Rain

"Michael? You'll come?" Khaat asked.

"Me? If you like," he smiled.

"I can't imagine celebrating my daughter's first birthday without you," she said.

"You, my dear, are much too kind," he smiled, kissing her forehead. "Is that worthless husband of yours coming?"

"I doubt it," Khaat said. "Abbey recognizes his face, and she smiles at him, but she doesn't really know him. Nor does he know her. I would like him to come, but I doubt he'll show up. The man she recognizes as her father is Brian. Brian and I really are alright with her having two fathers, but thats just not Rob's style. That's alright. If he chooses not to come, that's his choice. What's important are that the people closest to Abbey, the ones she knows the most, will be here. That's what I care about."

"Can I bring something?"

"Just you," she smiled.

"Then I'll be there. Just for you," he said. Khaat was about to speak when a sharp noise from outside startled her. "Relax. Just more thunder and lightning. And more rain," he said, soothing her.

"Still? Arent' we ever going to get any sunshine again?"

"Not tonight we aren't," Robert said, looking out at the sky. "Looks like you might be here overnight, Michael. If you tried to apparate through that, who knows where you'd end up. There's one hell of a lot of lightning going on out there. It isn't like Khaat doesn't have guest rooms. We might all end up here for the night."

"Its not like the house can't handle it," Brian smiled. "You're all welcome. You know that."

"Besides," Khaat said, curling under Michael's shoulder, "I like having you around."

"Khaat Karina," he laughed, "you sound like you missed me."

"I have," she said.

"Well, its a good thing you have a storm to give you an excuse to keep me here then. But you know when I go home, Otto will have eaten all my damned socks," he said.

"I will buy you a whole sock store," she promised.

"No, please don't," he laughed. "I am retired. I have no desire to work unless I absolutely have to. But I have to admit, I didnt' bring any clothes with me. I wasn't planning on staying."

"Brian has a whole men's wear shop in his closet," Angus laughed. "You'll be fine. Trust me. You're set. I think I'll go start dinner. Jess, you're welcome to help whenever you're free."

"Good to see you too. I thought I ought to bring Khaat home sooner or later," Michael said. "Although it does look like it might not be good for me to go home while there is so much lightning. Personally, I think its an excuse for her to get me to spend more time with her."

"Would I do that to you?" Khaat asked him.

"Absolutely you would. You are your father's daughter," Michael laughed.

Angus opened the refrigerator and got out a couple of packages of stew beef cubes. It was a wet, cool evening, and a large pot of beef stew sounded good to Angus. He decided to serve it with a huge basket of buttermilk biscuits and a large salad of mixed greens with a creamy ranch style dressing. For dessert, he had plenty of fresh strawberries to use up while they were at their freshest. He was thinking about a strawberry trifle.

"Thank you, Steven," Khaat said.

"What's with you and the clothes, Boy?" Michael frowned at Brian.

"She did it," Brian pointed at Khaat.

"Oh, well that explains everything. Do you mind?" His curiosity was getting the best of him.

"Not at all. Up the stairs, first door on the left. Help yourself," Brian replied.

"I believe I will," MIchael said.

"That does not mean to help yourself to her diamonds."

"Steal from my own goddaughter? Are you daft, Son?" he frowned, and turned and went upstairs. Khaat laughed.

"You must have read my mind," Angus laughed at Jess, "That's exactly what I was going to do with them. Its a quick and easy dessert that I think everyone will like, and you're right, the berries are perfect right now. Strawberries don't keep long. We need to use them." He began seering the beef cubes in a large dutch oven and set a spell to cause some small pearl onions to peel themselves, carrots to peel themselves, potatoes to wash and cube themselves. He chopped herbs to add while the meat was cooking and motioned for certain key spices and sauces to get themselves out of the cabinet, along with a bottle of red wine out of the refrigerator.

"Jess, can you make a large batch of buttermilk biscuits? There is a recipe for American style ones in the recipe box. They're actually very easy, and they turn out light, flaky and delicious. I always brush them with either milk or butter before I bake them so they have a nice finish on the tops."

Khaat decided to follow Michael upstairs and she went up quietly. She found Michael standing in Brian's closet. He didn't see her there, and he whistled, impressed.

"Damn, Boy," Michael said softly. "She does take good care of you."

"I try," Khaat said gently. Michael jumped.

"God, Khaat!" he spun around. "Say something. Don't just sneak up on a fellow."

"You're a catburglar, and you're jumpy?"

"Of course I'm jumpy! I'm not supposed to get caught!" he snapped. She laughed. He relaxed. He went over and inspected the clothes. "Nice taste, Khaat. He deserves to have some good things. Yeah, I can make due with these. Do you have a big closet?"

"Uh, yeah. Its a little bigger."

"Can I see?"

"Of course," she led him to her closet and turned on the light. He looked at all the beautiful things in the closet and smiled.

"You deserve it, honey," he said gently. "It makes your closet in Hogsmeade look like a drop in the bucket. So tell me, Child, are you really happy here?"

"I am," she said.

"He's a good lad. He always was. And so you're having more?"

"Oh, well, let me tell you the story about that. Come along and I'll tell you while I give you the tour of the house."

"I'd like that," he said, sweeping his arm around her waist, enjoying the time with her.

Brian smiled, seeing Khaat disappear upstairs. "She really, really loves Michael," he said.

"He's been great godfather for her. He takes that job very seriously," Robert said. "I'm glad he has her to look out for her. I hear he's teaching a workshop at Hogwarts for a couple of weeks. That should certainly be interesting. Can you see him as a professor there, really?"