Marriage is Murder

Jacl saw the coart not far from him was a mess and opened some doors to walk out he saw Khaat and nodded as he accioed some gloves and began to pull up the weeds he found it theraputic and continuded he even cut back and tied up some roses. " Im no edward, but I can tidy up this place" he smiled as he continued to pull weeds and clean up he even fixed a broken fountain, making the water run from it once again making a trickeling sound all around them even birds came in and washed in its cool water. Jess watched from the up stairs window but then moved to sit back down.

Jack looked then at the window but saw she had gone. " Your looking good Khaat." he said and looked to Marcus. "glamour spell?" he asked knowing it had to be." Jess uses them when she's in a hurry" he added and chuckled " thats most days " he added as he pulled another weed and tossed it into a bag with the rest.

"Thank you, Jack," Khaat said quietly. "I'm sure Eli paid someone to do that at one time."

"She had wanted it to be scissors," Marcus laughed. "I thought the glamour spell was a good temporary solution."

"I might make the hair platinum blond," she said.

"Easily done, if you like," Marcus said.

"Yes, please," she said. He flicked his wand at it, making it a creamy ivory blond with just a hint of a gold tone to it for a bit more warmth.

"The garden needs some new flowers in it," Marcus said.

"If you want to order some, Jack, feel free," Khaat said. "Put them on my account. So you both know, I will be working tomorrow for at least part of the day. Perhaps at the Ministry for a couple of hours and then over at the hospital. I need to work. I may well need to hire another person here. I don't know. Michael is not a butler or a housekeeper or a nanny, and there is a great deal of work to try to keep up with everything. I can't ask you lot to do protection and everything else."

"Don't you think this will settle after a day or so?" Marcus asked. "This is, after all, new to us just a few hours ago."

"Oh, I don't have a clue," she said, drinking the rest of her firewhiskey in one swallow. "Marcus, where's the rest of it?" He accio'd the firewhiskey bottle. He understood. She was coping the best se knew how. And her way was to try to make it look like life was just business as usual, but underneath, she had the same trauma that her husband did that had sidelined him altogether. She was merely trying to hide it from everyone, including herself. If she wanted to drink, then so be it. If she drank enough, it might keep her from working tomorrow. And, in Marcus's opinion, that might well be a good thing.

Jack nodded at Khaat's sugenstion " I'll do that " he said and looked at Marcus he knew what he was doing and was glad he was doing it she to Jack was not ready to go back to work. "Glamour spells work wonders" he said smiling he heard Marcus talk to her but kept clearing the weeds knowing this would be more than one day, even more than one month befoer it would setttle down. Jack made amental list of the flowers and acioed a peice of paper and a pen writing his list he sent it off.

Seeing a second bottle fly out to Marcus he smiled and nodded he aproved and would say nothing about it.

Marcus refilled her glass when the bottle arrived. He picked up the smell of baking. Michael was coping in the way he knew how--he was cooking. It smelled like cookies. Marcus had seen the many variety of cookies that Lizzie had sent. This was to keep Michael's hands busy maybe. Unless he had thought of some variety Lizzie had not sent already.

"Is there a gym here, Marcus?" she asked.

"No," he replied. "There is not. Would you like me to look for your spa pass?"

"No," she said. "Add what we need. Can you find a space for it?"

"I'm a wizard. I can make space if I need to," Marcus smiled. "How soon would you like this up and running?"

"By morning. No later," she said firmly. Marcus glanced up at Jack. A fully equipped home gym was not easy to do in weeks, much less in a few short hours.

"Perhaps Jack has some connections that will help us expedite that," Marcus suggested gently.

"Just go buy it," she said. "England is a big enough place. We ought to be able to come up with it. Just do it."

Jack loked up and nodded " that I do , I'll get right on it " he said and finished with the weeds he had. Cleaning up he walked inside depositing the rubbish bag in the bin writing several notes he sent them threw the floo and walked back out. " we should here soon , where were you planning this gym to be?" he asked softly could convert the tool shed? " he said as he looked at them both. " would give you a view of the court yard as you work out " he added hoping to perwade " be very little disruption to yard" he knew she would want it messed with as little as possible so she could continue to use it when she wanted.

"Wherever you think is best, Jack," Khaat said. "I trust you to take care of it. Please. Will it be operational before we get up in the morning?"

"Khaat," Marcus said, "We're accustomed to working out when we don't have a gym. There's not a critical rush on it."

"There is," she said, "because ...well, because I will not have us not provided for adequately." Marcus kept a straight face, but he was wondering what it was that she wasn't saying. Her remarks sounded a great deal to him as though she had said it was an imperative because she wanted it. And that was not the Khaat he knew, even though he hadn't known her long.

"Perhaps," he said very gently, "perhaps, you might consider letting us worry about the providing?..."

"No! That's my job! I'm the one responsible here! I..." she cut herself off sharply. Her voice got softer. "I'll...I'll handle it."

"Khaat," he said softly, right into her ear, not as her guard but as her friend. "You don't have to think of it all. Let us tell you if we need something. Its enough for us that you are telling us what you need."

She turned around sharply to look into his face. She wasn't sure it really was enough. She didn't even have words at the moment.

"It really is enough," he reassured her. "If you want Brian or the rest of the world to believe that you don't need to be on leave, then we'll help you do it. But you don't need to try to keep up the pretense for our benefit. We were there, remember?" She paused and then nodded. He smiled at her briefly. "Good," he replied. Then he looked at Jack. "If you can get it by morning, fine. If not, we'll make due, like we do any other time. Isn't that right, Khaat?" When she didn't reply, he nudged her slightly. "Khaat, we'll make due. Right?"

