Checking out

Chase was finally better. Weak, and in need of a good bath, but she was better. Her mind had sorted itself out in the long weeks that it had been under great stress, and now she was leaving the horrid Hospital for good. Everyone had been afraid of her while she was ill, and it sickened her to stay there any longer, even the nurses hadn't treated her well because of her dead pan stare, and her inability to take care of herself. Her mind had snapped on several occasions, and Chase had been thrown into a fit of panic and rage and she knew some of the hospital attendants hated her for it, and it made her sad, and guilty, and it made her hate them all. How could she trust the hospital if they didn't care about their patients. She'd rather be with Calvin any day then go back to this hell hole.

Chase stood by the counter, signing her name on the checking out list. Her mind had restored, and now she was better, she had marks on her wrist where they had chained her to the bed, she had a now healing bruise on her jaw, and she looked worse for wear then when she had first come in. Her weight had dropped dramatically, and she was so skinny and pale it was obvious that she had been ill for a long, long time. Chase signed her name sloppily, her hands were still healing, and it took a moment for them to respond to any urges from her to do anything. From closing her hands, to moving her arm, every movement she made was thought out in advance, as though afraid it would hurt someone if she didn't think about every position her body was in at the same time. So she stood very still, resting her mind from this difficult practice, and waiting for them to bring her stuff down to the waiting area, to be taken home with her.

Angus was making a quick stop. Hannah was getting to expect his brief visits for supplies. He would portkey in, make himself at home in Robert's potions lab or in the supplies, take what they needed, give Hannah a list and port away again.

This time, he was coming in a bit battleworn himself. He had been involved in a rather large scale raid to rescue a loved one. It had come out well, but Angus was bruised and had several bleeding wounds. He chose to ignore those things and attend to the business at hand. And that was in getting supplies for his employers. His family.

As he walked through the hallways, nurses began to trail after him, screeching at him about how he was spilling biohazards all over the floors by bleeding on them. He waved them away, ignoring them, and kept walking. What a pain in the butt!

He looked up and saw Chase there. She definitely was not better for wear. Angus hesitated. He had talked long and hard with Khaat about Chase in the long nights when they had been forced to run. Khaat grieved over Chase's situation. And Angus didn't know if he was a welcome sight to Chase or not, so he didn't know if he should keep his distance or go forward and speak. As he stood, considering his options, two more nurses came over and he couldn't tell if they wanted to heal him or just fawn over him. Either way, it irked him. He waved them away again, a bit more forcefully this time, cushioning the brushoff by promising to clean up the mess he was making on the floors.

Chase felt the feeling of being watched spread across her skin and she froze, her whole body stiffening, her mind going into a frantic overdrive as it told her to move her neck and look at who was watching her, but she was completely unable to do that simple movement. So after standing there a long time by the counter, waiting for someone to bring her stuff to her, she slowly, with an extremely calculated movement, turned and glanced over her shoulder. Angus... Chase was immediately filled with conflicting emotions, and she stood there, breathlessly, almost forgetting to take a deep breath in and force all other thoughts from her mind as she waited patiently. He was there.. looking at her, and she knew he probably hated her.

Her jaw still hurt from where Brian had punched her, and she was sore from being tied to the bed, forced to stay still as her body had thrashed from convulsions and terrors no one else saw. She was a sight to see, that was for sure, and the bright lights of the hospital made her scars and bruises stand out in an unsightly way. She could feel herself wanting to shrink from his gaze. He didn't need to see her like this, he needed to see her when she had gained weight again, and the scars were covered with beautifying potions, and her hair was cut evenly, and her bruises were healed, not like this.. not so messed up and broken it looked like she was being checked in instead of checked out.

She slowly turned her head away, and stared at the opposite wall, clutching her hands in front of her as tightly as they would hold onto each other, which was obviously not very hard, as her hands were shaking visibly. Where was Calvin? He needed to come and pick her up! After all of this... she knew she was early, and he wasn't due to even be early for quite some time, she knew any day he'd be there early to pick her up, but he had had work today, and she had to wait for him to get off before she could go home. So she stood there, knowing she should probably sit down, but unable to bring herself to move, and possibly attract Angus's attention again, even though their eyes had very clearly met.

