Finding Femininity

"I understand your need to rescue kids," Angus said. "We all do. But doing it alone? Against Gelding? That's just a really suicidal thing to do. I'm surprised you didn't get yourself into a whole lot of trouble. Part of me wishes that Robert would have taken out Gelding too tonight."

"We werent' there for that," Robert said. "And we've have been sorely outnumbered. We had to settle for what we had."

"I know. Look, I'll stay up with you and Kate, and I'll..." Angus began.

"You'll go to bed," Robert ordered. "All of you. Kate and I have this. It will keep til morning. I fully expect for things to be perhaps a bit less tense for awhile with Burke out of the way, but that doesn't mean we can go slack. Go. I'll see you all in the morning."

Brian didn't have to be told twice. "I'm heading to bed," he said. He really didn't care if he went to bed or not, but he wanted to go up to see Khaat himself and reassure himself that she was alright.

Cassidy looked at Angus and sighed " don't you think i know that now , thanks to Robert he tought me theres no shame in being part of a team in fact, its more of an honer than i knew it to be " she said and looked at him " like you said i was lucky not to run into burke only his lakys but if i had god only knows what he would have done " she looked at Robert as he spoke and chuckled as Angus was ordered to bed .

"I have the cookies to take of the trays to cool for the night " she said hoping to stay up a little longer after angus had gone " then i'll join you...I mean in bed....i mean i'll go to bed " she said blushing a little " sorry " she said

Angus resisted the temptation to laugh at her, stumbling all over herself. He merely raised an eyebrow slightly at her and said quietly. "Goodnight, Cassidy. Leave the pans and dishes. I'll clean them with the breakfast dishes in the morning."

"You are the one who needs the rest most of all," Robert told Angus. "You weren't supposed to be up til morning."

"I'm fine," he told Robert, "but I'll see you in the morning." He went upstairs.

Brian went upstairs and found Khaat sitting, staring out the window, her teacup in her hands. He went over and sat with her. "You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I should never have frozen. I should have..."

"Stop. You had every right."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not giving up on me. For getting me through that and not taking that shot away from me. I really did need to do that."

"Yes. You did. You have to be tired though. Come to bed. You need some sleep."


Brian and Khaat slipped into exhausted sleeps and neither of them moved much until morning. Brian could not tear himself to go to the gym to work out until he knew if she was okay or not. But to his relief, she woke feeling relatively well, at least physically. The nausea was gone. He accio'd coffee and decided to stay and have a cup of coffee with her before going to the gym. He turned her down in going to the gym with him. Instead, she showered and dressed. She chose jeans and a white tank top and a beautiful pink crochetted sweater. She went downstairs with her coffee cup.

Angus was already up and had made a fresh batch of apricot scones, knowing they were her favorite. He had made a beautiful quiche with bacon and swiss cheese and put it in the oven. He'd also made a fresh citrus salad with fresh mint and a beautiful champagne dressing. He was pampering her. She was free of someone who had targetted her for almost a year. It was worth celebrating.

Her parents were up, and her mother was showered and in fresh clothes. Her father was also, and was reading the morning copy of the Daily Prophet with a cup of tea.

"Good morning," he said, glancing up. "Feeling better?"

"Much," she said.

"Where's Brian?"

"The gym."

"That boy," he sighed, putting down his paper and standing up. "I'd better go down there or he'll overdo and make a one day injury into a weeks' disability." He went down to intervene in Brian's gym time.

Cassidy walked down into the kitchen in her night dress " moring " she said with a slight yawn in her voice as she picked up the coffee pot she took a deep breath " mumm apricot scones, nice " she said and yawned again " so is the master back in his kitchen again" she chuckled as she made a cup of coffee for her self then turned to face Angus smiling her feet feeling the cold hard floor under her feet as she sat down at the table .


Steven walked in from the main garden smelling the coffee he moved to the kitchen to make some " hey Angus good to see you back on your feet again " he said " cassidy nice night dress " he said smirking at her reaction to his comment to her and she just drank her coffee. He took his back to the living room .

Jack and jess walked down from the spare room jess was telling jack about what she ahd bene told the twins had been up to and jack was laughing at it all " hey cassidy Angus " nice scones " said jack jess scolded him with a look " ow right no spoiling brekfast , boss's orders " he said and motioned to Jess as she handed him a tea and held her own coffee " cassidy you realy should dress.

Cassidy looked up after Steven jack and jess had left sighed standing she moved back to the stairs " be back in a second " she said slowly walking to her room once washed and dressed she felt more awake and walked back down " ok so what can I help with ?" she said smiling.

"Well, first, why are you letting them bother you about whether you wear your nightgown into another room of the house?" Angus frowned. "You live here. You can wear your nightgown in the kitchen if you want. Stop putting so much value on someone else's opinion. Besides that, most of Khaat's nightgowns are more elegant that most women's evening gowns. Brian spoils her. You were fine." He flicked his wand to send dishes to set the table. "If you want to help, take that little piping bag on the counter, the really small one, and just pipe some little lines of icing in a casual zigzag across the scones. Like this."

He put the scones on a rack that was already on a baking sheet. "This catches the mess. And if you hold the bag like this...you can handle it with one hand as easily as a pen or a pencil." He showed her how to move the piping bag with a fluid motion to create a casual but pretty design of white icing across the scone. "I"m pampering Khaat a bit today. She deserves to celebrate today. She hasn't had Burke off her ass for almost a year. So, I'm doing her favorite scones with a bit of a fancy dressup on them. Can you do this now?"

