New Day, New Life

"Jack," he said, taking a pad of paper and a pen," go across the street to the Whole Foods market and get us some cases of lettuce." He wrote down a large list of various greens and other fruits and veggies and handed it to him. "Take the SUV. Charge it to Brian's charge card. Get it back here asap. You're right, Jess. We aren't using that. I want fresh greens. That must have been the bottom of the barrel. Go, Jack. Hurry back--before Khaat's charm wears off."

Angus turned back to the grill and turned out several orders and put them up for Jess to garnish and dress for presentation before the servers took them. He took the new tickets and put them into the rotation, easily working their orders into the rotation with the other things that needed to go out.

"Jess, there is a surplus of tuna in the walk in. Put a special up on the board. Call it Tropical Tuna Tacos. We'll offer a jicama salad with it and some crispy sweet potato chips with them. Mark it at $12.95. Let's move that tuna out while its so fresh. I'll deep fry some of the pita bread from lunch for the taco shells. I'll season it with seafood seasoning, and it'll be awesome. And check to make sure we have enough iced tea. If not, you know how to make my fruit tea. We'll offer it as a special."

"Thank you, Jack," Angus said. "Jess, get on prepping those salads and sides with Angie here. She's doing a bangup job getting the prep work done. I'm about to promote her. She's seriously being underused here doing dishes."

"Really?" the young woman asked, amazed.

"Yes. You're wonderful," he said. "Now--don't let it go to your head. You want off those dishes?"

"Yes, Chef!!" she said, snapping up, in proper chef etiquette.

"Show me, then. Show me what you're made of."

"Yes, Chef!" she replied, her speed on her chef's knife increasing with the promise of being noticed.

Khaat peeked around the corner. "I hope you guys are planning on staying here awhile. They're lined clear down the block waiting to get in here tonight. The servers say they've never seen this place like this. I'll treat you all to something wonderful when this shift is over--I promise."

"Glad to do it, Khaat," Angus smiled. He paused to kiss her forehead just briefly. "How are you holding up?" His voice was very soft so that only she could hear him.

"I...um...I hadn 't noticed. I think I'm okay."

"Good girl. Take a break if you need to."

"I will." She smiled and returned to the dining room.

"How's the rest of the walk in, Jess? Are we good? If they're lined down the block, we'd better have a walk in that is jam packed. Or do I make an emergency call to the suppliers?"

"Khaat said they were lined down the block. I don't know when its going to ease up," Angus said, continuing to churn out the dishes as rapid fire as it could be managed. He'd actually lost track of how much time it had been, but he felt, finally, the pace slowing down a bit.

FInally, Khaat came back to the kitchen. "It's done," she said. "We're locked up, and they're gone." She looked up the at clock. It was 10 pm. "I'm so sorry, All. Thanks for your help. The place is schedueld to be closed tomorrow so that will give me a day to regroup with it. Angus, you've already cooked for so many, I don't want you to have to go home and cook some more. Can't we just order some pizzas or something?"

"No," he frowned. "I'll take some shortcuts for dinner tonight and have it on the table in no time at all. I'm more worried about you. I want you to head home and let the rest of us clea up. You've done entirely too much. Can you go straight home and not stop anywhere?"

"Yes," she said. "I can."

"Then go," he said. "I'll ride back with Jack and Jess when we get the kitchen cleaned up and closed up. She picked up the keys to the red sportscar and said, "I'll see you all at home." She left, got into the little red car and headed for home.

Brian was sitting at home, playing with Abbey, trying to wind her down before bed, when he felt a panic rush through his system. One he could not explain. He looked up at Kate and Robert who had also stopped in their tracks. They all looked at each other. Something was wrong. Drastically wrong. Robert accio'd a set of car keys.

"Can we wait for that?" Kate asked softly.

"We're living in a muggle world. We dont' have a choice," Robert said. "Come with me, Kate. I need you to help me find her." He and Kate made a dash for the other SUV and left in it, in a hurry, tracing back the route from the house to the bistro.

They were about 10 minutes from home when they saw a bad accident. A three car pile up. And in amongst the wreckage was a twisted bit of red metal that had been their red sportscar. Robert already knew that his daughter was in that tangled metal somewhere. He spun the car around on the highway and pulled up to the wreckage. He and Kate leaped out of the SUV and dashed over to the wreckage, glad that the muggle emergency service providers had not arrived yet. Kate began checking the drivers of the other two cars as best she could. She was silent.

He made his way through the tangle of metal and found his daughter. She was a bloody mess and unconscious. "Kate? Can I go?" he asked. "She's unconscious."

"Go! GO! I hear sirens!" she said. Robert laid his hand on Khaat's and apparated back to the house with her, leaving Kate behind. Kate dashed back to her car and headed it back home as quickly as she could race it.

"It wasn't her fault," Kate said, rushing into the room. "One of the other two vehicles was a large truck, and he had an open bottle of whiskey in the cab with him. He clearly had been drunk. He didn't survive. The second vehicle was a delivery van. He didn't surive either. By what I saw, the drunk driver slammed into both the van and Khaat's car. Khaat looks like she was the only one who survived. Robert, if you hadn't been sure to spend the extra money to make the car a specially reinforced vehicle, she'd have been killed. Thank you so very much."

"I take no chances with those I love," he said, not looking at Kate, busy checking Khaat. "I don't see any serious internal injuries. She has several broken bones in her right hand and her fingers on that hand are broken. I'll set those for her and put them in a cast. She has a concussion. She's going to have the headache from hell, maybe some severe dizziness. I don't know. Its not a mild concussion. She has...two broken ribs...and it looks like it has done some minor internal injuries where her c section was. That will all heal. She's going to be badly bruised from head to toe. She was damned lucky she wasn't killed. I couild barely find her in that mess."

"She wasn't lucky," Kate said. "It was you. You planned well when you ordered those cars. They were reinforced more than any other vehicle out on the street. Your planning saved her life."

"The muggles will be looking for us," Robert said. "Hide any evidence of magic. Right this minute. I'll do what I can here for her. You have to leave her to me. They cannot find we are magic. Go. All of you. Right this minute. Brian, turn that damned basement stairway into a closet. They can't find that at all. Go! Go! We will only have as long as it takes for them to run the license plate on the car, and then they'll be here."