Marriage is Murder

When the portkey landed them, Khaat and Brian found themselves in the center of a breathtaking garden. It was exotic and full of flowers and plants that neither of them had ever seen before. It was colorful and peaceful, and all they heard was the sound of birds..and then, Khaat began to realize she was hearing beautiful wind chimes making a soft and soothing sound.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"No clue," he said, looking around. "But obviously, its one of those places your father bought. So I'm presuming its safe. He doesn't generally make portkeys to hotspots."

"No. He doesn't," she said. "Look. There's a path." She pointed to a sandy path not far from them. It lead both directions in a lazy winding fashion. They walked over to it. "Which way?" she asked. "Forward or back?"

"Um..." he listened. "The chimes are coming from in front of us. Lets try that way." He led her slowly down the path, each step becoming more beautiful than the last. And then they saw an exotic Asian style house with rice paper walls and doors. "I'm guessing this is it," he shrugged.

As soon as Jack got to the villa he moved to the bed room and lay down on the bed Jess let the kids lose in the nursery where they began to play happily. Jess moved to Jack and checked and chest but he pulled her onto his knee. Jess smiled and rested against him. Steven walked in to the ranch house with Cassidy and the three children who ran off to check out their rooms. Cassidy smiled and kissed Stevens cheek before moving into the kitchen. " time for tea" she said and put the kettle on as Steven began to light the fire to take the chill out of the house. Brant stood looking at Robert and Edward.

" okay so now what?" he asked softly his arms folded across his chest.

Robert had been picking up the one large bag he had for himself, Kate and the kids as Kate had been drawing them close to herself like a mother hen so they could apparate out. Robert hadn't realized there was anyone else still in the house at all.

"Sorry, Brant," Robert apologized. "I thought everyone had gone. I'm shutting down this property for a full week. We need this estate to be empty and we need for everyone to rest up a bit. I guess I just presumed you had gone with your grandfather and Angus to the Donohue compound in Tuscany."

"I think I overheard Angus saying something about some deep sea fishing, if I heard right," Kate said. "So I'm presuming that's where he went. Edward was talking about some spring gardening. It sounded like they were planning on trying to get everyone together for some family time. Its not like them to miss asking someone...."

"Hey!!" Edward's booming voice sounded. Robert spun and saw a bright red howler zip through the fireplace to float right in front of Brant. "Why aren't you here? Are you standing us up or what? The rest of your family is here, so I expect your presence at the compound, post haste, or a bloody good excuse!" The howler shredded itself into tiny pieces in mid air.

"Typical Edward invitation," Robert laughed. "They always sound like marching orders. It sounds like you're being summoned to Tuscany."

Brant chuckled and nodded as the howler dove into the room and gave the invite. " okay then , guess Tuscany it is. " he said and accioed his packed back pack. slinging it over his shoulder he looked at Robert and Kate " stay safe " he said and smiled throwing some floo powder in he spoke the address of the family home. the flames flared up and changed to a green backing into them he soon found himself at his childhood home. Turning to face Edward he smiled.

" you bellowed" he said looking at him his back pack still slung over his shoulder and Trick poking her head with the gray mouse out if his pocket as he stood. " so...where shall I set up camp?" he asked looking around the flowery courtyard.

"Any place but in my garden," Edward said, putting on his old straw fedora and heading out to his garden to start doing some spring planting.

"You do need to get over your allergy to houses," Angus said, standiing up from picking herbs from a profuse patch of fresh basil. He had a fistful of it to add to the dinner he was planning for that night.

Brian pushed open the rice paper door and found themselves in a somewhat traditional Japanese house. It was simple and peaceful and tasteful. He left the paper door open to let in the sunshine and fresh air.

"Are we in Japan?" she asked.

"Um...probably," he said. "You want to sit?" She looked at the pillows on the floor and frowned.

"There's no furniture," she said.

"Uh..I've got news for you. That is the furniture."

"I want a hotel," she scowled. He laughed and flicked his wand at the pillows making them into more contemporary versions of chairs and sofas.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm afraid to see the kitchen and the bathroom, though." She headed to see. She found neither to be to her likings. He promised to fix them for her and make them much more usable, figuring Robert hadn't actually seen this property before purchasing it. It was beautiful but it certainly was a sharp culture change. He opened rice paper doors on the other side of the house and saw gardens for fruit and vegetables. He could see a body of water in the distance and then saw a pair of fishing rods sitting in the corner of the room.

"Where's the fridge?" she asked. He pointed to the fishing rods. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Great," she sighed. "It'd be perfect if I had two arms that worked. This is not going to be easy." He laughed, finding it unusual for her to have difficulty even with less than plush surroundings. He knew it was because of her shoulder.

"I'll take care of it," he reassured her. "You relax. I'll take care of things."

