Marriage is Murder

Jack sighed and looked at Jess then back at Kate and Brian with the bottle and shook his head lightly. Jess sighed " I could help a little give her some of my energy in fact we could give her a little from every one to get her back on track a little " she said looking at Kate.

" Would it work though ?" Jack asked Kate leaning down he swiped the bottle and took a dink himself before handing it back to Brian smirking " well can't let a good bottle of whiskey go to waste " he said and shrugged then coughed " ok that was good whiskey" Jess chuckled.

" well that will teach you not to drink so much in one go " she chuckled patting his chest as she spoke.

"We really do have to whip you into practice, Jack," Kate said, swiping it from Brian for herself.

"Oh, hell," Brian sighed. "Accio!" He called for another bottle but it didn't come right away. A moment later, Angus brought it, uncorked, taking a drink of it himself. "Hey!" Brian frowned.

"Look," Angus said. "Two perfectly good bottles of top shelf firewhiskey just floated out of my kitchen. I think I have a right to initiate one before you all polish both them off and not leave any for me. Alright. Now you can have it."

"I dont know if your idea would work or not, Jess," Kate said. "I dont' even know if I can give some. I just really don't totally understand the magic at work with that. If there was ever one time when I wished for Rob Dent to freaking just show up out of the blue, this would be one of those times."

"Him?" Brian scowled at her. "Dent has nothing to offer her that I cant' provide."

"There might be one thing, Brian," Kate said. "There might be this."

Jack chuckled " I guess we do" he said and smiled listening to Kate as he sat down on a chair witch he pulled to face them both " have what , whiskey " he said and swiped the bottle Brian had once more downing the drink but as he moved it to his lips Steven grabbed it out of his hand and downed a drink.

" well its sure is nice but no Bourbon" he said and smacked his lips passing it back to Brian and chuckled " I'm guessing the puppy can't handle his liqueur " he said and chuckled seeing the smile on Jacks lips.

" ow, is that so a challenge?" he asked looking up at Steven who laughed at him.

" won't be much of a challenge" he said sending jack reaching for a bottle " besides can we afford to relax while James is still out there ?" he said looking at Kate and Brian.

"Oh, believe me," Kate said. "If that bastard even dared to show his face, there wouldn't be enough left of him to sweep up in a dustpan. And if you lot think I can't do it, you have another guess coming."

"You're more that enough to deal with him," Brian said firmly to her. He didnt finish his thought, and she headslapped him.

"Ouch," he frowned at her. "What was that for?"

"It was for what you didn't say."

"Stop listening in on my brain," he said.

"I wasn't," she said. "I just know you. Hell, Robert would have read that, and he doesn't have one ounce of seer in him."

"I don't think that makes me feel any better in the least," Brian said. "Doesn't exactly make me look like the most effective warrior, now, does it?"

"It makes you human, Mate," Angus said. "Stop beating yourself up because you might not be able to loan Khaat her energies...."

"Defeat one little werewolf or any of his minions..." Brian added. Kate headslapped him again. Brian scowled at her and took the bottle and fed her a healthy slug of whiskey hoping she would eventually get enough to stop headslapping him.

Jack and Steven chuckled " ow no it doesn't Brian like Angus said makes you human , your not superman... though you'd probably not look as good in those tights. " Steven said and jack tried to stifle a laugh seeing Kate head slap him again. Steven couldn't help himself too as he swiped the bottle from Jack again and downed a good bit before jack took it back and downed one himself still coughing as he wiped his mouth.

" yeah , what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger...and if this whiskey doesn't kill me I'll be a batter man for it " he said shivering as he downed another gulp.Jess shook her head and chuckled as she headed back inside the house. Jack chuckled as he saw Cassidy sneak up behind Steven and swipe the bottle from him. " HAY!!" he said and chuckled trying to get it back from her, but she downed a mouthful like it was just lemonade.

" the guys had me try this in Paris I think it was there initiation " she said and smiled holding it away from him " ah what do I get?" she asked smirking as she saw him roll his eyes and lean forward to kiss her as he lent her back his hand grasping the bottle as she let it go smiling " good boy" she said and chuckled.

"Oh, bloody hell," Robert's voice sighed behind them. He reached down and took the bottle from Kate. "If you're going to do that, you're going to share." He took a long drink from the bottle. Enough that Kate slammed her fist on top of his shoe. He choked on the firewhiskey. "Was that really necessary?" he asked.