"Oh. Yes. Of course," she said. Marcus didn't know if the others knew how hard he was working to keep her from just utterly falling apart, but that was a bigger job at the moment than bodyguarding her.

Jack had never heard Khaat act this way and it startled him some as he listened and watched " yes it will be done by morning" he said and looked at Marcus his respect fot him growing with having to control Khaat's out bursts as he was at this moment in time. He sat and listened again and nodded to him. " as I said, it will be done" he said softly glancing to Khaat with a small frown on his face he was worried about her now more than ever. He enlarged the shed though from the out side it would remain a smal shed.

Jess walked down and out into the courtyard smiling at Khaat as she entered " everything okay?" she asked after hearing the raised voice of Khaat earlier. She saw Jack working on the shed and smiled " ow what a good idea, a gym" she said and smiled at Khaat.

"Khaat's idea," Marcus said. "And I think its a good thing too. We don't have the space, inside or outside, like we do at the estate. Might be good to have someplace for us to burn off a little stress..."

"I passed your pizza delivery man," Robert's voice sounded from behind them as he came out into the courtyard. "When has Michael Tremaine ever ordered pizza for delivery and hasn't made it himself?"

"Was it gourmet pizza?" Marcus teased.

"I didn't look, but I'm presuming so," Robert said.

"You're done early today," Khaat said to her father.

"I am," he said. "I wanted to stop here before I went home. I wanted to be sure you had the potions you'll need. I packed a kit for you of all the basics, and I made sure to include fresh bottles of the ones you'll need." He handed the largest bag to Jess. He had a smaller bag. "Here is an additional supply of the bottles for you, Khaat. Shall I put them in your room?"

"I'll take them, Minister," Marcus said, reaching for the smaller bag. Robert looked at Khaat and saw she was unconcerned. He handed the bag to Marcus.

"They're clearly labeled," Robert said. Marcus opened the bag. These were potions he knew. H wasn't a potions specialist, but in his line of work, he had often had to care for himself or a client. He had, what he considered to be, a basic knowledge.

"These potions I am familiar with," Marcus said.

"Are there any others you need?"

"Perhaps a sunscreen if you have one," Marcus said.

"Yes, indeed. I'll bring you one in the morning," Robert said. He had indeed noticed her beautiful long hair was, for the moment, not there, and wasn't its normal color. He didn't particularly like the platinum blond on her, but he said nothing. He brushed her hair affectionately and lingered a moment on her forehead. He cast a calming spell for her.

"You need to get something to eat and then go to bed," he said to her gently. "You're really pushing. After dinner. Go to bed and just rest." Khaat didn't begin to protest. She simply nodded. Robert frowned. That wasn't Khaat either.

"Its supposed to storm tonight anyway," Marcus told her. "It'll be a good night for a soft bed and a good book."

"That's fine," she said to Marcus.

"Dinner!" Michael called. He had put the pizza boxes on the table, with a tossed salad, and bottles of soda. it was simple but sometimes simple was best. It dawned on Khaat that she hadn't seen her children all afternoon, and now the evening meal had come and they were in a new place.

"Daddy, they'd probably like it if you stayed and read the bedtime story after dinner," she said softly.

"I'll be back," he said to her with a smile. "Your mother would like to see that you and the kids are alright. I'm going to go get her and we'll be back before you tuck the kids into bed. Go ahead and eat, and we'll be back in a couple of hours. That will give you time to feed the kids and bathe them and get them into their pajamas." He kissed her cheek. "And don't play with your food. Eat something," he said, half teasingly.

Robert had a sense that the staff was feeling a bit stressed, and was feeling he needed to come back to try to answer some of their questions and soothe a bit of their insecurities.

Jess nodded and smiled knowing Jack woulund not till it was finished for Khaat she saw him already reciving notes and moving things " well thats him happy for now" she said and chukled as she heard the word she never thought she would hear " Pizza?" she asked as abby and Dakota ran down and over to Khaat " ow they must have woke early" she said leaving Khaat with the two girls while she went to get the others for dinner.

Jack saw Abby and Dakota and smiled as he recived a large pakage of equipment and he took it inside closing the door behind him. He knew he would miss lunch but he was more intrested in getting the gym up and running as quick as possible for her and else.

"Papa!" Abbey flew to her grandfather, and Robert picked her up. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I miss you, Papa!"

"I just saw you at lunch time," he laughed.

"I no want to stay here. I want to stay with you," she said.

"Its just for a little while," he said soothingly. "And Gram and I will come by every day to see you. I promise."

"And read stories and eat cookies?" she asked.

"Yes," he laughed. "We'll read lots of stories."

"I miss Daddy," she said, curling into Robert.

"I know," he soothed her. Khaat simply looked down at the stone floor of the courtyard, feeling even more guilty.

"Not your fault," Marcus said very softly in Khaat's ear. "We'll find a way to get them busy. You know, Hyde Park is almost right across the street. Perhaps they'd like going to the park tomorrow."

"Maybe," she said.

"You," Robert said to Abbey, "need to go see Uncle Mikey. He has pizza for dinner tonight, and I know how you like pizza."

"I no want you to go," she cuddled into him.

"I'm coming back," he said. "I'm going to go get Gram, and then I'll be right back."

"Promise?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "I promise. Now, maybe Aunt Jess will take you to eat your dinner. I would not like you to go to bed on an empty stomach."

"Noooo," Abbey said. "We eat cookies. You promised."

"And so I did," he laughed. "After dinner. After your bath--at bedtime story time. Okay?" She nodded. "Aunt Jess, can you help Abbey find some pizza please?"