Second Glances, Second Chances

"You're welcome," Khaat smiled. "I'll get your tea." She left and went downstairs. She had seen the bruise. As a healer, she knew it wasn't an ordinary bruise. It was a partial handprint. She recognized them at first glance. That and she'd had too many of them herself.

She headed down the hallway and down the large impressive stairs. She was nearly at the bottom when she saw flashes. They were so many, so fast, so simulataneous, and so violent that it caused a sharp pain in her temples. She put her hands to her temples, feeling two hands on her shoulders quickly. She hadn't realized she had pitched forward, but the hands had kept her from falling down the stairs.

"Khaat," It was Brian. "What is it? What did you see?"

"Mr. Blackburn is not a nice man," Khaat said quietly as she looked up at him, angry at what she had seen.

"Well, didn't you suspect that from that degree of timidity?" he asked. "She's clearly been hurt."

"No," she said. "You don't get it. She's been hurt for a long time."

"What do you want to do?"

"For now? Get her tea for her," Khaat said. "I'll take Mr. Blackburn as he comes."

"And he will come."

"I know. Anytime is fine by me," she said, resolved.

"I'll get the tea," Angus said. "I'm heading upstairs anyway. I'll take it with me as I go."

"Thank you," Brian said. "I'll get us both a refill too, Khaat."

Angus fixed a proper tea tray with a small pot of fresh tea, a fresh tea cup, and two large soft sugar cookies. He flicked his wand at the tray and floated it upstairs. When he got to Faith's door, the tray hovered beside him. He knocked lightly.

"I've got your tea, Faith," Angus said.

Faith sat down on the bed once Khaat had gone. Her whole body was trembling, and she just needed to sit down. The rain, and the fire was comforting, very, very comforting. She sat on the very end of her bed, staring hard at the fire as it burnt away at the wood cleanly. The smoke drifted up into the chimney, and the crackle was soft, but sharp in the quiet room. Finally, Faith stood up and went to her stuff, she picked up her bag and set it carefully on the bed, opening it, she pulled out a pair of worn short shorts, there was a small tear on the pant leg, and the elastic was stretched badly.

She then pulled out a tank top that was faded and worn, there were multiple holes in the shirt, and one of the arm straps looked like it was about to break. Faith was just setting them out when Angus knocked and she spun around, looking slightly scared, her hands clasped in front of her immediately, she looked up. "Oh.. thank you Angus.." she said softly, forcing her face to resume a natural look, not one of sheer terror at being caught doing something she wasn't supposed to do, even if it was just setting out her pajamas.

Faith watched Angus nervously, her eyes following his movements, her back turned to her clothes so that he couldn't see the state they were in. There were more then one reason why she was so nervous about Angus, but her eyes showed her terror as she literally sat down on her bed, her legs crossed, her hands shaking slightly. "I heard you make great cookies." She said, crossing her legs even more drastically, and turning on a bright smile.

"Dresser," he ordered the tea tray. It floated over to the dresser and landed there obediently. It honestly never occured to him to do anything other than to make eye contact with Faith. Whe she mentioned the cookies, he smiled. "They're Abbey's favorite, but she insists I put 'sparkles' on them. So now they all have to have sanding sugar on them. She doesn't care what color so long as they sparkle.

"I assume Khaat told you where all our rooms were. If you need anything, feel free to come and knock. Brian and I are very light sleepers and..." His words were interrupted by a light tapping at Faith's window. Angus frowned. He went to the window and looked out. "Bloody bird," he muttered, opening the window. "You know better," he lectured as Khaat's huge bald eagle glided into the room, made a small circle and landed on his shoulder. "You're supposed to be in before now. You're late. And you're supposed to come in downstairs." The bird playfully nipped and tugged at his hair. "No, bribery wont' work. You're in trouble," Angus stuck to his guns with the bird. He walked back to the door. "And you're wet, too."

