Sand and Snow

Casidy continued with the flowers and baloons she looked back over her shouler as she stood on a chair " don't look at me ether " she said and chuckled and hung more balloons till she was satified it was done stepping down she moved to the kitchen and cut the bread into slices the suryp he didn't know how to make or if they had any in and so moved to call Angus "angus wheres the syrup?" she asked chukaling as she saw Abby throw a piece of banana at him .

Steven placed them in the high chairs and heard the comments he smiled "ok guess it was me " he chuckled " she must have seen me banging on the fences and copied " he said " then again could be Brian or Khaat " hekicking grinned a balloon into the air and hearing the girls chuckle as they watched it float about.

"Its the white syrup in the blue glass pitcher in the fridge," Angus said. "I just haven't gotten to making the french toast yet. Khaat and Brian are eating upstairs. At least until Khaat's warmed up and until I have time to take care of Brian's knee for him. He did too much with it." He went back to feeding Abbey who was having a great time at breakfast. But when she decided she'd had enough she started to stick pieces of banana back out of her mouth with her tongue.

"Done, are we?" Angus laughed. "Ok. That's enough, then." He wiped her face and hands off for her, picked her up out of the high chair and put her on the floor. She crawled off into the living room. "I presume you can cope with Dakota, Steven? I'll go help in the kitchen." He got up and went into the kitchen to help get breakfast ready.

Upstairs, between the tea and the warmth, Khaat was getting sleepy. "Hey," Brian nudged her gently. "You go to sleep now, you'll miss breakfast. Come on. Just a few more minutes, I promise."

"I need coffee," she groaned.

"Later. Tea now, Coffee later," he told her. He tapped the bottom of her tea mug to coax her to drink a bit more tea. "Can you tell me why you did all that?"

"I can't do this anymore," she said very softly.

"Do what?"

"Hurt everyone I'm around. I can't do it."

"So you were running?"

"No, not like that. I just..."

"We'll handle it. The people around you are strong enough to deal with it. You just need to trust us. Trust me. I know you're tired of things not going right in your life and of all the heartache. But just wait. Don't go right now. Thats all I ask. Just wait."

"Okay," she sighed. "I'll try."

cassidy opened the fridge and loked for the blue pitcher finding it at the back , taking it out she placed it onthe counter and stood back up " shouldn't some one take up breackfast to Brian and K haat ?"she asked taking aou deep breath she spoke again "if its ok with you I'll do it " she said feeling she owed them an apology for being the way she had been . She looked at Angus hoping he would agree or at least tell her why she should not just yet .

Steven watched Abby crawl to the living room as she continued to feel Dakota "ow no wories " he said and hande her some potatoe witch she bit into then after banging it she threw " I think she's finishe d any way" he lifted her anc carried her threw to th living room where Abbey was playing with a stuffed rabbit on the floor.

"Fine by me," Angus said. "But realize that the more chamomile tea Brian has pumped into her and the more that he warms her up, the sleepier she'll become. Its just part of the hypothermia. You might not be able to talk much to her. She'll be lucky to be awake by the time the breakfast trays arrive, if I know Brian. If I can give you a word of advice, I'd suggest you simply be yourself. Be friendly, and go forward as if nothing at all was different. Trust me."

He finished the french toast and plated it with a couple of eggs and small dishes of mixed berries. He added a small pitcher of syrup to the breakfast tray for Khaat and Brian to share, and got out ice packs from the freezer for Brian's knee. He also set a glass with a dose of pain potion on the tray. "There. I think you're ready to go. I know it looks like a very full tray, but i think if you're careful, you'll find that you can handle it. By the time you get back, I'll have ours set up at the table."

Cassidy nodded at his advice and once moe took a deep breath picking up the tray she headed up the stairs and to the door to their room , knocking she pushed open the door she wa;ked in "breakfast " she said placing it down on the bedside table " how is she?" she asked " everything is ready for the party " she said pouring out two cups of tea and held one out to brian the other she place on Khaats side of the bed seeing how sleepy she looked. "all the animals are all taken care of and the girls are dress and fed and playing down stairs " she acioed an ice pack and gently placed it on his knee .

