Marriage is Murder

Jess smiled and waved her wand making the boxes disappear and accioing several pillows from the cupboard out in the hallway moving them to the bed " um I think you should not use your magic till your better seem to be on the blink" she said smiling at her helping her to lean forward and luff the existing pillows as she then placed the new ones arranged behind her " that feel better " she asked turning her head as she sneezed away from her " ow excuse me " she said softly and smiled turning back to face her as she handed her the glass of water again.

"Yes," Khaat said. "Much. You know, though, much as Brian might not want to look at it, it does look like you lot would be far better if I werent' here increasing your exposure to this stuff. It just is not what any of you need right now. And it surely is not what our kids need. I realize he doesn't want to spread, but I do think I need to be away from you all. at the very least, I need to quarantine myself away from you all. You know it as well as I do. At least until we know more about it than we do. I'm seeing people who don't normally ever get sick who are getting this stuff. So whatever it is, it is a strong thing that is going to be tough to fight for those who are either elderly or who are really little. And we have a houseful of all ages. Perhaps, you all ought to not be around me. I'm not kicking you out of the house, but perhaps you need to rethink it and get yourselves and your kids out of here."

Jess looked at her and shook her head " don't be silly, we had an influx of people coming in from the surrounding areas some live on their own who are falling ill so its not just being around others that's spreading this if its air born we're all exposed since you have had this several days now, so now so stop talking like this " she said and sneezed, again turning her head from Khaat. " sorry" she said continuing to make her comfortable " I'm sure Robert would want you right here so would Abby and Dakota, Abby would be distraught with out you she clung to poor Brian when you left for work, just enjoy being pampered " she smiled.

"I'll do my best," she said. "Now get out of here before you get overexposed to me. Go on. Go. If I need something I'll call."

Brian went to check the kids and he checked them carefully. So far, he didn't see the slightest sign of anything. He was glad, and he felt Khaat would be glad too. He wondered if she was getting it because she had worked so many hours, often working for days and nights at a time without a break. She never asked anyone to keep the hours she was keeping. Nor would she ever permit any of her staff to do it. And he knew her too well. Before long she would be trying to reduce the number of healthy staffers that came in to avoid them catching it. And that would mean she would be trying to return to work. But he didn't personally feel that, if she kept getting sicker, her ideas for a return to work were not that likely to turn out well for her.

He went downstairs and got himself a cup of coffee.

"You're too damned transparent," Michael told him. "She's a Lupin. Your kids are Lupins. Stop worrying until you have to. Lets not worry unless Robert tells us to worry."

"Good plan," Brian said, picking up one of Angus's fresh sugar cookies to go with his coffee.

"Don't spoil your dinner," Michael teased.

"Yes, Mother," Brian said sarcastically.

Jess smiled at Khaat " alright but please do shout if you need anything" she said and moved down the stairs her own head aching slightly she put it down to tension and sat down on the couch rubbing her temples but not for long feeling restless she stood up and walked to the kitchen. " Angus do you have any of Michael's chicken noodles I think I am run down and need a boost " she said and smiled seeing Brian there also " um Khaats magic is on the blink she tried to get pillows and got boxes , I told her not to use any if she can help it " she said and gave a sneeze " blast it that's three " she took some kitchen roll and wiped her nose clean. " sorry its so unlike me this" she said " I think I'll head for an early night " she had felt achy most of the day.

>.< it ate my post that i left last night and i didn't catch it. sorry.


"You can do that if you want to," Angus said, "But Michael is cooking tonight. You can settle for leftovers, or you can eat his fresh gourmet cooking. He's planning on heading home to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

"Indeed. My furniture misses me," Michael said. "You're welcome to have leftovers. But the dinner should be quite good."

"Michael had a good point. He knows Khaat has no appetite right now. She's not interested in food. But michael believes if he can make great food with bold, powerful flavors that appeal to her might interest her. And he knows that if she gets good nutrition, it will keep her strength up. BUt what you do is completely up to you," Angus said.

Jess looked at them " yeah should be good for her " she said and took some kitchen roll " ok I have a cold its official " she said blowing her nose she smiled seeing Jack walk in and look at her.

" ok miss off home and to bed " he said to her and pointed back up the stairs Jess didn't argue " I'll check your in bed later " he told her and she chuckled as she disappeared Jack looked at Michael and smiled " what did you say, your furniture's missing you?" he asked some what confused " ah the ottomans right?" he said an chuckled |" ours is eating argyle socks already Jess gets them in specially for them or they eat mine" he could not help but chuckle.

Angus just shrugged. It was Jess's choice to miss dinner if she chose to. Brian made took her off active duty w/ them and made a note to have Robert remove her from the St. Mungos schedule. They didn't need someone sick on duty either place. Their reaction times would be slow and it would put themselves and others at risk. Nor did they need someone sick around the kids to increase the likelihood that the kids would get sick. Nor did they need a healer at the hospital who was sick who would spread the sickness to patients who were already physically fragile in some manner. And if Jess was too sick to eat dinner, then she was certainly too sick to work.

He made the choice himself to take on taking care of his kid and his wife himself. He did consider it his responsibility.

"Michael," Brian said. "No offense, but if there is some sort of contagion around here, I would prefer you get the heck out of here before you get it." Then he turned to the rest of his staff. "The same goes for the rest of you. You all have your own houses. When you start to get sick, I don't have a choice. I need to put you on sick leave so you don't contaminate any of the kids or anyone else. You are welcome to send here for things you need or want, but I don't want you continuously exposed to whatever this is. I am not doing this to offend anyone, but to try to contain this a bit. I will take care of Khaat and my kids. That's my job. Those of you who are healthy, I really would appreciate you making sure that things are alright in the stables and the grounds, and I guess I'll let Robert deal with Rene and his needs. Any questions?"

Jack looked at Brian as did cassidy and Steven both nodding " Brian, we understand do what ever you need too, this is where family come first " he said" but for now we feel fine and will continue our duties if any of use do become sick we'll head home and send a message to you to let you know " he said and moved to grab some coffee as Steven and cassidy grabbed some juice cassidy headed back to the nursery while Steven headed back out to the stables to finish his work. Jack sat down drinking his coffee looking out he saw it was a warm sunny day. Finishing his coffee he headed to the kitchen .

" ok I'm going to quickly check on Jess then I will be right back " he said aperating to the house and finding her with a box of tissue's and a cup of hot cold remedy in her hand " why not use some of Roberts cold cure" he asked and Jess held up the cup he chuckled knowing it was just that in the cup she held and drank from he moved to tuck her blanket in around her then left back to the main house .

Michael was serving a wonderful Tex-Mex lime chicken for dinner. It was beautfully cooked, moist, tender, and full of flavor. And it was accompanied by rice and by all sorts of traditional side dishes. For dessert, Angus had made freshly made churros from scratch, and he had managed to fill some with wonderfully tasty fillings.

Robert got back for a dinner break, bringing Abbey with him. He was tired. A bit stressed. Abbey dashed over to Brian, and he picked her up quickly, kissing her, glad to see her. Kate closed up the shop and apparated back from Diagon Alley. Michael silently brought a glass of firewhiskey and handed it to him.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome," Michael said. "Getting thick there?"

"Thick as..well, thieves," Robert said.

"Not funny," Michael scowled. "Dinner in five minutes."