Marriage is Murder

"Chicken and noodles, I think," Angus said, getting out a container of stock and some left over roasted chicken.  He put it on the counter. "Salad if one of you can manage to put one together. Steven, can you peel me some carrots to put into the noodles and some potatoes so we can make some mashed potatoes to go with the noodles?"

He put the stock on to heat and another pot of water, and got a plastic container out of the refrigerator. It had pasta dough in it. He opened the flour container on his work table and tossed a handful of bench flour out and proceeded to work the dough and cut it quickly into noodles.  

He took the leftover chicken and made sure it had no skin or bones and cut it into bite sized bits to add later. By then the stock was boiling. He added the noodles, the chicken, and some herbs and seasonings. As soon as the carrots had been sliced and added to the noodles and the mashed potatoes had cooked, they would be ready to eat.

He set a spell in place to set the table, and then got a fresh baguette out and cut it into crusty pieces and put them in a basket and got out the butter to come to room temperature.  He sent the bread and the butter to the table, along with a plate of the pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with the orange and green sugars.

Cassidy watched as Steven and Angus moved around the kitchen making lunch"going to be wonderful "she said watching them as they cooked , Steven preping the veg while Angus made the bulk of the meal . Hearing little feet she moved from the kitchen up to the hallway by the nursary to find Little Robert and James running abck and forth . " ok back in the nursary " she said and ushered them back in " lunch will be read soon" she said and they all cheered.

Steven sat prepping the veg as he watched Angus he said nothing after telling him wehat he needed. Steven felt the same not much to say as he sat thinking about what could be going on at the hospital and if Khaat would come back. He hoped she would as he didn't want to see Abbys little face with out her spark if they lost Khaat.

Angus made very quick work of preparing the rest of the meal. He could churn out a lot of food in a hurry if he needed to, and today, not only did the kids need fed, but he needed to push himself, to work for speed. It helped him feel less helpless. More purposeful and valuable. He made the plates and sent them to the table.

"Thank you for the help," he said to them. "Do you think you can handle this for a bit without me? I'd like to pop into the village to the butcher's for some very fresh meat for dinner tonight. I'd like to do something special for Kate to let her know that we're thinking of her."

Angus did feel particularly sorry for Kate. Her husband hexed and not himself. Her daughter fighting for life. Her entire life had revolved around her family, and Kate was now in the unenviable position of having to look graceful under an immense amount of pressure.

Kate had never wanted to be in any sort of spotlight, but Angus knew the public would be looking for her now. They would be looking to see if the wife and mother of two of their highest officials would give them any information, or inadvertently give away any clues through her words or her behaviors. Her privacy would be compromised now any time she was out of the estate.

He refocused on lunch. One thing at a time. "I think we should get the kids. I think we're ready. Oh--I havent' poured the tea and the lemonade yet. I guess we can do that after we get the kids started on their food, right?"

Steven looked up at Angus and smiled " sure that sounds a good idea Angus" he said finishing his veg prep and set every to where it was meant to be. " I'll get that done, you do what you need Angus." he said simply as he started on the pouring the tea and the lemonade at the table. Cassidy calmed the boys and sighed she looked at Fiona wondering how she could keep so cool when she was scared out her whits at losing Khaat and possibly Robert too if this curse he was under didn't lift any time soon.

Kieran and Fi joined them for lunch. Kieran had attempted to concentrate his efforts into business. Someone had to run the organization, and it seemed to be left to him at the moment. Fi, on the other hand, wasn't able to deal with any more grief in her life. She'd lost her husband and all her children. She had mentally accepted, more or less, that even if Khaat survived, life was likely to be hellish for her brother's chosen family.

Lee, in the meantime, had taken Abbey to, of all places, New York. He had treated her to a real American hot dog, which delighted the child. New York also held the world's largest muggle toy store, so he took her there next and let her pick whatever she wanted.

He laughed and laughed when she chose a lifesized stuffed giraffe. He managed to make that purchase and a mammoth stack of storybooks that she had chosen, and, with some monsterous doings, he 'sent' the giraffe and the storybooks right dead center into the living room of the Lupin estate.

He knew it was getting into her naptime when she started to rub her eyes and lay her head on his chest, still not ready to give in to sleep. She was clear that she didn't want to go home yet.

He took her to his Washington apartment and found she was more comfortable being with him than without him. He guessed she was feeling some bit of her family's stress. He sat down in his recliner and leaned back and let her lay on his chest. She cuddled into him and fell asleep. He knew she would probably not sleep long but he had heard that a little one who had missed a nap was not a pretty thing. So, he figured, a time out was in order.

