Sand and Snow

Cassidy chuckled at brains responce to her question and nodded "yes you did , I don't think it ws too bad but enouph " she said glancing over to where Khaat now talked with her father then up at Angus as he stood holding crutches "mught give you some time to be with Khaat more " she said looking at him . she looked at Khaat as she as ked her to see his wounds "ok " she moved back to let her and stood up beside Angus .

Cassidy breathed out As she said the war was over and asked them to take Brian and Robert up to the living room for ice packs "ow yeah, im discovering talents i didn't know I had. " she chuckled and moved to brian "ok ice pack then babies to sleep " she said .

"If we're smart, we'll do that the other way around," Brian said. "If they miss their bedtime, they really are miserably cranky." He went upstairs with Cassidy. Kate had managed to get both babies asleep and had them laying on the sofa. Brian sank into a chair heavily, hurting already from being on his knee, He could hear Robert following.

Angus had lingered to be sure Khaat got back upstairs without tiring. When they reached the living room, Angus said. "Sit, Khaat." She sat in a chair, tired. Angus went over to Brian and motioned the footstool over to Brian. He elevated his leg on the footstool and put a couple of pillows under his knee. Angus deliberately set the crutches out of Brian's reach so he would either have to summon them magically or work harder to get to them. He was hoping Cassidy was putting on one of Robert's flavored teas and then getting ice packs.

"Well, three on this disabled list. Thats a bit different," Angus said. "So how long before you're better?"

"Well, I'll be moving my arm again in 24-48 hours," Robert said. "Brian may well need a bit of surgery on that knee to speed up the healing. We'll see. Perhaps 3 weeks if we do surgery. Could be 6 or 8 weeks minimum without it before he can start rehab on it. And Khaat, well, that's going to take awhile. She has to get back up to a healthy weight, get up to a healthy nutrition level in her blood stream, rehab her ankles, and rehab everything else that went sour when her ankles and her weight went sour. So that's whole other matter altogether. But she should be back in her bikini in Tuscany by summer if she works at it."

"I don't think she is working on it to get back into a bikini," Kate said, picking up Abbey very gently. Abbey started to wake just slightly, and Kate just cuddled her for a moment to get her to go back to sleep. She took her upstairs to bed, not commenting one way or another on the duel. She was used to it.

Cassidy made sure Brian was settled and moved to the kitchen washing her hands she returned with a fresh pot of tea nd ice packs Poring the tea she handed one cup to each man and Khaat " I'll take Dakota up" she gently lifted her into her arms finding she was so asleep she just groaned a little as she gently rocked her gently as she hummed softly as she moved gently moved up the stairs to follow Kate into the nursary " here's number two " she said softly and placed her down in the crib at the sleeping baby .

Cassidy tyhen headed back down stairs knowing they would be fine with kate , shee moved to the kitchen and pored a cup of coffee for hersel the living room then walked back tothe living room and an empty chair.

"Thank you, Cassidy," Kate said. She covered both babies, turned on a magical stuffed singing kitty that sang lullabyes, and turned on the dim nursery lamp. Once she was sure all was well, she went downstairs.

By the time she got there, Cassidy was serving tea and hading out ice packs. Everyone was thanking her for taking care of the tea and for all her help. Khaat heard Robert talking about the necessity of surgery for Brian's knee. Brian wasn't interested. He was insisting that they do things the old fashioned way, even if it did take longer.

Khaat knew too well that her father was right, and she knew that the surgery would be either an outpatient surgery and he would be home the same day, or that he would be released the next day. But she felt his fear with crystal clear accuracy. He was afraid to leave her.

"Brian," Khaat said. "I want you to do it. If you like, I'll go stay with you there."

"No," Brian said. "You're less safe there than any place else. The security there sucks. Flat out. No, I don't want you there."

"Its where I work," she said very gently, not trying to provoke him.

"We can do this the old fashioned way and just give it time."

"I'll be alright. I need you to do the right thing. Brian--its important Please."

"Not until and unless we have a good security plan," he said firmly

Cassidy just smiled and nodded as she drank her coffee listening as they talked about Brians sergary " if it was me day patiant would mean that there would be less security issues " she said "you'd only need some one there while your recovering " she said and shrugged "thats in my opinion " she said looking at Angus and Khaat . Blowing over her coffee she sat back quiet again as she listened. After awhile she moved to the kitchen and placed her cup in the sink turning to check the bread .

