Marriage is Murder

Brant looked at Angus and nodded “ I know and I was wondering about that” he said and chuckled but the more he listened the more he thought he knew Angus was right. “ one problem with that, what does it mean to be a Crawford, father always brought up as he felt Edward would want us to be .” he said looking at them and frowned “I thought we we're fishing as well, can't do that very well off the side of a moving ship now can we?” he asked “ that and swimming would be problematic too” he chuckled as he looked at Evan with a grin. “ Hope you brought your trunks?” he said now grinning as he waited for them.

“ I get what your saying Angus, be me and relax, right?” he looked at the ocean out the window and smiled “ sure is beautiful out here” he said and he saw some dolphins close by the yacht. Moving out on deck he smiled “ hey, you seen this?” he asked knowing Angus was steering the yacht but he hoped Evan would come and watch the scene in front of him.

Jess handed out the food to every one as she sat down with them. Jack fed the boys while Cassidy and Jess fed the girls. Both wondered what they other was getting Abby for her birthday.

“ were getting her a dolls house that lights up” Jack said “ I'm getting it tomorrow” he added Steven nodded and looked at Cassidy.

“ we're getting her some dolls she can play with, I know she has tons of them but these we feel she'll like as they will be enchanted just to be with her” Cassidy said smiling.

"Don't look at me," Angus said to Brant. "I don't have any clue what it means to be a Crawford. I've only been a Donohue. You'll have to figure that one out for yourself.But just so you know, we often fish off a moving boat. We do run a fishing business, remember? We can fish either way. Swimming is different. We'll have to anchor if you want to swim. But we can't fish where the dolpins are, or we could snag one of them, and that's always sad when that happens. Lets wait until we're away from their pod before we toss any lines in. If you want to swim with them, though, sometimes they'll let you do that. Its a bit tricky for wild ones, to swim with them. Easier to swim with some of the ones raised in captivity. But it is possible. I guess it depends on which you want to do first."

Khaat and Brian finished their salad and then took a short walk through the beautiful garden. He had told her about the workmen coming to finish the house the way her father had specified it.

"Then its one of the newer safehouses," she said,

"Yes," Brian said. "Apparently so. Look--a Zen garden. Want to try it?"

"Raking endless patterns in sand? I can do that." She flicked her finger at the sand and it created a mazed of endless spirals in the sand. He looked at her.

"That's cheating," he said.

"That's magic," she laughed.

Brant laughed and sighed knowing Angus was right, “ Well when we figure out what it is to be a Crawford, let me know.” he said and chuckled he glanced out of the window and saw the dolphins swimming away from the yacht. “ well that's solved” he said and glanced over at Angus” really , not done that before “ he spoke surprised. Every time he'd been out on a boat it had stopped but he guessed Angus had more experience than he in that department. Brant moved out on deck, not to far as he watched them swim further out, he then return to the bridge.

“ I guess they got board and left,” he said moving to the radar. “Soooo, how do you do it?” he asked seeing the fishing poles laid strapped to the deck in front of him. He brushed back his cropped hair and looked at both men as he felt the sun on his back through the window. He could not figure out how they would do it off the side of a moving boat . “ remember I spent most of my time on land, not at sea like you and Evan there” he thumbed to where he stood not far from where he stood.

'Evan," Angus said, "Man the wheel, please."

"Aye, Captain," Evan grinned, making the leap up the ladder to the bridge in one long legged hop. Angus simply jumped down to the deck and opened the locker for the heavy duty fishing poles and opened a cabinet stocked with tackle. In a moment, he had two poles fitted with lures and ready to go. He accio'd a plastic container out of the galley. It was fresh bait. He put a piece of bait on each hook and took them to the rear deck where there were two tall chairs mounted to the deck for deep sea fishing. He mounted the poles into the brackets on the ship. Then he looked at Brant.

"Now we wait," he said to Brant. "Eyes sharp, Evan. We don't want him pulled in. Brant, take a seat and do buckle yourself in. If you get a bite on the pole, it could pull you in quicker than we could pull you out. Especially because you're not used to it."

He sat down beside Brant but deliberately did not buckle himself in because he wanted to be sure to be able to help Brant if he needed it. Besides, Angus was accustomed to muscling these massive fish.

