Marriage is Murder

Lee had a pile of little fall jackets over his arm when Cassidy spoke. He turned to look at her, listening. He didn't speak at first. He was irked. They were choosing to believe that all would be well, and that was their choice. They hadn't seen her though, like he had. They hadn't seen how severe it was.  If they chose to minimize, then that was their issue.

He looked at Angus, not feeling sure that it was safe to leave the kids here or not. If Steven were still an employee in the states, Lee believed he'd have either fired him by now or ordered him for a full set of evaluations to find out what the devil was wrong with him. One or the other.

Angus nodded slowly to Lee. "We'll take care of the kids, Lee. Feel free to add a man inside the house.  We've got more kids than grown ups right now. An extra hand would be welcome," Angus said.

"I'll do that," Lee said, handing the jackets to Angus.  He was ready to turn to leave when he felt a little hand tugging on his pantleg. He looked down to see Abbey there, her bright smile beaming up at him.

"Hi!" she said.

"Hi!" he laughed. He picked her up. "Do you remember me?" She frowned at him as if he had asked a stupid question.

"You my Unca Lee!"  

"That's right," he laughed. "You have a good memory."

"You telled me you was gonna bring me candy!"

"Oh, so I did," he said, amazed at her ability to remember his offhand comment that he was going to bring her some American lollipops.  

"You forgetted, didn't you?" she eyed him.

"You're right," he apologized. "I did forget. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"Now you gots to bring more. Lots more," she nodded.

"I do, huh?" he smiled. She nodded firmly. "Alright. Deal. You drive a hard bargain." He saw darker thoughts coming up in her little mind. She was quiet rather suddenly, playing with the kit collar on his gray V-necked pullover. "What are you thinking about?" he asked her.

"Mama," Abbey said softly. "She come back, Unca Lee?"

"I hope so, Sweetheart," he said, kissing her forehead. "I sure hope so. She has a lot of people helping her."

"Daddy?" she asked.

"Yes. And Papa."

"Then Mama be okay," she nodded. "But I gots nobody to tell me stories."

"You don't? Nobody?" he asked. She shook her head.

"How about you and I go take a walk and I'll tell you a story?" he asked. She nodded.  He looked at the other kids, who seemed to be more oblivious about what was going on. Abbey was much too much like her mother. Abbey knew.  He felt a need to try to soothe this child, if even for awhile. Angus helped Abbey with her jacket.  

"We go outside? In the yard? What about doggies?" Abbey asked.

"I won't let any doggies get you," he said softly, "That's my job."

"Like Daddy?"

"Yeah," he said, letting her understand it as she could. "Like Daddy.  Shall we go?" She nodded.  He walked downstairs with her and out into the yard.

Cassidy saw the look in Lees eyes and sighed. "Let me deal with Steven" she said softly then stepped back as Angus spoke nodding but saying nothing she noticed Abby and stepped to one side to let her pass by smiling as she saw the interaction between Lee and her. Cassidy looked at Angus when he mentioned an extra man and tough it would be a good idea with so many kids about.

Steven walked up behind Cassidy and listened to Lee and Abby as they walked out togther. Cassidy turned and smacked him again across his arm. " Grow up Steven and stop being possesive of the kids" she said looking to Angus "God I wonder some days why I married him" she said " I realy wish some one would send word back on how she's doing" she said looking worried at Angus.

"And that was exactly what Lee came to give us, but no one was listening," Angus said, still angry. "So he stopped trying to tell us. He said she's not doing well, and there isn't much chance. It isn't his guess. That's the report. I know they're trying. But--I intend to ask him exactly what her injuries are. For everyone to leave the house, and to give us no instructions, and to sound every alarm we know of, and to have Lee here stepping in when no one else can? Look at what you do know. They're bracing up for Khaat to very likely die.

"Something very serious has changed with James. I'm not sure what, but he's never attacked in such a congested place as London. He's willing to take a much higher risk and be more open about it and far more brutal. He's far more dangerous now, and we'd better gear up.

