The Ties That Bind

Brian left her without saying another word. He went back downstairs, not happy with her moodiness. He tried to ignore it. Angus helped Jess fix plates and he floated them out to the people who waited for them.

"So, your plan for the day?" Brian asked Robert. Robert looked at Kieran.

"Dealing with you," he said to Kieran.

"Look," Kieran said, "If you all want me gone...."

"You're broke," Robert said. "Where the hell do you think you can find someplace to stay?"

"I have...friends," he said, thinking of some women who might welll delight in his company.

"Liar," Robert said. "You have no friends. And no income. And no skills."

"Well, that's not entirely true," Kieran said.

"You have no employable skills," Robert said firmly. "Womanizing and being good at drinking and bad at gambling do not count."

"Why the hell do you care?" Kieran was defensive now.

"He cares because you're my brother," Brian said. "Its that simple. Robert, lets not decide that today. Let's see if he can at least handle pitchfork in the barn. Maybe a shovel. Let me take him to the barn with me this morning."

"Alright," Robert shrugged. "That works for me. Where's Cassidy? I know I sent you to get her."

"She's being moody," Brian said. "I plan to leave her alone. I have an estate that needs massive repair."

"Brian?" Robert frowned. This was not generally not like him. Brian was not typically cold.

"I'm busy, Robert. That's all," Brian said. He looked at Robert. "I expect you to take care of it."

"Very well. I will," Robert said. He could feel how overloaded Brian felt. Perhaps some time in the barn to burn off his stress would be good for him after all. Brian blamed himself for it not going textbook perfect. Robert had seen it before. The best remedy Robert had ever seen was to allow him to burn it off with either time in the gym or some heavy duty farmwork. EIther seemed to work, and Brian needed it today.

"I can still toss hay," Khaat said, volunteering to go with him.

"As tired as you are? You'd toss the pitchfork too. No, you stay here," Brian said. "I'll manage. It'll be good for me."

Cassidy washed and wrapped in a towel sat on the bed tking a simple pair jeans and a tee shirt she for go her shoes as she walked down to the living room and sat down quietly and looked at Brian as s he pulled her legs up to her chest .

" Hey Cassidy " steven said moving to sit next to her with his coffee . He opened his magazine that he had picked up and started to read .

Jess looked at her and sighed and moved back into the kitchen again to start dinner . Cassidy stands up and moves to the kitchen too . she moved beside Jess " can I help ,please " she asked jess smiled and nodded .

" sure , grab the chicken im plning on a roast chiken with a herby butter stuffing clazed in a ho sin sause " she said and smiled at her " Cassidy what ever is bugging you, you can talk to us about it " she said in her best mothers voice . Cassidy looked at her and sat down looking at her hands and shook her head " no this i must get threw by my self , I have to just lock it back away " she said softly.

Jess walked over to her and turne her chair to face her " no you don't Cassidy , bottling it up is not the way to go , letting it go is the best way " she s aaid pulling another to sit facing her.

Cassidy wanted to run f rom jess when she pulled her to face her but she listened it felt right and she opened her mouth to speack " I thought this was over but last night I saw Robert hurt , a man who i look up to , respect as a father figure , it brought back the memories of my own father and ....and of how he use to beat me as a child , all the f eellings and hurt he put me threw for all those years till i ran... I ran from him " she said her voice growing louder as she spoke jess hand holding her own.

Brian finished breakfast hungrilly but quietly. He had seen Cassidy come downstairs, complying with Robert's request, but she hadn't even spoken to the man who had given the order. Instead she had moved to the kitchen. Brian didn't know what the issue was, and he was certain that he needed to iron out the multiple frustrations about last night tha still brewed in his head. He knew the chances were massive that things would not be flawless. Nevertheless, he still had relived it over and over endlessly trying to pinpoint where he had misstepped. When he finished he sent his plate to the kitchen and rose.

"Brian," Robert said. "I'm going to say this just once more. It wasn't your fault. You trained your team to do what they do. They gel together. They work hard. They came through. No one died, and last night was very high risk. I could not have asked for better."

"It wasn't enough," he said firmly to Robert. He apparated out of the house and out to the stables. Robert sighed. If Brian had one flaw it was that he cared too much, and at times he didn't wear it well.

"Daddy," Khaat said softly.

"Let it be, Khaat," Robert said knowingly. "Let him burn it off. He'll be more human. He doesn't blame anyone but himself. And as far as I'm concerned, there isn't anything to blame himself for." Kieran cleareed his throat rather loudly. Robert looked at him.

"I'd like to take a walk," he told Robert.

"To the stables," Robert concluded.

"Well, I was going to head off in that general direction...." Kieran began.