Cassidy looked at Angus as he spoke " hey, i don't " she said and chuckled " they don't like it, then they shouldn't look " she said with a chuckle to show she wasn't worried about it . She heard him sugest about piping over the scones and watched him pipe the design on one scone " nice thinking, she deserves it " she said " mind if i make one hearts ?" she took the piping bag and showed him what she ment , showing him pregrsivly smaller hearts on the top of the scone as she focused on her icing she bit her bottom lip threw concentration. " there what do you think?" she aasked stepping back to show him.

"Looks fine. There's no right or wrong with it. Just have fun with it. Thats what this is about. Just fun and family," he smiled. "Oh, jeez, my quiche." He grabbed a large kitchen towel and used it as a potholder to take the quiche out of the oven. He checked it and smiled, relieved. "Good. Perfect. Just the way I wanted it. I made an extra large one. Khaat has an extra large quiche pan, I have no idea where the deuce she got it, but it makes just the right amount of quiche. Its a dickens to bake in, though and get the quiche to come out cooked in the center. It has to be done just right so that the center is done but the outside edge isn't burnt. Its really a tricky thing to do. Actually, Khaat showed me the knack to it herself."

Kate went upstairs and came down a few moments later with a baby in each arm. "You know, it won't be much longer before we can't carry the two of them together like this. You'd never know now that they were both premature. Or that Abbey is a month older than Dakota. They've done really exceptionally well, Khaat. You are a wonderful mother."

"I've had a lot of help," Khaat said.

"They're wonderful little girls," Kate smiled. "You should be proud."

"I am."

"Khaat," Kate put the girls on the floor, where Mo and Max almost ran to the babies to greet them. It made Kate laugh. "Those cats are great babysitters."

"Especially Max," Khaat smiled. "Mo gets bored with Dakota easily. Mo's a better babysitter when they're napping."

"I noticed. Khaat, what are your thoughts about last night?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes. I have never asked you to lie."

"I was glad you were all there to make sure I didn't end up getting killed in the process of getting rid of Burke."

"Well, it had to be done," Kate said. "He was a murderous madman. There was no other choice."

"I'd have died if you all hadn't been there," Khaat said softly.

"Thats what family does, Dear," she smiled.

"But...should I have been able to take him myself?"

"No," Kate replied. "Absolutely not. The organization tried for years to get rid of him. He was a difficult target. There was no other way to eliminate him other than as we did. And, your father believes Gelding was actually glad to be rid of him."

"Well, that makes two of us," Khaat sighed, sipping on her coffee. It was getting cold. She debated going to the kitchen to warm it up but she just didn't feel like getting up. So she drank it cold.

Cassidy looked at him as he said it was all about fun and family " you know you should do that more often , it suits you" shesaid seeing him smile as she smiled back . She watched him remeber his quiche she moved things so she made a space for him to put it down " mumm smells wonderful , what did you put in it or is that your secret recipy" she said going back to piping the scones with patterns as she finished the last on she smiled " done 2 she said then cleaned up after herself leaving them on the counter on a cooling wire . Making a fresh batch of coffee she walked in knoing some would have cold coffee she walked over to Khaat " fresh cup?2 she asked holding out a cup for her " its better than a cold one" she said and smiled " its good to see you up and about " she said .

"The quiche is a fairly basic recipe, but I use crispy bacon in it and a lot of freshly shredded swiss cheese. I also make sure to buy fresh nonpasturized dairy whole cream for in it. It makes it richer. Sometimes I add a bit of creme fraishe to make it even more rich. My own recipes are in the wooden box on the left. Khaat's family recipes, the ones that aren't in the cookbook you found, those are in the painted stoneware box. Kate made the box for her when Khaat graduated from Hogwarts, and Khaat just loves it. She loves the bright poppy red color and the blue dragonflies and the green leaves on it. Personally, I think that box is what inpsired her to do the babies' nursery in dragonflies.

"By the way, I have heard that Khaat fully intends to use Lizzie for catering for their commitment ceremony. She says she wants you and me to just have a good time. I really wouldn't mind doing the cooking for it, but she told Brian that we're family and in this case we're guests. Not staff. I guess I have mixed feelings about that," he smiled, getting a large knife and cutting it into generous slices. "I guess I"m thinking we're ready. You'll find the fruit salad chilling in the fridge. Please take the dressing, in the little glass jar next to the mixed fruit, and toss it over the fruit before you put it on the table. I'll take the quiche and the juice to the table with the tea and coffee."

Cassidy watched him and nodded as he told her what was in it, then he spoke of a tin with recipys in " ow yes i saw that one its pretty " she said and smiled " thats was nice " she said then she heard him say they were not cooking for the commitment ceramoney" was all she said " i wouldn't have minded ether but i guess if they realy want to its there day" she said and nodded as he said he had mixed feelings " yeah it would feel strange to relax and have a bit of fun " she said grining at him " come on, it will be good to just relax and be your self ,its just one day, the next day we're back in here and cooking again. " she said smiling as she took down the dressing for the fruit sdalad picking up the bowl of fruit she followed him lacing the bowl down she tossed the salad and then sat down poring sone coffee for her self the more sh thought about it the more she though a day off wouldn't be bad for him as he worked hard.