Marriage is Murder

"That might be a good thing, depending on whether or not you're getting equally good at getting back and on whether or not you're getting good at not letting it affect your energies. Khaat and Kate have progressed enough about not letting the use of their powers get to them. It would be wise if you and Jess learned how to do that as well. Otherwise, we may not be able to use you as often as perhaps we might benefit from the knowledge that you might be able to provide for us. However, yes, you're right--Remus is never far away from Khaat. And if he is needed, he will provide what insights he can.

"Michael, if I send anyone to Venice it will be you. But...you must discuss with Brian that if we do need Remus to assist us with anything more than knowledge, we must have Khaat wherever we need her. Khaat and Remus were close enough that he is able to use her form for a short time. We must look at all potential weapons--and, as much as i might not want to use it, it is a viable weapon at our disposal."

"As is her necklace, let's be honest," Michael said.

"Agreed," Robert said. "That thing can be intimidating if it needs to be.'

'And your guns," Kate said. "They can be useful."

"Yes," Robert said. "This pack is defeatable. I do need to know who is running it now. They've not been capable of this level of strategy before, nor this level of magic to make unplottable spells."

"Then they have an experienced commander now" Kate said.

"Its more than that," Michael said. "Commander or not, they have an older wizard with them, perhaps a seer, that has been able to see and detect exactly how to get under your skins and how to operate right under your noses. That's the person you need to guard against. I'd say they have hired a new player in their ranks."

"I think you are precisely right," Robert said. "Before they were largely brawn, without a lot of brains. Now they seem to be overcoming that, and it might prove to lessen our advantage over them."

"Don't underestimate them," Kate said, "But neither should you underestimate yourself or us. We present with a highly trained squad ourselves."

"Indeed you do," he smiled. "Resume your training again in the gym. Train heavily--as if you were going to the fight of your lives. For you very well might be. I plan to go there myself this evening before bed and again in the morning."

"I'll join you," Michael said.

"So will I," Angus said, looking forward to working out.

"I'll see how things are going to go with Abbey before I commit," Kate said. Robert looked down to see Abbey had fallen asleep in his arms, curled tight to her papa. "That child believes the world rises and sets around you, you know, Robert."

"Well, she's wrong," Robert said softly, brushing the long blond hair from her beautiful face, "it all revolves around her. You know, Brian is going to be beating the young men away from her. She's going to be even more beautiful than her mother."

"And clearly she's going to be a seer."

"Just like all the other women from her family," Robert laughed.

Jack searched under Abby's bed finding nothing but a lone sock picking it up he walked back to the room he could hear Robert talking in " well the teeth weren't under the bed but I found this" he said and held up a lone sock , he made it into a sock puppet and walked to Abby. " hey miss you left me on the floor " he said in a funny squeaky voice then he took it off and gave it to her before he spoke " there was nothing there , maybe it was just a bad dream?" but he realized his words might also be wrong knowing Abby was part seer too. " I wonder what it could have meant?" he said and looked to Jess who shrugged.

" who knows Jack " she said and smiled to Abby.

Abbey looked at the sock, a bit confused. That wasn't what she had seen. She watched Jack make a puppet out of the sock, and then looked at her papa.

"Where they go?" she asked.

"I don't know he said softly. "But if there were teeth up there, Uncle Jack would have found them. Maybe they left because they didnt' want Uncle Jack to get them," he said, not wanting to discount Abbey's beliefs that there were teeth there earlier. She curled back into Robert, not wanting to go back to her room.

"You want me to go up to your room with you and put a spell around your bed to make sure those teeth dont' come back?" he asked. She nodded. He picked her up and stood up. He looked at the others. "If you'll excuse me--I have a spell to cast." He carried Abbey back up to her room.

Angus smiled. "He's very good with her, you know," Angus said.

Jack nodded and sighed " there was nothing there under the bed but some dust bunnies " he said as he sat down waiting for Robert to return as he looked at Jess and the others before sitting back and sighing. Cassidy shook her head and Steven stood with his arms crossed his chest.

" it puzzles me what they meant though " Jess said " could mean she sees the wears " she said softly so not to say it aloud so Abby could not here. Cassidy just sat quietly listening to them all and shook her head knowing Abby would most likely not grow out of the night mares but understand that it was her ability showing early and would learn to control it.

Robert simply drew a colored line of pink light around her bed. The light had no real power, but Abbey believed it did, and that was what mattered to Robert. He tucked her back into bed and laid down on her bed with her and simply wrapped his arm over her until she went to sleep. An just as secondary tought, he had to, for himself, peek under the bed and cast a spell through her room to be sure there wasn't anything magical that should not be there. When he was satisfied, he had Max and Mo stay in the room and stay on her bed. The cats were good babysitters and were good about alerting them if the kids needed anything.

When he went back downstairs, Kate looked at him. "What are you honestly thinking, Robert?"

"I'm thinking that we have a teeny tiny seer upstairs that sometimes sees things she doesn't understand and that confuse her," he said.

"So what do you make of the teeth, then?"

