Wardrobes and wonders will never cease (Khaat)

Steven gave one last glance around the room taking in the lay out as they left as soon as they returned he pulled out a map and drew the lay out down on it and began formulating a plan of attack to get Khaat back he looked up to see Jess and robert taking Brian upstairs to the bedrooms.

Jess looked at Robert and nodded " Im ready for this " she said and helped lay him on the bed she kept her hand on his forhead and one holding his hand " i'll keep him asleep you do what you must " she said making her self comfortable for along night of work and energy draining.

"You're giving too much too fast. Pull back," Robert told Jess. "Use just half of what you're using. I need you to be able to still take care of him when the surgery is over. We have to get Khaat back as soon as possible. I might be needed for that. I will need you to have enough left to be awake and alert." Robert had been working swiftly and talking at the same time. He was donating a lot of his own strong energies into Brian so that Jess didn't have to do all the work. He was counting on her to be able to pace herself. Endurance. That was what he needed from her.

Kieran came over and looked at the plan. He sat next to Steven and picked up a pen. He began to add more rooms, details, and secret passages. He looked at Steven. "Don't ask. I just know," he said. "She has to still be in that house. When Gelding comes from England its where he stays. He wouldn't move her. She's there. I'm sure of it. But if I were Gelding....I'd hide her...um...here, here, or here...." he made x's in a few of the rooms. "He'll be expecting you to look for her in the cellar, so he won't go there. Remember, she's a trophy. He won't harm her. Not yet. Look elsewhere. And wait. The place will be crawling now. Your best bet is to wait until daybreak. They'll all be sleeping off the champagne from their victory by then. You have far less trouble if you just wait awhile."

stecen watched as keiran drew in more of the plan he just loked at him then back at the map while kiran explained " right guess we wait now " he gazed up at the stairs hoping brian will be allright.

Jess pulled back a little of her energy and looked at Robert " slow and steady" she said softly and nodded slowling the rate she let her energy enter him " no worries you do what you have to I know your doing the same i can feel it too " she said and looked at him smiling " khaat would kill me if anything happened to him plus he is my boss and freind too" she looked down at brian " I will be ok " she looked at Robert again and nodded.

"Good girl," he gave her a quick smile. He took out the surgical kit and began.

The operation took hours but he finally dropped the bullet into an empty bug jar. "There it is, Jess. That's the source of all the trouble," he said. We've sealed the bleeders as we went. We should be able to start setting the tissues to mend and close now." He did it by setting spells into place, carefully, one layer at a time, taking time to watch each layer seal to be sure it was right.

By the time he finished, he was exhausted. His back and neck ached from leaning over Brian for so many hours. He cleaned the wound area and padded it heavily with gauze and taped it securely into place. He washed his hands and rechecked Brian's vital signs. "He'll hold for now, Jess," Robert said. "He's been through worse. Nice job. Thank you. Take a few minutes for yourself and then, if you're up to it, relieve me so I can see what they're doing about a plan to get Khaat back."

Kieran had taken the night and had drawn out elaborate sketches of what he knew about the Costa estate. He had not held anything back. He didn't know why he was giving them all this information, but every time the mere thought of holding back came through his mind, he heard Khaat's anguished cries in his ears. He saw the disconnect on her face. He'd never seen that in any human being before. And it got to him. It mattered. He saw that his little brother really was loved and valued. And for some reason, he didn't want to see the woman at the other end of that love in the sort of pain he'd seen in her eyes and on her face just before all the lights in her eyes just seemed to go out. It was as if she had just utterly surrendered and given up. Every time it went through his mind again, he picked up the pen and added more to his drawing. Anything if it helped. Everything if it got her back. He'd given all his best ideas towards formulating a rescue plan, but he couldn't carry it out. He was just a squib. It needed wizards to do. But he knew Gelding. And he knew it would work. It wouldn't eliminate Gelding, but it would get Khaat out. And for now, maybe they needed to be happy with that. Count Costa up as the victory and settle. Get everyone out alive.

When he heard the bedroom door open, he was on his feet, looking, anticipating, before he even realized he'd done it. Was Brian still alive? Now, it mattered. A lot.

Jess nodded watching as he moved away she felt her own energy returning litle by little but she would not completly let go just to make sure he would servive " go, im ok " she said looking up at him " go and get Khaat , im sure he'd apreciate her being here when he wakes "she said and looked down at the sleeping brian and back to Robert .

Jack looked over stevens shoulder best he could when he heard the dooor open he voice when every one thought " how is he , how did it go?" he asked moving to face him " Robert how did it go?" he asked again he caught aglimps of jess and smiled alittle knowing she was there he saw the smile on her face and breathed out now he could focus on getting khaat back.

Robert came downstairs, feeling more like 72 than 62. He hurt. He rarely felt such fatigue and pain, but for some reason, this was taking a heavy toll. Kate met him with an extra strong cup of French Roast.