"No violence. Play nice," Robert said. He flicked his wand and apparated him to the stables. Khaat frowned. "Oh, who knows. Maybe Brian will beat him up and get rid of some of his tension on his big brother. So what are you going to do, my dear?"

"Balance Brian's checkbook. It looks like it might take awhile," Khaat said.

"That could take awhile," Robert said. "Need some help?"

"Are you up to it?"

"Sure. At this point, the more the merrier, especially given that stack of paperwork we found."

"I'll help," Angus said. "I'm pretty good at organizing."

Cassidy sighed looking at Jess , she shook her head. " I thought i'd put this behind me by leaving " she said and stood up she walked back into the living room looking at Robert as she did " Im sorry about your shoulder, guess I just wasn't quick enouph" her hand moved to her own wound the scar showing under her shourt crop tee shirt that she wore. She looked around for Brian but didn't se him.

" Erm...I would like to talk to Brian... do...do you know where he is?" she asked her voice soft ike a small school girl who had been scolded by her teacher. Galancing out the window she caught a glimps of him going into the stables and spoke again.

" its ok I know where he is " she said and took a deep breath as she aperated down to the barn feeling with each aperation it got easier and she felt less naouses. Walking in she saw a tan horse and walked over " she's beautiful " she said softly as she brushed her hand over it's neck gently as it nuzzeled her shoulder "hey " she said and chuckled feeling like her self . " Brian, Im sorry about this morning , almost losing Robert last night brought back a memory i though i had forgot." she spoke to the horse and not looked at him untill she now turned to face him hoping he'd understand she sat on a bail of hay and looked at him and lowered her head before speacking.

" Im not proud of what he did , you and Robert both tought me that I can be strong, I guess being hit with that dart ....i guess brought that block down, I didn't mean to be moody " she said and sighed " guess i should apologys to every one " she looked at him " but when you have a father who beats you just because your there and doesn't care how much he hurts you, to come into a family that do care even after this much time...at first it felt wrong , but now .... now its like Robert is more than my boss but a father figure and you, your like a brother i never had, along with Jack and steven , its just took me a while to get use to this... inside " she said standing she walked over to f ace him. " Thank you, for last night ,for saving my life , Steven told me what you did, guess I owe you one now " she said and smirked "I'd better get back to jess , shes making a roast chicken with stuffing and something called ho sin sauce " she shrugged as she loked at him.

Brian heard someone apparate in behind him. It was Kieran. To Brian's utter amazement, Kieran began filling up a large bucket with water and filling the waterers with fresh water. Brian was nigh onto thunderstruck.

"What caused this?" Brian asked, cutting open a bag of feed with an oversized jackknife he had in his pocket.

"I figure I owe you," Kieran said.

"Thank you," Brian said. "I could use the help." As he was speaking he heard someone else apparate in. Kieran dumped the bucket in the waterer and walked back to the other end of the barn in order to refill it. He listened to her as she spoke. "You don't need to apologize," he said. "We're family. But, yeah. I know what you mean about being afraid to lose Robert. My parents died when I was eight. Robert and Remus and Kate were able to deal with me when I was a little bastard out of my rage at being left behind. I didn't understand why I hadn't gone too. Don't get me wrong--I had a good family. I just didn't have them very long. But, the first face I saw of anyone I knew after my parents died was Robert. I won't forget seeing him walk down the emergency room hallway of St. Mungos that day and I remember what a massive dose of grief and rage I gave him and what a massive dose of acceptance and love he gave me in return. And he has ever since. No matter what I dished out at him, he has always been there. Khaat was close to Remus, but me? I was closer to Robert in a lot of ways.

"One thing I have learned, for what its worth, is that Khaat and Robert are two of the finest healers I have ever met. And Robert has shown her a couple of tricks that he hasn't shown anyone else. Did you notice how quiet and calm Khaat was? Thats not the first time she's healed her father. Nor was it the first she operated on him. And I daresay it won't be the last. You don't need to worry unless Khaat or Robert or I are worried. We'll tell you if its worth your energy.

"As far as owing me goes, you don't owe me a thing. I'm sorry you were nicked last night, but next time, tell us you're hit so we can get to it quicker." He paused. "Hoisin sauce, huh? I haven't had chicken and hoisin in a very long time. It sounds good. Tell Jess to ask Angus for his recipe for saffron rice. It'll be perfect with her chicken," he smiled.

steven watched from the balcony he could hear jess in the kitchen cursing as a pan dropped " problem ?" he asked walking in , he watched her shake her head " nope just so many pans they fall out as im pulling one out " she said and chuckled .

Cassidy listened to Brian and smiled back, she took a chance and walked over hugged him " thanks " she said and moved back away from him " I will " and she headed up to the main biulding apertaing some of the way til she stood in the kitchen " hey jess , smells great ow Brian says ask Angus for his saffron rice , what ever that is" she said and moved into the living room to sit down " hows the accounting going?" she asked picking up a bill off the floor .