Brian had decided to make his own new patterns in the Zen garden by doing it the time honored way, with an old wooden rake, starting at the center and working out. Khaat sat and just watched, until she heard a tiny sound from a distance off. It sounded like a itty bitty distress cry. She got up and walked in the direction of the sound, having to stop several times because the sound stopped. She'd wait until she heard it again and then went again to the direction of the sound. She sat down on the ground and saw a very tiny kitten that had somehow gotten away from its mother and had gotten caught in a thorn bush. The kitten was all white with bright blue eyes and just one black streak on the top of its forehead. It was clearly hurting, afraid, and hungry. She used her magic to move the branches away from the kitten and then laid down on the ground and reached in and got the kitten out with her good hand. It immediately felt her warmth and cuddled into her and started to purr as she cuddled it into her chest and petted it.

Brant watched with interest at Angus's actions, stepping out of the way as he saw a box appear next to Angus. Soon he saw two rods up and in the water. Walking over to the seat he sat down and strapped himself in. He didn't know what to expect but he knew it would be fun if it involved a harness to hold him in the seat. After a few minutes had begun to think nothing would happen but he remembered that things seem to happen when you least expect it and he staid his ground. Soon he felt a hard tug on his rod and he grabbed it and looked at Angus as he felt another this one almost pulling him out of his seat. “ um... is it meant to do that?” he asked being pulled forward, he planted his feet hard against the rests and pulled back on the line.

Brant let out line then pulled it back feeling the fish what ever it could be become weaker. “ you think it could be a barracuda?” he asked Angus as he reeled back in the chair one more time. “ I'm guessing what ever it is we won't be eating it, too big” he groaned as he pulled back again, his brow now glistening with sweat as he worked to bring the fish to the boat.

"There are more in these waters than barracuda. There are marlin, swordfish, tuna....and some are spectacular eating. Don't predict whether we will or won't eat it yet. You can't eat if if you don't land it. Evan!" Angus called. Evan leaped down from the bridge. Evan and Angus coached Brant, wanting him to have the lion's share of the big fish wrangling to himself. That was just something every guy deserved to have if he wanted it. Angus peered into the waters to try to get a better look at what they were contending with.

"Nice," he smiled, finally seeing it. "Its a swordfish, and its a nice one. Those are some of the best to eat in these waters. Let's see if we can land it. Let me see your rod for a minute." He took the rod out of the bracket and reeled the line in a bit tighter and gave it a sharp hard yank. He felt the hook catch. He didn't want Brant to lose this one. He put the rod back in the bracket. It would help keep Brant from being pulled in. "Now--let's see how much of a fighter you are. Reel him in--if you can." Evan stood on Brant's left and Angus stayed on his right, ready to help him reel it in, knowing that sometimes it took more than one person to reel in a large fish like this one.

Khaat called to Brian who set his rake aside quickly and went to her, seeing her laying on the ground and thinking perhaps she was hurt. But when he got there, he found her with the kitten. "Only you," he shook his head, laughing. "Let me see it." He took it from her. "Seems healthy. Tiny but healthy....and its a boy. Ouch...A hungry boy. I suppose we'd better feed him."

"Yeah, I'll just whip up some kitten formula out here in no man's land," she sighed.

"Actually, thats not really a problem with what I bought at the farmers market. Come inside with me," he told her, holding the kitten in one hand and helping her up with the other.

Brant watched as Evan ran down and held the fishing rod for Angus. “ nice” he said and took it back now he prepared himself and pulled back slowly he felt the fish weaken along with his own arms, and draw closer to the yacht. He reeled back and forth several times his feet clamped down hard as he pulled back and let go finally he saw it and smiled “ your right good size too” he added as he finally heard it hit the side of the boat “ now get it now its beat” he said smiling as he held it now his torso glistened with sweat and glowed a some what light red in places. Watching he didn't let the slack off until he saw Evan with a large. pulling back he lifted it out of the water and into the air.

“ there grab it now” he called out straining to hold it as it lashed back and forth on the hook. But he could not hold it and it fell to the deck flopping back and forth in front of him as he breathed hard. “ wow that was a work out” he admitted” good, but a work out” he stayed sat to let Evan and Angus deal with the big fish first. He didn't want to be caught by the monster of a nose that it had on it. “ so is it a cooker or a thrower back?” he asked looking at them both.

"It's a keeper," Evan said, not hesitating to remove the hook and lure before Angus could even warn him to be careful of the swordfish's sharp snout.

"Its about 8 1/2 feet. Large for a swordfish, actually," Angus said, checking the fish as it stopped thrashing. "Young male, healthy....good shape, really. Feisty. Good catch, Brant. But we'd better not do much more deep sea fishing. This isn't a fishing boat. We're not set for it here. We can handle one. But we're not geared for hundreds of pounds of fish."

