No Such Thing as an Old Blessing

Khaat had been watching in the room all this time, hoping that Chase would let Calvin in, into a place where Khaat herself was no longer apparently welcome. She felt useless as a mother. She wasn't loved. Somewhere she had made a horrible mistake with her children--every one of them. The list was endless. Chase. Chase hated her. Wanted to kill her. She had seen the workings of Chase's mind--how much she hated her, how much she blamed Khaat for all of it, for Barker coming for her, for the fact that she herself had not rescued Chase. Chase had no idea how hard she had tried--how many people she had hired to look for her, how much she had gone off and searched for her herself until Brian wouldn't let her, in her pregnant state, search any more. No, all Chase ever thought about was that Khaat hadn't come. And she didn't expect to ever be able to explain it to her in a way Chase would ever understand.

Eli--blamed her somehow for her father's choices. Made up with her then buggered off again with no contact. What the hell was she doing? She never saw Mis--her adopted daughter. Suddenly she didn't want Abbey, didn't want Dakota, didn't want these babies she carried, wanted away from all of it. She found herself getting up, not without difficulty, but she called for her father and then simply gave up. It was done. Chase hated her. It was all over. Done. And all Khaat felt was condemnation and heartache.

"Khaat," Brian stopped her at the door. "This isn't about you. Its not even about Chase. Its about Barker. Don't give up."

"I know," she said softly. "I know. But I'm done. I'm doing more harm here than help. I'm done. You all can get more than I can from her right now. I have to go." She went downstairs. Brian sighed. He'd never, in his whole life, seen Khaat just give up. Never, ever. This wasn't at all good.

Khaat went downstairs into her den and got out the guardianship paperwork. She thought. And then thought some more before completing it. She filled out the form, transferring guardianship to Brian. All it needed now was Brian's signature. If Chase didn't want her in her life, Khaat was going to give it to her, and it felt like Chase was ripping Khaat's heart right out of her.

Robert saw the change in his daughter and didn't like at all what he had seen. There had been a shift. He'd only seen her give up just once. Just one time, and it had had dire consequences. He had to take care of Chase, and then he had to shift his attentions back to Khaat before something equally dire occurred. It was his one flaw above all others--her. She was his entire heart. His life. And his enemies usually quickly figured it out, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

He had to let Brian deal with that at the moment. He crossed over to Chase. She was asleep now, and Robert had already been inside her head. He had no doubt she was back in those stupid trees. Torturing herself. He touched her forehead and deepened the sleep spell. She would not wake now until he permitted it, even though it was far from peaceful for her.

He looked at Calvin. "I have no choice, Son," Robert said quietly. "This is, for the moment, not the Chase you knew. This is nothing but the madness that Barker brings out in the women he breaks. This is the result of his handiwork. This is why I want that B**** dead. Don't think I haven't seen this before because I have. He takes great joy in creating this perpetual suffering. And as long as he gets his rocks off in doing it, I'll go after him. I will not put him back in front of the Wizengamot one more time. I have just changed the warrant on him. I have just signed and sent to the Ministry a Death Warrant on him. The aurors will be hunting him, not to arrest him, but to kill him. I'm done with this nonsense. No more suffering. And if any wizard who needs a handful of sickles in their pocket wants him, they will be hunting him as well. All I want at this point is his cold dead corpse.

"For now, for Chase, I have no choice. I have to take her to St. Mungos. This could well take some time, so don't think you're going to be able to stay with her nonstop. It will be far too hard on both you and her. I want you to visit. You are valuable to her, but we need to do this wisely." He picked her up from the floor, in his strong arms. "Are you coming with me? Or shall I have Brian bring you? If you're coming with me, take my arm."

The mention of death sent an icy shiver down Calvin’s spine. Calvin had thought quite a bit about Felix Barker when he’d first healed Chase of the wounds that he’d caused her, but despite his anger towards the man, not once had revenge crossed his mind. He simply was not capable of it, and thus as he listened to the Minister’s plans for the Barker, Calvin could not prevent himself from trembling. He said nothing on the subject, however; if anything, the Minister’s determination comforted him. If Robert Lupin had a say in the matter of Chase’s protection she was sure to be kept safe.

“No…” Calvin whispered as Chase was torn from his arms and was lifted from the ground, but he made no further protests. His head fell, and his chin met with his chest as he pushed himself upward to a kneeling position once more. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry,” Calvin spoke, appearing as though he was apologizing to the carpet beneath him, as he had not yet looked up from it. “Brian was right. I couldn’t help her… I…” Calvin inhaled sharply as his shoulders began to shack due to the power of the sobs that tore through his chest, and paused for a moment before finishing his sentence. “I just made things worse.”

Calvin climbed to his feet and stepped towards Robert so to stand by his side. Tears clung to the skin beneath his eyes, and as Calvin dragged his eyes upward to gaze at Chase's limp body, he revealed the ocean that had already collected at the inner rims of his eyelids. “OK. Whatever will help her. Whatever you say,” he agreed absently. Calvin took the arm that the Minister had offered him, and held on to it loosely. Chase was the only thing on his mind. "Whatever it takes,” he breathed.

"Brian," Robert said. "With me. Angus can look after Khaat. Meet me there."

"Yes, Sir," Brian said, fishing a portkey out of his pocket and was gone. Robert looked at Calvin frowning slightly.

"You'd better hold tighter than that, Son, Otherwise, you'll fall off before we get there," Robert told him. He fished out a simple old skeleton key out of his pocket and portkeyed them to St. Mungos. Brian was already waiting. Calvin didn't look like he was coping with all the "porting" well. "Brian, catch Calvin up on what he needs to know while I see to Chase. And send Hannah in if you see her, please."

"Yes, Sir. I'll just send for her," he said. "Calvin, come with me." Robert carried Chase into a treatment room and closed the door. Brian went over to the desk and informed the nurse that Chief of Staff Lupin was admitting Chase Moor to the 4th floor and was requesting Hannah be sent with Chase's chart and the necessary paperwork. The nurse immediately snapped into action.

"Calvin," Brian said, leading him away to a waiting room. "Robert will catch us up in a few minutes. He wants to get her changed and medically checked to make sure she is in good health, and to get her admitted. While he does that, let me catch you up on a few things you need to know. First, you did not fail Chase, and you didn't make anything worse. Not in any way. You brought her comfort and hope just by being there for her today. That was more than we can do because Chase depended on Khaat and me to protect her, no matter what. And when Barker took her, we couldn't find her. You need to know we tried. We turned over every rock in England and hired as many people as we could find that we knew were experienced at tracking murderers. We came up empty handed. Khaat went out herself almost nonstop until I made her stop. This isn't about anything any of us did wrong. This is completely and 100% about Felix Barker.

"Chase is going to want you to be part of her life and her recovery. I don't think she finds many other people that she trusts right now. We'll guide you as best we can on how to be there for her. We want you to be part of this for her. In order for her to recover, she has to be willing to change some of her stuck thinking. As long as she is not willing to believe that she can't protect herself and that her family allowed Barker to take her and didn't give a damn about finding her, then she's going to be like she is now. I'm sure that when Robert gets her settled in her room, he'll take the sleep spell off, but he might not do it until then."