Marriage is Murder

Jim chuckled and shrugged " well it works for us Michael" he sat and listened to Michael and nodded " good Idea " he sipped his port and made his next move he knew it was one to sacrifice his pawn but at a bigger gain of keeping his queen or it would be game over. He smiled and looked across the room at Brian and Khaat. " be about time she saw the good in this world rather than the ugly she has had to endure from Blood and the like " he blew a smoke ring once more and sighed wishing he could help with that but he knew deep in her mind the possibility she would see the good again was there , so long as she had Brian at her side.

Michael saw the pawn Jim was tossing out in order to further his own position but he stayed silent and studied the board for a long while, deep in concentration. Then with the very slightest smile, he picked up a piece and took, not the offered pawn, but Jim's rook instead.

"Sorry," Michael said, "Couldn't help myself. When you moved the pawn, it left the rook just open enough for me to slide in there. Your move." He looked out to the balcony and saw that neither Brian or Khaat had moved in what was, now, hours. "She's tired. She's just limp. I can see it from here. And I'll bet you a galleon he's fallen asleep too. He hasn't even wanted to admit he's tired. My vote is to just leave them there. They look comfortable enough. If they wake up and go to bed, that's their business, I suppose."

Jim chuckled as he watched his rook being taken he'd not seen that coming " nice move " he said and raised his port glass even though it was nearly empty . He glanced at where Michael looked and nodded " ow now that's an easy bet, you so know they have " he said and smiled " we could cover them so they don't get too cold tonight " he said finishing his port and moving his queen to his left two squares forward. He sighed and puffed his pipe " its good to see them relaxing , its about time they did" he smiled knowing they would feel better for it in the morning. " so whose on breakfast detail?" he asked some what chewing on his pipe stem.

"Nah. Leave them be," Michael said. "The night air will just make them huddle closer. Or it it gets too cold, it will wake one of them up. They're safe enough. Brian is a light sleeper. I think we can safely go to bed tonight ourselves. I'll go draw a shield around them, and then we should be good tonight. Not a bad move, but..." he slid his bishop into a position that blocked a couple of Jim's key pieces. "Thata might affect you for the moment.

"As for breakfast detail, " he said, "I'll deal with that. Angus sent fresh baked bread and scones and some other things. So I won't have to bake. I'll just put some fruit with it and some eggs and perhaps some potatoes. Or if I get really ambitious, I'll make eggs benedict. Its not hard, and Khaat likes it."

Jim watched him take several key pieces and smiled " well that's going to put a dent in my plans, but I did say I was no good at chess" he said making his next move then sat back he heard Michael say about food Angus had brought " that's good" he said knowing the very next move Michael made would finish the game. His pipe seemed never to die out but he stubbed it out and shrank it slipping it in his pocket as he waited " yea I agree, let them sleep " he said " they look so peaceful like that, like two people in love should."

"You realize you just opened the door for that. Check," he said, taking a critical piece from Jim. "I see one move you can make that ties this up into a draw...if you can spot it."

"You know, I really love Italy. Its probably one of my favorite places to vacation. That and Paris. I really do love spending endless days at the Louve--from the time they open til the time they close--for days upon end. And then a week or two of scouting out the rare books stores, the antique shops and the jewelry stores and eating in the little local restaurants where the food isn't pretentious--just simple and delicious. That's my sort of vacation. I can surely understand why Khaat wants to retire to Tuscany. I had had similar plans at one point, but Khaat needed Robert, and Robert needed me...and retirement went down the damned drain."

Jim chuckled and shook his head at the lose of his piece but he could not see a way out he moved his queen again and sighed . " yeah always want to go to the Louve never been though things kept coming up, Margret's one for that old books and jewelry shopping " he nodded as Michael continued talking about his ideal holiday " mine would be sitting at a vine yard reading a good book with a good bottle of full bodied red wine beside me " he said chuckling as he watched Michael take his next move, now he knew Michael was good and he sat back in his chair knowing he'd be off to bed after his next move for sure.

