Marriage is Murder

"Oh, no, no, no," Kate laughed. She raised a shield to dodge the spell and then fired a flood of paper birds towards Jess, bombarding her with them.

"Stop defending yourself and start fighting," Robert laughed at Angus. Angus finally fired an offensive spell in anger and blood splattered as it struck Robert. A large deep cut slashed across his cheek and down his neck.

"Hold!" Lee called them all to a stop immediately. "Enough! No blood. We're done. Jess--get on that. Now."

"Its a cut. I'll live," Robert slowed the panic. "Its nothing. Believe me, this is a daily occurance here. Its a part of dueling."

"We're done. Enough. I've seen plenty," Lee said. "I can make my decisions."

"You sure?"

"Positive," Lee said.

Jess saw the birds and cast a water jet spell dampening them then dove over to Robert placing her hand over the cut and making it stop bleeding and heal to not even a scar " its done and it was an accident Angus , it wasn't that deep, more blood that actual damage " she said and looked at Kate wondering if she wanted to continue or not. Jack looked at Lee wondering the same thing.

"Hold your fire " he said and walked over to Robert kneeling beside him also. Steven walked over his arms folded as he watched

"If Lee has seen enogh, then I'm good with it," Robert said. "Thank you Jess. Do you need a moment, Lee?"

"No," Lee said, "I don't think so. Here's the bottom line. Your team has a lot of strengths but you already know that. You already know their magical abilities or you would not have put them in the positions theyre in. Jack got overconfident, but he's learned. Steven sometimes finds himself trying to mediate Jack's temper, which he should not have to do. Its Jack's job to moderate his own behaviors. He needs to work on that. Cassidy and Jess dont train enough. Period. Not physically, not magically, and we saw that. Angus is a good fighter that needs to be allowed out of the kitchen to fight. He is very capable. Kate needs to stand up more. She is a strong woman who spends too much tiime in your shadow, Robert. And Brian and Khaat have often held back taking control of the staff when they probably should have. And they did it because their staff is also their friends. Its difficult to be a boss of a friend. Its much easier to be the boss of an employee. Your staff has come to terms again that they need to respect both roles. Now Khaat and Brian need to stop being reluctant to act as employers for the fear of hurting a friend. I think you need to take your team home. Its only been a couple days, but it was eyeopening for them I think."

He turned to the others. "Do you feel ready to go back?"

Jess looked at Robert and then the others all spoke together " we are ready" they said then spoke again"I for one am happy to go home" she said jack and Steven who both nodded.

" I agree " Steven said moving to hold Cassidy close to him as Jack looked at Robert nodding he agreed with Lee's assessment of them all especially his temper problem he wondered how he could control it better but he realized it was up to him and him alone to do that. Jess smiled as Robert thanked her for healing him " that's what I do" she said and stood up.

"Alright," Robert said. "Then lets tuck the kids into bed and get some sleep ourselves. Remember, England is 8 hours ahead of us. And we have a trip home to make. Its already about 3 am there. We might want to make it a short night so that we can avoid having to struggle with the time difference."

"Agreed. The kids are going to cranky enough after two time shifts in a couple days. And if we're tired and cranky on top of it we will be all at each other. I am presuming that Michael will have breakfast fixed for us whenever we want. Can we be ready to go in four or five hours? By 7 or 8 am England time?" Kate asked.

Jack moved to Jess and nodded along with cassidy and Steven. " I'll do a round of the grounds first then head to sleep " Jack said and kissed Jess before he headed up the stairs and out into the grounds. Steven moved with cassidy.

"That sounds wonderful " he said to Angus " we'll get as much sleep as we can now so we don't feel it so much " he said as he and Cassidy moved back up to gather the twins to place them in the cots. Jess looked at Kate " good duel what was that color change one might come in handy if catline ever wants to change the color of her hair at any time when shes a teen" she asked smirking.

"Its easy," Kate laughed. "I'll give it to you." She and Robert headed upstairs, followed by Angus. Angus decided to go home tonight to go tell Michael they were coming home and to help him with breakfast. He took Dakota home with hiim in order to help reduce some of the numbers of kids home.

Robert and Kate were getting ready for bed when Robert heard a soft apparating sound out in the hallway. He got out of bed and opened his door and saw Brian arrive.

"What brings you?" Robert asked, motioning him in.

"I want an update on my team, and then I want to move the rest of my kids home."

"They're in bed sleeping" Robert said.

"They'll get over it. Porting takes no time. They'll go back to sleep when they get home to their own beds."

"Alright. Come in."


When the four hours had come and gone, Robert and Kate were showered, dressed and packed. Brian had come and gotten a briefing from Robert and had taken the triplets home to England. Kate and Robert came downstairs dressed and ready to go back home. Lee was downstairs.

"Are you ready to be without me?" Lee laughed.

"I think we need to try it," Robert said.

"I won't be far," he promised Robert. They embraced each other in tremendous friendship. "You know I will be there the instant you call."

"I know. And thank you."

"Welcome back, Minister," Lee smiled, glad to see Robert having the authority to take his post back and to take his life back.

"I never thought I'd say that but it feels good," Robert laughed.

Jack , Jess , Steven and Kate all came down dressed and ready to go Steven had James and jaylen Cassidy had Fallon while jack and Jess each had a baby while jack held Andrews hand ready to head home. Andrew yawned tiredly along soon after by Jack " we're ready to leave " he said smiling as he saw how bed head Steven was.

" hay couldn't find the comb besides we're all going back to bed anyway " he said rubbing his eyes sleepily. Jess nudged Jack pointing to a sleepy Andrew, whose hair was just as bad as Steven and he chuckled.

" ok point made " he said and smiled to her happy to be going home.

"We'll see you all at home," Robert said. "Port carefully and safely." He and Kate ported back to Brian's. He ported in to the smell of one amazing spread. He smelled bacon, sausage, tea, coffee, fresh baked pastries, and all the fixings. The kids were up and eating already, chattering happily. Khaat and Brian hugged them happily.

"Happy Sunday," Khaat told them, handing them mugs of tea. "Brian said it went well."

"Very well," Robert said, "and I am happy to be home."

"Breakfast smells wonderful, and I am starving," Kate said

"Then come and eat, my darling," Michael said happily, floating plates to the table. He went over to her and hugged her and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Its good to have you all back where you belong."

"Its good to be back," Kate said.

Jack , Jess , Steven and Cassidy were glad when they arrived in Brian's home they gave the children to the nannies and all smiled as Jess looked at Khaat " good to see you up and around again Khaat " she said Steven and Cassidy agreed jack just nodded knowing he had along way to get back in Khaat and Brian's good books.

" I'll do a grounds sweep before I head to bed " he said and moved out of the house to check around the building Jess shook her head and smiled at Brian.

"your both looking good " she said as she walked to the table and took some coffee from the pot that sat on it .