Marriage is Murder

Steven winced as he felt her collar bone and herd the scream he wanted to hold her close but didn't hearing Khaat he reatched into his boot and flicked out his knife away from Abby. " its okay Abby mama is right there. " He said and gently cut her shirt, it was so gentel he didn't nick her skin once. Steven gently pulled the shirt away and looked at Khaat worried then to cassidy."First aid kit" he said just to get her out of the room to give them space as he knew Robert would be there soon. He hoped she'd not done too much damage to her shoulder.

Cassidy went in search of a first aid kit realizing they didn't have one she stayed out of the room she could hear what was going on and looked at Michael " best to stay out the way hey" she said " not much I can do anyway."

Khaat saw immediately that Abbey's little collarbone was broken. Her first thought was to stop the pain for her child.

"Can one of you accio the gold potion from my room, please? And get me a wee bit of tea in a mug and some honey," Khaat said. She was going to put a tiny bit of the gold potion in the tea and then add enough honey to cover the taste of the gold potion. It wasn't her first choice in a potions for her child. It was liable to make her exceptionally groggy and sleepy, but it was the best they had. And they needed to have a table ready where Robert could re-set her collarbone.

"My father is going to need a place to work. I need one of you to clean off the dining room table please and cover it with a thick clean quilt for some padding and a clean sheet," she said. "And, yes, Cassidy, we will need those kitty plasters too."

"I'll get the potion," Marcus said. "I know where I put it."

Khaat didn't find any other significant injuries and looked at Steven. "There wouldn't be so much pressure on that bone if she could sit up and just lean against you. Do you mind if Marcus sits her up against you? Abbey, Uncle Steven is going to just give you a storytime hug until Papa gets here."

Abbey understood a storytime hug to one of her favorite places. It was when she sat either right beside her Papa or on his lap, and would simply lean back against him and cuddle into him while he read to her. Most of the time, Papa had one arm around her and held the book in his other hand. He told her over and over that it was the best place to be because he was free to give her lots of kisses. And he did. Storytime hugs with Papa always meant Papa kissed her lots and lots on her head.

"Hurts, Mama," she whimpered. "I hurts."

"I know, Baby," Khaat said soothingly. "Papa's coming. He'll fix it."

Steven nodded and gently moved Abby to lean against him making sure not to jar her shoulder and making her comfortable. Cassidy made the honeyied tea and brought it in placing it down next to Khaat. Steven smiled at Abby as he held her as he ahd seen Robert at story time do." feel better?" he asked her as he saw Cassidy head to the table.

Cassidy clean off the dining room table and cover it with a thick clean quilt for some padding then accioed a clean sheet placing it over the quilt . once done she returned to Khaat " all's ready" she said softly to let her know and not upset Abby any more.

Marcus brought the potion.

"May I?" he asked her. His two steady hands were better than her one shaking hand.

"Please," she said. "Just 3 drops. No more." Marcus added the potion to the tea mug and swirled it to mix it. He handed the mug to her.

"Drink this for Mama," Khaat said, putting the mug up to Abbey's lips. "Its sweet. You'll feel better. I promise." Abbey didn't want it, and she whimpered and cried. Khaat was patient, though, and managed to feed it to her. In a moment, the small child was curled, in a light doze, against Steven, and she was sucking her thumb on her good hand. Khaat brushed the tears away from Abbey's face.

"Thank you," she told them all. She was trying not to be rattled. This was, perhaps, the first that she'd seen her first born child be hurt, and it tore at her heart. She'd rather let both of her own shoulders be hurt than one of Abbey's.

Robert accio'd in and saw everyone at the bottom of the stairs. He frowned deeply and came over.

"Let me work, Khaat," he said softly. Marcus offered her a hand to help her up to get out of his way. Robert saw how sleepy she was.

"What did you do?" Robert looked up at her.

"Just a bit of pain potion," she said.

"Oh. Well done," he said. He examined Abbey. "Broken collarbone. A few scrapes and cuts. I'll reset the collar bone. At her age, it should only take a few days to mend." He frowned, thinking, "I..might have some plasters with some jellybeans on them...."

"We did have some kitty ones if we can find them," Khaat said.

He looked up at Cassidy and Steven, "Any objection if we let her have some of her Gram's special attentions today? We'll want her quiet and by herself today, so perhaps a little extra pampering from her grandma might fit the bill--if you lot can wrangle the rest of them."

Steven was relived seeing Robert appear he nodded as he let her move so he could tend to her glad he was there. On mention of the plasters Cssidy walekd in and showed him the box " Here, they were in the draw in the kitchen" she said then smiled at Roberts words " coral more like and yes we'll be okay" she smiled at Steven who nodded.

