Marriage is Murder

John watched Jess skate over and take him and skate around the frozen pool soon he smiled and stood up as they moved so much so he only held her hand as he moved smiling around with the others he did still wobble a little but kept moving forward . Soon he'd had enough and skated to the side transfiguring his shoes back he walked to sit on a step close by. Steven stopped and walked over to him. "Anything wrong?" he asked and John shook his head but Steven sat with him " I have to let you know you did better than I did I didn't learn till I was twenty my partner at the time took me and taught me" he said and john chuckled a little .

Andrew followed them over to the side and Brian transfigured his shoes back to normal for him. "Well done," Brian smiled. "Both of you. Muggle skaters start when they're just old enough to walk and don't become professional skaters until they're adults. It takes them all their lives. You're lucky you both learned how to stay on your feet. That, in itself is quite an accomplishment. Thats nnot to say you wont' ever fall again. Heck we can't determine that for just walking. None of us can say we will never ever fall down again in our lives. In fact, most of us will. Repeatedly before we die of old age. Don't concentrate on not learning it instantly. Learn to celebrate what you did learn." Andrew nodded. The adults were proud of them. He understood. And people were so rarely proud of him he didn't know what to do with it.

"I..um...need to go warm up. I think I'll go see if there is any hot cider left in the dining hall. Thanks for the lesson," Andrew said quietly. "Excuse me." He got up and left. Brian only smiled slightly. He understood what Andrew and John were both struggling with. John was afraid of failure. Andrew was afraid of success. And Brian understood both sides of it.

John heard Andrew and thought something hot would be nice and stood up moving to the kitchen to get a cup of hot chocolate leaving Steven and the others on the pool. Steven stopped and sighed not knowing what to do about him. Cassidy walked out smiling as she too had skates she skated over to Steven and held him close " hay you up for a go around?" she asked smiling as she looked at Jess and Jack skating together. Steven smiled and stood up and went with her onto the ice smiling as he felt that feeling of relaxation wash over him again.

Brian headed upstairs and he called to the boys on their way to the cocoa.

"Yo! You two! Gym. 5 am. Be there. If you're part of this clan, you work out with the rest of us. I expect to see you there bright and early ready to work. Got that?" He didn't give them a chance to say no. He headed upstairs to find Robert and Khaat. Andrew looked at John and groaned, rolling his eyes. 5 am? He was used to going to sleep by about 3. That meant his sleep schedule was going to be even further buggered up, never mind the time change from England to here.

"That just sounds like barrels of fun," Andrew sighed sarcastically, looking at John. "Sounds like just exactly what I had in mind for Christmas."

"I heard that!" Brian called back. "No excuses, either of you." Andrew muttered a cuss word under his breath. Brian continued upstairs and found Khaat still with Robert.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked.

"You're her husband. I expected you might," Robert said.

"Are you finding anything?" Brian asked.

"Yes. In short, she will recover but it won't be easy."

"What's the cause of this?" Brian frowned.

"Well, indirectly," Robert said, "James." Brian sat down.

"Okay," he said slowly. "Explain that to me."

John heard Brian and was about to say something as well when he heard Andrew and chuckled but groaned himself " yeah 5am so not right" he said and glanced at the clock it read 10pm and he sighed " guess this means bedtime " he said and sighed turning to his room, he then paused " no I'm not tired" he said and headed for the kitchen again for another hot chocolate. Steven was loving skating with Cassidy as she smiled at him he felt this had turned out to be the best wedding day every for her and he smiled then kissed her as they moved around the pool.

Andrew agreed with John and headed upstairs to bed.

"So tell me what happened?" Brian asked.

"As near as I can deduce, James presents such a formidible force that it draws Remus forward to protect us. When that happens, he uses Khaat's energies as a seer to function as the means that enables him to reach across the veil. He uses her life force, and that is partially powered by me. So it draws on her heavily, and then falls on me as a backup. I think he's depleted her bodily systems of a lot of ability to catch up with all of the repeated battles that we fought so close together in time. I see symptoms of bodily chemical imbalances, like anemia and those sorts of things. They can be corrected, but it doesn't happen quickly. It means changes in her diet, and it means my adding a high potency vitamin tonic for her in addition to the energy potion I've made."

"Wait.. Anemia? Isn't that a long term condition?"

"Have you been reading my muggle medicine books again?" Robert frowned. "That is a muggle time frame. Not a magical one. She'll be fine. Maybe even by the end of the holidays. I will do my best. Once we start the treatment, she may perk up in relatively short order by comparison with those muggle standards you're thinking about."

"You both deserve to be hexed," Khaat sighed.

"What for?" her father asked.

"For talking about me and not to me when I'm in the same room."

"Ah. My apologies. Youre quite right, my dear," Robert said. "I'm sorry."

Jack and Jess walked off the ice there skates leaving and there shoes returning to normal as did seve4ral others leaving Steven and Cassidy skating alone but not noticing they were. Jess smiled " its good to be so in love like that " she said and Jack held her against him.

" Please, we still are, but yeah its good to finally see them happy together." He said and smiled at them taking her hand and walking up to the kids nursery to check on them.

Robert sent Khaat to her room to rest. Robert wanted to make the vitamin tonic. He wanted it ready by morning. He left the door open. Robert saw the stress now sharply mounting on Brian. He could feel Brian's mind racing. For now, Robert left it alone. He started to work on the tonic instead.

Kate brought Robert a mug of tea and a sandwich. "You skipped dinner tonight," she told him gently.

"Busy," he said,as an excuse.

"I know. What are you working on?"

"Vitamin tonic. It will be very concentrated."

"Khaat."

"Yes."

"She needs to start working out again with Brian--gently. Tanning again, stretching, swimming...and Angus could tighten up the nutrition on what she does eat."

"Have you been reading my mind again?" he asked, dropping ingredients into the mortar and pestle for crushing.

"No. I'm a mom," she said simply.

"You are mom for half the world, I believe," he said.

"I'm not sure if I like that thought or not," she laughed.

Jess let jack go and shower while she moved to the potions lab and sighed " Robert your thoughts are screaming about Khaat , or is that Brian's I can here , you both sound the same. " she said and looked at Kate " she's exhausted to say the least isn't she?" Jess asked and took down some bottles for him and placed them on the table beside the pestle and mortar. she sighed and looked at Kate " sorry instinct " shes aid and move back to her " she's not well is she?" Jess asked.

"You're hearing Brian," Kate said. "I can hear him more clearly than I hear audible voices. You do realize this is the first he's been in love. Ever. He could never lower his defense enough."

"And--his greatest fear that always kept him from opening up to that was finding he was alone--again," Robert said. "But Khaat was already under his skin. Had been--since they were kids. She was the one woman he couldn't resist. She was already through his defenses. Now he's afraid he'll lose her. He knows what he sees, and he knows what his healer skills tell him. It frightens him, whether he openly admits it or not."

"Robert," Kate said. "Lets say it as it is. He's afraid she's dying."

"And she isn't," Robert said. "She's not dying. Its very treatable. But he sees her slipping and not getting any better. I need to be more on top of this."

"You dont' have to do it alone. You have a mountain of people here."

"Ah, well. That can be a blessing or a curse," he said. "Does it help me? Potentially, yes. Does it help her/ Potentially, no. If any of us were overpowered by scores of do-gooders it would drive us out of our minds. We will only use those closest to her for this--if they deal with her directly. The rest can help from a distance by just being supportive and helping when they can. And--that means we need to support Brian and help him nnot feel like he has to walk this alone. And--they'll need help with the kids for at least the next two weeks before she most likely will be able to pick up her mom duties again. Questions?"