Feminine Fire

"Good luck with that," Brian laughed at Steven. Nerves for first time mothers were just not so easy to deal with. Brian did understand. "You take care of yours, I'll take care of mine."

"And what about your fatherhood jitters?" Khaat asked him.

"What?" Brian asked. "Who? Me?"

"Yeah. You. You'd think this was the first time you dealt with two babies at the same time."

"Its that obvious, huh? He finally admitted.

"Completely," Khaat said.

"Sorry about that," he sighed, kissing her.

"Don't apologize," she laughed. "Its cute."

"Cute?" he scowled. "When have I ever been cute?"

"When have you not?" she laughed.

Steven looked at Brian when he said about him dealing with Cassidy. " Cassidy's not....I'm not, ok shes bad with it " he said and smiled as he watched Khaat with Brian and smiled " its good to see you to relaxed again " he said and smiled " ok, Cassidy don't be surprised if you hear me screaming when she finally has that baby of hers " he said and sighed heavily as he smiled at them " I never thought I would be birthing coach again , I went threw it with Janet as for Delilah...." he paused and looked uncomfortable " anyway Cassidy will be ok " he said and turned to walked to the door he glanced back at them and smiled. Walking out he closed the door and headed to Cassidys room he found her sat on the bed looking tired. " ok lay down and nap you need to rest" he said softly and moved to lay her down pulling up a blanket as not even reaching the pillow she was asleep. He brushed her hair from her face and sighed " he was a fool Cassidy " he said softly and bent down kissing the top of her head gently.

Khaat and Brian spent the evening quietly. Before she realized it, their quiet evening had flown, and she was waking with a jolt, hard, from a dream she didn't really remember. She knew it was her seer's powers again, and she knew it was about her father. She felt Brian's hand on her shoulder.

"Get a grip," he said softly. She looked up at him. He was dressing, buttoning his shirt. "You're alright. Just another dream."

"Is Daddy working on something? Don't lie to me, Brian," she said.

"I have never lied to you," Brian frowned. "And yes, he is working on some Ministry stuff. He's fine. Thaor is deputy minister now and Thaor has his back. So does Michael. And so do I and so does your mother, and a bezillion other people. Now, can you put this to rest for the moment? Please? He's fine. If he's in trouble, he'll let me know. And I'll be there. I'm not going to let anything happen to him--I swear." He laid his hands on her stomach. "Looks like they're fine. I'll get yoru robe and you can come to breakfast. Lets see how you do before we go through the whole shower, dressing, hair and makeup thing, okay?" She nodded. He helped her on with her robe and helped her downstairs and to the living room sofa. "Sit. I'll bring tea," he told her. Once she was settled, he headed for the kitchen.

Cassidy looked up from her book as she saw Khaat walk down and she smiled " hey enjoy your sleep I know I needed mine I can tell you I think I was a sleep before I hit the pillow " she said and glance at Steven who sat with Jack at the chess table.

" hey, I told you to nap not chat , you were exhausted " he said and smiled as he looked at Khaat " looking rested Khaat " he said and moved his knight to take Jack's castle and chuckled at the moved and jacks face " hey you moved it I took it " he said and jack smiled and moved a pawn. Steven looked at Cassidy " he's losing... badly " he said and she chuckled.

Khaat said good morning to everyone and went over to Jack's side of the chess board. She looked at his pieces carefully. She moved one single piece.

"Check," she said to Steven, warning him she could defeat him in the next move if he wasn't careful. "Hope you don't mind, Jack." Brian looked over Steven's shoulder.

"You gotta watch her, or she'll have you," Brian said to Steven. He laughed and then went out to go get her tea. He disappeared into the kitchen. He came back with a mug of tea for her and a cup of coffee for himself. She snatched his coffee, took a big gulp of it, and then handed it back to him. He rolled his eyes and her and thrust the teamug into her hand. "Behave," he tried hard to look serious with her.

Steven watched Khaat as she moved behind Jack then said check " he looked at the bard then chuckled as Brian told him to watch her " ow I saw her play Robert I know what shes capable of " he said and he glanced at Cassidy " Angus do you have any of that tea Robert prescribed for Cassidy , I think its about time for her cup now " he said and glanced at his watch then at Cassidy as he saw her roll her eyes. He looked at Khaat " she still won't drink it with out some persuasion" he said and sighed " ok you got me jack your ringer won the game for you " he said conceding the game to them both and chuckling as he stood and moved into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee smelling Brian's had made him want a cup.

