Marriage is Murder

James was stupid enough to try to backhand Edward, and when he did, Khaat's hands automatically, on their own, snatched his wrist and twisted James's arm backwards hard and fast. Hard enough that Robert heard bones breaking. Clavicle, shoulder and elbow. James cried out in pain. It was enough to make even Robert wince. James screamed in pain as the bones just snapped away.

"You have no idea what I know about you," the voice sounded like Khaat, but Robert knew that menacing tone much, much too well. "You filthy little maggot!" Robert did not mistake the utter rage. This was not Khaat's rage, and it wasn't wording she would ever use. "I know what you think is strength, and I know every single one of your weaknesses." Khaat's face was right up against James's ear. "You feel the burn of that blade? That's a cursed blade. Its designed to not heal. To not stop bleeding unless under the hands of a master healer. And you know what? There aren't many of those blades. Or many master healers. You might find that a bit inconvenient before too long...."And looky here." Khaat's arm reached around James' neck and ripped off a necklace hanging there. "What have we here?" It was a tiny crystal bottle on a golden chain. And in the vial was blood. It brought bitter laughter from Khaat's lips. "So that's how you did it." Without looking, the vial was tossed in the air to Robert, who caught it with one hand.

"Lupin," Edward called quietly. Robert looked at Edward who did attempt to be trying to get Khaat's attention. But then Robert noticed he had not addressed her with the affectional terms that Edward always used towards her. Edward knew. He had figured it out.

"Let me help," Robert offered, wanting to take a step towards them.

"Oh, no, no, no," the voice held bitter pleasure in its tone now. "Not necessary, is it, James?" Khaat's arm yanked harder on the broken joints and James fell to his knees, without even the slightest loss of pressure from Khaat's hands.

"Leggo!" James' voice was a gutteral groan of pain now.

"Now you listen to me," the voice said. "Your access route in here is gone. Both the men you brought here with you are dead. If you want to live, you're going to not ever step a toe within at least 5 miles of my family or you will open doors that you didn't even know existed." Her boot gave him a hard kick in his back, in his ribcage, shoving James facedown in the snow. Edward removed his blade from James, just as Khaat's wand made a rather elaborate flourish and fired at James. A sizzling crackle of sparks left James completely naked on the ground, his clothes completely disapparated.

"Hey!" James screeched. "Its cold!"

"You should have thought about that. That will keep you from smuggling in anything else from helping you to return. I believe I know exactly where to dump you off. Jack--take this bag of garbage and drop it off right dead center in diagon alley. But cloak yourself before you go. You don't want anyone identifying you. Let him experience a bit of humiliation."

"What!!" James shrieked, at the thought of being dumped entirely naked right in the heart of the wizarding world. Edward was doing his best to not laugh, but he could not stop a smile.

Jack stood watching both Khaat/Remus and Edward as they did there job he could not help but wince when he heard the bones snap in James wrist but he knew they would heal quickly. his eyes were fixed on Khaat as she made James naked he could not help but chuckle, hearing Khaat/Remus he moved his hand he accioed a long black hooded cloak wrapping it around himself as he listened to Khaat/Remus tell him to drop him in the middle of diagon alley " yes ma'am " he said and rasped James aperating away. Reappearing in the middle of diagon alley he let him go. " don't...ever..come back " he said and growled at him " I would call you brother but ...our not" he said leaning down to speak to him.

Aperating back to the main hose he made the black cloak hang its self back up and walked over to Khaat/Remus and Robert " It's done he won't be back in too much of a hurry " he said looking at them " hows Khaat doing?" he asked.

"She's fine," the voice from Khaat responded to Jack. The eyes looked at Robert. "You know I have to go. By the way, you might want to check her metabolic panel. She's just entirely too fatigued. You need to take a closer look."

"Will do," Robert replied, going over to her. "I'm ready." Without another word, Remus stepped back, and Khaat's form fell utterly limp. Robert was ready, and he picked her up. But even to Robert it felt much too easy. He hadn't noticed before. She was getting too small again. "Brian," Robert said, "check her."

Brian went over and checked her carefully."Vitamins and minerals are all out of balance," he told Robert.

"No wonder she can't get her strength back. I'll fix it when we get back. I'll have to make a tonic for her. It will take a couple of days to turn that around, but its reversable. That, and I will need to speak to Angus about her diet for a few days. I suggest we go home, everyone. Jack, you and Steven and Jim go on a detailed patrol of the grounds. But I think I know how he got in here. Just make sure the protection grid is still in place and that no one is here that should not be. My best guess is that everything will check out fine, but lets be sure."

Jack watched he wanted to step forward to hold Khaat up but he knew Robert had it in hand and stayed put Jim motioned for Steven and him to follow " all ready on it Ozzie, take care of Khaat " he said and together the three of them walked off to walk around the perimeter. The found several small holes but they were soon patched every man was checked and double checked he was who he said he was but they found no more unexpected men or women on the grounds. Eventually they headed back Jim sent Steven and Jack back while he staid at the main guard house to make sure they understood what had happened and strengthen the barrier around the home and surrounding grounds.

Jack aperated into the main living room and sat down but Andrew dove over and sat on his knee and shook his head " bad doggie?" he asked and Jess chuckled Jack chuckled and nodded.

