Marriage is Murder

Jack chuckled at Khaat and Brian " we'd be honored to do it for you." he said and Jess smiled at them both as she sipped the last of her tea.

" yes we will " she said and looked at Jack " well you made the offer you can help as well " she said chuckling as his sudden realization of what he inadvertently done, he'd offered to do it with her " Khaat ours are all done and in our bedroom" she said softly " as for Cassidy I don't think she has thought about that yet " Jess said just as Cassidy and Steven walked in.

" Thought about what?" she asked now standing with Steven she slipped one of the candy canes and sucked on it " Mmm these are good " she said and smiled at Abby " well done Abby, I saw them when I passed earlier"

"Thank you," Brian said. "I appreciate it. I really want Khaat to concentrate on getting back to her old self again."

Abbey smiled, pleased that people liked her candy. She looked at Brian.

"Down," she told him in a tone that sounded an awful lot like she was ordering him.

"Okay," he put her down. She went over and picked up Andrew's candy cane and glared at him.

"Mine," she told him firmly, scowling. She stomped off, taking his candy cane with her. Robert just laughed.

"Well, he might as well get that lesson in early," Robert laughed.

"Which lesson is that?" Khaat asked.

"Dont ever piss off a woman. It is exceptionally dangerous," Robert said. Brian laughed, and he glanced down the hallway, seeing Abbey go down to the playroom with one candy cane in each hand.

"You suppose she'll eat them both?" he asked.

"Oh, I know she will," Robert said. "No doubt in my mind."

Jack chuckled at Abby telling off Andrew who looked at Robert with almost crying eyes at upsetting Abby. Jack smiled " its ok Andrew " he said softly and Andrew went back to his cookie with a deep sigh.

" Its our pleasure Brian " Jess said seeing a confused Cassidy " have you done a memories book yet Cassidy?" she asked and saw Cassidy look at them.

" whats one of those?" she asked ad looked at the all as Steven shook his head .

" no we haven't yet " he said " its like a scrap book but in wizarding form " he said to Cassidy who now understood what they were talking about.

" you can make those?" she said surprised because she had never heard of them.

Brian opened the drawer in his nightstand and produced Abbey's baby book. He handed it to Cassidy.

"So thats where it was," Khaat said. "I wondered where it went."

"What else do you think I do when I can't sleep?" he smiled. Robert smiled slightly. He was proud of Brian. He used pictures of 'his daughter' to soothe his jangled nerves or his unsettled spirit when he couldn' sleep in order to put himself in a better frame of mind, by reading through the memories and looking at the countless photos of Abbey in her first year of life, through her first birthday party.

"What Khaat and I were saying is that we did this for Abbey's first year, but we haven't done a second one to pick up where this one finished. Nor have we done one for any of the triplets. And we need to" Brian said.

Cassidy took it and opened it to a smiling Abby she could not help smile herself " I see and jack and Jess have offered to do one for you , I guess I should do one for Fallon and the others too" she looked at Steven " does John have one?" she asked and he nodded accioing a light blue book . A picture.of a woman holding a baby in her arms Steven was stood with them on a ranch a single horse ate in the pasture behind was on the first page as he opened it.

" this is johns, it goes up to the month of the attack, Janet took pride in sorting them out " he handed it to Brian" I guess I really should update it " he smiled

"Khaat," Brian suggested, "Why don't you write your messages to the kids and let everyone else do the photos and the other things. After all, our kids are going to grow up knowing a huge family. Its alright for them to know and believe they have a huge family. I think that's fine, really. What do you all think? I think the messages that need to go to the kids from Khaat and I need to be written by us. And you can add messages as well, certainly. But you all are creative enough that you can make the books look really special. I have a friend of mine that sells these things and I can have them send us a new one for Abbey for after her first year. And while I'm at it, I might as well order ones for each of the triplets."

"How long will it take for you to get them?"

"I dont' know," he shrugged. "Probably just as long as it takes to send an owl and get one back, I would suppose. And besides, I'd like to pick them out, if you dont' mind."

"I don't mind at all," she said.

"Then I'll contact him at once," he said, going to the desk to write an owl.

Jack looked at Brian and Khaat and smiled " Our Andrew already do think of every one as family " he said and smiled " ow order one for Cassidy " he said and looked at her smiling, Jess nodded as well and took Jacks hand in her own as she understood he was getting it for her as a gift.

" I think that's a good idea we could put some of the wedding pictures of Fallon in it " she said " we'd be delighted to do that " she said to Brian and Khaat. Cassidy looked at them both and shrugged her shoulders.

" its fine I don't have any clue as what I can do anyway" she admited

Brian sent an owl to his friend, and within nearly 30 minutes, Angus brought a large wooden crate upstairs.

"You owe me, Mate," He told Brian.

"I do?" Brian asked.

"The next tiime you send for a shipment, warn us. I didn't know this was coming and turned around with a Christmas cake in my hands and promptly tripped on this thing. Now I have a huge bruise on my shin and Christmas cake all over the floor."

"Oh! I'm sorry. I had no idea he'd send it to the kitchen."

"I don't know if he knew where he was bloody sending it," Angus said.

"Well, thank you anyway."

"You want me to help you open it?"

"Nope. We've got it. Thanks," Brian said. Angus merely nodded and left.

Abbey's second year book:

Spoiler:

Julia's baby book:

Spoiler:

Michael's baby book:

Spoiler:

Robert's baby book

Spoiler:

Jack watched Brian and Angus he winced when Angus said he caught his shin on the box that had appeared in the kitchen. He saw the books and smiled at each one " there cute Brian " he said and looked at Jess who took his hand and smiled at him.

"| ours are around some place " she said and smiled as she stood up moving to their room reaching into her bag she drew out three books. one was Andrews and one each for the twins.

"There are some extras in the box here, Cassidy and Steven, if you need some. Take what you want. The extras we'll leave in the library for others to pick from if they need some as they add to their own families," Brian said. "I'll get out our photos of the kids and you lot can do what you want with them." He got out a large fabric covered box that was filled with photos, the hospital bracelets for the babies and other bits and pieces that Brian and Khaat had kept. He opened the box and showed them some of the things they'd saved. Khaat hadn't realized all the things Brian had tucked into the box also.

"I'm surprised you kept every child's birth bracelet," she told him.

"Why? They're my kids," he said. "Unattractive as those plastic hospital id bands are, they're the first pieces of jewelry they ever owned. And,...look here." He opened a plain envelope and inside was Khaat's own hospital admission id bands.

"You kept those too?" she laughed.

"Yes. I did."

"I tossed them in the wastepaper basket, I thought."

"You did. I fetched them out of the paper," he laughed. She just shook her head.