"She's right we'll be fine" he said and looked to Abby " as long as this ones okay we'll be okay" he added "Cassidys got thinks ready per Khaat's instrutcions in the dinning room." he wondered if it would be safe to move her just yet.

"Oh, good. Well done," Robert said. "Michael, do go home and get Kate. Tell her to pack a bag in case we need her to stay during the night."

"I'll be back, then," Michael said. He drew his portkey and ported out.

"Let's get Abbey to the table and get her set. Are either of you able to assist me? Or does your stomach churn at blood or noise? It might be bloody, and it will make noise when I reset it," Robert said.

"I want to help," Khaat said.

"I know," he said softly. "But this is your baby. You let me do this. We'll handle it. Why don't you and Marcus go up and stay with the kids or make sure we have a separate room set up and ready for a little girl? We're going to need that in very short order."

"Put her in my room until her's is ready," Khaat said.

"Agreed," Marcus said.

"Can either of you deal with helping me?" Robert asked Steven and Cassidy, knowing the others would be needed to keep the kids upstairs out of the way. It was not something they needed to see or hear.

Steven looked at Cassidy who shook her head and he smiled " I will Robert, Cassidy has to check on the kids " he said trying to let Robet know she could not do it. " I've delt with blood and stuff before as a ranger" he said and smiled as Cassidy breathed out behind Robert. Cassidy looked at Marcus.

" I'll help you take Khaat upstairs and get her settled then sort the room for Abby." she said and moved to his side. Leaning over she whispered " Im no good with blood" she added. Steven looked at Robert as he gently cradled Abby then stood up with little motion so not to wake her.

" where do you want her?" he asked now standing in the hallway the stuffed kitten was at his feet and he kicked it out of his way as he looked at Robert.

"Fine by me," Robert said. He touched Abbey's forehead and cast a spell to render her unconscious. He picked her up. He looked at Khaat. "Go upstairs. Now. We'll be bringing her upstairs when I'm done. Marcus, I don't want her coming back down."

"Yes, Sir," Marcus said. He motioned to Cassidy and escorted the women upstairs. Robert took Abbey to the table and laid her there.

Robert set his bag down on a dining room chair and flicked his wand at is. "Display surgical kit," he commanded. A sterile surgical kit came out of the bag and laid itself on the table and unrolled itself, prepared for Robert's use.

"Oh, I forgot," Robert told Steven, "We'll need a pair of pajamas for her. Perhaps you could get Cassidy to send one downstairs? Something comfortable." He took Abbey's shirt off her and covered her up over her chest as far as he could without compromising where he needed to work. He examined her very carefully, looking for more wounds or bruising.

"I don't see anything but the cuts you already found--and her collarbone. But her collarbone is going to bruise. See here?" He showed her a very large area around the broken bone and around her shoulder that was already starting to turn jet black. "This might be very painful. We're going to have to stay ahead of her pain and make sure she doesn't get too wound up when her pain meds let her feel good."

Steven nodded and let Robert take Abby he caleld back to Cassidy as he moved " Cassie PJ'S" he shouted and a new set floated down they were pink with a kitten on and buttoned up the front. Steven chuckled knowing she would do anything not to come back down. He placed them beside the table and looked back to Abby's now covered body "oow ouch, yes I see it" he said softly."You speak I do," he said simply " Im no healer but I follow direction" he added and watched Robert. This was nothing new, he'd had to do triage in the field before but this was some what different, because she was a child and he hated to see any child hurt, especialy this one.

Cassidy moved from Khaats room leaving Marcus to settle Khaat she found a room right next door to Khaats and made it up for Abby. she knew Marcus was on the other side of her but this one was lose enough she could get to abby. Once ready she opened a window and let air in to the room feeling the coolness would help.

"There's a bit of bone breaking the skin," Robert said. "I'm going to open this and reset the bone properly. I'll need those clamps to hold the skin open, and then I'll need you to stay ahead of the blood so I can see, please." He pointed to the clamp and the large package of gauze pads for staying ahead of the blood. "Oh, resize that bowl and toss the pads in there. There are 36 pads in the package. We need to have 36 between the bowl and the package when we're done. We can't leave any in her shoulder.

"Once I find the bone, I'll reset it. I'll check for any bone chips. If its all clean and there's no excess bleeding, I'll have you pour some of that antibiotic potion in the green glass bottle into the wound. Slowly--until it stops bubbling and smoking. When it quits, that means the wound is clean. Then I'll close the incision and we'll bandage it and splint her shoulder, get her into her pajamas and add a sling. Got all that?"