Marriage is Murder

Steven sank at Kate's words feeling like he was being told off , he watched her move from one room to the other. Jess checked Khaat and then moved to Kate sighing and shaking her head." you know they didn't have to do all this and their denying the pain they feel " she said feeling her cast a healing spell. Jess added her own to it to help Brian heal and then looked at Robert . She knew better than to mess with Robert so left him to Kate to deal with " Kate am here if you need me " she said and moved back to Khaat sitting next to the bed opposite Robert while he did his checks.

Steven stood and paced the living room floor he was worried about Brian and Robert , till Khaat was up and about he knew Brian would not stop worrying and that meant Robert would not ether and that meant more duels in the basement between the two of them.

"I just saw Robert," Kate said. "He's acting like he perhaps took a pretty serious hit someplace. He's in a great deal of pain, and that's with a pain potion. I don't see any more bleeding. He's taken care of that, but he does hurt a lot more than he is saying or ready to admit. Either way, he isn't going to leave Khaat yet. What worries me is if he is as seriously injured as he might well be, then if he keeps draining his own life energies for her to keep her alive and to keep her going, I don't know if he'll be well enough or strong enough to combat James if he returns of if he'll be able to withstand any sort of a fight with Gellert Grindlewald if it comes. And I know none of us want to lose Robert. I'm sorry, Steven, if I seemed short. That was not at all my intention. We've been here in this position with Khaat in this desperate spot at least 4 times now in her short life, and somehow it never gets easier. Robert is willing to drain his very very last spark of life for her if thats what it takes. And now that he has grandchildren, he is even more determined to make sure that his grandchildren grow up with two parents. He won't hesitate to give her every bit of life he has to keep her alive. He's a true Gryffindor--he thinks of those he loves far before he thinks of himself. I suppose that scares me. I don't mean to be short with any of you."

"Kate," Angus said, going to her. He wrapped her close in a strong hug. "We're not losing either of them. We're not losing anyone. Perhaps we need to talk to Brian and see if Brian can get him to 'fess up to whatever it is that he is dealing with as an injury. then Brian and Jess can see to it. If he still hurts like this with his pain potions, then we really can't let it go. Jess? Thoughts?"

Jess listened and smiled nodding with Angus " I agree we need to know so we can get both of them right as for letting him drain his last spark I don't think so " she said and folded her arms across her chest in defiance " he'd have to get through us first" as she finished Jack stood up along with cassidy and Steven.

" she's right we can give a little through Jess she gives first then takes from one of us till she feels better then she goes and gives it back to Khaat, kinda like a blood transfusion but with energy " Steven suggested " that way he won't need to drain himself as much" he looked at Kate his arms also crossed across his chest " ow and don't worry about it we all have been there in one form or another " he said smiling to her.

Kate needed no more further encouragement. She went to look for Brian.

"Brian," Kate said in her "mother" voice, "Get up. I need your help. Put the bottle down and go see Robert. He's hurt somehow and even his pain potion isn't touching it." Brian instantly frowned.

"What do you mean his potion isn't touching it?" Brian asked. "The potion in his bag is double strength."

"I'm telling you what I see," Kate said.

"And he's not telling you what it was?"

"You were duling him. Where did you hit him?"

"Which time?" Brian asked. "We both took a fair number of hits."

"Then get off your ass and go fix him," Kate ordered. "Take Jess with you because some bloody little episkey spell isn't going to do it. Now."

"I'm going," he said, getting up and setting the beer bottle on the concrete beside where he had been sitting. He went into the house, "I guess we have our orders," he said to Jess. "I presume you're coming? Get his bag, please, and we'll see what the devil is going on."

Jess smiled and picked up Roberts bag waiting for Brian to walk back in as he spoke she raised it showing him she was more than ready " of course " she said and moved with him to Robert but stood waiting for him to speak . She placed the bag close to Robert and opened it then looked at Brian " so what do we need first?" she asked waiting for him to tell her seeing he was the more experienced healer.

Steven looked at Kate and had to ask. "So what did he say ?" he asked looking at her worry on his face now too." Did he give you any indication what was wrong?" he asked standing then pacing back and forth.

"We take charge," Brian told Jess quietly. "Or I do. He'll give me less pushback. We've been down this road too many times. So he won't like it at all, but I can deal with him if he's feeling grouchy. And if he hurts that badly, I'm not sure what sort of mood he's in. Just follow my lead." He simply walked back into the bedroom and found Robert was standing in the doorway of the bedroom, looking out towards the water.

"Check on Khaat, please," Brian said to Jess very softly. "I'll deal with this." He went over to Robert. When he got to him, he looked into Robert's eyes and saw that Kate was completely acurate. Robert was in tremendous pain. Brian saw the telltale signs of pain potion in his eyes, but he also saw that the pain was entirely beyond it. Brian said nothing. He laid his hand on Robert's forehead, without permission. Brian's face became a deep frown.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Brian demanded, shocked.

