Feminine Fire

Khaat had been running the estate by herself for almost a month. Angus had been unexpectedly called away because of a sudden serious heart problem his father was having. He hated leaving, but Khaat and Brian had sent him back to Tuscany with their blessings and their prayers.

And then Brian had gotten wind of an enormous child trafficking ring in the heart of Asia. Kieran wanted to go along. He had been tremendously compelled to give back instead of feeling like he was merely taking. Brian hadn't wanted to go and leave her alone. He made her promise to take the babies and go to either her parents or to Michael's. But it wasn't that easy. There were live animals in the barn to care for, protection of the estate to provide for. And this was her home.

And then beyond all that was her anger. They had sent Steven to recuperate from a very minor injury and they hadn't heard a word since. That was now turning into far longer than anyone had anticipated. And then there was Jess and Jack. Khaat wasnt' stupid. Jess wasn't able to be around Khaat because of Khaat's two children and her impending pregnancy. It had culminated in them ditching out on what should have been a wonderful weekend in Tuscany. Jess and Jack didn't last there 24 hours before they simply decided to start their two week holiday early and ditch the weekend with them. Khaat hadn't said a word. They had asked Brian for permission, when it had been Khaat that had given them the holiday in the first place. She hadn't said a word.

But she had sent them all owls extending their holidays until further notice, with pay. She had, in fact, given them their usual salary and a holiday bonus on top of that. She was taking a stand. She could run the estate, hold her jobs, and take care of her children and her pregnancy by herself. She took the babies with her to the St. Mungo's daycare daily and took care of them by herself at night, usually relying on conjured foods to feed them all, and magical spells to clean the house.

She did still have to do her best to take care of the barn by herself. Some of that could be done with spells and some could not. She had not even told her parents or Michael. So far as appearances looked, all was well. And it had been now for almost a month.

Tonight, she was tired. Her feet and ankles were swelling. The babies were cranky tonight. They both wanted her attention, and they didn't like the conjured food. Besides that, she was behind on laundry. She had set spells in place to take care of that, and it was temporarily amusing the children every so often when a shirt or a towel would fly back upstairs, fold itself and then whisk off to put itself away. She put the children in the playpen and handed them each a soft sugar cookie that she had brought home from Sparks. She realized that was only going to be another mess to clean up, but at least it quieted their ranting and screaming. It was when it got quiet that she realized her head was pounding. And she desperately missed Brian. More than she wanted to say. The deeper he got into his undercover investigation, the fewer the owls were. She hadn't heard from him in almost a week now, and she hoped he was still alive.

She hadn't had it in her to protest when Steven came in and just took over. She was just too tired. Most of her dinner tonight had been thrown away in the trash. She was too tired to eat, but the tea did taste good and it soothed her irritated stomach.

"I needed to prove I could do it on my own," she told Steven, sipping on her tea. "Thank you. Besides, I've done alright so far. Its only been a month, really. Brian and Kieran went to Asia, and Angus had to go back to Tuscany. His father has been ill. His last owl said his father was getting better. And yes, Kieran did get his magic back. He was talking about going back to Colorado when the mission to Asia came up, so he went with his little brother to see if he could actually be of any use. I'm hoping he doesn't get his arse kicked. He hadn't exactly been a champion in the gym. And his magic was rusty." She thought a moment and looked at him. "So what brought you back? Most people who are paid are happy to stay home as long as it lasts."

"No," Khaat said. "I'm not quite to my 5th month. I have another four months,maybe three to go." She knew Steven was going to find that hard to believe. She was finding even simple tasks difficult now. One of the biggest challenges she had was actually either standing up or sitting down. I really should have thought about the fact that you do like to be working. It truly never entered my mind. I guess...I've been busy. My schedule has been pretty full. By the time I get those two into bed at night, go take care of the horses in the barn, and check the protection spells, its about all the exercise I want. So I go to bed pretty early so I can get up in time to go back to the barn, try to do a little in the gym, get the girls up and dressed and fed, get myself dressed, go to work, drop them off at the daycare at the hospital, jockey my time between the Ministry and St. Mungos...and, so it goes."

"It was definitely easier when I had other people here. Brian knows I'm by myself. I didn't hide it from him. And I promised him I would get help if I truly couldn't do it. But so far, I've managed. It hasn't been easy, but I've done it. It's time Brian and I learned to manage." She still had Brian's last letter laying beside her bed. It had had a rather scathing paragraph in it where he had told her that he had never ever intended for her to try to run an estate that size by herself. He didn't even expect it of himself. He had urged her to put away her anger and had said that if he didn't soon hear she had help, he was sending word to her father through contacts of the organization. He was in too deep to send much more word by owl, but he figured he was going to be able to get word once in awhile to the Paris home office. But Brian's discomfort was something Steven didn't necessarily need to know.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think it was time for maternity leave yet," she said truthfully. "Honestly, come to think about it, I haven't even thought to mention to Daddy that his granddaughters are just down the hall from his office all day long in the daycare center. That was just not something Brian and I had ever wanted to do. We wanted them home under our protection spells that the house had.

"I would be grateful if you would take care of the barn," she admitted. "I can only do so much with magic, and as you know, some of that work is pretty heavy. I can let them out into the corral, but I can't really exercise them like they need. I"m lucky to feed the cats. And poor Archangel hasn't been flying in days.

"I don't know how you're finding so many sore muscles, but you sure are finding a lot of them," she admitted. "Thank you for putting the girls to bed. They were really fussy tonight. I think they miss their daddy. I can be a mom to them, but I'm just not their daddy."

Khaat hadn't expected anyone to show up tonight, let alone everyone. It surprised her. Then Jess came over and hugged her. "I'm fine, Jess," Khaat said. "I'm just tired. I'm glad your kids are doing well. All of you." She was about to say something more when she heard a tapping at her window. She raised Remus's wand and opened the window. A little tiny brown owl came with a parchment envelope and dropped it in her lap. She petted the owl for a few moments before he left back out the window again.

She opened it. It was a rather demanding letter from Brian, sent via Paris. The message said, bluntly that he expected word to be passed to Paris immediately that she had help. He was going to pull out entirely of the Asian mission if she didn't have help. He valued all those children, but unless his own family was doing well, none of it meant anything anymore. And he wasn't giving her much of any time at all to respond. He wanted a whole list of specific questions answered. And if it didn't meet his demands, he was coming straight home. She sighed heavily.

She laid the parchment aside. His list of questions boxed her in. If she answered them, she would have to tell her father everything. And Brian had done it on purpose. Khaat felt like her head was just going to absolutely explode. She hurt. "Jess, is there any pain potion still out in the kitchen? My head is just going to come off," she sighed.