Angus forced himself to man up and walk over to Chase. "You look like you're waiting on someone. going home perhaps? Can I help you there?" he asked quietly. "Or maybe buy you a cup of tea while you wait? I know you didn't plan on seeiing me any more than I expected to see you. And it looks very much like you have information I need, and I know I have information you need." One more nurse tried to assert herself with Angus and he took a parchment from his hand. "Do make sure that Hannah gets this," Angus said. "Off with you now. She'll need that right away. Thank you." The nurse turned automatically to rush the paper to Hannah and then she turned back, realizing Angus had manipulated her. Angus merely waved her to hurry away and turned his attention back to Chase.

"I'm a biohazard," he sighed. "They should be used to it by now." He flicked his wand at the hallway floor making the blood he'd left behind disappear. "Let's go find someplace a bit less crowded. He led her away to a small, friendly waiting area. He found a volunteer that he knew who dashed off to bring a couple of cups of tea for them. He motioned Chase to sit. "Have a seat," he said casually. He didn't treat her differently than he always did because he didn't see her any differently than he always had. She was family. Period. End of story--except for the pieces of the puzzle that she did not have. And she deserved to know the truth.

Chase knew he had seen her, and she sucked in her breath before he was standing right next to her. She slowly turned her head to look at him, her head pounding with the strain of so much thought so quickly. When she looked at him, she suddenly saw just how messed up he was, there was blood trailing onto the floor behind him, and he looked a real disaster. "Angus?" She whispered, staring at him, shocked. "What happened?" She asked, her voice much softer then normal, a little hoarse, and rough, her eyes attempting to take in the mess before her. "Erm.. Calvin is coming to pick me up.. but I'm waiting until he gets off of work.." She said softly, frowning at him, before he suddenly asked if she wanted tea. Tea? That was something she sorely missed. A nice hot cup of tea. What she would give... Chase watched as he handed a piece of paper to a nurse, and then waved her away. "You should let them fix you up Brian.." She said softly, flickering her eyes to him, and then away again quickly.

She suddenly saw him walking away, and after a moment of stunned silence, she followed after him, a bit unsteady on her feet, not used to being able to walk again, and having to take a very conscious effort to move one foot in front of the other. It wasn't often she had been allowed off of her bed, besides to use the bathroom that was only a couple of steps away, besides that she had gotten used to just sitting there, and now her ankles were swollen, and her legs were shaky, but the more she walked, the more she was getting used to the now bizarre feeling. He motioned her to a chair, and she carefully pulled it out, obviously weaker, as she had to use both hands to pull the seat away from the table, and she fell into it, relieved. She needed to walk around, and after sitting so much she wanted to, she was just so tired.

Chase didn't know what he meant by information she needed and he needed, but whatever it was, he wanted to speak to her, and that made her feel a little bit happier inside. He didn't hate her as he should... she stared at the table, examining her fingernails, which were much to long after going so long without being trimmed. She couldn't bring her eyes to find Angus's again though, and she continued to stare at her own hands as she spoke. "Why do you want to talk to me Angus? Wouldn't you rather do what Brian did and just leave me alone?" She asked, her voice shaking from the mere effort it was to bring her voice out, and also filled with emotion she hadn't been able to share in a long time.

"Ah, well, we do need to talk about that, my dear," he said. "That's where your story does get a bit full of holes now, doesn't it? Brian dashed off because of two major reasons. First--Khaat went into labor and delivered not just twins--she delivered triplets. We weren't counting on that. Nor were we counting on Robert having to dash off to do a very hasty C-section. That was problem number one. And it appears that while your family was busy expanding, their friends were busy betraying them into the hands of an evil wizard who appears to now be running the ministry. In order to save his family, Brian had to take Khaat and his new children into a safehouse--and they went' straight from the operating room. Within about 2 minutes of the finish of the c section.

"Robert and Khaat hired people to come in and run things for them, and that was done very quickly, but apparently that didn't go the way Robert and Khaat intended it to go either. Chase, Robert has been receiving reports daily on what they said your progress was, but I'm wondering if he was lied to. I know thhose marks on your wrists. Robert never ever uses chains. He is a wizard after all. They aren't necessary. Something in your care here went terribly wrong. And I am quite sure somehow he will be looking into exactly who lied to him and why, along with why they clearly didn't follow what he had instructed for you. This is not at all what Robert's reports have said about you and your progress. In fact, the last I knew he was told you were home--quite awhile ago, if I"m not mistaken."

