Marriage is Murder

"Yeah," Brian smiled. "It was amazing. And she never noticed a single bodyguard any step along the way."

"Then we did it well, if she didn't notice," Robert smiled. "Although you spent the last two weeks off grid."

"Yeah well, sorry about that," Brian said.

"I'm not. It proves you can keep her safe by yourself. You needed to know that."

"Even after this morning?"

"Well, first, she did that out of her own clumsiness. You can't protect her from that. And second, if that wouldn't have happened, you'd have stayed on that honeymoon forever. I can't blame you for going more than a week, but we never discussed three weeks."

"I know. But we just didn't have it in us to come back. We were having such a good time. We were doing things we always wanted to do. We went on a safari, went sightseeing, went whitewater rafting, camping, all sorts of things."

"Then this was just a silly thing. Don't worry about it. Thanks, Jess. That will take a lot of the pain out of that break for her. I suggest since its just a bit after 2 that we all go back to bed for awhile," Robert said.

Jess chuckled " sounds like you both had a fantastic time " she nodded at Roberts suggestion and headed back to her room. Waking to the sunlight she moved to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee brushing the sleep from her eyes as she sat at the table Andrew toddled in and motioned for a drink Jess chuckled again and made his sippy cup fill and float down to him witch he giggled as he took it from the air and sat on the floor to drink. Jess blew over her coffee and took a deep sip feeling like her self after the first sip.

Brian simply unpacked his things and Khaat's. He rooted out a pair of crutches and sized them to her. He put them between the nightstand and the bed so she could reach them. He made a pot of kona and took the first cup while the rest of the house slept. He heard Angus get up and start the dough for scones and then go for a quick run on the beach before returning to start breakfast.

Then he heard Abbey and Dakota making noises. They wanted up. He went to them and changed them and brought them into the bedroom with him while he waited for Khaat. The triplets were still sleeping, but he was thinking that he needed to add another room--another nursery for the twins. Maybe two. One for the boys and one for Julia and Fallon. There were too many babies to crowd them into their parents rooms anymore. The girls had missed him and they were both vying for his attention. He drew them up on his lap and proceeded to tell them a story while they cuddled with him.

Finally, he heard Khaat wake. He excused himself very briefly from the girls and went over to Khaat. She woke with a fierce headache.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"I brought us home," he said. "You fell over the embankment."

"I...Oh, yeah," she frowned, barely remembering it. "Ow. My head hurts."

"I'll fix it." He sat on the edge of the bed and drew off the pain. "You broke your leg. We really needed your father's help. So I brought us home. You're going to be in a cast for awhile."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"You're alright. For us, a broken leg is nothing," he smiled. "Besides, we were a little overdue to return anyway."

"A bit," she smiled. He invited the girls to come up and see their mother. "I'll go get you some coffee, Sweetheart." He went out to the kitchen so she had a moment with the girls.

Jess saw Brian and smiled " morning sleep well?" she asked and handed him a filled cup of coffee followed by a second " I'm guessing Khaat could use this this morning " she said smiling to him as she sipped her own " so how is she I know she's awake hows her head ? " she asked picking up Andrew who wriggled and sat next to her copying Brian and smiling at him as he did. " I think some ones copying " she said and chuckled as Andrew placed down his cup and crossed his arms frowning then picking his cup back up he drank.

"I didn't go back to sleep after we got back," Brian said. "We're not on the same time as this time zone. Fortunately or unfortunately. Thanks, yes. She does want coffee. She had a miserable headache, but I drew it off for her. I think she's just getting reacquainted with her girls right now." He looked at Andrew and simply smiled. "They all go through that stage."

"He was copying me yesterday when I made the scones," Angus laughed. "Breakfast in about 10 minutes. I hope you're all going to be hungry."

Robert and Kate got up and went in to the triplets. Robert accio' bottles of formula while Kate washed the triplets and dressed them. By then Robert had their bottles warmed up and the two of them fed the babies fairly quickly. They brought them out and put them in walker toys so they could be upright awhile. They seemed to be excited by just about everything these days. Everything was an adventure.

Kate got coffee for herself and tea for Robert. "Thanks, Kate," Robert said. "Brian, does Khaat feel like being up this morning?"

"I'll let you know after she's had a bit of coffee," Brian laughed, heading back to the bedroom.

