Marriage is Murder

An hour later, Fiona and Kieran portkeyed into the room, carrying two garment bags for formal dresses. Brian looked up, surprised to see his siblings.

"Where'd you two come from?" Brian asked.

"Ireland," Kieran said. "Where did you think? Oh, I have a message for you. Khaat knows the temper tantrum you all had by her coming to see Fiona and me. Here is the wedding dress and the maid of honor's gown. Fiona's got Khaat's dress fit for her. Khaat said she's not coming back until you lot grow up, and I can't blame her. She was coming for the dresses because she said all Cassidy has done is fret about the wedding. Khaat wanted to help ease her of that. Its at least another month before the wedding, and it sounds like Cassidy isn't giong to hold together for another month at this rate. Anyway, Fi and I are just dropping off the dresses. We might go stay somewhere for a couple of days and go sightseeing, but we've done our duty."

"Where is she?" Brian sighed, looking at Kieran.

"Dont know for sure," Kieran shrugged. "I gave her a couple of ideas, but I'm sure you can figure out where I suggested."

"Yeah. I know," Brian said. "I think I'll go talk to her."

"Shall we stick around and help with the kids?" Fi asked. "I have yet to see the triplets."

"We have a couple spare rooms," Brian said. "In Building 3. Go make yourselves at home, And yes, feel free to spend as much time with the kids as you like."

"Dude," Kieran said. "Take a warm coat. Porting is cold in the winter. Its not this climate everywhere, you know."

"Coffee for me please," Kieran asked. "But Fi prefers tea, if you have it."

"Are you kidding me? With Robert here? Yeah, we have all kinds of tea," Brian said.

"I'll get it," Angus said. "You take the dresses please." Brian took the dresses and put them in his closet with Khaat. He came back out just in time for Angus to pass him a fresh mug of coffee too.

"Brian," Kieran said, "You sure you want Fi and me here?"

"You're family. Why wouldn't I?"

"There is enough tension in here to cut it with a knife," Kieran said.

"Ah well, there was a difference in opinion and it ended up pissing off Kate."

"That can be exceptionally bad," Kieran said. "Don't you lot know better about that? Even Robert doesn't piss Kate off."

"Not if I can help it," Robert agreed.

"Ireland is great," Kieran said. "I decided to take a few weeks off to get to know my sister a bit. So I left Colorado to the organization in order to spend some time with Fi. Dean has actually taken an excellent paying muggle job as a trick driver. It doesn't really matter what he does as long as it gets him out of the money hole he got into."

"And I have spent every single cent you gave me as wisely as I knew how, Brian," Fi said, unsure if anyone knew Brian had bailed out the deep debt that his sister and brother in law had managed to sink into.

"I believe you, Fi," Brian said. "It was a gift. You dont' have to account for how you used it. But Khaat and I were glad to help."

"So how is married life, anyway, Little Brother?" she asked.

"Awesome," Brian smiled.

"And is fatherhood what you thought it would be?"

"No," Brian confessed. "Its far better. I'm not sure what I was afraid of, but I can't imagine my life being without Khaat an the kids now."

"And this from a dyed in the wool bachelor," Fi laughed.

"Oh, that was just a big lie to himself," Robert said. "I think I'll go see if Kate is still awake with her book or if she dozed off. Make yourselves at home, you two."

"Thank you Robert," Kieran said, watching Robert go down the hall to the bedroom.

"I know where Khaat is," Robert said, when he came out of the bedroom. "You can all stop stewing. She's perfection safe. She went to visit Michael. Michael is home at the cottage from Hogwarts over the weekend, and he's enjoying every moment he can get alone with her, doing his gourmet cooking for her and pampering her. Now, don't forget, its bedtime there. Knowing them, they'll stay up all night talking and he'll take excellent care of her when she does decide to go to sleep."

"Wait...Is she coming back?" Brian frowned.

"Well, certainly," Robert laughed. "She just went to see Michael when she was done with her errand and decided on an impulse to stay. Michael loves her just as if she was his own. She is perfectly safe there with him."

"She's at the top of England's wizarding most wanted list," Brian retorted.

"Stop worrying. Do you think Michael wouldn't gladly die to protect her?" Robert said. "I trust Michael with my life. If I hadn't he'd have never been asked to be her godfather before she was even born. Give her a bit. Is it so wrong for her to want to spend the night in her old cottage with her godfather? What's honestly so bad in all that?"

Brian sighed. "Sorry. I just worry."

"Brian," Robert said in a fatherly tone, "Its understandable, but if I thought she were in any real danger from Grindlewald, don't think I wouldn't be racing off to stand toe to toe with him myself. As good as you are, you could not survive a battle with him. I might stand him off long enough for her to escape. And yes, I would do it in an instant. But she's not in anger. She's alright."

Khaat in the meantime, was enjoying a beautiful beef burgundy that Michael had fixed for dinner. He'd fixed a gorgeous bananas foster for dessert, and then had made an old fashioned caramel corn with peanuts for them to share whiel they sat and talked over a bottle of topshelf firewhiskey by the fireplace watching it snow outside. They sat together, his arm around her shoulder, his wand within just a fraction of an inch of his firing hand all evening. Khaat liked the look of the snow outside. It was picture perfect. She regretted she had not brought any clothes to spend the night in.

Michael fixed that for her in a hurry. He got out a pair of his jeans, a plain white cotton shirt, a pair of underwear, socks, and a red football jersey that he couldn't remember where he'd gotten and he gave it to her, telling her to transfigure them however she liked. She turned the jeans, socks, and the shirt into her size and style. She turned the underwear into pink silk ladylike ones, and left the jersey just as it was.

When she went to bed that night, she simply wore the hugely oversized jersey to bed. She was surprised to see that her bedroom was much as she'd had it when she'd lived there with Rob. Michael had chosen the large bedroom for his own. Her room was now a rather feminine bedroom that she knew didn't get used, if ever. There was a part of sleeping in her old bed that felt like she had come home. And it had been late when they had gone to bed. Almost 5 in the morning, and after a bottle of firewhiskey between the two of them. She was surprised that even with the time difference, once she went to bed, she slept soundly.

Back in the safehouse, Kate and Robert were feeling a lot more relaxed as they felt Khaat relax and unwind in Michael's affections and pampering. They werent' sure what was going on but they knew she was feeling better. And that was good enough for them.