Marriage is Murder

"Thank you," Lee said. "I'll make sure they get these. I have to tell you, I'm a bit worried about Abbey. She seems to have a sense of all this. I'd like to take her out for a bit today if all goes well. I did promise her some candy after all. The weather is supposed to be fairly decent today. Her jacket would suit her, I think. Any objections?"

"I think she'd like that," Angus smiled. "A new adventure would help keep her little mind from wandering into worrying about things she doesn't understand. You'll bring her back in one piece, right?"

"I'll do my best," Lee laughed.

"And don't let her talk you into buying her any more pets. Particularly kitties."

"No kitties. Got it. Anything else I need to know?"

"Well," Angus said. "There is a little quirk she has. You probably need to know about that."

"Quirk? What kind of a quirk can a three year old have?"

"You'd be amazed," Angus said. "She's a descendant of a long line of seers. It looks very much like she's going to inherit that. That, and her father's animagus. Don't take your eyes off her around a pool, or you'll find you're doing an outing with a Labrador pup."

Lee laughed. "Great. Well, I suppose pet shops are out, if I'm to bring you the right pup back."

Cassidy smiled and nodded as she listened to Lee she was alittle worried at him taking Abby out but stayed quiet knowing he was like her and could handel anything that came along. " yes I think you should. " she said smiling as she saw Steven walk down with two bags one in eah hand.

"Keiran and fiona not here yet?" he asked " I sent a letter while upstairs " he added and placed the bags down next to the one " ones Brians and ones Marcus's I thought he could use a change too. " he looked at Lee then he smelt the coffee and headed to get a cup for himself.

"Thank you," Lee said. "I'll take them with the others. At any rate, I'll go deliver the bags, try to get some sort of update, and I'll come back to get Abbey. I don't expect an update yet. They've got a lot of work to do.

"I would take the others, but I think one 3 year old is about all I can manage by myself. I'm a bit out of practice with little ones. And the others honestly don't seem to realize there's any change. It looks to me like its been a good thing that they've learned to just accept that as long as they're home and with the whole bunch, life is good. I don't know what this would have been like if all five were old enough to understand."

He picked up the four bags and shouldered them. "I'll be back," Lee said. He drew his wand and ported out.

It was perhaps twenty minutes later when Kieran and Fi arrived.

"We were in a briefing in Paris," Kieran said. "Kate sent us word in Colorado, and we briefed the crew there and moved on to Paris. Your owl took a bit to catch up to us. We'll unpack and then go check on the kids."

"Thank you for coming," Angus said. "By the way, Cassidy or Fi, how about getting Abbey dressed for her date?"

"Wait," Kieran immediately frowned. "Date? She's a lovely child, and incredibly bright. But...a date? She's three. How is she dating? And are you all out of your minds?"

"He's not serious," Fi scowled at him.

"Actually I am," Angus managed to keep a serious look on his face. "He'll be here shortly to pick her up. She'd like to look her best, I'm sure."

"No," Kieran said. "Absolutely not. I'm her uncle, and she's not going on a date at 3."

Cassidy and steven both breathed out as keiran and fiona arrived then they chuckled hearing Angus both just smiled and nodded listening. Cassidy got up and moved to get Abby changed into something nice to go out in returning with her holding her hand. " hows this Angus?" she asked showing Abby warmy dressed ready for her date with lee Cassidy carried her jacket in her hands to slip on when he returned. " so will she do for her date?" Cassidy smiled at him knowing what he was doing and playing along.

Steven chuckled waiting to see if she would twig eventually who Abby was going out with. He warmed his coffee and shook his head as tey all waitie for Lee to return . " I do hope hes got good news" he said .

"I thought I put my foot down on that," Kieran scowled. "I'll kill him. We're not sending a three year old..."

"Relax, Uncle Kieran," Angus said as Cassidy arrived back with Abbey. Abbey dashed to Fi and Kieran, and Fi scooped her up in a warm hug, with a kiss.

"Fi!!" Abbey was delighted.

"She looks great," Angus smiled, "And she looks excited about going. You must have told her she was going out."

"Do you have a hug for your Uncle Kieran?" Kieran asked Abbey. Abbey leaned over, from Fi's arms and gave him a hug. "You look very pretty," Kieran said. "Where are you going?"

"Its just killing you, isn't it?" Fi laughed.

"Unca Lee!"

"And where are you going to go?" Kieran asked her. She shrugged. She had no idea.

"Lee doesn't have any kids," Kieran frowned. "How..."

"Neither do you," Fi said, "And you do just fine. So will he. Stop hovering."