Jess nodded and chuckled at Angus saying Andrew was copying him as he made scones. " yeah hes kinda going threw that phase right now " she said watching Andrew copy Angus again. " might teach him to cook " she said and chuckled ruffling the young boys hair as she spoke. He slipped down off the chair and moved to stand with Angus his cup in his mouth and a look of disgust on his face witch she chuckled at as Jack walked in half asleep and yawning.

" Morning, was that Brian I saw are they back already?" he asked poring a cup of coffee for himself and sitting down next to Jess where he lent over and kissed her " morning dear " he said and she smiled back at him.

" morning honey , our son has developed a disliking to having his hair ruffled " she said and jack chuckled while sipping his coffee.

" ow that's my fault I didn't ether at his age" he said and motioned with his head for Andrew to come sit with them he did as he was asked still with the cup clenched between his teeth.

Brian took the coffee back to the bedroom and sent the girls out to Angus for food. At the mention of food, they were all done with Khaat and tried to jump off the bed. Brian set them down on the floor and let them scamper out to the kitchen to Angus.

No quicker than they were out of sight than he heard Khaat groan. She was sitting up, or trying to, anyway. "Where's the pain?" he asked.

"Just a rib or so," she said.

"Hold still. Let me see." he went over and laid his hand there. She had cracked two ribs. They weren't broken, but they were going to be painful. He got out a large ace wrap and wrapped her ribs for her and helped her change. She chose a pair of short denim shorts with a plain red gauze top. It would hide some of the bruises and the shorts were short enough to not interfere with her cast. The top hid most of the bruises and her painful ribs. "Can you manage the crutches?" he asked.

"I've done it before," she said, reaching for them. He handed them to her and helped her up. Once she was up he helped her get stabilized and then followed behind her, motioning the coffee cups to follow. He wanted his hands free in order to catch her if he needed to. She made it out to the living room, and Brian insisted she sit. Her father looked at her.

"Nice tan," he smiled. "I see your honeymoon agreed with you--until today. You look good otherwise. How was the trip?"

"It was wonderful," Khaat smiled. "Although I don't think a lot of people would have been able to keep up with us."

"I did notice you do have a few more muscles than you did three weeks ago. Looks good on you. Are you hungry?"

"Well, we'd have been mostly to lunch by now," she sighed. "But I messed that up."

"Past lunch," Brian corrected her. "I'll bring you a plate whenever Angus has it ready."

"Its ready now. Come eat, All," Angus called.

Jess smiled seeing Khaat up and moving " hey good to see you again and I agree your looking great " she said smiling as she moved Andrew to sit in his high chair , she gave him his bowl and went for the twins returning she sat them in high chairs too and fed them a soft baby breakfast , jack fed one and she fed the other.

Steven carrying jalen and Fallon walked in with cassidy and James they set them in there high chairs and smiled " morning Khaat , had a bit of an accident I see " said Steven as he handed each baby a bowl Cassidy started to feed them as they stuck there fingers in then sucked them.

"Ms. Graceful slipped on the running trail this morning and fell off a cliff onto the rocks," Brian laughed. "Ended our trip before we wanted to come home."

"That's Mrs. Graceful to you," she said.

"You wouldn't have come home unless you had a reason to," Robert laughed. "You were having entirely too much fun."

"We were," Khaat confessed.

"Any pain?" Robert asked.

"Not worth talking about. Brian drew off alot of it."

"Well, so did your father and so did Jess," Brian said. "Be glad we all did. Otherwise you'd have been hurting."

"Breakfast is served," Angus said, delivering a plate to Khaat.

"Its gorgeous as always," Khaat said. "I really, really missed your scones, Angus."

"They've been here, every morning," he smiled. "And they'll be here. Every morning. Its good to have you back."

"Thank you," Khaat said. She looked at Brian. "Go eat."

"You'll be okay?"

"I'm not by myself. Go ahead."

"Okay," he agreed, heading to the table. "You have no idea how good this smells. I'm starving."

Jess fed one twin while jack the other soon all babies were fed and jack took then threw to the living room placing them in a play pen with toys to play with Andrew decided to sit on the couch with one of his story books flicking threw the pages as he copied Robert this time by peeking over his book to look at them as if watching them carefully. Jess shook her head and chuckled.

Steven moved with Jaylen and James and placed them in the same pen Jaylen picking up a soft toy and giggled happily with the others. Cassidy yawned a little. " sorry, some one kept me awake last night, and not what you think he was paroling the grounds and came in late" she said and chuckled