Marriage is Murder

"No clue," Brian said. "I guess that depends on Jack. I would guess that not even Jeffrey knows when Jack will be ready to go back. That's up to him."

Khaat could hear the conversation but didn't respond. She almost felt pulled between reality and something else. A place that seemed to be connected to her seers skills. She wasn't sure which one was the safer place to be.

"Don't hunt it," she heard her uncle's voice whisper into her ear. "Let it be, for now. Let it go." And then she realized he was right. She had been looking, somehow, for the beast, hoping to find it with her skills. Remus was right. She wasn't sure what she would do to fight it even if she did find it. This was not the time to hunt a killing machine, even as a seer.

"Robert," Kate said, "you have to anchor her to you. You can't let her just rest. She's not resting. I don't knwo what's going on, but her energy is trying to increase."

"I'll stop it," Edward said. He went over to her and took her good hand, using his own seers energies to purposely force her back, away from hunting.

Jess looked at Kate and Edward then to Robert who walked over to Khaat and spoke to her . " okay that explains what I felt before " she said softly and looked at Brian " right now I don't care when or if he comes back as long as he makes his choice" she said and sat back in her chair watching knowing if she was needed she would be asked. Cassidy moved and headed up to the nursery while Steven and Jim moved outside on their patrols for the day.

Brant stood in the kitchen with Angus " so anything you want me to do, got to warn you , I'm not that good a cook?" he asked placing his cup in the sink as he waited.

"Depends," Angus laughed, seeing Brant come in. "You still remember how to peel shrimp and devein them and take the tails off? If so, I've got about ten pounds of them that need cleaning for lunch." Seafood and how to clean it was one of the things that a Donohue was just expected to know, so Angus felt fairly safe that Brant might remember how to clean shrimp.

"It was what you felt before," Edward said to Jess. "Her instincts are to find whatever threatens her family. Its just part of who she is. She wants that beast, and she wants him badly--before he hurts anyone else. She feels responsible to find it. I can understand it, but its not her fight right now."

"If her shoulder doesn't heal properly, it won't ever be her fight again," Robert said. "And I cant' promise its going to heal completely. I don't have a clue right now."

Brant chuckled and nodded " that I can do instinctively" he said and took up the knife " remember when I did this last , think I was sixteen , I cut my thumb , still got the scar " he said as he began to peel and detail the pile of shrimp in front is brings of him. " well this brings back memories" he said softly and chuckled as he placed a shrimp tail in a bowl with several others. Jess nodded to Edward as she watched Khaat.

" something was preoccupying her mind , it was like she was still over thinking thing"she told him as she took a deep breath in.

"I almost feel like she's making decisions," Edward said. "Or trying to. Long term ones."

"She's not ready for that," Robert said. "Its premature. She can't be making choices under the influence of all those potions. And its only been 24 hours. Its too soon for that crap."

"She's a healer, Robert. She knows. She already knows the odds are entirely against her getting her shoulder to full functioning. And she's a good mom. She wants her family protected."

"I'll just leave her sedated until she heals if she even considers being stupid," Robert scowled, impatient.

"I dont' think that's the answer, Robert," Kate said gently.

"I'll deal with it," Brian said. "I get it. I dont' like where her thoughts are going, but I can't say I haven't expected it. Don't stress over it, Robert. She just expects not to use her shoulder again. She expects her life to change."

"And it might," he replied. "And its just as likely that it might not. Its all too soon to be making any choices."

"Then leave it to me," Brian insisted.

Steven heard Brian and the others talking and walked over to stand listening " i'm no healer but I do think Brian is in the best position to deal with her and her thoughts , he's her husband and she loves him as deep as he loves her, she'll tolerate what he asks of her better." he said crossing his arms as he looked to Jess as he finished. Jess looked at Robert hoping things would change and everyone could get back to healing there own wounds weather physical or mental.

Brant finished the shrimps and sat back " all done whats next cuz" he asked smiling as he watched Angus cook. " you know that one day, I'll have to learn how to cook too" he said and chuckled.

"And Brian's time to help her will come," Robert said. "But right now, whether this heals or not depends largely on me, and she and I both know that. Truthfully, if this wound had happened to any other witch or wizard in the world, they'd be sent to St. Mungos because no other hospital has the skills that we do. And that puts this squarely on me. As Steven well should remember from his own experiences in being sent to St. Mungos because the Americans didn't know how to deal with his injuries."

"We're not arguing with you, Robert," Brian said. "We just don't know how to help."

"And I'm telling you that right now you're doing everything that can be done," Robert said. "The fact is that this may, in some form, be somewhat of a permanent injury for her, no matter what I do. And it may cause her pain for the rest of her life. That is, ultimately, what I think she's bracing herself for. If I were in her shoes, that would be exactly what I would be doing."

Angus looked at Brant. "You? Cook? Whatever for?" he frowned. "You've not done it this long. Why would you start now?"

Steven looked at Robert " they did?" he said " I thought it was because I wasn't a ranger any more, hum guess I thought wrong" he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Jess nodded to Robert words at Steven "its true there facility couldn't cope so they sent you over here to St Mongos" she said and sat back " but Robert is the head healer and as such has seniority in all patients and over healing. " she said seeing Steven sit down close by. " she will be okay , with physio and healing physicality she will be fine its whats going on in her mind , Robert would it if I contacted Jeffery , to be safe?" she asked.

"You can call Jeffrey if you want to," Robert said. "I don't know yet if we'll need him or not but you're welcome to call him and tell him what she's dealing with. He's known us for a long time. He'll know already how she's going to respond once he knows whats going on. He knows our family too well."

"The rehab will help, Jess," Brian said. "If she ends up with any movement in her shoulder or feeling in it. And we dont' know that yet."

"Well, thats not quite true," Robert said. "For her to be in this much pain, she does have some element of feeling. How helpful that feeling will be is what we don't know. It won't be useful to her if all she feels is pain and not much else. And that wont' help her much if she has no movement in it. Still, even if she doesn't have any voluntary movement at first, rehab may help her on some limited basis."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," Khaat mumbled through the haze of the pain potion.

"Sorry," Robert said, stroking the unmarred side of her face. "Did we wake you?"

"I'm not asleep," she managed.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked.

"Like group therapy? Certainly not!" she was sharp and snippy and irritable. It was precisely what he'd expected of her.

Jess nodded and looked to Khaat " when I touched her I felt 60% of the nerves were there just damaged , they will heal" she then looked at Khaat when she spoke " should she be awake that was a strong pain potion." she said softly to Robert she sighed and shook her head as Khaat snipped at them all. Steven looked at Robert and shrugged.

" was I that bad when I was healing?" he asked as he sat with Jess on the couch. Brant laughed and nodded as Angus spoke to him.

" awe now wait, guess times change " he said looking up at him pushing a shrimp tail around in front of him