When he got to the door, he turned back and looked at Faith again. "This is Khaat's version of an owl. This is Archangel. He is usually very well behaved. My apologies for his intrusion. He must have seen your light on and figured there was someone in here to let him in. His perch is in the corner in the living room. I hope you like aniimals because we do have a lot of them."

Faith smiled slightly as she watched the tea tray float to the dresser and set down lightly. "That's very sweet.. I like sugar cookies." She smiled and nodded, turning her eyes away from him, looking around the room again, as though she still had not gotten over just how large the room was. When there was a knocking, Faith literally jumped off of the bed and spun around, looking at the giant bird that came soaring in. She stared at it with awe. First an ice bucket.. now a real live bald eagle? This house was insane.

"Thank you.." She muttered again, assuming her normal stance, head bowed slightly, hands clasped in front, eyes to the floor. "It was very kind of you to bring tea to me.. I do thank you again, I hope I will not be too much of a bother on you all." She said, her eyes pointed directly at the floor, before she glanced up again. "I've only ever seen animals during Care of Magical Creatures.." She admitted and then smiled. "Besides my owl.. but she's not the nicest owl in the world either.." She glanced at Angus, and then back at the ground again, like a shy child.

After Angus had left, Faith sat back on her bed, and sighed, slowly she took off her top, and went to a mirror in the bathroom. Looking at her chest and arms, she sighed. The bruises were healing, slowly.. she usually wore tank tops that went high on her chest, because of the bruises that dotted the area, even the ones that looked like hickies dotted her chest, and hand prints crossed her upper arm. She kept that one covered by makeup, but she slowly washed the makeup off, and looked at the dark, deep purple bruise.

It hurt.. her father had suspected she had gotten to content at school, and had threatened to not let her go back after Easter, but by doing whatever he wanted for the rest of break, she was allowed to go back. How would she explain the babysitting job during the summer? If he had barely allowed her to go back after Easter?! Faith found her tank, and slid it on, looking at the bruise that was clearly visible. She liked to see herself for how she was before she went to bed, no makeup, no special anything, just her, and so she stared into the mirror, hair down, her eyes roaming over her own reflection, looking at who she was as a person, the bruises, the cuts, the mostly healed scars, all without any bandages on, any makeup, nothing to hide it, it was there. She sighed and then applied bandages on the ones that needed bandaged, and then slid into bed.

The covers were nearly warm, like they had been heated, and so fluffy it almost hurt. With the wind driving down outside, and the soft crackling of the fire, Faith was asleep and softly snoring, in about five minutes.

It seemed like Khaat had just gone to sleep when she felt jumping on the bed. She heard Brian groan and then he laughed sleepily. She opened her eyes to see Abbey and Dakota there.

"How'd you to get up here?" Brian frowned.

"Hi, Daddy!" Abbey smiled, excitedly. He laughed.

"It can't be time to get up yet," Khaat shook her head.

"Up, Mama! Up!" Dakota bounced.

"Okay, we're up. We're up. Lets go get you dressed," Brian said. He and Khaat got up, yawning and went back down to the nursery and dressed them. They left the triplets sleep awhile longer. They went downstairs and found Angus at work in the kitchen. The little girls dashed into the kitchen and they each hugged one of his legs.

"Where'd you two come from? You're way early today."

"Cookie!" Abbey said.

"No, no cookies for breakfast," Angus laughed. "Here." He handed each of them a piece of banana. "Fruit." Then he looked at Khaat and Brian. "I've got them if you want to go back to sleep."

"Nah," Brian said, pouring two cups of French Roast. "Can you give us ten minutes to shower?"

"Yep. No problem. I've got lots of bananas," Angus laughed.

"Good," Brian said, as he and Khaat headed back upstairs to shower and dress, "because apparently we have a couple of little monkies. They figured out how to climb up on the bed." Angus just laughed as they headed upstairs to dress for the day.

"We working out today?" she asked him.

