Marriage is Murder

Jess watched jack take Roberts place and together they moved to the limo with her , she watched as Angus gave Khaat the potion and she moved into his place touching her gently " she'll be ok" she said and sighed sitting back in her seat next to Jack who held her " it was so close " she said and looked at Lee but kept one hand on Khaat monitoring her as she recovered " I'm a healer as well as a seer " she explained to him and brushed some of Khaat hair from her face, glancing out of the limo she hoped once more Robert would not be long.

It wasn't two minutes before Brian arrived and he immediately checked her. "What happened?" he asked, one step away from panic.

"She's alright. Side effect of a massive dose of potion Robert ordered," Angus said.

"He's coming. I see him," Lee said. Robert got stopped three times by people who wanted to talk. He met them with grace and respect. It took him another 5 minutes to get to the car. He got in, ordering Brian to move out of the way.

"Get us home, Lee," Robert said.

"Certainly," Lee said. "You don't want our base infirmary?" He ordered the car to the base safehouse.

"No offense, but this is not a muggle condition. Your muggle doctors are wonderful I'm sure, but they can't help here," Robert said. He laid his hands on both sides of her head and steadily pushed his own life energies into her. She groaned softly, starting to come around. "Hold still," he said to her. "We're going to do what we need to and then get you home to bed. I promise."

"She needs to eat, Robert," Kate said. "Now."

"I can provide that. What do I order from our chefs?" Lee said. Angus realized Lee just wanted to help so he rattled off a very high protein meal that was well balanced by slow release carbs and Khaat's beloved Tiramisu just to get her to eat something more. Lee drew out a cell phone, called the on call chef and placed Angus's order.

Jess moved to make room for Brian and sat back watching what was going on jack pulled her to him " you did your bit " he whispered to her and felt her sigh.

" wish I could have done more " she said back but he held her close as Steven sat next to Cassidy cassidy holding his hand in her own as she watched Robert working on Khaat she was relived when she woke slowly. The limo pulled away and they drove away down the road back to the safe house they would stay in till the next day Cassidy was looking forward to getting back to the children she had begun to miss Fallon.

When the car stopped, Brian merely muscled his way between Khaat and Robert and he picked her up, rather posessively.

"Brian," Robert said gently. "She'll be fine. Don't panic. The worst is behind her now."

"Tell me that again when I can see it, Robert," Brian replied, carrying her into the house. Robert wanted to reply and Kate laid her hand on Robert's shoulder.

"Robert," she said softly, shaking her head. "Not now. Khaat first. Then you can talk to him."

"Do we ever grow up enough that we dont' need our parents?" Robert sighed.

"Not really," Kate smiled. "And right now, he needs you."

"I know," Robert said. He got out of the limosine and followed Brian down the hallway to the room that had been assigned to them. Brian was tucking her into bed and covering her. He'd merely undressed her and foregone the nightgown to just get her where he knew she belonged.

"You make all this insanity stop, Robert," Brian ordered.

"One moment," Robert said, "First things first. As soon as I address my daughter, you and I need to talk."

"We certainly do," Brian agreed.

Cassidy, Steven , jack and Jess waited till Robert Kate and Brian were inside and they climbed out and walked inside to a living room Jess moved to the kitchen and started to make coffee and tea and making some scones to eat using Angus's recipe for almond scones she needed to keep busy and not think of Khaat or what was going on. Steven sat down with Cassidy while Jack went to lay down and so he could get out of the suit and relax a little on the bed not realizing he fell asleep.

They tended to Khaat, and Kate put her in her favorite pink silk gown. Robert made sure Khaat was comfortable and resting. Kate brought Brian and Robert a bottle of exquisite brandy and poured them each a glass in brandy snifters and allowed them to simply sit and talk, using a pair of deep, comfortable overstuffed club chairs in the bedroom. Brian told him about his conversation with Paul. There wasn't any of it that was news to Robert. He'd learned Pauls information from Lee some time ago. He was concerned about Steven's rebellion. He did think they needed to resolve it. Soon.

He finished his brandy in one large drink, left Brian to stay with Khaat, and stood up. He stopped at his room where Kate was unpacking the essentials, left his suit coat there and loosened his tie. Then he went out to find Steven. When he found him, he said, "Well? Do you think we should resolve this little disagreement you apparently had?"

