Marriage is Murder

Jim walked in and smiled " no, I was walking the grounds, sorry I missed Abby's party, I put her present in her room to open when she wakes, but by the look of things she has plenty of stuffed toys already" he said and chuckled sipping his tea as he looked at her. "So what did he do this time?" he asked "I caught the tail end of the conversation." He added moving to sit in a chair close by them knowing it had to be Remus they were talking about. Brant walked in and saw Jim who nodded to him. "Brant , welcome back" he said then looked back at Brian. He was waiting for him to explain all that had happened while he had been away. "One of the guards said Khaat had a bad experience" he inquired.

"Well, I'm not really sure," Robert said. "It seems he was trying to contact her somehow but in the process he shorted out her energies. Its not like him to do that. But Khaat just doesn't remember what the heck happened, so we don't know why he chose to contact her that way. And she may not ever remember. Sometimes when a seer is overloaded, it just is almost the same thing as if someone said something to us that we didn't quite catch."

"Don't even tell me he'll repeat the message," Brian scowled.

"Who knows? Depends on what the intent was of the first message," Robert shrugged. "I have no earthly clue. We'll just have to wait and see. Khaat, are you looking for anything in particular?"

"I don't know," she said. "Just looking."

"Well, do let us know if you have something we need to know."

"I usually do," she said. She accio'd the shawl Michael had given her. "I'm going out for a bit." She turned and looked at her guards. "This is my own yard. I do not expect to have a bodyguard going with me or tailing me. You all got that?"

"Khaat, they're only..." Brian began.

"No. I'm home. I ought to be able to go out for some fresh air without someone tailing me every place I go. I mean it. Give me some space. You let them follow me, Brian, and I swear...." she began, getting short tempered with him.

"Alright," he said quietly. "Alright. No tails. On one condition. You apparate back if you have the very first sign of trouble. You have to compromise with me on this, Khaat."

"Fine," she said, irked. She wrapped the shawl around her shoulders and went out.

"You heard her," he told the others. "No bodyguards, no tails." He sighed heavily.

"So whats' eating you?" Robert asked him. "She's got a point. It is her own backyard."

"That's not what she's angry about, and you know it," Brian said.

"Of course I know that. But we will need to give her some space to adjust. I think her shoulder will heal, but its going to take me time to get all the damage reversed. If she were muggle, then, no, it wouldn't heal. She'd be permanently impaired. She honestly is trying to not take it out on any of us. How was she in Japan?"

"Still recovering. She was resting mainly. She was mostly quiet, but then again, that safehouse appears to be designed for that."

"It is," Robert admitted. "Being here reminds her, no doubt, of the werewolves, and that surely has to be frustrating for her. Give her space. She gave you a compromise. Lets honor it until we see if there is some reason to not trust that she'll keep it. We all have plenty to do without following her through the yard. Don't we?"

"We do. Hey, with all the magical cats, where did the newborn kitten go? Anybody seen it lately? This is a big house. Its very easy for a teeny kitten like that to get badly lost. Can I get some volunteers to find it, please?"

Brant saw Khaat leave as did Jim who just chuckled " hard, headed and short tempered, just like you " he said smiling at him as he sipped his tea in the soft high backed chair. Brant heard the question about the kitten and smiled " I know where it is I saw it in the nursery sleeping next to Abby, there both fine" he said " but I can move it if you want me to" he said and stood up his cup in hand as he waited. Jim looked at Robert as he thought about Khaat's actions then he spoke softly.

" we could ask Cassidy to ask Remus " he said and saw the look on Brant's face as he had made his suggestion. " she can talk to the dead, more to the point she can pass threw the veil" he looked back to Robert " she might get some answers."

"No, if its with Abbey, its fine. Hopefully Mo and Max are still doing the parenting," Brian said. "At least as much as male cats can do. I just know from experience how many places a kitten that size can hide in. I just don't want it to get as lost as some of the other ones have. It takes us forever to find them when that happens."

"It certainly does," Angus laughed, remembering some of the long hours they spent hunting tiny kittens.

"I'm not sure about using Cassidy for that," Robert said. "Its out of Remus's character to do anything like that. I'm not even sure we can be certain it was honestly Remus. Visions can be tricky things. Harry found that out when Voldemort made him see what he wanted him to see. I think we need to tread cautiously here. Its either important, or its a trick. And I don't know which...."

"Papa?" Abbey called, coming downstairs, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Robert frowned.

"I thought you were napping," he said, going to her. He picked her up, seeing her sleepy face and kissed her cheek. "What woke you up, Sweetie?" She curled into him, sucking her thumb. "Did you have a bad dream?" he asked softly. She nodded. "Tell Papa," he said, soothing her.

"Doggies," she said.

"What about the doggies?" he asked.

"They come back?" she asked.