" yes but I don't think he'll be back in a hurry " he said " and hes nothing for yo0u to worry about " he said and gave him a hug as he looked at Jess who blushed a little at his image of James naked in the middle of diagon alley

Brian took Khaat from Robert and took her to their room. He laid her on the bed and just covered her with a blanket to let her rest. She came around just as he stepped out, but when he heard her wake, he returned.

"Are my memries correct?" she frowned.

"Probably," he laughed. "Remus has not lost his sense of humor."

"That's not why he did it," she said.

"The necklace he had. The vial of blood. Somehow it was one of ours. Presumably from one of the fights we've ha with him. he's saved it. And he's found a way to use it like a key to get past the protective charms. He stripped him on purpose so that our blood could not be used like a key to get here."

"Ah. Well now it makes sense. You rest. Your nutrition has gone to hell. Your father is working on a tonic for you. You've been skipping too many meals. I think it got started when you lost all that blood and then just didn't get any better. But we're on it now. If you need something you call." She nodded. He went downstairs.

"She's better," he said. "She's resting."

Jess, Steven and Jack all looked at Brian as he came down and all smiled as he told them she was going to be ok, Jack most of all was relived and smiled " that's good , we walked the perimeter and no more unauthorized people were found, a few holes which we patched but everything is tight " he said as Jim returned with a clip board in his hand.

" ok all present and re accounted for " he said and handed the clip board to Robert " every one is undergoing testing to make sure there who the meant to be but for now all personnel here are, Owens is down at the guard house over seeing it " he said and looked at Brian " good to know shes going to get better " he said and looked back Robert " ok gonna have to make sure they don't get any blood from any one again" he moved to open a small note book and writing in it as he moved to sit.

"That is much easier said than done," Robert said. "That means that no one can get hurt any time again ever. I dont' think we can guarantee that. But, what I may have to do is to see if I can somehow rewrite the spell so that the identifiers about who can enter and who cannot are not dpendent on something so easily attainable."

Brian went to the kitchen and talked with Angus about the difficulties in Khaat's blood chemistry. Angus made notes and in his head, he was already revising how to add more vitamins and nutrients to all their foods so that they all felt better. After all, there was no such thing as health that was too good.

Robert went to the potions lab in Brian's house and began working on a vitamin tonic for Khaat. Brian decided to take Abbey and Dakota for a swim. Kate decided the triplets were not too young to learn so she took them down to the pool as well and put them in the shallow, circular baby pool to let them just splash while she sat on the edge with her feet in the water to keep an eye on them.

Jack thought for a moment " maybe something in the blood, that when out of the body ether changes or dies so it doesn't look or react the same why as if it was still living" he said " a chemical reaction or potion you could give it every year or month depending on how long it will survive" he said not sure if anything was around like it. Jim thought for a moment and rubbed his chin.

" hum good idea but how can we put it into practice, thre4s nothing like that out there" he said and looked at Robert " what do you think? " he asked.

"Well, under normal circumstances blood does die outside of the body, unless its kept refrigerated. But once the air hits it, it tends to start to break down. The vial he had was airtight," Robert said. "I will look for a mutillayered component to add."

Before long, Angus took a break to join Brian and Kate in the pool and the three of them managed to get all five kids into the water. The triplets took to it almost instantly. Brian was pleased. He loved the water, and so did Khaat and he couldn't imagine any of his kids not wanting to swim.

Robert spent a couple of hours on various sorts of blood tasks. But when he finished, he was very pleased. By then, Kate and Angus and Brian had the kids changed into dry clothes and were getting them some juice. Angus headed for the kitchen to make lunch. He had decided to make a Southwest Chicken Salad. He was already working on tonights dinner, but that had several hours yet that it needed to slowcook.

"Brian," Robert said, "I need to talk to you and Khaat. Come with me." He went upstairs with Brian and found Khaat awake. He closed the bedroom door. He only took a few moments with them and then went back downstairs. Brian helped Khaat up and found that with a little help, she could make it to her feet. Remus hadn't pulled all her energies out of her after all. Then he went downstairs with her, just being watchful that she didn't get overtired on the stairs.

"Why do I get the feeling you had good news?" Kate asked Robert.

"Well, because I know they'll see it as good news," Robert said. "Brian? You want to tell them?"

"Robert's been able to do more testing on the triplets. They're old enough finally. It does seem that biologically, regardless of what the bewitching spell had intended, Julia, Michael and Robert are mine. They're not Robs," Brian said, pleased. It did not change one bit how much he loved them. Nor did it mean he loved Dakota and Abbey any less. It was going to take a moment for him to accept that these were his children that he and Khaat had had together, out of their great love. He had always accepted that they were Robs. But now, he had kids that were biologically his.

Jess , Jack , Steven and Cassidy all stood in the living room Jim sat in a chair close by he looked up at both Brian and Khaat and smiled at them both as Brian told them the triplets were there's " nobody ever thought different half pint but still its good news " he said and smiled at him. Jack and Jess chuckled and jack spoke " Great news mate their biologically yours|" he said smiling at them both " so you truly are a dad of three " he said chuckling at him Steven just chuckled but it was Cassidy that spoke up.

" That's great, but doesn't that put them in danger now too, since James and very villain around will want them, with having her blood in them?" she said looking at the others.