Michael knew the game was his. He quietly moved his king into place and said, "Checkmate. Not a bad game. We just need to play more often. Its like anythin else, the more experience you have with a thing, the better you become at it. Ah well, this house does go to bed early. I think we would do well to get some sleep ourselves." He finished his port and his pipe and put out the pipe. I'll go lock their doors and put a shield around them. You might want to be sure our doors are secure before we go to bed. I'll be right back." Michael got up and went over to Khaat and Brian's room and drew a shield around them and attached an alarm to it that would wake him and Jim if it went off, if anyone attempted to penetrate it. He secured the locks and went to bed.

When he got up the next morning and had showered and dressed, he went in to Khaat and Brian's room and saw Brian flopped face down on the sofa. Michael thought he was asleep at first until he heard Brian groan tiredly and simply turn over to see who was coming in.

"And I thought you two were having a good night," Michael said. "What happened?"

"She's having nightmares again. She's reliving a lot of her old scary crap that is still painful for her. She uprooted me so many times I just gave up and gave her a sleep spell. She never knew what hit her."

"And...she's in bed, I presume?"

"Oh, yeah. We got up about midnight and went into bed. We'd have been far better if we stayed out on the balcony, honestly. She was fine there. Once I woke her up so we could go to bed, then the hell started. It felt like she woke me up every few minutes for hours. I finally used the sleep spell on her about 3 am.

"So, you've slept a couple hours, then."

"Maybe," he said.

"I'll make some coffee," Michael said. Brian just nodded and got up and dragged himself into the bedroom to go shower and shave. Michael set about making coffee and tea for the morning.

Jim nodded and stood up smiling at how easy Michael had taken down his king . With a no he moved to the main doors locking them and checking all the rest before heading to his bed. Not that he would sleep yet. The next morning Jim showered and dressed he heard voices and walked to Khaat and Brian's room . "Morning " he said softly as he pushed open the door and looked at Brian's disheveled face. " hum nightmares I take it" he said softly then listened to Brian and Michael taking. " You stay there, I'll bring a cup to you. " Jim said and moved to the kitchen with Michael. " those night mares are getting worse from what I have seen, can't blame her after what she's been through" he said as he pored the fresh made french roast coffee. He walked back with a tray floating close beside him and placed it next to Brian. He sent a cup to rest on the night stand for Khaat when she woke.

"They have been," Brian said. "We seem to need to do this every so often. From what she tells me she didn't have this issue with Rob. But then again, she hadn't been through the shit then that she has now."

"Second problem with that, Son," Michael said, watching Jim take Brian a much needed cup of coffee. "Dent was just never flipping there for her in the first place. If he had been, they might not have divorced."

"Honestly, I hope he doesnt' come back," Brian said. "Abbey is mine now. I dont' care if she is biologically Rob's. I dont' want him coming back just long enough to screw with her head and then bugger off again like he always does."

"The point is that you're there for her when a lot of other men might not stay through all that night after night."

"Frustrated as I get sometimes, it isn't enough to leave her over," he said. "Thanks, Jim. And in fact, the dreams were almost a thing of the past until recently."

"You know a lot of this will go away when, first, she gets her sight back, and, second, when the freshness of the fire leaves her thinking."

"And when I rip Blood into teeny weeny pieces."

"You're going to have to take a number there. We'd all like him." As Michael was speaking, Brian felt a sudden magical energy shift. He put his cup down on the coffee table and bolted for the bedroom. "Damnit!" he cursed. "Now what? She's gone! How the hell did she get out from under my sleep spell?" Michael bolted for the bedroom and saw the the covers had not been thrown back.

"Brian," Michael said quietly. "I dont' think she did. Look. She didn't even toss back the covers." Brian hadn't noticed until Michael pointed it out.

"You think she's still sleeping somehow?"

"Or not awake enough to know what she's doing. Seers do awfully odd things sometimes."

"Then its possible she's dreaming."

"I think its entirely possible," Michael said.

"Well, how do I chase that?" Brian frowned.

"Maybe you don't. For right now. The force of apparating jars the best wizard. I'd give it just a few minutes and see what happens," Michael said.