Marriage is Murder

"I appreciate it, but it isn't guard duty that will keep me awake. It isn't the guard duty keeping me awake," he said. "I..just can't. I don't know...." he didn't want to finish his thought or sentence and cut himself off. "I just have a lot on my mind. I can't sleep. I know it probably doesn't seem to make any sense, but I honestly just want to have some tie alone to think."

"It makes perfect sense," Michael said quietly from the doorway. Brian turned and looked. Michael hadn't been to sleep either. "You dont have to sleep. It just might well be that you're not the only one who won't sleep tonight. And its okay if you want to be alone. We'll give you all the space you need. I promise. Why don't you finish your sentence, Lad?"

Brian didn't respond. He fished out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and a lighter and went out to the balcony in silence.

"He's struggling," Michael said, eyes on Brian. "He doesn't know how any one human being could go through so much and still survive mentally intact. He's not sure what will be left of her emotionally when Robert lets her wake. I have to admit--its a question I've asked myself. After Remus died and after she graduated from Hogwarts, she spent a lot of years as a recluse on Robert's farm, not willing to deal with the world again. It took him over a decade to get her to trust herself to step out again and try living on her own. You all know the rest. As much as she loves all of us, I do have to ask myself how much can she take? Its been a tough 3 or 4 years."

"She'll hang in," Angus said seriously.

"Is that based on some information you have? Or is that wishful thinking?" Michael asked.

"I've been serving Khaat in a capacity you all haven't for the last two years. I''ve taken care of her laundry, her cooking, her wants, her needs, her shopping, her children...I see sides of her you all don't," he said. "And I saw her almost continuosly when Brian brought her home from some of her worst nightmares. She may go through a tough time but I believe she's going to be alright when all is said and done. but--I don't want her to leave Italy and have one more place she doesn't want to come. I don't want it to go fro being one of her favorite places in the world to a place she doesn't ever want to return to ever again. When she recovers physically, I do think Brian needs to bring her for a night or two--without any of us. Look at them. They're still newlyweds, and when do they ever get any time alone? Ever? Even when they come to have a coule days alone, they end up with no less than 8 to 10 people escorting them on a romantic weekend. Honestly, thats the part that I don't understand how they put up with it. That would drive me crazy."

"When she recovers, I will be happy to find them a little hideaway where no one on the planet can find them," Michael said.

"No, it needs to be here. Italy. Venice. Where they fell in love. They need that magic back," Angus said.

"You might well have a point," Michael said.

"Get over yourself, Jack," Michael sighed, going to the fridge and popping the top on a bottle of beer. "He isn't saying he knows them better. Just differently. You're taking his thoughts about what he believes they would enjoy as a personal slam against you. This truly has nothing to do with you in the way you're taking it."
He took a swig of his beer. "I think any ideas we have to give them just a night or two without all of us will make a huge diference, so I'm sure Brian will find any suggestion welcome."

Robert came out of the bedroom. "You lot look like you're all at a wake. Somebody die while I was in the other room?"

"How is she?" Michael asked.

"Sleeping. she won't remember waking up. I did get her to drink a glass of juice. I checked her wounds. Medically, she's stable. Its basically the same as we knew. Healing injuries, underweight, in need of solid nutrition, in need of rest, and in need of a cure for that damned plague like we all have. The big question you want answered is how she is emotionally, and I can't tell you. She was too deeply sedated to know. I'll come and wake her up a couple of times during the night, and perhaps we'll know more as it goes on. we'll see."

"I think they would both enjoy that far more than even they are aware of right now," Robert said. "I've asked a lot of them. There arent' many people who go from total independence to having no choice but to be constanlty either guarded or guarding, with no break from it, and then to find you're going to spend the rest of your life together. It really is an adjustment. As it is for all of us, but none of the rest of us never go through our lives without time to ourselves. I think giving them a wee bit of a break is a wonderful idea. Alright, losten, do try to keep yourselves from going after each other's throats. But, in all honesty, I am very tired. She isn't going to get out from under my sleep spell, so Im going to bed.

"Now--I do see how dedicated you all are, so...I will make this an order. Half of you--and I do mean 50% need to go to bed tonight--at the very least. I don't think we need more than one or two, in all honesty, but if we don't start taking care of ourselves now in the relative quiet our enemies have given us, then we won't stand up agains them for 2 minutes when they do come. So--I expect you to be rested, and then trained up, and ready. Not exhausted, out of shape, and unable to meet the next challenge. Understand?"