Abbey immediately curled into Robert, who held her close and kissed her. He felt her little fingers claw gently into him as she clutched tight to him, and he felt her tears on his neck. When Jess asked for the note, Robert took it from Abbey, examined the hair very briefly and then handed it to Jess.
"Thank you, Jess," Lee said. "Yeah, I need to shower for the day anyway. I'll be careful." He headed upstairs.
"Papa," Abbey said very softly, "I want my daddy." Robert nodded. He needed to go upstairs himself. He took her upstairs. He simply opened the bedroom door.
Marcus was not in the room, Robert noticed. Neither was Kate or Escobar. It was merely Brian now with Khaat, and Khaat appeared to be either unconscious or sleeping. Brian was writing something in a book, and drinking coffee when the door opened. He looked up, but when he saw Abbey's tears, he got up immediately.
"Daddy," Abbey reached for him.
"What's the matter?" he took her from Robert. He felt her trembling when he took her.
"Doggies want to take me away," she told him very softly, hiding in his neck.
"Doggies? What doggies? Were they here?" he asked. Robert nodded. Brian frowned deeply. Robert gestured to Abbey, and that was all Brian needed to know for the moment. "I promise you," Brian whispered into her ear, "I promise you, