Marriage is Murder

Brant stood with his arms folded across his chest he smiled when Angus accioed his coat as he spoke. “Really, guess I should get use to it.” He then turned on hearing Edwards voice to seeing him stood behind him. He moved to stand beside Angus ready to defend him should Edward decide Angus was in the wrong he chuckled softly as he listened to Edward and Angus. He lent over to Angus and spoke softly “ might be an improvement in her case.” he said then stood back up right. He moved back and forth as Edward spoke to Angus. “ we will and no bar flies.” he said smiling as he looked to Angus before porting to a back alley beside a square in Rome.

Looking around he smiled at what he saw. “nice place” he said noticing it was some what empty. He looked around for Angus and sighed. ”Angus, you here?” he called out hoping he'd not lost him already as he didn't want to look for the book store alone, though he knew he could.

"Yup," Angus said, standing in an aisle of books designed for teen girls. It took him a second to realize where he was, and he rolled his eyes, annoyed with himself a bit. "Great. Just great. I usually am better at this." He walked to Brant. "If you want to find a girl, go find an aisle where the women are. And if I were you, I wouldn't find one looking at cookbooks. You'll have very little in common with them. I, on the other hand, have a stack of storybooks for some little ones to buy. I haven't gotten Abbey a present yet, and she loves storybooks. Gives her more time with her papa." Angus was very aware that, to Abbey, any time she could get with Robert was a treasure, and he was a sucker for reading to her. Angus planned on supplying Abbey with a large stack of new storybooks for her to share with Robert.

"I'm betting her parents haven't had a chance to shop for her either, so if I see some things that they would probably buy her, I'll just pick them up for them," he said. He did get paid well by Robert but he rarely needed to use it. So he had plenty of cash. He didn't mind spending it on the family he lived with.

Brant heard Angus and turned to see he was in an isle in the book shop he smiled and then chuckled "hey I'm not that bad at cooking just not your fancy stuff" he said then realized he actually was bad and sighed "Okay no girls by cookbooks" he said with a roll of his eyes as he started to walk away but then stopped. " wait, how old is she, three?" he asked not knowing how old the little girl he'd seen only twice was. He had an idea where to look.

" what about..no she's probably got plenty enchanted toys, hum this will be a challenge " he said rubbing his chin as she stood thinking in front of Angus. He had no clue what to by a small girl but thought about it, pink and fluffy came to his mind.

"Yeah. She'll be three. She is a very girly girl. She likes anything pink or frilly or feminine. And her father spoils her. He drives Khaat crazy by letting Abbey scribble on the walls with her crayons to her hearts content and then simply making it disappear when she's done. It delights Abbey and Brian and makes Khaat crazy.

"Honestly, I think that girl already has the right idea about life. She values family and people far above anything else..." He paused. "Wait. I have an idea. She likes to help me in the kitchen or to think she's helping. There's a toy store in the next block, and they have a child size set of baking pans and dishes that can be used in a real oven. Now that's something she would truly love. And its not all that expensive. I hadn't done it because they were going to get some really colorful sets in, in limited editions, instead of plain aluminum. Might be worth your time to check that out."

Brant smiled and listened " sounds perfect" he said and moved to the door of the book store " you coming with?" he asked holding open the door before he headed out to the store he could see. Walking in he saw just what Angus had sen and smiled seeing a baby pink set . A woman walked over and asked if she could help him and he pointed to the set .

" ow your daughter will love this its one of our best sellers" she said and Brant chuckled .

" shes not my daughter , its for the daughter of my employer" he clarified and she took it to the counter he paid for it and had her wrap it carrying it out he paused and ducked into an alley where he shrank it and slipped it into his pocket then went to find Angus , finding instead an ice cream stall he bought two cones one chocolate and one vanilla for Angus.

Angus wasn't done, quite, in buying his large stack of storybooks when Brant went to the toy shop. Angus did try to hurry up and finish so that he could go and join Brant. He found Brant had found the gelato.

"Thank you," he said, taking the cone. "Looks like the rain might clear up a little. Maybe. Did you find the dishes?" He struggled to carry the massive, heavy stack of books. "Abbey's going to think I'm a saint, and Robert is either going to love me or hate me," he laughed. "She never gets tired of sitting on his lap or having him read the bedtime story. I really need to shrink these. They're just ridiculously heavy. You know, I remember finding Brian up all night before one of our skirmishes with the werewolves. He was worried that maybe he and Khaat would be killed and the kids would feel lost. And then in the morning, when the kids got up, Abbey couldn't wait to go find her papa, make him put down the morning newspaper so she could crawl up on his lap and make her pay full attention to her. When Brian saw that, he decided he had nothing to worry about whatsoever."

Brant chuckled and looked around " do it now nobody's around" he said standing between him and any way some one could see. He chuckled and stood in front of him taking out his small packages " yep even a kettle " he said " they even threw in some utensils too" he added " I hope she'll like them , I haven't known them that long" he added looking up at Angus " you don't think I'm being presumptive?" he asked " you know getting this for her birthday?" now he felt himself panic and he stopped himself. Taking a deep breath in as he ate some Gelato and he smiled " calm again" he said smiling.

" he looked at the stack " want me to take some" he offered " my pockets are deep" he said and chuckled softly as he caught to that sipped from the pile so now he stood one book in each hand and the last of the cone in his mouth smiling at Angus. " what about building a book case just for her books in the girls nursery?" he suggested" be at her height and everything"

Angus shrank the books and managed to fit them into his own pocket. "I think the fact that you bought a gift is fine," he said. "Abbey will love it. I think a bookcase is a good idea, but I'd put it in the playroom. And since the girls' playroom is all done in fairy tales, I think the bookcase should look like a castle, and it would be great if it were enchanted. You know, I think that I know who could come up with a fabulous bookcase because his imagination doesn't quit. But that means a quick hop to Venice or an owl. One or the other. He doesn't normally do toys but he has one of the best creative minds, especially when it comes to pleasing little girls--or grown up girls--that I've ever met. And he's one of our allies. He knows Abbey well."

Angus was thinking of Tobias and the times he had hidden Abbey from the enemies in Khaat's life. Tobias would know just how to design something that would please her and the enchantments that would delight not just her but all the kids who would look for a book.

Brant smiled knowing just who he was talking about " Tobias" he said and nodded " good choice he could do it no problems , well let so talk to him" he said and looked around " um which way is his shop?" he asked turning back to face Angus his ice cream some what dripping on his hand as he stood with him. Brant watched as several men mulled around close to them he frowned " Angus do they look familiar?" he asked feeling they were part of the pack that had attacked the Lupin house several days ago. He hoped not but knew if it was they had regrouped and were searching for Khaat.

“Maybe we should get home first” he said to Angus motioning with his head to the men who stood by a window talking but glancing over at them “ I don't like the looks of them” he added

"Which way to his shop?" Angus frowned. "Venice. Not here." He hadn't even noticed the men who were in the same street. When Brant mentioned going back, Angus thought a moment. "No, lets not," he said, wanting to be careful with his words in case any of them were evesdropping. "I think we should carry on as we were. You're dripping by the way. You're going to be a mess."

If these were men from the pack, then, he presumed, they would think that Khaat's bodyguards would surely be close to Khaat. And with Khaat so far away, the more visible Angus made himself, to a certain degree, the more safe Khaat would be with Brian. If he led them anywhere, he would deliberately lead them either to the Italian ministry or to Venice where the pack would presume Khaat and Brian would go for a holiday.