"The warmer she gets, the sleepier she gets," Brian laughed. "Its a good thing you got here when you did. I don't know if I could have kept her awake much longer. I do want her to eat, though, before she goes to sleep. Thank you. I know this is one of her favorites, and we don't do it very often. Not sure why." When Cassidy put the ice pack on his knee, he said. "Thank you. Khaat' drew the pain and swelling off for awhile, but I know it'll be back. This may help fend some of that off. Thanks for taking care of the party for us. Neither of us counted on this for today. I'm sure after Khaat has a little sleep she'll be back to herself again, and I'll be fine. I just want to stay with her for a bit, that's all. That, and I know better than to be in Michael's way when he's handling a party. I'm better up here. Believe me," Brian smiled. "How are the girls? You said they're up and they ate. That's good. I"m sure Max and Mo will have a good eye on them.

Brian took the tray and put it across his lap and said "I think I can handle it from here. If we forgot anything for the party, let me know. Oh, and Kate's gifts are stashed in my office closet. I hid them from not only Kate but from little fingers that might be curious." He brushed Khaat's cheek softly. "Hey, Sleepyhead. wake up. I want you to try to eat."

"Later?" she asked.

"No," he said. "Now. Its important." He cut aa piece of the french toast for her and put a bit of syrup on it and fed it to her. It made her smile slightly. "Havent had that for a long time, have we?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "Its good. I missed it."

"Me too," he said. He looked at Cassidy. "We'll do our best. I'll send the tray down when we're done."

Cassidy smiled and nodded "I think i saw them eating the bits Dakota and abby threw on the floor " she said loking at them both "i'm ...i'm glad your both ok " she said looking at them "Angus taought me how to make the bread , and I think we got everthing set up , I'll get the presant closer to the time " she said and smiled " I am glad your both ok " and headed back down to the kitchen and Angus " Brian said he'd send down the tray once there finished she said as she sat at the table an gathered her breakfast on her plate " Khaat is tired and Brians knee was swolen but Khat took it away and the pain i put an ice pack on it any way " she told him.

"Good," Angus said. "Good job. You wanna know something? If Brian were still living in Paris, Robert would have operated and repaired Brian's knee already in the infirmary in the headquarters. Brian would be already up again and would be at work at his desk in his office. He doesn't let anything stop him. Its almost a good thing that he's learned to slow things down now. Truth? I'm glad he has Khaat in his life. He's actually doing things he enjoys again instead of doing nothing but work. And he's a good dad. If you'd have told him last year this time that he would be a dad, he'd have headslapped anybody who said it. It was the furthest thing from his mind. And love? Well, that was even further away from him. It was even farther away from Khaat's mind when it came to falling in love with Brian. They were so weird when Brian took her in." He laughed. "They refused to surrender until it just became unavoidable. Let's go eat."

He went to the table and sat down and poured syrup over his french toast. "I can see why Khaat likes this. I'll have to make a mental note to serve it more in the summer time. The coconut syrup will be a nice summery treat."

Cassidy listened to him realizing there might be hope for her yet and she smiled as she ate " yeah would be good as a summer breackfast , but its good even now " she saingloving how the bread had turned out " breads good , thanks for teaching me that recipy " she said grinning as he saw Steven eating his breackfast and she shook her head at how f down for breakfast he realised he ahd patrol ast he ate.



steven sat remmbering he'd not patroled this moring he ate fast finishing he dove for the door pausing he lookedat Angus and Cassidy " thanks for the breakfast " he said and grabing pice of bread to eat as he patoroled .

Angus laughed. The next thing he knew he heard sounds of apparating all over the house. Things apparating in. He leaped to his feet and raced into the living room towards the girls and tripped headlong onto the floor over something. He ended up flat on his face. He heard Dakota and Abbey giggling at him. He looked to see what he had tripped over. It was a large brown paper bag of groceries. Now there were various fruits and vegetables rolling all over the living room floor.

"What the hell?" he mumbled. Then he sighed. "Michael. The man really needs apparating practice. Cassidy!" he called.