"I dont' honestly know. I know she's a two year old. Two year olds have bad dreams as do we all. Its hard to tell at her age where the nightmares stop and the magic begins. I know it could well be a spark of magic, alerting her to werewolves. But tonight, I know we're all safe and sound, and that's what matters."

"And is our daughter safe?"

"Yes. She is," Robert said confidently. "Brian is not afraid of werewolves. He has been raised around them. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe."

"Is there anything you can do to jumpstart her memory?" Kate asked.

"Not without jeopardizing her health. It is a life threatening risky spell that I see no need to do unless she is, for some reason, facing a similar life threatening risk that makes it worth the gamble. Otherwise, I prefer for her head injury to heal itself. Otherwise, we shall depend on Brian to do his job. Now--if we're finished here, I believe I heard an order for us to spend some time in the gym tonight and in the morning," he said, repeating his earlier order. "I shall go and do a work out before I go up to our quarters. If you'll all excuse me...." He got up and headed down to the massive gym in the basement of the main house.

Jack and Steven stood up " good idea " Jack said and moved down to the gym too leaving cassidy and Jess sat wondering what had happened both looked at each other and chuckled as Jess stood up and walked to the window before turning to Kate.

"If its her magic will you and Robert suggest binding it until she's in her teens?" she asked " or will you let her continue as she is?" Jess asked as she knew Alex was growing like his father she had seen the spark of color change in his eyes when he had grown angry and knew how Khaat would feel once she got her memory back.

"No," Kate said. "Robert does not like binding anyone's magic unless it becomes either medically necessary or necessary from a legal standpoint because they've misused it so severely. And I agree with him. He knew when he married me that the women in my mother's line were all seers and that some of them showed tendencies for it almost from birth. Khaat had some episodes early. She was perhaps four. I started having some accidental magic when I was, oh, maybe five. My mother had episodes of it, or so my grandmother told me, when my mother was not quite four, but there are some stories that some my great grandmothers and great aunts had accidental magic almost from the time they were born. I don't see Robert binding Abbey's magic unless it puts her in some sort of danger. It isn't as if she isn't going to have to get used to it sooner or later. I don't see much point in binding it, really.

"And then again, we've known of others that have not developed much magic even when they boarded the train in their first year. I felt sorry for them. The older kids treated those poor kids like they were squibs. Some of them were so bitter about it that they started with decent enough hearts and ended up being dark arts followers because they were so damaged by what the others in school had done to them. Everyone is different, and Robert and I decided while we were dating that we would never bind the magic of our children or to allow them to be turned dark if they all ended up squibs. And we've held to that." She looked at Jess deeper.

"Why do you worry so much about your children and whether or not they will end up with his illness? You knew that was at least a 50% chance when you had them. And it would be quite different if they didn't have someone to develop healthy attitudes about it from. I'd worry far more if they were children of Fenrir's. You accept Jack as he is. You've not had issue with that. Why are you acting so fearful that they might end up the same as their father?"

Jess listened and smiled nodding as Kate spoke " your right they are being brought up with our belief that to respect is better than to take" she said Cassidy smiled and nodded too as she stood and walked over to her placing her hand on Jess's shoulder. " I worry he might hurt the other children or when hes older not go to Hogwarts because of what he is and not who he is" she said " I..I have seen his eyes when he get angry " she admitted to Kate.

" don't worry I'm sure the other kids know not to anger him too much and as he grows he'll learn to control it " she said and looked to Kate " right?" she asked.

"Haven't you learned anything in the time you've known Jack?" Kate frowned at them both. "You've both got your priorities sideways. You can't shelter your children all their lives, and if you do, you're doing them a gross disservice. Your job is to raise them to understand how the world will treat them when they get out in it. Do you think for one moment that even if your children do learn not to anger each other, do you truly believe the world will coddle them in the same way? They certainly don't coddle Jack. Your children need to learn to manage their temper in a healthy way. And, if they end up with their father's illness, then they will need to learn, from him, the importance of wolfsbane and what truly matters in life. don't ask for the to have a painfree childhood. Choose for them to have those tests and trials while you are there to teach them how to handle them when you aren't there. That's how you keep them safe and well and out of Azkaban. Not by wrapping them in cotton fluff.

"And how in the world do you think your son would treat you once he figures out that you're afraid of making him angry? Regardless of your reasons. If you do that, he'll soon be running you. By the time he's seven or eight, he'll have control of your entire house and you'll have no control at all. He'll end up not going to Hogwarts not because of the curse but because he'll end up growing up to be a gigantic horse's ass. And I know thats not what you want."

Jess listened to Kate and nodded even Cassidy did the same " I see " Jess said and sat down" so just keep going as we are then " she said feeling more relaxed now " so let him be himself and he'll learn through any mistakes he makes, as did jack to a point " she thought long and hard for a moment. " I guess life will teach him" she smiled and looked at Cassidy who nodded.

" my magic didn't show until I settled so don't worry, life can be hard but for a reason , if that's what Kate's talking about I'm not sure " she said and sat back in her chair.