No Such Thing as an Old Blessing

Khaat was surprised that her father suddenly broke the bond, yanked both of them out of the dream. She looked at him.

"We'll never reach her that way," he said. She believes that horseshit Barker filled her head with. He apparated out and returned not more than three minutes later. He had his bag with him, and he opened it and drew out a potion. He put several drops of it, one at a time, under her tongue so it would absorb instantly and she wouldn't choke.

"What is that?" Khaat asked.

"Its a sort of a binding potion I've been working on. Its very concentrated. Every time I've used it, what every single person reports is that they see all traumatic memories sucked up into a little black cube and locked up. Its there for anyone to re-release as they wish, slowly or all at once, or never at all. It gives her a relief from this. If this doesn't work, I have every legal right to override your wishes and put her in St. Mungos. I don't want to have to do that, but we have to keep her safe."

"You dont' need to do that until I can talk to her friends. I want to give her that chance,' Khaat insisted.

"You really are pushing me today," he sighed. He lifted the sleep spell he'd put on Chase downstairs, feeling that the potion had had more than sufficient time to work. Now they would wait until she woke to see what happened.

They were gone... the sunlight took them away, and she was sobbing furiously on her own again. She was alone.. they had left her again.. left her to this place.. alone for eternity. She laid down in a ball in the middle of a clearing and curled in on herself, staring at the snow as he fell on her. Her hair had come back when she had come back to the clearing, and she lay silently for a long time, sobs so weak she couldn't even make a sound with them anymore. Then something changed.. it was slow at first, and gradually it filled the area with something warm and light, the trees parted just enough to let her see that the area outside of her clearing was sunny. Sunlight poured from the sky, and Chase stared up at it, standing against the trees, that were still to close together for her to get through, but she could see..

Suddenly Chase was yanked away, and she lay panting, covered in sweat, on the bed. Tears poured down her face, and she slowly looked up at the room. It was bright, almost as bright as the sunlight outside of her prison had been, and in her hurt eye, she could still see through that crack as it let her see the beauty outside of her tree lined prison cell. Chase was shaking so hard she was sure she was about to throw up from the convulsions. She coughed hard for a long while, before she finally forced herself into a sitting position. Having to fight with her own mind, as well as her own body exhaustion to work herself upright. "Calvin." She whispered, her eyes blinking at the light, her head swimming, and her body stiff and weak. "Where is he?" She whimpered and suddenly looked around the room for the first time.

It was familiar, and she recognized it instantly. It was her room in Khaat's house.. the place they had let her stay during her pregnancy. Chase shuddered, and looked around carefully, her eyes first falling on the man who had hugged her in her dream, and then to Khaat. Anger welled up inside her, but for what purpose Chase had no idea, and she beat it back, staring around the room with glossy eyes. "Where am I?" She whispered, slowly looking around the room before her eyes fell back on the man who had tried to help her. "Who... who are you? What... what happened?" She asked softly, her voice hoarse. She had to lay back down, for the whole room had started to spin and rock as though she were on a ship, and she needed to steady herself.

She felt like she was missing something really important... something that she needed to know.. something that could help her in the long run, and she also felt an odd twisting sensation inside her. It was a feeling of danger, her mind was telling her to run, but her body was to tired, like she had been running from fire, and now the fire was about to overwhelm her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Anger and pain flared up all at once, and she curled up in a ball, hugging her stomach. It was like someone had put a lock in her brain, and she desperately started to hammer at it.. wanting it gone, needing it gone. "Let me go." She suddenly whispered.

It was obvious that it hadn't worked.

"I'm Khaat's father--Robert," Robert said. "You know me. You were dreaming. You're safe now. You're with family. We sent for Calvin, but he hasn't come yet. When he does, we'll bring him right away. I promise." Robert knew that she was now irked because she could sense there was more to her mind that she could't bring forward right now, and it frustrated her. She knew that, and he was just going to allow it. It would eventually give her mind a rest when she calmed down. Then perhaps, at some point, they could look at the things that were locked away from her, one piece at a time.

Khaat accio'd a photo of Katie that she had. It was a recent one. Not long ago. Katie was just sitting in the grass in the sunshine and laughing. A beautiful baby, full of joy. "You know," Khaat said, "this picture of Katie reminds me so much of you. She's beautiful. Does she still like that set of plastic keys that you bought for her? That was her favorite, I think. Tell me about all the new things she's doing." She showed Chase the picture. "I think this is one of my favorite pictures of her."

Chase looked up at Robert, still clutching her stomach in pain. "Robert.." She muttered, and she got a memory full of him right up in her face, telling her to stop before it all went black, and she had been plunged into that horrible world of her mind. She winced and struggled to push herself up against the bedframe, her eyes wide and staring, hiding under the blanket, as she pulled it up to her chin, legs brought up to push her against the frame, her hair looked as though it had grown a few inches in her sleep, and it now lay almost level with her shoulders. Magic had sped up at least that part of her appearance. She looked at them with large eyes, frantically looking around. She looked like someone who had been thrown into a mental hospital, her eyes wide, her clothing crumpled, tears streaking her face. Her eyes had an almost vacant appearance to them, as though her mind was off somewhere else, fighting battles they couldn't see.