"Maybe someday," Robert said. "I don't know if they'll come today or not. But they won't hurt you. I promise. What were the doggies doing?"

"Looking at big pictures," she said yawning.

"Pictures?"

"Like Daddy's. In his room. Like those."

"My maps?" Brian frowned. "Like those? The great big pictures on my wall?" She nodded.

"Did you see the pictures?" Robert asked. She shrugged. Maps didn't make sense to a three year old, regardless.

"Don't you worry about it," Robert said. "Jack, do me a favor. Take our sleepy birthday girl back up to her bed and make sure there are no monsters there so she can go back to sleep." Robert knew Jack was good at soothing frightened kids and knew how to make sure they knew that the 'doggies" weren't going to get to them, not ever.

Jack stood up as Abby walked in he stood listening to her words and glanced at Brian.On hearing Robert he nodded " come on lets find that kitten who was sleeping with you" he said and lifted her into his arms carrying her back to the nursery for her nap. He found the kitten still sleeping. Jess sat quiet listening to them both.

"hes right this is out of caricature for Remus, we should focus on making sure the wears don't come back " she said " if Abby's right there planning their next move against us, that's where we should be looking" she said softly as she sat sipping her coffee.

"Agreed," Edward said. "If Remus has something to tell us, he's more than able to make himself heard. So, Robert, you're the Minister. Does anyone have a map that shows any of your lands on it?"

"No," Robert said firmly. "Not a chance. Not from the Ministry, anyway."

"Then, let us put our head together and think. If you were doing magical genetics, what would you want or need in order to further your work?"

"Me? A damned good potions lab, for one thing. And medical equipment. At some point, what they could buy a Slugs and Jiggers wouldn't be good enough."

"Could they use muggle equipment?"

"To a given point, yes," Robert said. "But that won't get them a good potions lab."

"So--in England, that's where?"

"St. Mungo's. The potions lab there is enormous," Robert said.

"Your lab at the farm is bigger," Kate said.

"Yes, but they don't know that," Robert said.

"What if the map wasn't a map?" Edward said. "What if it was a blueprint?"

Jess looked at Robert as she spoke " couldn't have been one of the work men we screened every one who came on site " she said " unless...there is one person we didn't screen , the architect, the one person who would have the plans to your farm and the lab other than that St Mongos plans are public knowledge" she added again sipping her now warm coffee as she saw Jack return from putting Abby down to sleep.

" out like a light again, the kittens at her feet curled up, Max and Mo are not far from it" he said as he sat with Jess on the couch.

"We do try to keep access to that part of the hospital a bit more limited," Robert said. "But no security team is fool proof."

"I'll go check it out," Brian said. As head of security, he felt it was his job to look it over.

"Hold on," Robert said. "Let's not rush ahead of ourselves. You weren't scheduled to go in today. Its your daughter's birthday. If they want in there, I bet they'll go in at night. Tonight's a full moon. They'll have more power. If we do this, we should go after dinner tonight. Just at dusk before it gets dark."

"I was hoping not to fight them," Brian said.

"I don't plan to either. But it doesn't hurt to warn them off if I can," Robert said. "What do the rest of you think?"

Jess looked at Jack who nodded as did Jim and Cassidy " were in" Jack said " so after dark before moon rise or after?" he asked " so I know whether to take extra wolfbane." he said and looked at Robert " I don't want to transform." he looked at Jess "I prefer remaining human" Jess gave him a smile as he sat down next to her.

" I think we;d all prefer that Jack" she said and Jim chuckled as he finished his tea.

" yeah hair balls are difficult to get out the carpet." he said trying to lighten the mood this made Steven chuckle and left Brant stood looking confused. Jim shook his head " Jack there is a wear but he has , rightly chosen to not transform but to stay human, lets say he is among a select few that kept their humanity and chose to fight what they were forced to become" he said Brant nodded and looked to Jack with a sense of respect or him now.

"What?" Robert frowned. "As a werewolf, you should know when dusk is. Even if I hadn't told you that we would go at dusk, just before it gets dark. Are you preoccupied or something?" It wasn't like Jack to simply not understand basic instructions. "You shouldn't need extra wolfsbane. When have I ever instructed you to take extra? A dose is a dose. If you're having issues controlling your transformation, that might be more due to your own anger again and not due to the wolfsbane. But do let me know if you aren't going to be able to control yourself. I will need someone at home. I can't surely take the kids or Khaat into that tonight."

"Would you prefer I remain behind tonight?" Edward asked.

"I'm not sure. I need you wherever the fight is going to be."

"If there is going to be one at all. I thought the idea was to warn them off. Not to engage them in the hospital."

"That is the goal," Robert said. I do not, under any circumstances, want a blood bath in the hospital."

"Well, the, lets discuss how you warn them off and send them a clear message that the hospital is off limits," Edward said.