Brian and Khaat went back into the house, and Brian made a quick improvised homemade formula for the kitten out of some fresh cream that he bought and some honey with a bit of yogurt and egg. He took a small shot glass and magically transfigured it into a tiny bottle to feed the kitten and put the formula into the bottle.

"May I?" he asked. He took the kitten, checked it and healed it from a couple tiny puncture wounds from the thorn bush and then gave it a warm bath in a wooden bucket with warm water and gentle homemade soap. He wrapped it in a soft towel and then helped Khaat get comfortable and positioned the kitten on her lap, surrounded by pillows, so that she could feed it with one hand. The kitten eagerly ate as if it hadn't eaten in a long time.

"What are we going to do with it?" she sighed. "We can't leave it here. Its too tiny."

"You know, Abbey's been wanting a kitten. Maybe we give it to her. Your mom can talk to it and to Mo and Max. Those cats can be great dads when they want to be. I think it might work out okay."

"I don't know...A tiny kitten around all those toddlers? And an eagle? Sounds dangerous to me."

"Archangel won't eat anything we tell him not to eat. And Mo and Max can be told to keep the kitten in sight and keep it out of trouble. We arent' muggles, you know," Brian said. "Besides, we haven't come up with anything better for her birthday."

"I haven't even had time to think about it," Khaat sighed. "I feel like a horrible mother."

"You," he kissed her, "are a wonderful mother. You've had other things on your mind--like stayiing alive. We'll handle her birthday somehow. I'm betting that some of the others already have Abbey on their minds as well. I dont' think we need to worry about shouldering that by ourselves, my dear."

"

Brant watched and smiled feeling quite proud that he'd caught such a good specimen. He was about to lean down to take out the hook when the nose aught his upper arm causing a small cut to appear . He stepped back from it and held his arm " damn it , he is feisty " he said reaching into his pocket he took out a small jar opening it he placed a salve on it. Looking at Evan and Angus he chuckled " I know now not to do that again" he said then showed them the salve" its an old recipe " he said " I got it from Edwards books" he added then continued to watch the fish " okay so who gets to gut and fillet it?" he asked.

"He felt a slight sting from the salve on his arm but soon it faded to nothing even the bleeding slowly stopped as he stood looking at them. Moving he tidied up the deck and watched as the sword fish lay still " hum, that solves that problem." he sad and picked it up. " okay kitchen?" he asked with the fish over his shoulder.

"No," Angus said, "there is no room in the galley to gut a 9 foot fish down there, Mate. Give it here. Evan, my knives, please." Angus put the fish on the deck of the boat. Processing a 9 foot swordfish wasn't like a nine inch trout. This was messy business. Out here on the deck was better where it could be far easier cleaned after.

Evan fetched a set of titanium knives in a wooden case, each knife well padded. Evan opened the case and knelt beside Angus. Angus and Evan made very quick work of processing the fish. As the fish was processed, Evan rinsed the meat with water from a hose and put the meat in a clean bucket for Angus to cut into finer quality filets and steaks later. They ended up with a great deal of lovely quality fresh swordfish.

Once that was done, Angus took the buckets down to the galley, asking Evan and Brant to clean up the mess on the deck and set it for their picnic lunch. Angus set out the picnic basket so that the food could come to an appropriate room temperature while he cut filets and steaks from the fish. He cut them and packaged them and put the in the refrigerator on the ship. That would give Evan and Brant time to clean up the deck.

Khaat fed the kitten, and Brian took care of cleaning it up and the rest of teh pet parenting that came with fostering a tiny one and then found the now warm and sleepy kitten a warm and snug place to sleep in a bento box that Brian had padded with a clean towel to make it soft. He put the kitten there and it fell asleep nearly instantly. As he did, he heard sounds outside. Khaat sprang up, drawing her wand, ready to fight. Brian drew his as well, ready to fight.

"Will you strike your father's allies?" the voice called loudly and calmly. Brian recognized the sound of the older wizard.

"Put it away," Brian told Khaat softly. "It's alright. We're safe." She hesitated, looking at him. And then she realized she was getting to the point where she didn't trust many people anymore. She used to give everyone the benefit of a doubt first. Now, she fought at the first unfamiliar sound. She silently took Brian's word for it and sheathed her wand. "It really is alright," he told her again. "They have medallions. They knew we were coming."