Suddenly though, Khaat was talking to her, and she bit her lip, trying to see the picture, but to afraid to reach for it. Chase had to concentrate really hard on making sense of what Khaat said, it was all jumbled, and didn't make much sense to her, as though everything had been slowed down and played backwards. Finally though, she got the meaning of what Khaat was saying, and nibbled on her lower lip, unaware that she was making it bleed. "Katie.." She said frowning at the two, still looking completely terrified, but her eyes were slowly starting to focus. "Keys.. yea... she.. she likes the keys... she also likes..." Chase stopped and had to collect her thoughts for a few moments, and it was obviously pretty painful on her. "The mobile... with all of the different shapes and colors." Chase pulled her legs to her chest and let her hair fall down around her legs, and it started to visibly grow, shooting down to nearly normal length, if not a bit longer, before it finally stopped, and it was obvious that her body was doing this so she could hide herself better.

Having hair made Chase feel protected, one reason it hurt so much to see it chopped off. She could hide her face with it.. and peek out of it when needed. It made her arms warm on a cold day, and helped shield her bare skin with it's red locks. It had grown a bit longer so that she could hide even better from them, and as though to prove this, she let it fall into her face, peeking out of it to look at them, looking all the more like an insane woman who had no idea what was going on.

Robert nodded slightly at Khaat. Katie. That had been the ticket.

"You know something?" Khaat continued gently, "I have a gift for Katie that I didn't get a chance to give her. You want to see?" She accio'd in a stuffed kitty--it was a squishy, huggable, soft, orange tabby with stripes. It had a happy face. "I bought it in the toystore in Diagon Alley," Khaat said. "Abbey and Dakota love theirs. Look here. If you pet it, it purrs." She stroked the stuffed cat and it began to purr soothingly with a very realistic sounding purring. "And..." Khaat smiled at Chase, "here's their favorite bit. If you cuddle with it, it sings lullabyes. It soothes mine to sleep every night. Try it." She handed it to Chase and tucked it into her arms. "Its yours. Well, Katie's. Take it." Khaat's thought was that the soothing toy might well help her to feel more connected to Katie and that the toy itself might soothe Chase's jangled nerves. And if Chase hugged it forever, Khaat was fine with it. She knew, by the look on her father's face, that he was just as good with it. She studied her father. He was watching Chase carefully and trying to decide how to best put some stability into Chase's mind. Helping her feel safe longer term than just what a potion or a spell might do, and he hadn't decided exactly the proper course of action yet.

Khaat was beginning to think that if they could show Chase how the locks on the psych unit prevented anyone from evil intent being able to open them at all that perhaps Chase might be able to use it as another level of achoring until she stabilized a bit. If Chase were calm when they showed her the doors, then perhaps at least she might feel safe in her hospital room. That would give her some periods of relief from the torture in her mind.

In Khaat's own mind, all Chase's suffering did was to bring back the reality that Barker had nearly killed her twice, nearly killed Sophia, Eli and Chase--and it was all because of her. The only thing that was firming up for her was that she was about to either find Barker himself or to make sure he did get caught...no, wait...killed. Caught was not good enough anymore. She had been wrong to even think about giving him a second chance. But, she had done it, he'd blown it off. All bets were off. No matter how it happened, Felix Barker was going to die.

Chase stared at the toy as it was shown to her, and she listened with her glazed look for a very long time, it took her a bit to respond to her handing her the toy, and when she did she very carefully held it, like it was a baby and she wasn't sure what to do with it. She looked up at Khaat as though almost asking her permission to pet it, and then carefully pet it, listening to the purring coming from the stuffed cat. She stared at it, and very carefully, a small smile appeared on her face. She brought it closer to her, and hugged it, listening to the lullaby as it played, and the smile grew in size, before vanishing completely and looking up at the two in the room. "I.." She said, as though trying to push all of her thoughts into the right sequence. Before she looked at them, completely serious. "I want Calvin now.. "She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I want Calvin and Katie.. please... don't... I don't wanna go to sleep.. I want Calvin.." She whispered and looked at them pleadingly, wishing he would come, hoping and praying with all her might that he would just.. show up in the room and hug her tight.

"Please?" She whispered, eyes wide, holding the stuffed animal lightly so that it didn't sing, but pet it gently so that it purred in her arms, giving her a small sense of comfort, before she pushed herself back up against the headboard, and stared down at the stuffed animal, letting it take all of her attention in a way of forgetting things. She didn't want to think, and now, finally she had a distraction.

“Hello? Please, someone – I’m outside. I took a portkey here, but I-I-I don’t exactly know where I am, or why I’m here. Is Chase OK? The letter mentioned Chase, but not much about her; just that she was here. Please let me in!” Calvin called through the thick wood of the door that stood between him and the chaos that was taking place within the home that he’d been transported to. He had received nothing more than a cryptic letter regarding the numbing potion that he and Chase had been putting to good use for a month or so, and a portkey in the form of a charm, which Calvin had only realized was a portkey when his apartment had suddenly become a muddled mix of colors and shapes. “Hello?” he called again.

