New Day, New Life

"Yes," Robert replied. "If you sleep heavily now, even if its for a short time, you'll find you don't rest as well at night. That will cause longer term sleep deprivation effects later on. You might not feel it the first night, but it will cause you to want to sleep more tomorrow, and more the day after that, and so on. Before long, you'll find you're up at night and sleeping all day during the day. That is not the schedule that you want your child on, I don't believe. So you ought to be setting your own body to function as you want your child to function later. I do understand the fatigue. Resting is fine. Sleeping is not such a good thing until bedtime."

Kate got up and she and Angus cleared the table and put away the leftovers. She took care of doing up the dishes and cleaning the kitchen while he went out and made sure that there were no signs of the pork roasting they had done that day. He wanted to be certain the mess was completely cleaned up.

Khaat and Brian came in after about 30 minutes in the pool. They were laughing and smiling and seemed to be relaxed and in a good mood.

"If you'll excuse us, we need to go dry off," Brian smiled. "Give us just a few minutes." They went down the hall to the bedroom to change.

OOC: Moving to the next morning.

Brian woke early to go on his morning run and found Khaat's side of the bed empty. He jolted awake, springing out of bed. He checked the cribs. The newborns were all fast asleep. He flew down the hallway and checked the girls room. They were fine. Fast asleep. He dashed back to the room and started to investigate.

The bathroom told him she had showered. Her closet said she had dressed. There was a dress missing. Heels. Some of her jewelry. Anger began to replace his fear. He went to the kitchen to find Angus just arriving there, yawning and starting to make coffee and tea for the morning. Brian went to the cabinet and started checking for car keys. There was a set missing. The set to the red sportscar. He went to the garage and found the car was gone. His anger just kept building. Where the hell had she gone before daylight and without a single word. He stormed back in.

"You didn't see Khaat, did you?" he asked Angus.

"Uh...no...wait. Here's a note. It reads: Angus, dont' hold breakfast for me. I'll be back by lunch. K."

"I'm gonna kill her," Brian said angrily.

"I'm going to go kill my wife," Brian hissed angrily. "Let her parents sleep. I'll take care of this myself." He read the note again. "Dont hold breakfast, huh? We'll see about that. It appears she took off in one of the cars. Clearly before daylight, since its not light yet. She hasn't been given medical clearance to drive, no note about where she was going, no waking me up...nothing. I'm going to go find her."

"Here," Angus handed him a cup of conjured coffee in a travel mug. "You might need it."

"Oh trust me, I'm very well awake now," Brian said. "You all stay here in case she comes back. I'm taking a muggle cell phone with me. If I need you, I want to be able to call back here. I presume someone here knows how to use a muggle telephone." He headed out the door, trying hard not to slam the door on the way out to the garage.

Brian drove for what felt like hours. He finally ended up in a rather elegant cluster of shops. He needed to get some gas for the car, and as he pulled around the corner of the filling station, he saw the red sportscar parked in a parking lot just outside a bistro. He parked his car and went inside.

To his absolute shock, he saw Khaat there, but she had a uniform on and an apron and was waiting on customers behind a bakery counter. He waited, to avoid interrupting the customers and then when they were gone, he went over to her.

"Buy something," she mumbled at him. "Come look at the muffins." He walked to the other end of the counter away from the other employees and pretended to lean a bit over the glass to get a good look at the pastries.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed in her ear.

"Working," she said. "I got a job. I made a muggle ID and got a job."

"I presume that's why your ID tag says your name is Irena."

"I am Irena Harrington. And I am newly moved here."

"Why are you working?" he demanded.

"My medical leave is officially over. I declare myself quite well. I'm a pastry chef. I think I can handle it."

"I have no doubt about your cooking skills, but what the hell are you doing this for? We dont' need the money."

"I need to work!" she fairly exploded at him.

"Would you care to discuss this with me?"

"Not until my break--in 30 minutes."

"I'll bloody well wait! Can you manage to serve me something in the meantime?"

"I'd be glad to," she smiled. "What would you like?"

"I don't care!" he said, nearly coming unglued.

"Kona and pineapple scones with turbinado sugar it is," she smiled pleasantly. She handed him a number tag from the spindle on the pastry case. "Coming right up, Sir," she said with an enchanting smile. "Have a seat wherever you like." He took in a deep breath, to reel in his anger and took a seat by the window where he could watch out the window and keep an eye on her at the same time. He dialed Steven's number on the cell phone. When Steven answered, Brian said very quietly. "I found her. She seems to be fine. And she seems to be employed. I have no idea what posessed her, but I'm staying until I find out."

Kate came out of the bedroom and into the kitchen and poured two cups of tea. "Robert is coming. He overslept just a bit. He worked late last night." She looked at the people in the kitchen and sighed. "Alright. Give. Where are my children?" she demanded.

Brian sat and waited, sipping on the Kona and actually enjoying the pineapple scones with the dusting of turbinado sugar on the tops. A thin woman with mousy brown hair came and gave Khaat her break, praising her for the excellent job she had done so far on her first shift. Khaat poured herself a mug of coffee. She asked permission to go join her husband, pointing to Brian. The woman seemed to become genuinely excited. She followed Khaat to the table.

"So you're Irena's husband? I'm Jana. Jana Jameson. People call me JJ. Irena is a true joy, and I cannot tell you what a blessing she was, coming in like she did this morning. I needed the help in the worst way. Irena, your husband's order is on the house," the woman said.

"Jana! Thank you," Khaat smiled.

"That's just what family does, my dear," she said lightly. "Take an extra few minutes. You deserve it." She walked away from them.

"Alright, level with me," he said to Khaat softly. "What is this all about?"

"I'm used to working, Brian," she said gently. "Being at home was making me really edgy. I needed to work for the change of pace."

"You couldn't talk to me?" he asked.

"You'd have said no."

"You're damned right!" he said. "You're not up to this! How can I just walk away from you here?"

"It's only 3 mornings a week. 12 hours a week. Just part time."

"I can't just leave here without you. You're not up to all this."

"She's looking for someone to do some lawn and garden work outside. Why don't you do that for a couple hours until I get off." He sighed heavily and then reluctantly agreed. Khaat got Jana, and Brian talekd to her about doing the yard work for the bistro. Jana was so grateful and said she hadn't been able to get to it since her husband died. Brian agreed to do it for free. Then he set out to mow the grass, trim the trees and the bushes and weed the flowerbeds while Khaat worked. He wasn't leaving until he felt he had an adequate explanation from her.