The Ties That Bind

The first department in any supermarket was always the fresh vegetables and fruits. This department was so huge that at first glance it seemed overwhelming. They had a lot of types of fruit and veggies that were not available in England. Angus was extremely finicky. He had no intention of leaving any stone unturned.

"The nice thing about this store is that you can try samples of any fruit or vegetable that you see before you buy. They're big enough they can afford it. I'd rather come more often and have the produce stay fresh. This stuff will have no preservatives, so we're better off to buy more frequently. Americans are used to buying groceries one time a week. That won't work with this stuff. It will spoil very quickly. We'll need to make our own breads and pastas and pastries daily unless we want to come and buy them daily. I dont' mind getting out and shopping more often. Keiran will frustrate the crap out of me and I'm going to want to get out of the house. So the supermarket is a good excuse." He picked up a miniature strawberry and tasted it. It brought a smile to his face. It was as sweet as candy. He handed one to Cassidy to try and immediately put four pints of the tiny strawberries in the cart. "Feel free to go look around and taste things. I will be buying some sweet onions, and some bell peppers and some essentials. I also know Khaat prefers to have a large bowl of fresh fruit sitting around for snacks. So, yeah. I plan to buy a lot of this stuff in this department."

Cassidy nodded following close behind him she could see lot of other fruit and vegtables from artichokes to zucchini's and she ws stunned " maybe later right now i feel abit intimidated by this places size" she said taking a strawberry . She could taste the sweetness and smiled " oow, pasta, a new thing to learn thats good , is it hard to make?" she asked finishing the one she had noting how he Choose berries that are firm, dry, shaped properly and have a uniform deep, red color with attached green caps. she wondered if the medium-sized berries would have better flavor than the extremely large ones. She spotted some red tomatoe shaped fruit with leaves on top picking it u p she moved to him " whats this ?" she asked " it looks like a tomatoe but feels soft and smeells sweet" she held it gently in her hand frrling the smooth of it skin.

"A persimmon," he replied. "Tastes a bit like a mango, but in this case, you want the soft ones, not the firm ones. The firm ones aren't ripe enough. I like to make sorbet with those. It doesnt take much. Maybe three or 4 ripe ones. That would be a good change." He chose a couple of dragonfruit and put them in the cart along with a few kiwi and a few star fruit. And then he chose some of the traditional apples, oranges, bananas, lemons and limes.

"Feel free to add anything that looks particularly good. Oh, and, no, pasta is not difficult. But if we're going to do that, lets make some spinach pasta and maybe some sundried tomato pasta, maybe some whole wheat. Not just plain stuff." He found the sweet onions and put a bag of them in the cart, with some potatoes, carrots, a couple of superb looking leeks, some bell peppers, a few shallots, some heads of garlic, and some scallions. He considered those just good basics for cooking much of anything.

"Hm," he said, thinking out loud. "I wonder if I need to think about some selections for a lettuce salad. I know I need things for a breakfast fruit salad. Khaat and Brian really enjoy those. They really do eat very healthy. Oh, and don't let me forget. when we get to that department, to buy a healthy amount of coffee and tea or I shall be fired if I come back without it. Or at least sent all the way back for it."

Cassidy loked at the fruit she held and gently squeesed it and smiled " ah soft not hard this ones hard " she said and moved gathering several soft ones in a bag then placed hem in the basket . she heard him talk abou the pastas and smiled " thay all sound deishious " she said softly and looked back around as she mentioned the coffee " not to mention several sleepy bodyguards " she said and chuckled " is it that way?" she asked pointing to her left as she stood with him " this place is so big i'd need a search partly to get from one end to the other"she looked all around seeing several men whispering and smirking at her . She moved closer " erm.. what are they up to i wonder " she said softly to Angus " the've been watching me since we walked in, could be nothing but knowing Kerians reputation i wouldn't put it past him" she said wishing she could used her magic on them and silantly cursing that she could not.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "Just dont' wander too far from me. Lets not give them any reason to find you alone. I haven't seen them before, but I presume they're a bit different from us." He didn't have the liberty here of telling her they looked muggle to him.

One of them came over as Angus was looking at a large fennel bulb and the new man purposely ran into him knocking the fennel out of his hand. Angus didn't so much as even raise an eyebrow. "Your boss shouldn't be hiring new lackies when he can't pay what he owes now," The man hissed at Angus.

"Oh, but your boss has not met my boss. I don't work for who you think I work for," Angus laughed.

"And just who do you work for?" the man asked.