Calvin’s heart could not have raced any faster; surely, if it were to, it would explode beneath his chest. There wasn’t much that frightened Calvin more than apperation did, and surely enough, traveling by portkey had the same effect on his nerves. Calvin pressed his palm flat against his chest and inhaled sharply. “I think I am going to faint… Please, could someone tell me why I was brought here? I-I-I don’t know – OH I am dizzy. I am really dizzy,” he hollered to those beyond the front porch.

"I-I-I..." Calvin started again, but his knees were growing week benieth him due to his panic, and he was immediately too caught up in trying to keep himself up off of the ground to complete his sentence.

Calvin. Brian knew that voice anywhere. He wasn't sure if the lad was panicking because of the portkey or because of Chase. Either way, it wasn't good. He calmly went to the door. He opened it and offered the sinking young man a strong arm to hang onto. "Calvin. Calm down. I really do need to teach you how to portkey, you know that?" he said. "Get yourself together and come in. Khaat and Robert are both here. Things are a bit better. Come inside and I'll tell you what we know. Incidentally, in case you're wondering where you are, you're at my house--well, mine and Khaat's. I sent for you because Khaat asked me to. Chase is here, but you and I do need to talk first. I need to read you in on what's going on. So, come in and make yourself at home. Can you walk yet or do you need a hand?"

"More tea?" Angus called to Brian.

"Please," Brian called back. "He's not mixing well with the portkeying."

"Coming right up," was the reply.

Just as Calvin's body had begun to crumble beneath him, an arm shot out towards him, and immediately Calvin clung to the appendage with every ounce of strength he had. Calvin followed the arm with his eyes to determine who it belonged to, and grinned when he identified Brian Quinn. A familiar face was exactly what Calvin had needed at that moment.

At Brian's mention of teaching Calvin how to porkey more successfully, however, that smile was quickly erased from Calvin's face. "I'm not doing that again!" Calvin corrected him in a tone of voice that betrayed his fear of wizard transportation. "Portkeys and apperation are dangerous! I-I-I might get splinched!" he added hurriedly, as though he believed that Brian would force him to travel by said means again if he did not convince him.

Calvin stumbled forward and rested his hunched spine against the frame of the door that Brian had stepped through. As he listened to the other man as he spoke, he began in his attempt to adjust his spectacles, but to no avail; during his trip to the Quinn-Lupin residence, the frame of his eyeglasses had been bent out of shape and no longer sat properly on his nose. He crossed his eyes as he attempted to look at the damage that had been done, and once more the black-rimmed specs tilted oddly to one side. “Darn…” he whispered with disappointment.

As Chase became the subject of their conversation, Calvin’s directed his full attention towards Brian. His concern for Chase had only continued to increase as more time had passed by, and to be offered an answer to his questions provided him with an almost overwhelming feeling of relief. “Chase? Is she OK? Has something happened to her? The letter that you sent me said something about the numbing potion that I have been giving Chase,” Calvin inquired, and with trembling fingers he produced said vial of numbing potion from a pocket in his loose fitted jeans. “Has this done something to her?” His eyes grew wide behind his busted glasses as he released Brian from his grip and stood properly once more; Chase was now his main concern, and this concern towards her overpowered his previous side effects of having traveled by portkey.

"Calvin," Brian said calmly and steadily, "You're farther from London than you think. I won't let you get splinched. That really is quite unpleasant, and I happen to like you. I'd rather you not get splinched. What the devil did you do to your glasses? Reparo!" He flicked his fingers towards Calvin's glasses.

"What's happened to Chase has nothing to do with the potion she's been taking. Calvin, let me tell you a thing about Khaat and Robert that you may or may not know. First they're both experienced healers. And Robert is a Master Healer and a Potions Master. Few people in our world are more qualified medically. The potion Chase has been taking is a cheap, illegal brand--an imitation of a good quality potion. Chase has not taken enough of it for it to hurt her, but it can be deadly if taken long enough and heavily enough. That's not the problem." Brian motioned to Calvin to lead him inside and out of the doorway.

"The problem is that her trauma from Felix Barker has compounded on her," Brian continued. "You've done very well at keeping a bandaid on her, but in the end, thats about all it is. She needs professional medical help. What has happened is that Chase has begun to experience a psychotic break--in laymen's terms, a nervous breakdown. None of us caused it, and its nothing we could really prevent. At the best, you were able to postpone it for awhile and perhaps help to minimize the damage. Khaat wanted you here out of respect to you and out of respect to Chase. Khaat is still Chase's guardian, but even if she were not, she and Robert do have the legal ability to hospitalize Chase based on the poor mental state she is in. Khaat asked that you come and give some of your input to this. She does not at all want to disrespect you and the importance you have in Chase's life. Calvin, we are really sorry this has happened to you two. We do care about you both. Khaat and I feel like parents to Chase, and that's not likely to change, no matter how old she gets. What I'm saying is that this is a family matter, and we brought you in because you're part of Chase's family, and that makes you part of us."