"He's still with us, isn't he?" she asked softly.

"Yes. He is," Robert said. "He's stable. Jess did a great job. She's going to be a good surgical assistant."

"Sit," Kate said to him. She led him to a chair and had him sit and began working on massaging his neck and his shoulders and his back. "Drink your coffee. It'll help." He tasted it. Kate had added just an ever so slight dose of pain potion to ease his overdone muscles.

"So," he said, "tell me what you've got. How are we going to get her back?" He looked at Jack, Steven, and Kieran. Kieran hesitated and then handed over his drawing of the estate with a few different plans on it written like a football play, diagrammed out. Robert understood it immediately. He studied it and asked questions about the estate and Kieran's drawings. He looked at Jack and Steven. "Are you guys on board with this or do you have ideas of your own?"

Steven looked at Robert and shook his head " his plan id sound and very fesable " he said jack nodded to him he too agreed with the plan " no problems he's a good stargigiser " he said and moved to face him.

Jess sat beside Brian she slowled her flow of energy to a trickle but kept that small amount going feeling he could use it till he felt better in himself . she watched Robert leave and knew he'd be weak rom all he ahd given Brian she knew her self she would sleep for a few days after he was better but she would not leave his side yet.

Robert thought carefully. He liked Kieran's plan a lot. He also knew he couldn't go. He was needed here. He looked at Steven and Jack. "This is perhaps the most I have ever asked of you. I have to send you two in there--alone. If I go, Brian may still well die. Kieran doesn't have the skills. Angus has the skills but he can't deliver. Not wounded. I need Jess here. And I need Kate here. I have no choice. Kieran is right. Gelding is a drinking man. He will have been drinking all these hours, and he believes, I"m sure, that given Brian's injury, he'll be safe for several more hours. He will have gone to bed by daylight. The house will be quiet. Kieran's right." He looked out the windows. It was just starting to get light. "If you're going to go, you'd better go in the next few minutes. And don't make a sound.

"A couple of things. Do not expect Khaat to be any help to you. For all practical purposes, you have to treat her as if she is injured. Don't trust her to help you if she doesn't look like she has come around. She won't have it in her to fight against you, but she won't be able to help you in your efforts to help her, I don't think. I think this has thrown her further back into a horrendous memory from her past, where she doesn't want to be right now. You'll have to let me be the one to help her, at least at first. That might mean you need to carry her out. In fact, I'm counting on that. I'll supply you with a sleeping potion just in case you need it, but I sincerely doubt you'll need to use it.

"She believes I'm the only one who understands that part of her. I know that isn't true, but she hasn't shared parts of that with anyone except me because I was there with her. She's hurting. Really hurting. All I'm asking is that you be good to her. And bring her back to me. Are you willing to do that?" He hated to ask them to go on any mission where he could not go, where Brian could not go. It was not something he ever did. He never just sent people without either himself or Brian being there. This was a first. There was, though, no other choice. They would be on their own, and the only thing that mattered in his world was in their hands entirely.

Robert had seen the surrender in her eyes. He knew exactly what had happened. She had gone into a shutdown state where she had gone just to mentally survive the tortures of Felix Barker. It had taken him a long time to get her to get feeling comfortable again just about being alive. Brian had been huge in helping her feel safe. He wasn't there to do that right now. Robert knew he would carry the lion's share of it, but he also knew he had to get her friends to help her feel like there was a life worth coming back to. And when Brian woke up, that would just lock it in, in her mind.

Steven listened and nodded " yes sir were both ready " he said and moved to stand with jack as he listened to Roberts advice he had to agree he'd seen it in her eyes also and knew she would be of little use to them " so we should get going sir " he said and rolled up the plan " we'll go in the side entrance and up the back stairs splitting up on the first floor , if you find her aprerate out and send word I'll come right back here , got that jack ?" Steven said and jack nodded.

"ok thats the plan " he said and looked at Robert wondering if agreed with stevens plan to go in the side entrance.

"If we find her, we'll send out a light with our wands," Robert said. "You'll know what to look for. Muggles won't think anything about just a plain stray light. Bring her straight back her to me. Go."

Kate sat silently, still massaging his shoulders. Then she said, "Are you sure you don't want to go? Jess is here."

"I can't," Robert said. "Brian is too critical. I wont lay that responsibility on her. I'll stay here."

"What will you do about Gelding?"

"For now? It depends on if he so much as harms one hair on her head. He's put me effectively at bay for the moment. God, I'm tired," he sighed. "I can't help thinking that Khaat didn't want to do this. I saw it in her eyes. She didn't know why she didn't want us to do this, but she didn't want us to go. Maybe we should have listened more seriously to that. I do have some thinking to do about how we misstepped. This should not have happened. I have to find out what went wrong."