"You just have your people call my people," Angus said calmly. He reached for Cassidy's hand and led her away from them. He said to her very softly. "Dont let yourself wander off. You'd be a good target for them."

Cassidy jumped taking a step back as the larger of the two men walked over and bumped Angus she felt a second close in behind her just as Angus took her hand " Trust me I won't, but get them alone and i'll be making pasta out of them " she said some what annoyed for interupting a good day,looking back seeing them following close behind " you know there following" she said softly as she walked with him to the tea and coffee section it smelled wonderful like walking into a guiet coffee pot and she smiled. " wonder what steven and jack would say to this " she chuckled sticking close to him as she picked up a bag that said french roast , she held it up and smelt it. " I know know why Khaat like this , it smells wonderful" she glanced up into a mirror and saw both me waiting beside a barrell of coffee seeds. " I real wish they would go away" she said tossing the bag up in the air a sif she wated to throw it at them.

"Wait," Angus said very softly. He used wandless magic and merely tied the laces of the mens shoes together without lifting a finger. The next step they tried to take, they fell flat on their faces on the supermarket floor. Angus managed to fake an appropriate look of shock at seeing them on the floor, and then he turned, as they started to try to untangle themselves and led Cassidy down the supermarket aisle, continuing his shopping. "At least their video cameras won't have seen a thing," he said very softly to her. "You don't dare tell. Robert won't be happy if I'm arrested by the American Department of Magical Affairs. I really don't want to put him in that position. Lets see if we can't finish, shall we?

The next isle took them to frozen foods. He skipped it, except for some ice cream. He moved along to the meats section and began looking for prime cuts of beef, chicken, lamb and fish. He piled things in the cart, along with bacon, milk, juice, eggs, cheeses, and other dairy items.

He went from there to buying some baking supplies, various flours, salt, sugars, baking powders and sodas and the other essentials. He bought a lot of fresh grains--quinoa, brown and wild rice, couscous, wheat, barley, bulgar wheat, and other things. He had to get a second cart to begin to hold all the things he was buying. He picked up coffees, teas, cleaning supplies and other essentials. He had a lot of people to supply and he wanted to be sure everyone was well fed. He had been on the lookout for the men, and he hadn't seen them, but he wasn't sure they were done for the day.

"Well," he finally asked Cassidy, "so how have we done? What did we forget?"

Cassidy followed beside him pushing the cart asn he fillied it she stifled a laugh men fell to th as they fell to the floor one man glared at her looking at her in the eyes she saw hate towards her and Angus " y our right we should hurry " she said and pushed the cart quicker . soon she looked at the near ful cart and shook her head " nope I don't think so theres enouph to feed an army , then again with steven and jack we might as well be" she said with a chuckle . Moving to the counter she looked around seeing no sigh ove the men she breathed out a sigh of relif maybe they got the message " she said knowing if they were that determined they would not leave so easily.

"You think that's all I can do? I have brothers, you know," He laughed. "Relax. We'll be okay. For now, anyway." He took her to the checkout and it took a long time to add up all the purchases and then get a total. He paid for it with the American credit card he had. It was an enormous purchase, but the credit card was approved easily, and two stockboys helped them take the carts to the SUV and load it up. Angus paid them each a small tip even though it was not expected.

He helped Cassidy get into the SUV and then got in himself. He looked around in the rear view and side mirrors and saw a suspcious black sedan starting its engine. "Well, well, I think they want to play some more. Fine by me." He slid his wand out of his jacket pocket and laid the point of it over his shoulder. He blew the tires on the sedan one at a time, until he had blown all four tires. The men instantly got out, shouting angrily and kicking at the flat tires on the car. He counted the heads of the men. They were all accounted for. Nevertheless, he would keep a sharp eye out and make sure that they were not followed back to Brian's estate.

"See? And I never even turned their direction until the noise of their tires made everyone else in the parking lot look. I think we need to go now." He turned the key and pulled the SUV out of the parking lot, heading home.

Cassidy didn't relax she glanced around as Angus and the boys loaded up the SUV a feling of uneasyness washing over her . then she saw what had caused it the black sedan as he moved behind them . she jumped a little at the sound Angus's wand made as he poped their tires one by one . now out in the contry again she sat back in her seat " he must be into something biem as she felt inside thg " she said her eyes not leaving the road behind that was just the begining of the threats and attacks " I am going to make a fresh pot of french roast when we get in " she said still glancing back " something about them says they won't quit so easliy, im guessing we'll see them again, ow by the way , thanks for the save back there , im sure if you han't pulled me the guys freind would have grabbed me" she said and smiled " thanks"