Cassidy and Steven laughed out loud as Abby told them who she was going out with " yes I did she asked why she was changing her clothes " Cassidy admitted and sat with Steven as they waited for Lee to return with information on Khaat and Marcus and how they were doing. Cassidy moved to get a fresh cup of coffee and sat with Steven.


" I hope he gets back soon I for one am worried " he said holding Cassidy hand gently. Both looked at each other and saw the worry on their faces but Steven smiled at her “ They'll be fine “he said

Lee had ported back to the hospital and had put the bags securely in Khaat's office. He talked to Hannah, who was already wearing surgical scrubs, and got her to go into the operating room to just make a check and then update the immediate family who was waiting.

"Apparently, its still going as planned. Hannah is a bit confused as to why Michael Tremaine seems to be masterminding the entire process. She is a bit irked that he's hovering over every little move the team makes. I reminded her that the healers are very capable and that they're probably just ignoring him. She knows Marcus is bodyguarding Khaat, so I just suggested that Michael is bodyguarding her as well. She believes Michael is weird anyway, so I think she's chalking all that up to what a nutcase she thinks Michael is anyway."

"Michael Tremaine is crazy like a fox," Kieran said. "I've seen lots of crazy. And Michael isn't it. But he's also smart enough to use it if it works for him."

"Indeed," Angus laughed. "Its one of those things about Michael that I like a lot."

Lee looked at Abbey, who stretched both arms out to Lee. It warmed his heart, and after seeing the gore in the emergency room and seeing how deeply affected the people at the hospital were by Khaat's horrendous wounds, Abbey was the brightest spot in an otherwise completely ugly day. He took her from Kieran and she settled in against him like she belonged there with him. She was enough to make him start to rethink marriage and children.

At that moment, he heard a crash and the very ugly sound of two screaming, angry toddlers from the playroom. The sort of thing that made his bachelor blood immediately rethink that whole parenthood thing again.

"They do that lots," Abbey said to Lee, not bothered in the least by the loud shrieking from the playroom.

"Are they okay?" Lee frowned, looking at Cassidy.

"Yeah," Abbey reassured him. "They just bad. We go now?"

"We should go," Lee said, "After all, you got all dressed up. You look so pretty."

"As pretty as Mama?" she asked.

"Definitely," he nodded. "You are as pretty as your mama." She beamed happily.

"Abbey," Angus said, hoping to give Lee a few hints. "Don't forget to take Uncle Lee to look at storybooks."

"And candy...and ice cream...and cookies...and kitties...and puppies...and pink...and giraffes..." she began to list things.

"Wait," Lee frowned. "Giraffes?"

"Yeah," Abbey nodded. "I wanna giraffe!"

"Do not buy her a giraffe," Angus said in a low tone. "You hear me?"

Cassidy listened to Lee and sighed " so no news " she said softly Steven looked at her as he spoke.

"no news is good news" he said and she smiled a little. Hearing the crash from above she moved to the stairs and sighed as she moved to sort out the two boys who were fighting in the nurasry she spoke to them and placed the toy they were fighting over on a high shelf. she then sat down to read them a story to help calm them down. She chose a book and sat down.

Steven sat watching and chuckled at the mention of a geraffe and spoke up " can be a toy stuffed one though" he said " Try a zoo or something " he said and sipped his drink as he noticed the noise stop from upstairs.

"I'll do my best," Lee said, glad for the suggestion about a toy giraffe. He drew his wand. "Have you done this before, Abbey?" He asked her.

"Lots," she nodded.

"Then you know to hold tight, right?" he asked. She nodded. He looked at the others. "I'll have the princess home by midnight. I promise." He flicked his wand and apparated them out.

"Midnight?" Kieran frowned after Lee was gone.

"Or tomorrow," Angus shrugged, intentionally teasing Kieran. Fi sighed, shaking her head. "I think I should go start some lunch. We're off our time today. Its already a bit past noon. The kids are probably hungry. I'll do something quick and easy. If they get any hungrier, then Cassidy won't have an easy time of it."

He headed for the kitchen.

Steven chuckled and finished his coffee " yeah" he said to Angus as he walked into the kitchen " want some help, those veg might needing cleaning and preping " he asked trying to keep busy while trying not to think about Khaat and marcus in the hospital. Cassidy finished her story and walked down to find Abby gone and Fiona and Kiren still in the living room.

"Thank goodness there settled but hungry" she said and moved to the kitchen. the was glad to see Angus starting lunch and smiled. " so whats to eat?" she asked picking up an apple to munch on.