"Nope. We just did. Besides, its Sunday. I'll let you slide for one day," he said, as they went into the bedroom and shut the door.

Faith was woken up by silence. The deep, deep sound of silence, it startled her awake, and she sat up straight in bed, for a moment she panicked, seeing where she was, and didn't know how she got there. She flung her legs over the side of the bed, and looked around the room, trying to remember how she got there. She opened her door and slid down the hallway, staring at all of the doors, and drifting lazily into the kitchen without so much as the sound of a footstep. In the back of her mind, she was completely aware that the bruises and cuts across her chest and arms were very visible, and looked completely wrong against her light skin, especially so early in the morning, but she was to tired to even care.

Faith found herself sitting at the counter, reaching for a banana, before she even realized where she was. Slowly, she looked around, and her eyes landed on Angus. Faith opened her banana, the correct way, and took a bite, glancing around the room, her eyes falling on the children. Immediately her face went red and she smiled slightly. "Good morning..." She said softly, her eyes darting to the ground, before she quickly finished her banana and stood up. "I'll go get changed.. sorry... I guess I didn't realize anyone would be up.. excuse me." She said and quickly darted back up the stairs.

Once inside the room, she shut the door with a soft snap, and half flung herself into the bathroom to look at herself. Her skin looked pale, and her eyes were wild, the scars and bruises stood out in such high density she was nearly frightened of her own image, and she took a step back, her eyes staring into her own eyes through the mirror.

Faith took a shower and then slowly found her wand, and started to perform her regular round of spells to lighten the color of the bruises, and then put muggle makeup on top of it to make them disappear completely. It took nearly half an hour,just for the makeup, and by the time she was done with that, she could hear birds chirping, and everything in the day waking up. After finally getting dressed in some jeans, and a nice tank top that Khaat had let her have, she went downstairs again, her face beet red, trying not to look anyone in the eye as she sat down at the counter again, and glanced up at Angus.

Angus had clearly seen all the bruises and the marks that Faith had. He hadn't given them much study, to avoid making her uncomfortable but he had surely seen them. He was deliberate in making sure he made eye contact, whether the bruises were visible or not. He had no intentions of being, in any way, disrespectful.

"Good morning," Angus smiled. "Coffee or tea? We have both. Breakfast will be on the table in a moment. I hope you're hungry."

Khaat came downstairs dressed for the day. She had white capris, and a bright melon colored thin but pretty peasant style tunic top that was decorated with some beads and sequins. She had finished with little white mules with kitten heels. The mules were decorated with beads and sequins that were shaped like seashells and sand dollars. She curled her hair in big loose soft curls and had pulled it back with a white hair ribbon into a ponytail down her back. Her earring were just simple small gold hoops. She had done her makeup to be rather casual, not the more formal makeup she wore when she was going out. She was carrying her youngest daughter, Julia.

Brian had chosen older comfortable jeans and an off white work shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to three quarters, out of his way. He carried his two sons--Robert and Michael.

"Good morning," Khaat and Brian greeted Angus and Faith. They put the kids into their high chairs at the table. Angus floated little 'baby bowls" of breakfast and sippy cups to the triplets. The jabbering at the table began as the kids started eating the pieces of fruit in their bowls, with their fingers.

"Breakfast is coming up," Angus said. "I decided to simply fix plates today. I'll get them to the table as soon as I feed the cats."

"I'll get the cats," Brian said, going back to put out fresh kibbles and water for them in the kitchen.

"Here's the rest of my clan," Khaat said to Faith. "You've met Abbey. This is Dakota. And these three are my triplets--Julia, Michael and Robert. Abbey just had her second birthday, The triplets will be turning 1 at the end of this month, and Dakota will be two in June."

"Tea please." Faith said softly, glancing around the room, before smiling at Angus and her eyes immediately went to the floor. Faith by now had learned how it was appropriate to talk to teachers, and other classmates, but this family was so new.. and it wasn't school, it was far FROM school, and she could feel herself taking the stances she had learned as a child when introduced to her father's friends. Head bowed, eyes on floor, body relaxed, yet almost in a state of motion, like she could take off at any point and get pretty far.