"Well, the fact that Brian keeps his account books in impeccable order does help," Robert said. "We only need to deal with the immediate problems. And Angus is putting things in order by due date. There are a lot of things that were already sent to collections in Kieran's accounts. They rolled over to Brian because he was a guaranture on most of the estate accounts. Kieran had most of them changed to himself when he decided to try to run the estate. The only problem was that he wasn't paying the bills. I'm actually surprised they haven't shut off the utilities. Fortunately, Brian does have some muggle financial accounts here in the US and that has kept this thing afloat. "

"There, " Angus said, putting a huge stack of bills in front of Robert. "Chronological order as requested. Can I help write checks and then you can just sign them?"

"No, but you could double check me and stuff and address envelopes," Robert laughed. "Saffron rice? You haven't made that in, what, maybe 3 years, Angus?"

"That's because saffron is so bloody expensive," Angus said. "Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, Cassidy."

"Utterly delightful, though," Robert said. "They are the stigmas of a special crocus that grows, mostly, in Spain. Each little flavorful thread has to be harvested by hand. There is no other way. Three hundredths of an ounce costs almost 14 pounds, for an average quality saffron. There are higher qualities that cost much, much more."

"It is highly aromatic, though, so it doesn't take much, fortunately. And, as luck has it, I did buy a bit when we were at the supermarket. I didn't buy a lot, but I did buy a wee bit. Enough to do saffron rice. And I bought a bag of jasmine rice, fresh garlic, and some fresh scallions. Yes, I could make it, if Jess does not mind me intruding into her kitchen. It will take me about an hour to make, so all you need to do is to tell me about an hour before she wants to serve her main dish. Unless she really does want to try making the recipe herself. In which case, I will relinquish a copy of my recipe to her." Angus looked over at Khaat who, when she was finished sorting her stack of the bills, had made the mistake of leaning back against the back of the sofa and had fallen into a sound sleep. Angus motioned his fingers in a beckoning manner to an afghan that was folded on the back of a chair. He opened it and covered her. "Robert, she looks like hell," Angus said quietly.

"She's alright," Robert said. "If she weren't, I'd be doing something differently. Try not to worry."

Cassidy sat and listened to him " wow expencive stuff " she said as she heard Robert explane the cost of it " guess im leaving that to you" she said and chuckled she smiled seeing Khaat now a sleep " sleep will do her good " she said softly as she accioed a girkin from the kitchen she for some reason fancied on and sat eating it quietly as she could " ow I don't think she would mind i saw her wresteling with a lager pan earlier " she chuckled " I think the pan was winning " she finished her gurkin and sat back in the chair feeling much better . She looked at Robert and sighed " wish i was good with figures , maths was never my strong point in hogwarts , now give me potions or wand skills or even dark arts I can do but maths nope " she said softly looking from Angus and Robert .

"Ah, well, its always been a big part of what I've had to do, either to calculate amounds of ingredients for potions, handle the finances for my farm and my family, work in the chemist's when Khaat was small, deal with the finances for the organizations, handle the finances at times for St. Mungos....For some reason, it ha always been a large part of what I do. Making the potions for St Mungos, for example, is not as simple as making a small individual batch. They have to be carefully calculated to make massive quantities. Or, if I am inventing somethign new all together, that all has to be very meticulously calculated and recorded."

"Or try baking for 200 people," Angus laughed. "Lots of math there too. Cooking is one thing, but baking is completely unforgiving, and the calculations have to be just right or it becomes a gigantic flop.

Robert sighed, picking up one of the bills. "Angus, Kieran hasn't bought fresh feed for the horses in at least 4 months. Looks more like 6. Did they check on whether the feed was even edible out there? Contact the feed store and buy all fresh feed for them. Toss out everything else out there. Make sure the medicines and everything else edible out there is tossed and replaced. Get me a list, and have them get me the costs. Have them bill Brian directly. His credit rating will make sure we get it. And if there is anything else trying to survive out there, replace its food too."

"On it," Angus said, getting up. He gathered his crutches, folded a few pieces of blank paper to make notes on, tucked them and a pen in his pocket and said to Cassidy, "You're welcome to come if you want. Unless you're tired of finding Kieran's messes." He apparated out to the barn.

Cassidy stood up and smiled " sure " he said and chuckled " nope there always suprising " she said and chuckled as she aperated with him pausing for a moment from dizzyness before following him into the barn she saw the tan horse and stroked it again and stroked its next holding out her hand she made a suger lump appear and gave it to her I told you I would give you a treat when i came back girl" she said and looked at where Angus was talking to Brian and keiran who to her suprise was mucking in to clean up the stables . she moved to stand with them listening to what they were talking about .