"Robert said I killed Khaat.." Chase whispered, her eyes slowly moving to Angus's as he spoke about Khaat having three babies instead of two, and then how they had had to dash off because they had been betrayed. It was a lot of stress on her mind, and she was completely confused. Calvin had told her she hadn't killed Khaat, but there was that part of her mind that knew it couldn't be true, Khaat had died, she was on the ground.. Brian had punched her, and no matter how much she wanted to believe Calvin, she had seen that she had killed Khaat, he had not seen her laying there, so limp and unresponding, the look in Brian's face, the anger in Roberts, it was burned so clearly into Chase's mind, she knew she had actually done the deed, and now here Angus was telling her that Khaat was not dead, and in fact had had her children, and had delivered one more then expected. Chase was confused.

Chase then stared at Angus when he spoke about her care, and how Robert hadn't even known. She hadn't even thought about her care, she just thought that was part of her treatment. She was hungry at that very moment, and couldn't remember the last time she had swallowed real food, food that wasn't pancakes brought in by Calvin, or the food they forced her to shovel in her mouth in order to get nutrients so she wouldn't die. When he spoke about her wrists, she nervously rubbed the sore area on her left wrist. She had only been tied down by one chain, but it was tight enough to dig into her skin on several occasions. "Is that why you did not expect to see me? Because you thought I was home already... I just checked out today.." She said softly, staring at Angus, wondering where it had all gone wrong. She had never even given thought to how she was being cared while she was here, and now... he was telling her she had been treated poorly, and she should be in great shape, not this wreck that sat before him, with uncombed hair, and in need of putting on quite a few pounds.

Chase looked down at her hands again and sighed. "I never even thought about it to be honest... I went into a mental vacation... my body went through the actions of breathing, staring, responding when spoke to.. but besides that, I stared blankly at a wall.. it scared people.. I thought that was why... I thought... I wondered..." Chase stared at her hands harder, and then someone came over with a bag in their hand, and a kitten sitting on top of the bag. "Albus.." Chase whispered and picked up the tiny kitten, holding it to her chest, and cradling the cat. "Jack brought him to me.." She said, trying to explain the kitten to him. "Erm... I don't really.. understand what is going on though.. I was mistreated?" She looked up at him, frowning, oblivious to just how out of sorts she looked sitting there looking at him, looking as though she still needed taken care of in a mental hospital, even though her mind was fine now.

"Robert and Brian believed at that moment that you had killed Khaat," Angus said. "Robert told me that originally he had thought that since you so believed you would not be free unless Khaat was dead, he would give that to you. But then he and Brian both thought you had. That was why Brian clocked you in the jaw. As brave as he is, when it comes to love, he's a huge chicken. And Khaat is the first woman in his whole liffe he's ever loved that deeply. He truly just lost it. It was not something he would normally ever do. He definitely surprised himself with that.

"It wasn't until they removed her and started to double check that they found she wasn't dead after all. Robert and Brian had fully intended to explain that to you...And then things went all to hell. Robert and Khaat and Brian all three believed you were safer there than any place else, but that was based on what they were being told. And, as i said, they were told your stay was relatively brief. Maybe 3 weeks or so at best. They had no idea that you were still here. Nor did I. I'm glad to see you going home now, though. I can't blame you for being insecure. You'll get that all sorted out as you get home and get back into some sort of normalcy again."

The volunteer came back with a relatively proper tea tray. Tea, tea sandwiches, tiny cakes. When one knew Khaat here, one got good service. Well, actually, he figured it was Hannah's doing. Hannah was a joy. He needed to find out from Hannah how the reports had come up to her desk to forward on without them being true. And he intended to do just that.

For now, though, family first. Tea. He poured two cups of tea and handed one to Chase. "Here" he said. "Help yourself to the goodies." He picked up one of the bite sized tea cakes and popped it into his mouth. "Hm...Lemon and Lavender, I think," he said thoughtfully. "Odd combination, really. So--here's the good news in this. Khaat and Brian have 2 new sons and a new daughter. That gives Khaat four of her own and Dakota. The downside is that it givves her four of her own and Dakota--five in diapers all at the same time.

"Khaat misses you. The reports Robert got said you had chosen to never have any contact with any of them again, and Khaat didn't want to assert herself where she wasnt' wanted. Even if she was your guardian. By all the word they had, you were doing very well. On their behalf, I'm really sorry that happened to you. I can promise you that, without a doubt, they're going to be tearing this place apart looking for answers."