"You can't make somebody do what they don't want to do, Steven," Khaat said quietly. "If her own self interests are more important than the health of her baby, then perhaps she needs to think about what her priorities are. And if she herself is still more important, then she needs to make a plan to give that child to someone else to raise once it gets here." Her words were sharp, and they cut right to the point. This was not Steven's job to force Cassidy to eat and to take the right medicine. This was up to Cassidy. Her wellness program was written down, step by step and Khaat knew Cassidy could read. If she didn't do it, then it was up to her, so far as Khaat was concerned.

"Steven, take my advice as a healer. You can't ever work harder than the person you're trying to help. If she has no interest in it, let her receive her own consequences of that." She went into the kitchen, refilled warmed up her own tea and went down the hallway into Brian's office to try to do some little bit of work while she had the energy to do it. She needed just a little space away from Cassidy who appeared to be making it everybody else's business to take care of every bite she put into her mouth, every choice she made, whether it was napping or exercising. At some point she had to live some part of her life herself. And it angered Khaat.

Steven nodded and looked at Cassidy sighing " yeah I know " he said " this is not like her she was strong, its as if she's become broken" he said he noticed Cassidy looking at them.

Cassidy watched Khaat and Steven, standing she moved to the kitchen and placed the cup down transfigering her clothes she headed towards the kitchen she saw Steven stand to move with her and she stopped and held up her hand to him. " I don't need a lap dog any more Steven, I can do things for my self. " she said with a sigh " its about time I started " . She stood looking at her self in the mirror behind him " I am not my mother nor am I my father..." she took a deep breath " I am cassidy Mitchell, a member of this organization and a future Auror" she straitened up her back and smiled. Reaching down she picked up an apple and bit into it she moved to the wellness program that sat on the counter and read it taking each stage she had to do. " ok tea drunk now light exercise " she thought for a moment " ok short swim will do" still biting the apple she moved back out and down to the pool where she changed and began slowly swimming back and forth.

Brian went over to Steven. He motioned for him to follow him outside on the patio. He closed the door behind them so that their words would not be overheard by anyone.

"Alright. Khaat made her point. Cassidy got the message. She stopped staying in her stuck thinking. Now--change your approach with her. Don't hover. Let her try. If don't be out of earshot if you can avoid it, but being out of eyesight for awhile would do her good. She needs some alone time too. She needs time to try to do things herself. The only way she's going to regain her confidence is by doing what she knows she needs to do and finding that confidence still lays within herself. She can only find that by doing and succeeding. She can't do it if you babysit her. She knows where to find you, and she knows you care. Let her decide when she needs that support for awhile. You're a good auror and a good friend. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. I know how many teens you mentored through this. Use those skills to get her through this. She needs to be up and active and doing and seeing herself as vital. Pregnant or not. Not some fragile shrinking violet because she's carrying a child. the stronger she becomes, the better prepared she will be for delivery and for raising a child."

Steven followed Brian out side and breathed a sigh of relief at his first words "well its about time" he said and lent against the low wall. " I agree with what your saying" he said and stood listening to him further " she can and will be a great mother, if she gave herself that one chance " he smiled as Brian continued. " I can do that, I have some things she can do that will keep her busy but she can do by her self " he said and chuckled " and I'll back away, I have to check the stables and Cara too" he said and smiled " maybe we can get back to some sort of normality.. well what is classed as normal for around here" he said and folded his arms across his chest as he glanced over at the pool where she was swimming laps. He saw her pause part way then continue. Steven smiled as he watched her " it is good to have her back " he said his voice softer as he watched realizing he coughed and looked back at Brian.


Cassidy stopped and glanced over at where she saw Brian and Steven talking but she sighed and continued her laps till she felt she had done enough and slipped out of the water she felt the weight of her tummy and sat down to dry herself off. It was then she found she was hungry for banana's and cream . Standing she moved to the kitchen as transfiguring her clothes to alight summer dress and sandals one towel she dried her hair but before she could even think of the bananas she looked on the list and sighed " ok no banana's and cream" she said and opened the fridge not even noticing if Angus was there or not.