"You're being stupid, Lad," Robert said. "Do you forget who I am? Do you forget I can bring over everyone from any of the offices we have if I have to? Do you forget I can bring every ministry auror to protect her because she is the chief warlock. Cassidy is exactly right. Khaat needs you up on your feet as soon as possible, with as little down time as possible. You do this the old fashioned way, its going to take you 2 months maybe longer. You do it my way, you are only compromised for perhaps a couple of weeks. Or are you just afraid of surgery?"

"No," Brian scowled. "Wouldn't be the first time that happened...."

"So then do the right thing. I can't work you into my schedule though for another two days. So you have tomorrow off. Then we'll do it."

"Schedule it," Khaat said. "He'll be there."

"I will?" Brian asked. "I dont' believe I said that."

"No. I did. I need you and the girls need their father. You're going to do the right thing. Got that?"

Brian looked at Steven, Cassidy and Angus. Do you think you can manage for a day or for overnight?"

Cassidy listened and nodded "I got nothing extra to do, though Steven don't you have that check up with Delilah tomorrow afternoon."she asked reminding him Cassidy walked back in from the kitchen and sat down near the window but looking at them all trying to keep her eyes of Angus and on Brian and Robert .


Steven growned as she reminded him of the check up Delilah hand "ow right its her first , we'll know then what were having " he sa id grinning "guess i could meet you there since its at St Mongos " he said tryingto find some way he could do both things at the same time.

"No," Robert said. "Not tomorrow. The day after. You'll be fine for your appointment, Steven. I'm tied up tomorrow. I can't do it then. Brian will need to wait another day. Besides, its better for him and his knee both if we keep his knee iced at least a full day before I do this. It will reduce the swelling before I aggravate it a bit more. You'll be fine for your appointment, Steven."

Khaat was losing patience with all of this. Her mother's birthday dinner was tomorrow night. That was why her father was postponing this with Brian. He knew Brian would want to be there. He was merely buying time for Brian. And she didn't doubt that her father was busy without her being there working right now. She felt obligated to go back and to make things work. She said nothing. She felt her stress level escalating. She was feeling a high need to do things for herself. To be able to walk the hospital hallways without a guard. To go to work and come home without being hunted. To stop off on a whim at a shop if she so desired. Didn't look like that was likely to be a part of her life anymore until Gelding and Burke were dead.

Cassidy listened and nodded as the problem was resolved with moving it one day she chuckled realizing it was kates birthday she sat up "Angus is liz making the you know what or should we?" she ask ho he would know what she meant as she wanted to do something for the party . She stood up and walked over to him and lent close to him "is liz bringing the cake or should we make one?" she whispered moving to look at him.

Steven breathed out and smiled "thanks the healer said twins but we wanace goingt to be sure " he grined at them his f all new fatherish and he heard Cassidy chuckle ms ssed his ar he looked at her "what?" hes said and crossed his arms smirking at them.

Khaat wasn't sure why Cassidy was bringiing up the cake right now with her mother in the room. She was hoping to keep her surprised. Angus just smiled slightly, confident. "All done," he said. He didn't want to come out and tell Cassidy that when Michael Tremaine said to stay out of the kitchen, that just wasnt for the main course. It was also for dessert. He had it under control.

No one had missed that Steven had gotten a girl pregnant again before he married her. Khaat couldn't understand what his issue was. Pregnant, already? as far as she knew, Steven hadn't known this girl very long and was already planning a wedding, and already moving ahead with a family. As much as she wanted to be happy for him, it just seemed like he was repeating his rush to romance like he had with Ronata. That was, most likely, why he hadn't talked about it much here. And that was alright with her. It was his life and his business. For her, it just felt like he never learned.

And Cassidy was so lonely and feeling left out that she was doing her best to flirt with Angus. He wasn't rejecting her, but he was not comfortable at all moving at a quick pace. He'd been hurt by love before, and if someone wanted him to take a chance again, they'd have to learn to go at a lot slower pace than Steven Walker ever knew possible or would ever have tolerated.