Marriage is Murder

Michael brought coffee, and in fact he brought breakfast himself. The french toast was stuffed with strawberries and cream. He brought enough for Khaat and Brian to share. It was always easier to eat when one had company. And when he collected the dishes, he beleived Khaat had done far better than he had expected her to do. It didnt bother him that she hadnt spoken. After all, what was there, really, to say. He refilled their coffee cups and saw her shiver just very slightly. He brought in her soft pink shawl and draped it around her shoulders.

After her second cup of coffee, Brian saw her staring out at the woods. "What are you looking at?" he asked gently.

"Do I still belong to him?" she asked barely above a whisper.

"You never did. But no, not even by his standards," Brian said.

"Is he still out there?"

"Yes. Someplace. But given another day or so, and he's not going to be able to find you so easily. We can last one more day here, right?" he asked. She didn't reply. "It'll be okay," he said to her. She tried to believe him because right now it didn't feel okay.

"Yes, she can," Brian said. "Its chilly."

"Are the kids safe?" she asked, looking at her battered fingers as she fingered the blanket.

"Yes," he said, " I promise." He decided not to go into depth with her as to where the kids were. She just needed to rest.

"Where's Daddy?" she asked.

"Believe me, he's not far," Brian smiled. "He hasn't gone more than a couple of steps from you. He's here someplace."

"I...I dont want to look like this," she said in almost a mumble.

"Sweetheart," he said, sitting on the edge of the chaise. "Just the fact that you survived that defies every odd. Its just bruises. They're going to fade. We've all seen it. You don't have to hide from anyone here. And, no, you don't have to go out until you choose to. Nobody's going to get through us unless you want them to...."

"Archangel! He hurt..." she began, remembering He stopped her short.

"Wait. Wait, he's going to be okay. We got him in time. He's..."

"He fought so hard for me....He was going to let him kill him....he..." she closed her eyes, a couple of tears slipping down her cheeks.

"That's the job, honey," he reminded her. "But he's going to be okay. We brought him with us so we could take care of him."

"Can I see him? Can..." she began. Robert took his usual strong strides into the room, seeing her awake.

"Archangel," Brian said to Robert.

"He's doing much better," her father said, kissing the top of her head. "He had breakfast, ...well, actually, he had seconds, and he's being rather persnickety about where the feathers are in his nest. You know he's getting better if he can gripe at us because the feathers in the nest are all out of place. He's going to be just fine. And how are you?" he checked her. He added a bit of a calming spell for her, sensing she needed it. It made her eyes flutter shut, making her a bit groggy. She didn't want to sleep, but she didn't feel like he was going to give her any choice yet.

Khaat slipped into a light sleep, and Brian pulled the blanket a bit closer.

"This will probably work yet today but by tomorrow or so you will need to stop hovering a bit and let the others in a bit more," Robert told Brian. "She needs to have the contact to start normalizing her feelings and her thoughts. And she needs to get it straight in her head that they're not walking away, no matter what they see and that they're not leaving b/c they think less of her."

"I want to be here today," Brian told Robert.

"And that's fine, but not much longer."

"When are we going home?"

"Tomorrow, late afternoon this time. It will be nearly 9 or 10 back home tomorrow night. But we really do need to make sure we've let this 48 hours run out and then some before we take her back home. If you can get her on her feet for a bit that might be good."

"She's not strong enough for that," Brian frowned

"If she's on her own, that's true," Robert said. "But what do you think the chances honestly are that she's not going to have at least 5 people or more watching her every movement for awhile? Put them to use. Let them help her. Let her stretch her legs. It will reduce her soreness and it will get her back on her feet sooner. Just even going a few steps at a time--from bed to chair, or that sort of thing. She needs tiny trips on her feet to get used to that again. And I think we have enough people to manage that without any issue."

"That won't work," Kate's voice came in, as she came in from the summer kitchen, "not unless you're prepared to let Archangel ride on your shoulder or hers. He can't fly but he is not about to let her go anywhere without him." Robert and Brian looked and saw Kate had the heavily bandaged but majestic bird on her shoulder. When Archangel saw Khaat he squawked excitedly, delighted to see her.

For Khaat it brought tears to her eyes for her to see he was really going to be okay.

"Didn't you tell her?" Kate asked Robert.

"I did. She just didn't believe me," Robert said as Kate came in. The bird desperately wanted over onto his mistress's shoulder where he belonged and nothing else was going to do. Brian knew how bruised she was and didnt like it.

"Bring him," Khaat said, wanting him on her shoulder, no matter what.

"Stand up, then," her father said. He got her to her feet as Kate put the bird on her shoulder.
"Alright, Jack. Just a very short trip. Perhaps across the room and back. No further," Robert said.

It felt like work to go that far, even though it really was only a few steps. She was tired just after a moment's worth of walking. She did trust Jack. She didn't trust that this guy wasnt perhaps big enough to best Jack. But she didn't want to let her mind go back to believing he was undefeatable either.

"He's...bigger," she said very softly. It was all she said to him. A statement that, on the surface, was the obvious. But as usual, it meant more. One of her locks of hair was unruly without her own hand styling it, and it kept drifting over Archangel's face. He finally, out of agitation, snatched the lock of hair in his beak and yanked on it. Her eyes only drifted over to him on her shoulder. She made no move to stop him from trying to rip the offending hair out of her head.