Jess saw Robert walk in from Khaats room and staid in the kitchen working on the scones, Cassidy looked at Steven as he stood up to face Robert. " Depends which one sir " he said looking at him " the the ear bashing with Brian or the I got from Jack?" he said. Cassidy stood up and was about to say something when Jess took her arm .

"Cassidy, I need your help in the kitchen. " she said and took her threw knowing she didn't but wanted her out of the way as she knew of the possible explosion that was to come from Robert.

"Let's do things chronologically if we're dealing with more than one. First, I knew about Paul. Lee told me about him. But what Paul knows changes nothing for us. And had I made it knowledge to any of you it would not have changed a single thing we did or didn't do. Nothing. If it had the possibility of doing that, I'd have told you all myself.

"When I brought us here, I needed an ally I could trust with multiple lives. And to be willing to entrust us to them when we were the most vulnerable. That means I needed to go with the person that I had the best alliance with outside of England. That's exactly what I did. It also meant that ally had to know exactly what they were getting into and how deep the risk was. That doesn't mean that James doesn't bring us a whole new level of evil,but James is not the top threat we ever had.

"Your issue is that you got pissed off when you weren't in on what it was that Brian knew and you didn't. Sometimes Brian, as your supervisor, has that right. I will support him in that. And what he knew is background information only. Paul bears hideous scars from a fight with James. One he almost didn't survive. One his wife and children did not. One orchestrated deliberately by James because his untrained mother and siblings needed to feed. Is that what you wanted to know? Paul's body is covered with disfiguring scars. He takes pain medication on a low level constantly to numb the nerve and tissue and bone damage they did. There is a memorial for his wife and one for each of his two children, but there is nothing there but some keepsakes because there was nothing left to bury. Paul will always carry deep physical and emotional wounds from James. But that only serves to tell us that it took him some time to train his sisters and his mother to have any voluntary control of their curse, in the same way that Greyback taught him. It tells us very litle more. And it tells us that Paul would be entirely dedicated to defending us if push came to shove.

"Now--what I need to know from you is what got into you that you were determined to go after Brian with such disrespect for his decision on what to tell you and when. And, more importantly,. your open choice to leave my daughter's security compromised because you wanted to follow Brian anyway when he specifically ordered you to stay with Khaat? How do I know I can trust you to guard my family when you openly choose to leave them vulnerable? That was, is and will be your primary assignment as long as you work for me. Today, you didn't do it as we needed you to. Tell me why I don't send you and Cassidy on to Colorado right now. Until you get your head cleared, what use are you to me? And if its this wedding, then I suggest you start that leave of absence now. I can't afford to have this happen again.

"I presume that is what Jack was telling you but probably in not so tactful a way. Am I right?"

Jess made Cassidy sit down as she heard Roberts voice from the living room she could feel his tension and anger but she thought he held himself very well. Steven listened and stood straight up as if back in the army as he listened to Robert. " I am sorry to hear that about Paul but The reason I went with Brian was because we have had several attacks while one of us has been other wise busy with informants, I did not want a surprise attack to happen right at our most vulnerable moment, I thought I was watching Brian's back as is my job and as for Khaat she was with Jack , Jess and Cassidy, who you have said on a number of occasions can take care of anything besides I was not that far from her that I could not hear if anything happened, as for this being anything to do with my wedding to Cassidy, it dose not....sir " he said " and yes he did " he stepped back folding his arms across his chest.

"A noble thought," Robert said. "But nevertheless, you were still directly disobeying your boss when he had made a command decision at an affair of state. Muggle law enforcement officers are fired for far, far less and you know that. The organization, which is where your paycheck comes from, compels me to suspend you without pay for up to five days. In light of your uupcoming wedding, I will use a one time suspension. In other words, I will find a way to let you skate this time. But don't expect it again. As you said, you were within earshot of Khaat. But that is not bodyguarding her. That was shirking your primary job. And if you were within earshot of her, then you were also within earshot of him. We depended on you to be with her and you didn't. This is your one warning. If it happens a second time, I won't have a choice. Whether I want to or not will be irrelevant. I will have to enact a suspension. Am I making myself clear?"