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."

Jack grabbed the keys to the SUV and the list and drove across to the Whole Foods market and told the man each thing on the list.

Jess took the plates dressing them the best she could she had found half a fresh lettuce and had cut it so she dressed it to look five star and she sent it out throwing the old lettuce replacing it for now with the fresh one. She looked at the board and wiped of the old special marking on the Tropical Tuna Tacos and the price then stood back smiling at Khaat as she worked the tables she took as second order and placed it down for Angus " I hope Jack gets back soon" she said and as if summoned he arrived his arms filled with boxes of the fresh fruits and veg Angus needed.

" ok got all on your list the rest is in the back of the SUV " he said and placed it down to head back out for more.

"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?"

Jess looked at Angus " its stocked fresh and full for now " she said smiling as she and Angie quickly got on the preparation done, soon with Angie she managed to get it all sorted cut and in the right places she checked the containers and smiled " all a ok Angus " she said as she dressed a dish and sent it out. Jess and Angie soon had it in a rhythm and were soon handing out Angus's five star food to the customers though close to the end Jess felt her feet start to hurt from the standing but she ignored it smiling across at jack who she saw was busy working at the sink. " how much more Khaat?" she asked as Khaat passed her buy at the counter.

Jack worked fast at the sink washing scraping and placing back the pots and pans he placed the plates back on the shelves and cutlery in the draws. This was not work he was use to but he had done it years ago when he was fresh out of school. He smiled at Jess as she looked at him from the preparation counter. " you know I am so looking forward to this boat trip " he said and Jess nodded her agreement.

"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.

Jess looked at Khaat and sat down on a stool rubbing her feet " thank goodness " she said and glanced at Jack who was still getting threw a pile of pans and plates still. She looked back at Khaat as Angus said she was to go straight home she waited till after Khaat left before she spoke " you shore that's wise letting her go on her own ?" she asked him " what if some one ..." she stopped herself seeing Angie was still in the room with them.

Jack looked back at her as he finished a large pan " Jess she will be fine " he said and frowned at her for over protecting Khaat as she was Cassidy " stop with the over protecting you started on Cassidy, now your doing it with Khaat, Jess stop it " he said finishing the last pan he dried it and walked over to her kissing her deeply " now relax will you" he felt her hold him and she held him back.

" I guess I'm tired, I haven't done this kind of work in years " she said and looked at Angus " sorry about that Angus, is there mush more to do , fronts all cleaned and the others are nearly finished brushing down" she sighed heavily.

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.

Jess shivered and looked at Angus " somethings wrong we have to get back and I'm am not being over protective " she said pulling from Jack and grabbing the keys and diving out of the door " COME ON !!" she shouted jack looked at Angus

" She means it I haven't seen her this worked up before " he said and headed out himself. Quickly she drove down the road several moments later she pasted the accident her mind told her Khaat wasn't in it but safe but she hurried back to the house and in to the drive. Stopping she jumped out and into the house and headed to Khaats room.

" I knew it , I told Angus her going on her own was a bad idea " she said and looked at Robert and Kate worried " how is she?" she asked softly as Jack moved to hold her from behind " I should have gone with her " she said scolding her self for not being with Khaat.

"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."

Jess looked at Kate she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and began hiding and changing things to look muggle not magic even Cassidy helped she cleaned up the kitchen and changed bottles of magic herbs to normal one. Jess froze wizard pictures apologize to them all and saying they would be unfrozen once the police had gone . Jess sat down and slipped off her shoes jack had been helping going threw each room changing any thing magic to muggle and now he had finished moving to the living room he saw Jess sat massaging her feet.

Cassidy moved to Khaats room and gasped at what she saw , it was then she heard the babies stirring and she quickly moved to change them she had no problems with the first , Robert but Michael seem squirmy and wriggled. She felt Steven walk up behind her and he stopped wiggling long enough for her to change him but looked up at Kate " what are you going to tell the police as to how she got back here ?" she asked as she picked up Julia to change her.