Brant looked at Edward and chuckled "Well that doesn't leave any where out side unless you added an orchard while I was a way" he asked he heard Angus and sighed " well, not sure about that just yet Angus, But I could help with the cooking , with your guidance of course" he said setting down his bag just inside the doorway as he walked in and became surrounded with children. " this is something I had forgot about " he said and chuckled again. Jack and Jess sat by the pool now all the children were sleeping, jack had his arm around Jess as they relaxed, no wears but warm clear starry skies above them.

Cassidy walked over with a cup of tea for Steven who took it and smiled as he slipped off his shoes and placed his feet up on the footstool.

"I'm working on fresh pasta and a fresh pesto sauce with some grilled scallops for dinner. You remember how to shuck scallops? I'm going to need a lot of them," Angus said.

Brian picked up a fishing rod and headed for the water. Khaat found a large wooden bowl in the kitchen and managed to go out and gather some fruit and vegetables and nuts. It got so full she couldn't carry it with one hand. And she was tiring. She tried to pick it up, but it started to slip from her grasp. She tried to balance the edge of the bowl against her injured arm, and was met with such pain that she immediately dropped the bowl and the fruit and vegetables rolled to the ground. The pain dropped her to her knees.

At that moment, Brian looked behind him, just to keep an eye out for her and saw her drop the bowl and drop to her knees. He laid his fishing rod on the shore and raced to her.

"I thought I told you I had this," He said to her gently. She began to cry out of her own pain. He drew off what pain he could and got out a small vial of gold potion and gave her some. "I'll come back and get those," he said to her. "Come on. You need to rest." He took her inside and made her comfortable on the sofa he'd transfigured from pillows. It was, at least, comfortable. One he had her settled, he went out, gathered her pickings and put them in the house and went back out to try to catch some fish for dinner.

Brant nodded and took out a small rounded knife"ow now that's right up my alley " he said sitting down and began opening each scallop and placing the flesh into a bowl and the shell into a bucket by his chair. " I still don't see the fascination with being inside" he said in more of a question to his cousin. Inside he wanted to be normal but his heart wasn't normal . Now if he had a large window he could keep open, he might stay put in a house.

Jess woke with a start feeling pain but not her own. " let it go Jess" Jack said softly as he brushed her hair from off her face. Jess looked at Jack and sighed deeply pushed the feelings deep inside her, knowing they came from Khaat but that Brian had it under control.

"Depends on the purpose," Angus said to Brant. "You know I"m good with roughing it. But, I have learned to appreciate some luxury. I guess I've changed a bit. When Brian took Khaat home, he promised her she or Abbey would never want for a thing the rest of their lives. And he's kept that promise. He stepped up and became a father for Abbey from the moment he helped with Abbey's delivery. And he's never, ever let Khaat need a single thing. He insists its 5 star for her. She doesn't ask for it. He just simply loves her that much. And, you know, I've seen some spectacular places in the last 3 years because of that. There are some incredible places that aren't outdoors."

He finished chopping the basil and crushing garlic and prepared to make them into fresh pesto. "That reminds me. Abbey will be three years old next week. Should be the day we go home. I think we need to plan some sort of birthday party that the kids can have a blast at." Then he looked at Brant. "But I dont' see that as your thing somehow. Should have thought of that and mentioned it to Jess when I had the chance, but I didn't think about it."

Brian had caught a lovely large trout and had managed to figure the stove out and fixed a wonderful dinner. Khaat hadn't realized how much she missed his cooking until he had cooked again for the two of them. Brian noticed, when it got dark, little magical lights come on in the garden. It gave a lovely soft glow to the garden.

"Look," he pointed out to her. "Maybe if you're feeling better we can go for a walk tomorrow night out there."

"Wonder why Daddy sent us here," she said, not disappointed, but not sure why here of all places.

"Well, who would look for us here?" he laughed. "I'm betting we could go naked all week and nobody would notice."

"Go ahead and try it," she dared him.

"No thanks," he said. He picked up a few kiwi and cut them into slices. "Here. They're particularly good. You know, I could hire someone to cook for us while we're here."

"I wasn't disappointed with dinner in the least," she told him.

"No?" he asked.

"No. I missed having you cook," she said. He smiled.

"Then maybe thats reason enough to be here," he said.

Brant nodded as he picked up another scallop and opened it " yes that's true, but he has Khaat to keep him inside , not sure if you noticed but the women aren't throwing themselves at me , so no reason to stay inside " he said opening another and tossing the shell in the bucket, soon it was full. " I know what you'll say life's not about women , that I know, but they do give you stability and purpose I see that with Khaat and Brian, Jack and Jess, even Steven and Cassidy they all have stability" he stopped opening the scallops and looked at Angus as he finished cutting the herbs. " how did he do it, how did he find the one woman that was right under his nose" he asked" she is beautiful, I guess I envy him a little"