"Not only that, but do you realize that right now, we don't have Khaat or Robert either one able to do their jobs? We are completely at the mercy of whatever nut job in the Ministry decides to start making the decisions until we can get the spell off Robert and until we know if Khaat is even going to live or not. I don't think you've thought about what that means for the Ministry or for St. Mungos or for all of Wizarding England.

"And you know something else? If you act like that again, Steven, Lee won't have to come and get the kids. I'll take them out of here myself," Angus said.

Cassidy listened to Angus and nodded " I..I guess I just don't want to think about not having her here, she was the one, and brian that got me here" she said looking at him then to Steven as Angus spoke "Same goes for me too" she said frowing " Im scared as hell we'll lose Khaat and Robert, I  feel one can't servive with out the other and if that happens.." she paused again her hands balled to hide the fact they shook" all this will stop and" Steven walked over and held her close.

"She'll be okay, they have to be." he said his voice was soft as he held her  not knowing if he was trying to convince her or himself. Cassidy moved from him and looked at him. " go apologise to angus and Lee" she said. Steven kissed her gently and nodded as he let her go and walked down to find angus first.

" Sorry about before Angus, I don't blame you, cassidy and I are scared out our minds hoping she pulls through" he paused " I wish there was something I could do inside I want to go hunt James down and tear his throat out but that aint gonna help the kids here " he said " I guess , no I know I was out of line before and Im sorry i'll apologise to Lee when hes done with Abby" he said looking out of the window.

"None of us want to have to think about that," Angus sighed. "But if we don't look at it, we'll be blindsided if it does happen. Or if Khaat does survive, she might well be hospitalized for some time to come. And we will need to be able to keep the estate running. And take care of our bewitched leader, and his grandkids...and all the rest of it. As I see it, the load on our plates just got bigger."

Lee spent nearly 30 minutes outside with Abbey. He told her a story and showed her how to play in some of the leaves that had already fallen from the trees. It was good to see her smile and laugh again. She looked like a 3 year old needed to look, and not like a 3 year old who was already working too hard to be grown up.

He had tickled her, and she was still laughing when he brought her in. He understood why her laughter sounded so much like music in Robert's ears. It did to him too. He took her to the kitchen and got her a pumpkin shaped cookie with orange and green sugars on it.

"Are you ready to go play?" he asked her.

"You come back?" she asked.

"I have to come back. I owe you candy, don't I?" She smiled, realizing he was definitely coming back, and she nodded. He kissed her cheek. "Alright. Go play now while I talk some boring grown up talk with the grownups." He put her down on the floor.

"Ok," she said, scampering down the hall to the playroom, throwing her jacket on the hall floor as she ran.

"She's a good kid," Lee said. "And entirely too smart for her age."

"Yes," Angus said. "She is. You really can't go without telling us Khaat's injuries. You know that."

"Alright," Lee said. "She and Marcus were ambushed just outside the kitchen door behind Sparks. Marcus apparently was the one who set off all the alarms and held James off as well as he did before help arrived. There's no question she'd be dead if he hadn't been with her.

"But, Marcus seems to believe James was after the stone. James pinned her to the wall and tried to rip the stone off her neck. He nearly tore her throat out entirely. And he crushed her left shoulder. The injuries are critical damage. If she had been in any other corner of the world, she'd be dead by now. The fact that she was so close to St. Mungos might be that one little detail that makes the difference.

"She's lost a fatal amount of blood, and they're working to keep her alive by magic. They've taken her to surgery. Brian has Marcus in the operating room with them to make sure that no one gets in who shouldn't be there.

"I'm no stranger to werewolf maulings," Lee said quietly. "But in all my years, I have never seen one who had injuries like this who survived. The odds are far more against her than with her.

"When I left, though, if this means anything, I saw two entirely different Michael Tremains there. One was with Kate when I left. The other went with the surgical team into the O.R."