Chase listened to his explanation, and couldn't help the fact that her hands were shaking. Someone was feeding them false information, and letting her be abused in the hospital. If abused was the right words for it. They had been told she was perfectly fine, choosing not to speak to them, they had been lied to by someone, and Chase didn't know who to blame. Someone either didn't want her to get better, or didn't want her to contact the Lupins, either one... Chase had been hurt without actually knowing she had been hurt, and that's what stung the most, not the hunger, the weight loss, the painful cuffe around her wrist, that didn't matter, what made her angry, and sad, was that they had been able to pull it over so easily on her, and she hadn't suspected a thing, and neither had Khaat and Robert.

She picked up the cup carefully, her mind suddenly absorbed on keeping her hand still as she sipped the scalding liquid. She was weak, and even the small cup of tea was hard for her with one hand to lift. She found herself setting it down often, and watched Angus as he ate a bit of the cake, the cake she had no appetite for. She was still recovering in ways, and eating was one thing she didn't know how she could do. Her mind would continually refer to anything she ate, coming up immediately after, and now that she knew she had been kept in a worse state then she should have been, and basically been abused while in the hospital, she wondered if the food had been somehow poisoned so that she wouldn't get the nutrients she needed without the IV drip they had kept in her constantly, and even then, they could have been sedating her. She suddenly grew very nervous about the place, and she just wanted to go home.

"I don't know what's happening Angus." She whispered, setting Albus on her lap and sating at him with scared eyes. "I really don't... I was out of it so much the entire time.. that I lost myself, I didn't even think about what they were doing... and don't let Khaat... Khaat and Robert get in trouble because of me okay? Just... leave it be... my mind is back to normal now.. I'm fine... I just want to go home..." She said staring at him and frowning, staring at the cake on the tray and wishing she had an appetite for it. "I'm scared... sure, now that I know that... that someone was keeping me ill.. but right now.. I'd rather just get better, see my baby... see my boyfriend.. and sleep in my own bed..." She said staring into her cup of tea. "I miss them both so much... I never let Calvin bring Katie here... and I miss her... it's been to long.."

Angus knew that the words he had said were not easy for anyone to hear, particularly Chase. But he believed she needed to know. She had been a political pawn for the ministry--for Gellert Grindlewald. A pawn designed to discredit the Lupins, particularly Robert.

"Chase," he laid his hand supportively on her knee,"I'm sorry. Really. You know if I'd have known I'd have gotten you out myself. We'd have all come back for you. Any of us. Let me see if I can make some sense of this as to why I think this happened. I don't know if you're up on the change of the state of our world. Some idiot resurrected Gellert Grindlewald from the dead by finding his horcrux. You know enough about magical history to know that if anyone is weird enough to make a horcrux he isn't invested in the finer things in life. He's invested strictly in power and as much of it as he can get. There are so few powerful wizards left who will stand up for the greater good. Think, Chase. What would a wizard like Grindlewald want more than anything else? Power. Control. And who stands in his way? Robert. Khaat. The Lupins. Robert controls not just the ministry but he controls the medical record of every witch and wizard known to man, along with past medical records for those who have passed on. The records here go back hundreds of years. Khaat controls the wizarding court. Robert's daughter in law controls the law enforcement branch. His best friend controls Azkaban and is the deputy minister. Think. Grindlewald HAS to get the Lupins either so discredited that they believe all that goody-goody propaganda that James Roland has been spinning out. Or--Grindlewald needs the entire family dead.

"I believe you were used by someone here on the inside to help discredit Robert and Khaat. If they could convince the public that Robert was not only a crook in the ministry but here as well and was so heartless as to leave you here, when you were, for all purposes his granddaughter, and let you be abused? That is powerful political fodder that only bolsters the public's desire to help hunt down the Lupins to kill them. It rallies wizards who are just too damned dumb to see the truth into a lynch mob to kill your family.

"I don't believe that you are in any real danger. I do believe that you were used. You were a pawn in this political chess game. I'll be happy to take you home, but I want to put some layers of protection spells around your place to help insulate you from any chance of further harm. And i agree. You need to get into some familiar surroundings.

"But I want you to remember how to contct me or the rest of us if you need to. You know how to get to Brian's. The floo in his living room will open if you use a pinch of the strange red floo powder on the mantle, and toss it into the fireplace. It then becomes a sort of wizard telephone that will reach us in the safehouse. I'm only one portkey spell away. If you get into trouble of any kind, I want you to promise me you'll port to Brian's and use the floo to call me. I'll come for you. I promise."