Feminine Fire

"Wait," Brian frowned, confused. "I don't understand. I just heard Jess tell Angus it was about your mother. Now you're saying its because she's wearing herself out. If there is an issue with your mother, you need to go take care of that rather than going with us. Neither of you have mentioned there is a problem there, and you don't necessarily owe it to us to tell us, unless it impacts your jobs.

"Don't you think this is exactly why Khaat didn't call you back to work?" Brian continued. "Because you have enough on your plates already. Now you're saying she's exhausted. How in the world can I possibly take her to Ireland with us? She's not ready for that, not physically and certainly not emotionally. This is exactly why...."

"Excuse me," Khaat said softly. "You don't need me here for this." She got up and left, going upstairs.

"This is exactly why she didn't call anyone when I went to Asia," Brian said. "She believed she was intruding far too much into your lives and it was causing Jess too much harm and stress. You mind clearing this up for me, Mate?"

Jack nodded and looked at jess as she walked in " ok its not my mother, jess stop doing everything, my mother was just helping and your over stressing on everything , one of the kids fall its a big thing, we haven't had time together till last night and even then you were exausted, stop it " he said to her making her sit down. Jess heard jack and sighed and sat down taking his advice she looked at Brian " I guess I just wanted to show Robert that I had learned more and wasn't just sitting on my butt " she looked at Jack and sighed again " its not your mother your right its me " sdhe looked at Brian " if you want me to stay here I will " she said ro Brian.

"Look, we were all angry and upset with Khaat and blamed her for pulling away from everyone when I went on a mission," Brian said. "We were angry with her and we all gave her a lot of heat because we didn't know why she was trying to do everything by herself and didn't get why she put you lot on holiday. Now I really get it. I understand her point. You couldn't begin to deal with 2 days in Tuscany because you wanted to get home to your kids. So you just went home. That was what opened her eyes to the fact that you had had enough.

"So she gave you a month off. And from what I can see, it doesn't appear that you're any better for having had a month off with double pay. You've only had your healing abilities for a few months. Learning how to be a healer takes years of training. You should know that, and I'm sure Robert probably told you that...."

"I did," Robert said.

"I don't understand at all what your big push was about then. Khaat gave you that time because you said you needed it to spend with Jack and your kids. Now what I hear you saying is that you didn't spend it on them. You spent it trying to do the impossible instead. Tell me what it is you need, Jess. What do I do? Do I give you another month off? Because if that's what you need, you need to speak up."

Brian understood now why Khaat had pulled away. Khaat had seen the moodiness in Jess that he hadn't seen until Jack and Jess had sprinted home from their weekend in Tuscany. She had pulled away from Jess, Jack, and Steven all three and had felt like there wasn't a one of them who could deal with what Khaat's own normal daily life was like. Brian had to unravel it--now.

Jess looked at Brian and Robert " Im sorry I guess I am just tired , yeah he did over and over , I did spend time with the kids , the twins are walking and are on solid food Andrew is settled in Hogwarts, let me sleep and I'll be ok I promise " she said taking a deep breath as she looked at Jack smiling with a peck on his cheek she moved to face Robert " I keep trying to hard I keep thinking I need to do better than before so I push myself to know more" she looked at him " I'll stop and focus on everything else guess I lost perespective for a moment " Jack sat looking at her he had smiled to her as she kissed his cheek then sat listening as she spoke to robert , retching down he took of the ice wrap and carefuly stood up happy to find no pain or swelling and he placed it down on the table " sorry brian about jess let her rest and she will be back on form again" he said " as for me my ankles ok " he siad showing them he still limped a little but it was not noticable.

"That's fine by me," Brian said. "We'll look at it again in the morning. Jack, you stay off that tonight. If you do, you might just truly be over that thing by morning. In the meantime, I'll try to plan our trip to Ireland. I don't foresee it taking us very long. Now, where the devil is Steven? He missed dinner. I haven't seen him all day. Its not like him to miss dinner."

"Brian," Kieran said quietly, not wanting to interrupt. "My usual room is available, I presume?"

"Yes. It is."

"I'll go up and put my bag in my room," he said. He turned and went upstairs. Kieran was more concerned about finding Khaat and just seeing if she was alright. He really couldn't have cared less about his room. He did, however, want to talk to his sister in law. That was far more important to him.

