pack to it for awhile. It'll take the pain away in no time flat. Remember, part of rehab is not pushing yourself to do more than the program calls for. Did you do some additional stuff after I gave you those stretches? That might be adding to the pain a bit. Heat this morning on it, and then go bck to doing only the stuff I gave you to do plus just about half the laps in the pool that you want to do. That should put us in the right ballpark, I would think. We can start there."

"Has anyone seen the girls this morning?" Khaat asked.

"We know what its like, Cassidy," Khaat called. "We've all done it. Its just that Brian is a real task master when it comes to rehab." That was the truth too. Brian was meticulous regarding making sure everyone that worked for him was in peak condition. And that included Khaat, even though, she was not one of his employees.

"Breakfast," Angus called. "Come eat." Khaat could smell eggs, bacon, and fresh scones--along with the wonderful smell of French Roast. Brian reached under her shoulders and helped her to her feet.

"Should we go get Cassidy and tell her breakfast is ready?" Khaat asked "Or do you think she'll be down in time? Cold eggs are just nasty."

Khaat did not understand Cassidy's mood. It just didn't make sense. Khaat didn't know if perhaps she just hadn't been in the sittuation that she had to ever have to do much rehab. Perhaps she wasn't accepting of the fact that she had just a pulled muscle and she would have to retrain it. Khaat knew she was in good hands with Brian. In fact, Khaat didn't know of anyone any better to help her get full flexibility back. But the weird mood just didn't make sense. And it reminded her a lot of Ronata's quirky moods. It made her want to pull away from her.

Khaat tried to ignore the mood and just enjoy having breakfast and enjoy being able to feed the girls again. Brian and Angus had gotten speedier at feeding Dakota who knew how to make major trouble with her food at meal time. Khaat, on the other hand, seemed to be just attached to Abbey, like kindred spirits. Abbey was as peaceful and happy as Dakota was precocious. And Abbey's peaceful cheerfulness was pleasant for Khaat. She laughed at Dakota, but she really enjoyed every moment she got with Abbey.

"So whats on the schedule for today?" Khaat asked.