Hunting Thingamajigs

Brian looked at him, frowning just slightly, trying to figure out how Jack could be thinking of lunch just after he'd finished breakfast, literally.

"Maybe you need to go eat breakfast again," Brian said. Angus saw Khaat's coffee cup float, empty, down from her room. She'd turned the cup upside down before she floated it downstairs. That was their nonverbal for a refill to be sent back upstairs. He smiled, refilled the cup and sent her a plate of cut fruit upstairs with it for her, knowing she wasn't much on breakfast. He could usually get her to eat fruit, though.

Michael brought in some breakfast dishes and caught a glance of the tray floating upstairs. "She's awake?" Michael asked.

"Apparently only just," Angus laughed. "This appears to be a 2 cup morning before we see her."

"That's okay," Michael laughed. "That says she's either resting or relaxing, and either way is fine. You honestly think she'll eat?"

"Its fruit. She'll eat," Angus said confidently.

Jack chuckled as Brian said he might and a second breakfast " yeah could do that " he said and moved to grab a bowl of fruit and sat back down. Cassidy saw the cup float up upsides down and chuckled.

"Ah you two do that too, my father use to do that for a refill does Khaat mean that?" she asked as she sipped her orange juice and watched them she smiled " that's a good sign isn't it that shes eating anything is good right?" she asked them her eyes moving from one to the other and back.

"That's exactly what she means," Angus said watching the refilled cup and the plate of cut fruit go upstairs to Khaat. "She doesn't normally need more than one cup to get going, but since she's a bit worn, it might take a couple of cups today. I can usually get her to eat fruit when she doesn't feel like eating much of anything else. Unless she's seriously stressed. In which case, I need to go directly to cheesecake."

"I would prefer we not do that all-cheesecake-all-the-time diet unless we have no other choice," Brian said. "I played hell getting her off that after Rob left her. It was the only thing she would eat. We've made progress since then and I'd rather we not go back to those days."

"How did you get her off that, Mate?" Angus asked.

"She was still bedfast when I brought her home after she had Abbey," Brian said. "She couldn''t do anything for herself or for Abbey. I took care of them both. I didn't serve her cheesecake. I served her real food. She eventually felt guilty about how much I was doing and I think started to eat because she didn't want to disappoint me any more."

"So you 'guited' her into it," Angus laughed.

"On purpose," Brian nodded. "And it worked."

Cassidy and Jim heard and smirked " but if it worked why complain" he said and sat back in his chair cassidy shook her head and finished her bowl of breakfast cereal Jack chuckled and drank his coffee. " its good shes at least trying to eat something" Jim felt and knew as long as she tried to eat it was a good sign. He watched as Angus and Brian as they talked he turned back to the game with Jack and chuckled as he took Jacks bishop and watched him move his knight. Cassidy opened a book and sat reading it just wanting to chill for a while which she did sitting crosslegged on the large chair where she watched Jim and Jack play.

When Khaat was up and awake, she dressed and pulled her hair back into a long french braid. She chose long thin white cotton pants and a white sleeveless blouse. When she finished eating as much as she wanted, she sent the tray back down to Angus. She had known about the vampire bat that was watching her again this morning. It seemed to leave shortly after Angus and Sergio left with Aura. Khaat figured the vampire was following Aura. That was fine with her. She was tired of the vampire watching her in various states of undress in her room. It annoyed her.

Brian noticed right away when she came down. "More coffee?" he asked.

"No thanks," she said, her journal and her pen tucked under her arm. She went out to the balcony and made herself comfortable in the morning sun and began an entry in the book. She typically kept a journal when she was on a mission. It helped her sort her thoughts when things got difficult, and it usually helped her father to help point out any missteps when they returned.

"Are we here all day?" she asked.

"Don't you think we could use a day of rest before we proceed?" he asked.

"I'd rather get it done and get home," she shrugged.

"Well, we need to do something with Aura, so that has to take priority today," he replied.

Cassidy brought Khaat another cup of coffee and placed it next to her then with a smile moved back to her chair sitting and reading a magazine quietly as she sipped her juice and watched the boys , Jack was looking out at the scene behind her and Jim was puffing on his pipe blowing smoke rings with his eyes closed as he listened to the sounds around him of the bird and animals that had made the jungle their home. " beautiful " he said softly and Cassidy nodded.

" yes it is that" she said " but deadly too " she looked out over the jungle " what with spiders and snakes and panthers and stuff like that out there" she chuckled and looked back at him.

Khaat finished her journal entry and sent the book and the pen back up to her room. She headed down the walkway.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Brian asked.

"If you insist on coming to the bathroom with me," she said.

"Um...no," he said.

"Thank you." She said, going downstairs.

She did got to the bath hut level, but left out of the bath hut and then walked a distance from the tree house. She came around a large cluster of boulders, and was not a bit surprised to see a latin man dressed in a formal black suit, leaning against the back side of the boulders. She had seen him before--in Monte Carlo. He had danced with her.

"So," she said. "You're Escobar."

"Enrique," he said with a charming smile.

"Your spell is broken," she said. "It does nothing for me."

"I did notice last night," he said, amused.

"You were spying?"

"Every passionate moment. I'm jealous," he said coyly.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Just to warn you," he said, stepping close to her, brushing his cool hand against her cheek. "I want two things."

"And those are?"

"I want the artifact," he said.

"I figured that. And the other?"

"I want you," he said. She laughed out loud.

"You'll get neither," she said. He grabbed her hard, pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply against her will.

"I can have you any time, any where, and in any way I want," he said posessively.

"That vampire bravado nonsense doesn't work on me. Now, go away. Leave me alone. Leave my family alone. When we get what we came here for, we'll leave. You have Aura. Go drink her dry."

"I already have," he laughed. "How do you think I turned her in the first place?"

"I'll tell you just one more time. Leave us alone, or I will kill you."

"You can try,Bonita. I will have you for my own first." He apparated out. She walked back to the treehouse, decided he wasn't worth it, and went back up to the main living area and got herself a cup of French Roast.

Cassidy had been heading down to her room when she spotted Khaat walking away she had followed and seen all but said nothing diving back to her room so Khaat would not know she sat down wondering if she should tell Brian but instead she stepped out to face Khaat " what did he want?" she asked looking at where the man had been stood then back at Khaat again as she pored some coffee. Jack and Jim both looked up at Cassidy both puzzled at her words having no clue who she was talking about , but both having a fare idea who it was.

Khaat was irked. "You followed me to the bathroom? Really?"

"What's she talking about, Khaat?" Brian asked calmly.

"Nothing," Khaat said harshly to him. "I took care of it. I went out and walked around the bloody tree! God! Must I have a bodyguard to go pee?" She apparated out and back up to her room. Brian sighed. He understood both sides of this. He figured that she had seen someone near the treehouse. Probably the vampire controlling Aura--which they figured was Escobar. But she did appear to be unharmed. Brian wasn't sure exactly why Cassidy had followed her either. Khaat hadn't come here because she needed guarded. She had come here to be an asset. If she needed guarded for her eery move, then, Brian knew she woud see hersef as being of no help. And she was going to regret coming.

"I'll go talk to her," he said. "For now, just focus on the task. The sooner we get the job done, the sooner we can get home." He went up to his room with her.

Cassidy stood looking at Khaat and feeling a little put out " I didn't follow her I heard them talking and went to make sure she was all right " she said and moved back to her room closing the door behind her. Jack looked at Brian and shrugged his shoulders and continued to play his game until he had no choice but to take Jacks queen and end the game. Jack chuckled and stood up stretching out his back and nodded.

" good game but I still have a lot to learn" he said and saw Jim nod his head.