Steven was walking through the living room when he was bowled over by a large stuffed geraffe appearing " aw hell no lee" he said and rubbed chin " he did it, he bought a stuffed geraffe , a bloody life sized one." he said Cassidy chuckled and smiled, Steven picked it up took it to Abbys room and placed it by her bed. Then walked back down to sit where he was going to sit before he was knocked over.

" you said he could Steven" she told him and chuckled again " so realisticly it was your own fault" she said and saw him smile and chuckle. Steven nodded his head.

" guess I should have said a small stuffed geraffe" he said and sat down net to Cassidy.

Angus went into the village while the kids napped and picked up the steaks he had wanted. He was very particular of the cut he wanted, and he had it cut to precisely his specifications. He returned quickly to the house and started preparations while the kids were quiet.

He had missed entirely the giraffe delivery, so he merely headed into the kitchen. "Cassidy, do you want to try to put together some sort of dessert for tonight?" he asked. "Whatever you like. Or if you have any idea what might please Kate, then do that. Steven, would you look for some cognac in Brian's cellar, please? I need it for a sauce."

When Abbey woke, Lee had the London news running on his muggle laptop. It was showing some footage that had the London Eye in the background.

Abbey was fascinated. She pointed to the enormous, turning wheel. "What that?" she asked.

"That?" he asked. "Its a ride."

"We go?"

"You wanna go there?" he asked. She nodded. "You won't be scared?"

"Nooo," she shook her head. "Papa lets me ride the hippo at home."

"Hippo?" Lee asked. She flapped her arms like wings.

"I fly with Daddy," she said.

"Oh! The hippogriff!" he said. She nodded. "You are brave. Alright. We can go, but we'd better go soon. They close the ride for the night by dinner time." She nodded.

He ported them back into London and was carrying her towards the London Eye. It was a mass of people. He was hoping that was a good thing.

But he felt himself being snagged, unable to move forward for some reason. And at the same time, something was pulling on Abbey, trying to remove her from his arms, and she started to scream. He looked at her and saw that some enormous hand had grabbed her by the hair and was trying to pull her away from him.

"Its only the cherry on the sundae!" a vicious voice said. "Its only a bite. Give it to me!" He knew James' voice anywhere.

"That's not all I'll give you," Lee said, outraged. He snatched the switchblade from his pocket because it was easier. "Hold on, Abbey," he told her quickly and spun towards Abbey, and thrusting the blade up to its hilt into James' abdomen.

It had not been what James had expected. He let go, gasping. Lee disappeared into a shop, and then apparated away, taking her to the safety of his own Kensington flat. There were no tracers on this place. Abbey was clutching him with both of her little fists and sobbing. He took her inside.

He scribbled a quick message and sent it to the estate. He wanted time to get more of his own men to do the job that he didn't believe the aurors were yet doing. And Robert's own men had enough to do.

"The beast is hunting, but the princess is safe. Expect reinforcements. Do not expect me tonight. L."

He was hoping they would understand that he was trying to get Abbey out of the stress and to hide her. This was too much for a three year old. She needed some time and a little distance, and he needed to hide her until he knew how James had found them.

Cassidy thought about it and sighed " sorry I can't come up with anything its like my minds gone blank" she said Steven moved down to the cellar returning with the cognac Angus needed and he set it down on the counter. As he did she saw the letter from Lee and shook his head then handed it to Angus.

"That sorry son of a *****" he said making cassidy rais her eye brow not ever having heard him swear as he just had. " James must have attacked them, why else would he keep her with him." he said and kicked a chair so it fell down he did pick it up but then walke dout into the garden.

" he'll be okay, he'll calm down " Cassidy said and looekd at the note " whats it say?" she asked since she had not seen it.

"I'm guessing he's right," Angus said, agreeing with Cassidy. "Here. Read for yourself. It seems she's unharmed but he's hiding her. If I know Abs, she's upset and scared. And with everything else going on, I'm betting Lee is equally concerned about removing her as far away from all this as he can. Actually, if I were in his shoes, I'd probably be doing the same thing about now.

"He's a very capable fighter. You know that. How many times has he saved our arses? More than I can count. If there were anyone that Robert would trust with Abbey, aside from us, I have no doubt that it would be Lee.

"But I suggest we not breathe a word of this to Robert even if he were to come home right now. Not until we judge how he's coping with however this comes out. He doesn't have the control of his emotions as he wants to have. We'll tell him if we need to."

Cassidy took the note and sat down as she read it " I agree, at least she safe and I agree she’s better there with him than here." she said and listened more to Angus " yeah we don't need him tearing this place apart, but how do we tell Robert when the times right?" she asked looking up at Angus " how do we tell Kate her grand daughters with lee because James is after her" she said and placed the note down on the table. Cassidy stood up and looked at Steven out side chewing out a guard for not closing a gap he had seen. " He’s pissed, I don't blame him. " she said softly to her self