Marriage is Murder

Robert told the puzzle to behave itself when he went to bed. He went upstairs, letting Brian do his job. He stopped by Khaat's room to make sure she had her tonic and make sure she was securely in bed. The last thing he did before going to his room was to check on all the kids.

Brian finished the security check with the night crew and told them to wake him if they needed to. He went to bed then too.

The next thing Robert heard was Angus's angry voice. "Oi! Get out of my room, you lot!" Robert snatched up his wand and sprang out of bed only to be smacked in the face with a fistful of puzzle pieces.

"Kate!" he growled. "Your puzzle has gone bananas! Get your toys back under control!" She snapped her fingers to light the light and the whole house was filled with puzzle pieces zipping through the air that seemed to have a mind of their own.

"What on earth?" she frowned. "I hope they're leaving the kids alone." She swatted some of the away going to the kids room and finding puzzle pieces in there too. Abbey was standing up in her crib laughing at them and bouncing up and down excitedly.

Brian flew out into the hallway and was immediately "attacked" by some divebombing puzzle pieces. "What did you say to it, Robert? You must have pissed it off!"

Cassidy woke and was hit buy a large piece of a puzzle " ouch !!" she said and sat up " Steven there are puzzle pieces in the room " she said and Steven sat up rubbing his eyes and looking around . slipping from the bed he stepped on a piece and cried out.

" ouch!!" he hopped into the hall way just in time to see Brian dodge several more " whats going on " he asked still rubbing his foot. Jack and Jess walked out as Jack batted away several out of his room. he saw Andrew about to put one in his mouth and dove over to him.

" ow no you don't, there not for eating " he said and took it off him picking up a broom he swiped them out of the room till they all were out in the corridor" what set these things off?" he asked looking at Steven rubbing his foot.

" don't ask " he said as Cassidy brought some slippers for him.

Robert was about to raise his wand to them, when Kate intervened.

"Oh no you don't. Its not their fault. I don't know what you said to them, but we're going to resolve this peacefully," she told him. She apologized for whatever it was that Robert had said. She spoke gently to them and asked them to please just return either to the table or to the box. She took it that apparently they were miffed because they eventually all flew to the box, jumped inside and slammed shut the lid.

"See?" she glared at Robert. "I don't know what you said, but they're sensitive."

"Apparently so. Now, go and just put it away so that they don't decided to attack again."

"Oh honestly!" she sighed,picking up the box. She took the box to their room and tucked it inside a chest at the foot of their bed. "Now. Happy?"

"Much better," he said. "I think she's gotten it out of control. Sorry for the disturbance, all. I think we could go back to bed now. Goodnight."

Jack shook his head " what did you say to them ?" he asked but just saw Steven shake his head and hop back to the bed. Jess walked over and touched his foot healing a small cut he had.

" your worse than a kid" she said and chuckled as she moved out of the bed room and back to her own room but Andrew was winging. Jess moved to him and gave him a small blue car which he sat and played with while she went back to sleep. Steven sighed and lay next to Cassidy who with a flick of her hand sent the door closing as they too went back to bed.

Daylight brought sunshine a some temperatures outside that started to make the snow melt away a bit. Angus was up early enough that Khaat woke to the smell of his pecan sticky buns baking, along with bacon frying and fresh coffee brewed.

Brian was already up and showered and shaved and dressed. He handed her a mug of coffee from the tray. "How long have you been up?" she yawned.

"A couple hours, maybe," he said.

"You went to workout."

"Yes, and when you feel better, you can join me again."

"I'm actually looking forward to that a bit." She drank her coffee and then showered. When she finished dressing she and Brian stopped in the nursery to get the kids but they were gone. She nearly panicked, but he calmed her and simply took her downstairs.

Robert and Kate had them up and dressed and was giving them breakfast.

"No more troubles?" Khaat asked.

"Not unless you call some banging from inside the box troubles," Robert laughed

Cassidy walked down yawning as she brushed her hair , Steven hummed as he walked into the kitchen and pored out some coffee. Jack and Jess followed behind him also grabbing some tea for herself and a bun as she sat down next to Andrew who clapped he was happy to see her . Jess kissed his cheek and he ate his breakfast she could not help but chuckle at the mention of the puzzle.

" so what happened with that thing last night?" she asked looking at Kate then at Robert, she then saw Steven yawn behind her " ow go swim or something Jack you look terrible" she said and he nodded sloping off the the pool once again. Steven to her seem to be the only one who was chipper this morning.

"It seems Robert threatened to turn it into a muggle puzzle if it acted up--before it had done anything," Kate glared at Robert.

"I refuse to let Michael buy you such sensitive toys ever again," he sighed.

"MIchael can buy me anything he wants," she said in a tone that made Robert roll his eyes at her.

"I'm buying you all new furniture, carpets, drapes, dishes,...what else do you want?" he said.

"My house burned down, you prat!" she said. "And besides, you didn't select a blood thing. I did it myself. And I thoroughly delighted in spending your money."

"See? I did buy it for you," he laughed.

"Well, hopefully Jim will give me a date on when I can start to clean and move things in."

"Clean? Its brand new. Why should you need to clean?"

"He's a man. Why would he understand that?" Khaat laughed.

Cassidy chuckled as she ate her breakfast with Steven who had sat with him as they watched Jack head for the pool. Jess sat shaking her head " he over slept this morning usually hes out when I get up" she said " I think he was reading that book again, the one Jim gave him" she gave Andrew another pecan sticky bun witch he delighted in eating along with some juice in his cup. Steven just smiled as he drank his coffee and ate one of Angus's pecan sticky buns. Jim walked back in and brushed his head clean.

" breakfast smells good Angus" he said and took a bun " taste even better " he sat down and made a cup of tea float to him. " the foal slept well shes eating right now" he reported to Robert." ow the house is ready for you Kate , I got an owl last night " he said smiling " just needs a woman's touch"

"Good," Kate said. "I want my life back. I'll work on that today."

"I'll come with you," Khaat said.

"No," Robert said. Not unless you plan on putting things in place with your wand," Robert said. "If your mother wants help there are plenty of people here that can go with her. If you behave yourself for another day or so, you just might find you can be up at a much better pace tomorrow. The tonic should be kicking in by then. If you misbehave, it will keep you down at least an additional day."

"Its is not worth buggering that up," Kate smiled. "I will take anyone along who wants to go--except you."

Cassidy looked up at Kate " I'll come I do need to get out for a bit " she said " besides I can check on our farm while I'm there " she said Steven nodded.

" I'll come too I can check the animals while I'm there" he said and looked at Kate " they might have got spooked with all the building work going on" he added as he drank his coffee. Jess looked at them and smiled.

"I'll stay here with the kids , jack and I " she said Jim said he would as well and sat drinking his tea.