Marriage is Murder

Jack looekd as Michael walked in " I said the same thing and I said I'd get the suplies " he let the long list drop to the in front of him before rolling it back up and porting out quickly to the supliers. Cassidy came down and watched as glasses floated past her to the table she wore her jeans and teeshir that read kee calm and drink tea " wow" she said ducking again as she stepped in " okay Angus I'll play waitress, no skin of my nose don't it once in my teen life nothing diferent " she saw men arrive and guded them to the dining room to eat." this way guys take a seat" shesaid and made the jug fill every glass going as she then walked into the kitchen. " okay service chef" she said and chuckled " jack take the first round I'll do the second" she smiled at Angus " we might be the fist team but we can do waiter service" she said and chukled a Jack tried to balance plates on his arm , Cassidy walked over and showed him how to do it with out dropping them.

Michael and Angus filled plates at breakneck speed and handed them out to Cassidy and Jack as quickly as they could fill them.

Michael glanced into the living room and saw Robert starting to wake slowly, sleepily. Michael filled a mug with Earl Grey and floated it out to him in between filling the plates.

"Tray," Angus commanded. A service tray sprang into action and laid itself on one of the kitchen counters. "Morning tea tray," he ordered. "Service for four. Add one vampire service" The coffee and tea pots began to fill, mugs began to set themselves on the tray, and it began to make itself ready to go upstairs."

"Coffee mug to Guest Room Two," Michael ordered. Another mug filled itself with French Roast and floated up to the guest room where Lee had spent the night.

"I am so glad you taught the dishes how to do tea service without so much work," Angus told Michael.

"You just have to know how to talk to them," Michael said, taking animated daily objects as just a normal part of life.

Jack and Cassidy moved fast placing down plates and returning to the kitchen for more " three left " Cassidy said and tok the plates she chuckled seeing Jack red faced and exausted yet she felt fine " comes with being use to working fast" she said then a she saw them leave she motioned for each to place ther eplates on a table and smiled as they did so, Now cassidy stod and spoke " washing macjine" she said and they flaoted to the machine and it closed and set going " thats my trick" she said now resetting the table as she ducked under the tray that foated up stairs she could tell one was for Robert, one was for Khaats room and the last was lees , she picked up some cookies and placed them on the tray smiling as it sped up the stairs. Cassidy saw Michael and chuckled. " wish I knew that trick might have come in handy al those years ago" she said seeing Jack placing the now clean plates back in the cupboard.

"Wave two is coming," Michael said. "Reset the table for the second seating. And then we need to work on getting the kids up during this seating to feed our own crew. It gives us about an hour to get our own lot up and awake and downstairs."

Robert sipped on his tea, wondering if Khaat had survived the night. No one had awakened him, so he had to presume that she was still alive.

Lee was awake, and Abbey was still cuddled into his chest. His coffee arrived, and he sipped on it, letting her sleep. She had awakened often during the night, and had had many nightmares about werewolves. She had settled eventually every time, but he was letting her sleep a bit longer this morning. He was wondering about Khaat too. There had been no movement from the bedroom, no sounds from the room. The door hadn't opened once all night. It had been silent.

Jack tok his position again and cassidy started to take threw the plates three on each arm while casidy did two by two soon all was done " okay round two done" she said and again she made the men put the plates on the table. Jess woke to an empty bed she washed dressed and headed to the nursary to get the kids up and dressed. Once done she made them stand in line and walk behind her as they headed down to the dinning room. She saw the last man leave and acioed the kids high chairs one by one placing them into each one. She moved to the kitchen and smiled at Angus and michale.

" kids dresed washed and ready " she said and smiled " see we can work togther , any sign on Khaat or Robert?" Jess asked softly some what hoping everything was going to be okay.

"You just walked past Robert," Michael said. "He's been asleep in the living room all night. I sent him his tea in to him a bit ago. I don't think he's thought about going up to check on Khaat yet. I sent up a tray awhile ago to Khaat's room but we haven't heard a syllable yet.

Upstairs, Abbey finally woke, and she stayed cuddled sleepily laying against Lee. There was something in the quiet of the morning as the beautiful little girl laid cuddled tight to him that he thought he could get used to. She smelled like little girls should smell, and she was still warm from sleep. He felt her wake but she stirred very little.

"Abs," he kissed her hair, speaking very softly. "Are you hungry? I know I smell breakfast." She shook her head no. "Any more bad dreams?" he asked.

"I hate doggies," she said softly. "I no want them here. No more. You make them come here no more."

"I will," he said to her, holding her. "I'll get him. I promise, Abs."

"My mama no dead?"

"No," he said. "Should we go see?" She nodded. He simply stood up and picked her up and they went across the hallway. Lee knocked lightly on the door.

Marcus opened it.

"Where my mama?" Abbey narrowed her eyes at him.

"She's sleeping," Marcus said very softly. "So is your daddy and your gram."

"Where the bat go?" she asked.

"He's not far," Marcus said. "He'll be back in a few minutes."

"I wanna see Mama," Abbey said.

"Why don't you go get some breakfast and maybe by then she'll be awake?" Marcus said.

"She no dead?"