"I have a job to do," Robert replied.

"You can't do it like this," Brian said boldly. "Look at yourself. You're starting to have symptoms of traumatic shock. You're trying to shoulder more pain than you can deal with. And you can't breathe worth a shit. You're a sweaty, shocky mess. You know better with something like this." He laid his hand, just barely touching Robert's side at all, and the pain made Robert merely shut his eyes and lean his head back against the doorjamb, never uttering a sound. Brian checked slowly and carefully. He looked at Jess. "He's taken a huge blast right to his left ribcage, Jess. He's got multiple fractures in at least five ribs. No wonder he hurts. His ribs on this side are a real mess."

Jess placed down the bag and walked over to Khaat who she found was sleeping peacefully though her energy was slightly down she was fine. Glancing at Robert she sighed and walked over to him " means they'll have to be set, very carefully , I have watched him do Jack twice I should be able to do it." she said and moved back to the bag taking out some bandages and placing them on the small table. " he'll need some restorative potion too, to help heal him but he should be in bed " she said and looked at Robert hoping she was right in her assessment of the situation.

"You're going to your room. Now," Brian said. "You want to walk or you want me to apprate you there?" Robert glared at Brian. "You did put me in charge, did you not?" Brian confronted him.

"Not of me," Robert said. "I can't leave her."

"If you don't leave her for a little bit, you will be leaving her for far longer than you wanted to when the shock wipes you off your feet. You know better," Brian said. "Let us set them and stop the shock and cut the pain. If you rest a little bit, you'll still be of use to her. If you don't you'll lose every bit of usefulness you have, and you leave us pretty much defenseless."

"Alright, alright," Robert groaned, giving in. Brian knew all too well Robert had given in much too easily. Any other time, he'd have fought to stay with Khaat, but he just wasn't able to. Brian walked him to his room. He helped him sit down on the bed and he removed his shirt from him. Brian had always admired how muscular Robert still was, even into his 60's. There were a lot of men less than half Robert's age that couldn't come close to how well toned Robert kept himself. He was guessing part of what Khaat liked was how well built Robert was, but right at the moment, Brian wasn't liking what he saw at all. His ribs were badly broken. Brian could see the disfigurement clearly by bulges in the skin that weren/t anywhere close to being normal. They were already bruised coal black, Robert's left side was not inflating like his right side was. His breathing was irregular. He was sweating and developing traumatic shock. And on top of that, there was a massive deep burn that was black in places from Brian's wand blast. There was a third degree burn on top of the bruising.

"What the hell..." Brian frowned. "You're a lot better with a shield than that. Is that the one that sent you back into the wall?" Robert only nodded. Brian rechecked it, looking deeper this time. "Robert, you've compromised that lung. We have to repair it before we can set the ribs."

"I know," Robert admitted finally.

"You knew we blasted a hole in your lung, demolished almost half your ribs on that side,..."

"Yep," Robert admitted.

"When I get done operating on you, remind me to slap some sense into you," Brian sighed. He turned to Jess. "One of the ribs has penetrated his lung. We have to fix it, or he's going to be in deep trouble. Have you ever done one of these? Its not overly complicated, but it is a meticulous procedure."

Jess followed him to Roberts room she stepped back and gasped a little at the sight in front of her but she quickly pulled back to reality and placed the bag down she listened to Brian and sighed when asked if she had done what he asked her. " no I have not but there's always a first time" she said and pulled up her sleeves looking at Brian as to what he wanted her to do in assisting him " I have controlled pain and bleeding before and I healed Khaat's broken bone once, I think it was her ankle " she moved closer to Robert and smiled " the doctor becomes the patient, I just hope I can do my mentor proud " she said smiling at him.

"You'll do fine," Robert said.

"Alright, lets do this," Brian said. When Robert went to move to stretch out on the bed, his pain was so shar, he froze, clutching his ribcage, crippled by the pain. "Stop," Brian said calmly, intervening quickly. "Let me." He put both hands behind him, carefully placed. "Jess, put your hands here, exactly as I have them. He can't lay down like this. We need to help him."

When Jess had placed her hands where his had been, he removed one of his hands, laid it on Robert's forehead and sent him deep into unconsciousness. Robert fell backwards against Jess and Brian's hands limply. Brian moved like lightning to help Jess catch him and helped her lay him down on the bed and position him very carefully.

"Nice work, Jess," Brian said. "Go wash your hands with the disinfectant potion and put a pair of surgical gloves on. I'm going to double check my spell work before I wash up and get out what we need. Then we'll do this. He'll definitely feel better when we get the ribs back where they belong. But this might well be painful for awhile. For muggles a break like this might take 2 months or longer to heal and would be excruciating. We can do better, but its not going to be a 2 day healing time. He's going to be very, very limited on how much more he can give Khaat for at least 48 hours. But we'll be able to control his pain and wake him as soon as we're finished."