Marriage is Murder

Jack and Jess we happy to see the kids too glad they ate as they sat their own in the high chairs both chuckled as Angus mentioned another five kids. Helping the others to eat Jack smiled glad at least they hadn't lost there appetite threw the virus in there small systems James threw his bowl away and coughed Jess looked at Jack and placed hr hand on his throat soothing the pain he felt there. " his throats sore" she said and chilled a sippy cup with juice in he drank it down and quiet down leaning on Jess softly sniffing. Jack shook his head none of the others were bothered buy it and so finished their food .

Robert floated Khaat's barely touched tray out to the kitchen. He did not show any emotion. He just went into the kitchen, brewed himself a cup of Earl Grey and came back out just in time to wipe the faces and hands of his grandchildren after they finished eating. He made subtle checks of them to be sure that none of them were more badly affected by the virus than he had thought. Satisfied that he wasnt missing something, he set them, one by one, on the floor.

Brian was about to speak when Kae came back. She was silent. Robert went over to her and wrapped her in a warm hug.

"Is it over?" he asked. She nodded. "I'm sorry. I need to be working harder to find something."

"Its not your fault," she said. "You are not responsible for saving us all."

"But, my dear," he said, brushing her cheek affectionately "Right now, I am. Hungry?"

"Arent' I late?" she asked.

"I waited to eat with you," he smiled.

"Then lets go eat," she said. They came to the table and Angus dished up soup for both of them.

Jack stood up and cleared the table of their and the kids bowls and looked as Kate arrived he sighed knowing what had happened" listen to him hes right its not your fault its who ever designed this viruses fault maybe we should be looking for them and get the cure from them " he said walking into the kitchen with the dishes in his arms. Jess shook her head and sighed.

"Jack doesn't understand, its mutated since they let it out and now its no longer the same virus " she said wiping some soup from Alex's chin as he had tried to eat once more. Jess had little appetite for her own but she ate it knowing she had to to stay on top of things.

"I'm not so sure about the mutation part, Jess," Robert said. "Its not acting like that. In some people it appears in its original strain, and in others, it seems to be a bit diferent, and then there are others it doesn't seem to affect whatsoever, and I don't know what the difference is yet. It appears to be too random yet in order to isolate patterns. And thats what defies my finding anything more than just symptoms management. I've not found anything to reduce the illness itself, and certainly not to prevent it from killing." He turned his attentions briefly to Brian.

"Keep an eye on Khaat, would you?" he asked Brian. "It seems I need to have a talk with my daughter when she wakes. She was tired, so I chose to let her sleep for now."

"Anything I need to be aware of?" Brian asked.

"Nothing you most likely don't already know unless you're completely blind," Robert replied.

Jess sighed and nodded " I noticed that also Robert , like its designed to affect certain groups one way and another a totally different way , but it could just be me " she said and blew her nose to rid it of the stuffy sensation she felt. Jack handed her the cup with the potions in and she finished it breathing out with relief she could breath again. She listened to Robert talk to Brian and sighed.

" Jess its not your fault , she's stubborn like a mule" he said and Jess looked at him giving him a half heartened smile.

It was towards evening, a couple hours after getting home, that Khaat woke. She got up and headed upstairs. She was not feeling well. She sat down on the sofa, noticing the quiet in the house. She'd missed them putting her children to bed. And she'd been to tired to even go in and check on them. She sat on the sofa and looked outside at the stars adn the moonlight.

"Khaat," her father's voice came to her. "We need to talk."

"We do?" she asked.

"You know we do," he said, coming in and sitting down. "You look like hell. I want you to take a day or so off."

"I just went back to work."

"The weekend is coming. Make it a 3 or 4 day weekend. Khaat, if you don't, I'm going to have to remove you from duty. You're not up to it. And if you refuse me and you end up on the floor at the hospital, you wont' be napping in your lovely quarters. You won't be giving me a choice. I'll have to admit you."

"Its not that bad," she scowled.

"You really stink at diagnosing yourself, you know that? You're feverish, you're congested, your rash is almost everywhere, and you're losing weight so quickly that I almost can't keep an eye on it. Bottom line, you're on borrowed time unless you let me help you."

Jess had heard talking and woken up grabbing a robe she slipped out of the room and across to Khaat's room " hay awake at last" she said softly smiling. " hes right and you know it Khaat I can tell , just take a few days to relax and be with your kids Abby misses you , you saw that back in your office" she spoke softly so not to wake the children as she spoke. " and you didn't miss much they fell asleep as soon as their heads touched their pillows" she said smiling at her from the doorway. Jack walked up be hind Jess and slipped his arms around her waist as he too nodded at them both.

"I need to talk to Brian about it," she said.

"You think he doesn't know?" Robert laughed. "He's trying to give you some independence here, but he was the one who scooped you up off the floor a few hours ago, you know. Don't think this doesn't bother him just because he doesn't say it outright. And don't think you have to put him in a position where he has to actually say it. We can cover. If I have to, I'll borrow some healers from Lee."

"Americans?" she frowned.

"Yeah, Americans," he laughed. "Those Americans have covered our butts before. And they won't mind doing it again. Brian could use the rest too. I can't afford to be going in and doing rounds. And we're short handed of healers in there as it is. So, yes. Those Americans might be williing to make a few galleons for our benefit. Keeping the place staffed is what you hired me for, isn't it?"

"In part, yes," she said.

"Then let me do my job. You can do yours when you feel better. Why don't you and Brian take the weekend and let us all watch the kids and the two of you go to Tuscany or something?" he said. "You could both use some sunshine and some fun."

"Tuscany?" she asked. She hadn't thought about that.

Jack listened and sighed " were not out yet " he said looking at Robert " some of us are still capable of working even if we are slower" he said and looked down at Jess who nodded her head slowly. Jack watched both of them and knew Khaat if she staid would work here too. " suppose to be nice this time of year with the vines heavy with grapes " he said and smiled knowing it would give them a chance to see the villa they had been given and show the kids the pool and teach them to swim more in it.

"I know you're still working," Robert said, "but right now, I'm quite sure it it difficult for you to work full time at Sst. Mungos and for me too while you're not 100%. I wasn't meaning that you' werent. However, Brian isn't employed as a healer anymore. I'm busy doing research, and Khaat's not at full power. That leaves us seriously limited with functioning healers. It puts more strain on the rest of the healers who are working. I'm simply saying we need some additional staff. Any hospital that runs into a plague needs every available hand it can get. Lee knows that already. And--if Brian does decide to take Khaat to Tuscany for a long weekend, I'll be short both you and Jess at St. Mungos on top of both of them. That's a minus four for me...."

"I'm not going to go out of the country during this mess," Khaat said. "You might talk me into time off, but I'm not going to Italy. I refuse to go that far."

"And I thought you just said you wanted to talk to Brian about it," her father said.

"I said i wanted to talk to him about my taking any time off."

"You still think that's optional?" he frowned.