Faith looked up when Khaat came downstairs, and her breath caught. Khaat made the rest of the glorious room she was standing in look like the light had been drained from it. Faith had never seen a more beautiful woman in her entire life, dressed casual, but with an air of money to her, even the child in her arms only added to the picture, and Faith found herself staring. Her eyes slid along to Brian, and she similarly was shocked as how beautiful he was as well. If any couple in the world could be described as beautiful, it was these two. They made the rest of the room grey out in comparison to the almost glow they gave out themselves. Faith found herself playing with a strand of her red hair, and she ducked her head down and looked away, worried they had seen her staring.

Faith let her eyes roam along the children silently, smiling just slightly at each of them, and winking once at Abbey, only because she knew the little girl. The children were just as beautiful as their parents. If not more so by their baby-state, they left Faith feeling breathless. Seeing Abbey next to her siblings, in her normal surroundings, made Faith realize just how odd it must have been for the little girl to wind up in a dusty basement with a girl in rags picking her up. Faith looked at Khaat and could only nod, speechless by the beautiful people around her.

Angus filled a tea mug for Faith and put it in front of her. "Relax," he said softly to her with a gentle smile. "Its just breakfast. We don't bite. Well, sometimes one of the triplets do, but they're teething." He filled plates with quiche, fruit salad, and large homemade cinnamon rolls. He floated pitchers of coffee, tea, and orange juice to the table and then floated plates over until everyone had a plate.

"Come eat," Brian said to Faith. "The cinnamon rolls are best when the icing is still warm and gooey."

Khaat and Brian sat down between the kids as best they could. Angus positioned himself strategically beside Dakota in case of any attempts to launch her fruit. He hadn't been beside her for more than about five seconds when Dakota decided to lob a grape at Abbey. Angus flicked the grape away with his index finger, ready for the morning's opening volley, and Brian promptly levitated Dakota's bowl up over her head out of her reach. Dakota scowled at Brian and then gave him a big pouty lip.

"Do we throw food?" Brian asked her. She nodded at him. It took him a second to not laugh at her, and he mustered up as much of a stern look as he could do at the moment. She saw right through him and giggled.

"You're miserable at that, you know that?" Khaat sighed at him.

"I know it," he laughed.

"Hungee!" Dakota demanded.

"If you're hungry, then don't throw your food," Khaat said. "What do you say?"

"Sowwy?" she offered.

"That's right. Good girl. You can have it back now." Khaat returned the bowl to Dakota who started to eat again. Khaat looked at Faith. "Don't be surprised if she repeats herself. She has a very short temper. We're trying to teach her patience, but so far the only ones learning it are the grownups."

Faith took her tea and moved to sit with the family, her eyes glued on Angus, he had smiled at her so kindly, but she couldn't get comfortable around him. For some reason, his features just reminded her too much of bad things, and she couldn't relax if he was too near her. So she positioned herself on the table so that she wasn't directly across from him, but she was across the table, so she could look forward, and not have to look directly at Angus.

She watched the family with their morning breakfast and smiled slightly. Dakota was a pretty wild girl, but Faith immediately liked her. Maybe it was her red hair, or her smile, or something, but Faith liked watching the little girl and her food throwing habits. Faith glanced at Khaat when she spoke towards her and nodded slowly, realizing she was being looked at, she immediately looked back down at her plate.

The food on her plate was rich, and beautiful, just like everything else about this place. She picked up her cinnamon roll and carefully took a bite, her face going red when she had to lean over her plate to keep it from dripping on her new clothes. She picked up her napkin and wiped the frosting off of her lips, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she glanced around. She didn't know what to say at all, so she let her eyes wander again, taking in the beautiful room, the beautiful people, the beautiful view, and trying not to let herself get to attached to it.