Steven stood while Lee told them of Khaats and Marcus injuries. Just as he told them Cassidy walked in and froze on the spot her hand covered her mouth." ow god" she said softly and Steven walked over to her and held her close as lee continued. Steven looked at Lee and sighed.

"One is robert, Im guessing hes the one who went into the O.R with Khaat." Steven said Cassidy nodded.

" we don't know why but he took some polyjuice and went as Michael when Jim came to take Kate." Cassidy told him " it was just after Remus showed himself" she looked at him.

"Well, I can answer that," Lee said. "The man who bewitched him is still on the loose. And there's something about that spell that affects him and his ability to control himself, makes him unable to speak, and keeps him from being as effective as he'd like to be.

"He doesn't want to be seen as himself. If he reveals himself in the state he's in, that would be disastrous for the ministry. He's doing his best to protect the ministry in whatever way he knows how, and, at the same time, he wants to try to save his daughter's life.

"Even as it is, his abilities are going to be, probably, too damaged to help her much. I dont' know why he can't touch her, but he can't. And we all know that. We just don't know why. So the best he can do is to ride this out, as Michael Tremaine, and try to get someone to trust his abilities as a healer, all while trying to coach them by nothing more than charades through a life threatening emergency surgery to save his own child.

"I don't envy his position one iota. Nor do I envy the position the surgical team is in--unless someone figures out it is indeed Robert. And then, they've got to justify why they followed the medical advice of a retired catburglar.

"Any time I've known of Remus to be around, its when Khaat is in some sort of particularly dangerous situation. My guess is that this more than qualifies."

Cassidy nodded from where she sat as did Steven as he spoke." we know its why we let him go to her, Jess is there and she knows him just as we do, she has trained under him she'll see threw it in a flash and know what he wants, she's a seer too." he said "I just hope they can save her." his voice trailed off a little but with a jab from Cassidy he coughed and pulled himself back. Cassidy looked at Lee and nodded.

" I agree, he always comes at the bad times " she said and sighed “but I know he only means well we spoke one time." she smiled at that memory. But she turned back to the job at hand and that was looking after the kids and Robert best they could

"I'll bring you news as I get it," Lee said. "Cassidy, would you do me a favor and pack a bag for Brian and one for Kate? I know them. If Khaat survives, they aren't going to leave her. Come to think of it, Belby won't either. Steven, can you muster one up for Marcus?"

He gave it some more thought. "That lot isn't going to think of food whatsoever. Could I send to you for food for them? We'll need to do the thinking for them. Doesn't Brian have a brother or something? I remember of meeting--a brother, I think. And was it his wife? Perhaps you might send for them. They'd be really helpful for you right now.

"I'm guessing that Robert will return here as soon as he can. He can't have that large a bottle of polyjuice on him. Not that he couldnt' get more at St. Mungos, but unless he has a wad of Michael's hair in his pocket, he's going to run out sooner or later."

"Nah,"Angus laughed. "He's got Michael. If he runs out of hair, he'll go yank out a wad of it from Michael."

"Why does that sound painful?"

"I don't think Robert will think of that," Angus grinned. "Anyway, yeah. I'll send food. Should I fix a lunch basket for them? Its going on noon now."

"I don't think anyone will eat until the surgery is over. But if they do, I'll let you know," Lee said. "Perhaps dinner tonight. Oh, what about that enormous bird of Khaat's? Perhaps I should take him with me for messages? What do you think? What am I forgetting?"

Both cassidy and steven nodded they would do as he asked "ow you mean keiran and fiona there his brother and sister " Steven said I'll send word for them to come right away" he said and moved to go gather things for Brian and one for Marcus feeling he too could and most probably use a change of clothes when he was ready for it. Cassidy left first leaving Steven stood for a moment he smiled at angus's mention of ust taking more if he was to need it. " sounds like Robert" he said and he to left to pack two bags after he had sent the letters to fiona and Kieren to come to the main house.

Cassidy wlked down with a bag packed for Khaat and Kate placing it down by the door she walked to the kitchen and took a cup of coffee and sighed she truly hoped Khaat would pull through all this.