Jack smiled and nodded heading after jess carefully as he moved to follow her into their room. Steven walked in his hands covered in mud as he looked at Robert " sorry about missing dinner " the barn had several broken slats I fixed them but a pig took akception I have spen the best part of an hour talking to him and explaning that i nneded to get to a slat to replace it well he let me but as I was leaving he pushed me in the mud and laughed " he moved to the kitchen and washed his hands stripping down and accioping his robe to wear instead of just his undergarmants.

"I'll get you a plate," Angus said. He fixed Steven a dinner plate and then used his wand to reheat it for him. He poured Steven a large glass of iced tea with plenty of ice. "Try that," Angus said. "And there are leftovers if you want more. Oh, and Steven, looks like we might be going on a road trip for a few days. Kieran is back. Brian and Kieran would like to try to find their sister in Ireland and see if they can't repair their family. Brian will, no doubt, ask you if you want to go to Ireland. He'll leave it purely up to you. He doesnt' want anyone going who doesn't want to go. I think this recent thing with Khaat has gotten him to feel that he has to make sure we're all up for it before we go. Expect that conversation from him at some point tonight. Oh, and Kieran said he was taking his bag to his room. Frankly, that's horsecrap. He went upstairs to talk to Khaat. I know him. He went to her room. He enjoys talking with her. "

Steven sat down and ate then took the ice tea and drank " nice Angus " he said and finished it " i'll have another plate , that was really good" he said smiling as a second plate flew over to him.and he ate that as well " great food " he said and sat back " ice teas good could use a slice of lemon " he said " or maybe just a hint of mint" he listened to Angus and sighed but smiled " ok so when do we go I have no problems with going ?" he asked looking up at him as he drank sending his plate to teh dishwasher and stood up " you know if that pig wasn't a male I make you turn him into bacon for breakfast" he said rubing a sore patch on his leg as he moved to the living room.

Khaat woke early the next morning to see clothes for both of them shrinking themselves and packing into Khaat's large tan messenger bag. Brian was getting good at packing for her. He knew just what she liked and didn't like. He was also packing extra pillows for her. He knew it was getting tough already for her to rest and sometimes to find comfortable ways to sit or lay. She watched him shrink a medical bag. That was just sound medical practice. Especially when one was going so far from home.

"Are you taking a shawl for me?" she yawned.

"Already packed several," he smiled. "Good morning. How did you sleep?" He came over and kissed her.

"Hi," she smiled.

"Oh, I have the babies packed already. Do you want to take them, or not? Your parents are just chomping at the bit to take them for a few days."

"Let Mom and Dad do it. I want the girls to grow up knowing their grandparents."

"Okay." He brought her a cup of almond tea. "Take your time and wake up. Breakfast won't be ready for another 30 minutes."

"Have you been to the gym already?"

"Of course. So has Kieran by the way. Seems as he is trying to change his ways. He went to the gym with me. He's got a long way to go, but he went. Khaat, I don't know anything about Fiona now. I don't know if I'd even recognize her. This might not be easy. But we have a house we've rented. I had the Paris office rent us a farm in the area where we need to go, overnight. Its in a magical area, not far from a wizarding coastal village. We'll portkey to the village and we'll take a horse drawn carriage to the farm. The Paris office has been there all night getting the farm ready for us. I believe it will be our own people that will be picking us up when we get there. What would you like to wear today. Its supposed to be foggy and misty all day and a bit cool."

Steven woke early showering he dresed and slipped his wand inside his boot where he could get it if he should need it. He washed and dressed and picked up a small back pack that sat beside the door and slung it over his shoulder as he headed down to the living room " morning " he said placing his back pack on the couch and grabbed some bacon and slices of bread " so we ready?" he asked. Jess woke and streched feeling mor like her self slipping from the bed she dressed and packed a large bag and left it where jack could carry it down she saw jack wake and smiled " good morning " she said softly as he walked over and held her kissing her lightly then dressed he picked up his potion and the bag he and jess walked down the stairs, he grabbed some food bedore he held hid nose ,pulled a face and took his potion " yuck thats foul " he said and looked at them all " I know, I have to take it and i will" he said and then ate his breakfast listening as jess walked down smiling as she sat with them " morning " she too listened to Brians words and nodded.