"It is if I dont want you to drink it all," Kate said. Robert swiped the bottle Angus had and gave it to Kate.

"Woman, I have a cellar full of this stuff. There is more where this came from," Robert said. "Although I would prefer you lot not all get plastered at the same time unless you get Lee or the staff from Paris to cover for you. One or the other."

"Stop stalling. How's my daughter?" Kate asked.

"Well," he said "My daughter is very, very weak. If Remus has to come back to try to keep her alive once more, he'll kill her. we can't let him feel like its the only option we have. He clearly knows the risks."

"Are you telling me she's dying?" Kate asked bluntly.

"You know better than to use those terms with me," Robert said. "No. My daughter is not going to die. Just stop all of that thinking. Is that why you're all drinking?"

"No," Kate said. "We're just celebrating that we're all alive, and we're thrilled about it."

"Snarky," Robert sighed.

Jack chuckled at Robert and Kate " its ok I'm not having any more " he said and smiled watching Steven with Cassidy holding her close Jess moved to sit with him leaning against his shoulder.

" Don't worry Robert, I'm sober, tea is the strongest I go to these days. " she smiled at Jack resting against him as she accioed a cup of tea for herself. Steven smiled at Cassidy kissing her neck gently as he knew it was her ticklish spot and she chuckled as she lent against him.

" stop that Steven " she said once then twice then after a third time she turned and pushed him not realizing he was at the edge of the pool he toppled fully clothed backwards into it pulling her with him after surfacing they laughed out loud holding each other tight.

Kate watched the horseplay that was either misfocusing or an attempt at lightening up the atmosphere. She got up and stood toe to toe with Robert.

"I am going to go see her," she told him firmly.

"I figured you would," he said. "I added a slight glamour spell because I didn't want to shock the hell out of any of you. She wouldn't want that. I have her deliberately unconscious for now because it gives her systems a rest. It allows her to recharge perhaps a bit faster. Or at least that's my hope. It does not allow negative thinking or energies to interfere with my work with her, at any rate. I doubt that James or his band will be back for at least 24 hours. We wounded them too badly and they will have to rethink everything they thought they knew. In the meantime, I'm going to work on strategy wihen I'm not tending to Khaat. That's about all I have for now."

"Well," Angus said, "I have one more order of business. Lunch is almost ready. It's lobster salad sandwiches, with large spinach salads on the side. Tonight for dinner I'm grilling fresh salmon and putting a 5 cheese risotto with that, so don't get so plastered you can't enjoy it."

Jack looked up " what no steaks?" he asked and was poked by Jess who chuckled then spoke.

" sounds wonderful Angus , don't mind him one bit " Jess said and smiled " I am hungry if nobody else is ?" she said and stood up a she turned to see a rather soggy Cassidy and Steven climbing out the pool and shaking off the water. Steven tipped out the water from his shoes while Cassidy rung out her tee shirt then moved inside.

" just be a sec let me change " she said and chuckled as she squelched passed him , Steven transfigured his clothes to dry ones and sat with Jack and Jess.

" hay no pushing ether of us in ok" said jack and Steven chuckled and nodded.

" ok mate no pool diving for you or Jess" he said taking a wig of the whiskey again but feel it warm him from inside.

"I'll go with you, Kate," Brian said. "We'll be right back, All. Go ahead and serve lunch, Angus, please."

"Right. Coming right up," he said, heading for the kitchen. "Jess, can you set the table, please, while I assemble the plates?"

Brian and Kate went down the hall, and Robert said, "I'd better follow them. They're not ready for what they're going to see. Not as ready as they think they are. Give me a minute. Cork up those bottles. Some of us need to keep some good reflexes, just in case." He walked down the hallway behind Brian and Kate. He watched them go in. Neither of them said a syllable. Abbey tried to dash in to follow Robert, and he scooped her up quickly and turned her around to face the other way.

"Mama is sleeping," Robert told her.

"Mama nap?" she asked.

"Yes," Robert said. "That's right. Come on. Let's go find your Uncle Jack or your Uncle Steven." He took her and Dakota back out to the living room. "Can one of you keep an eye on these two? They're too damned smart for their own good, it seems. They know something isn't right. Keep them occupied please." He left them with them and returned to Brian and Kate to make sure they were going to be alright.