"No, Sweetie. She's not dead. She's just sleeping. Its okay to go eat. I promise. I bet if you ask, someone will get some berries for you," Marcus smiled.

"We'll come back," Lee said. "Come on, Abs. I'm hungry." He carried her downstairs to breakfast, letting her still wear her pajamas to the breakfast table.

Jessica looked back into the living room and rubbed her temples " ah okay guess I'm not as awake as I thought I was " she said poring some coffee for her self then taking the cup from out of the air as it hovered close to her. Jack chuckled watching her as she took a drink and sighed deeply " god that's good coffee" she said and moved to sit in the living room with Robert she wondered just how Khaat was doing as they hadn't called on her over night. She saw the look of worry on Roberts face that sat on her own and almost every one else's in the room. Jack finished service and sat down as well he took Jess cup and took a drink then pulled a face.

"God that's awful, how can you drink that." he asked tasting a day old brew of coffee she had in her cup. Jess laughed and tok the cup back off him

" its nothing to what is usually on the nurses stations at the hospital" she said and finished it. She smiled seeing Lee and Abby walking down the stairs " morning Abby , Lee" she said .

"'Morning," Lee said. He put Abbey at her place at the table. She immediately began looking over the table to see if there were berries on the menu. The plate that landed in front of her had breakfast casserole, potatoes, a piece of a cinnamon roll, and a little bowl of fruit salad. There were grapes in it. Not berries. She pushed the bowl of fruit salad aside, unhappy. She decided to settle for the rest of it, but if the fruit did not have berries, she didn't want it this morning.

Lee picked up a mug of fresh coffee and took a sip. "You must have gotten the last of the pot because this cup is fresh," Lee said. Lee looked in to Robert and saw that he was trying to handle life just as business as usual.

"You either haven't been upstairs yet or its not what I was told it was," Lee said to him. Robert looked up, wondering what Lee meant. "Marcus said she's sleeping. I dont' know when she came conscious. I never heard. But apparently Kate and Brian are asleep, and Escobar evidently felt she was safe enough to leave momentarily. Marcus is the only one awake with her right now. Abbey and I were just there."

Robert wanted to go up but since he couldn't touch her, it would do him no good. He merely nodded, grateful for Lee's report.

Jess smiled and nodded "yes I must have " she listened again as Lee told Robert of what he knew " that's good to know" she said and sent for two mugs one for her and one for Jack. She saw Abby's reaction to the fruit salad and smiled flicking her finger she added berry's red strawberry and cherry's smiling as she wondered if she would notice it once she finished the breakfast casserole. Cassidy walked out and sat down at the table with her food and ate it quietly then drank her orange juice.

"So whats our next move?" Jack asked to both lee and Robert. He was relived hearing Khaat was going to make it and be okay. He took Jess's hand and shook his head knowing she was thinking of going up " better to stay down here and leave it with them for today your still short of energy" he told her and she sighed and nodded.

"I don't think anyone has thought that far," Lee said. "I think we should have breakfast, get an official report from upstairs and then perhaps re-examine it."

Lee saw Robert appeared to be struggling a bit in getting his eyes open this morning. He knew that feeling well. He was guessing that perhaps Robert hadn't slept well in some time and he had apparently slept soundly the night before. It always caused some drag the next morning.

"How about I get you some coffee, my friend?" Lee offered Robert. Robert looked like he was going to need something just a bit stronger to get started. Robert nodded. Lee got up and headed to the kitchen.

"Papa," Abbey called him. "Come fix my toast?" Robert cracked a half smile.

"Fix her toast?" Lee asked. Robert nodded. He got up and went into the dining room. He went up behind her chair and planted a little kiss on her cheek.

"My toast is wrong," she told him, pointing to it. He looked at it and nodded, understanding her. He cut the crusts off her piece of toast for her and accio'd the cinnamon sugar and sprinkled it on her toast. She still didn't touch it, and she looked up at him, just waiting. He frowned. "You need to cut it, Papa. You forgetted to cut it." He realized he had indeed forgotten to cut it for her. He cut it from corner to corner twice, making for triangles for her. She picked up a piece and began eating it, much happier now.

Lee had taken note of the 'proper' way to fix her toast.

"You didn't complain about the toast yesterday," Lee said to her.

"You had donuts," she said. "No toast."

"Do not tell her mother you gave her donuts," Angus said, bringing in a fresh pitcher of orange juice.

"Mama no give me donuts for breakfast," Abbey grinned at Lee, pleased to get away with it.

"We just wont tell her," Lee said to her.

"She be mad. She take your teddy for being bad," Abbey nodded. Lee just laughed.

"She can't take my teddy if I don't tell her," he said.

"That more bad," Abbey said. "Mama know if you say bad stories. She no give you candy anymore if you do that."

"She sounds like she's a good mom," Lee said. "Like she loves you very much." Abbey nodded, picking out the newly added berries from her fruit salad and eating them with her fingers. Robert put her spoon in her hand. He knew her behaviors were just a little off because she had been so badly frightened. It was completely normal for a three year old's behaviors to not quite be perfect after being traumatized. He could see she was trying, though.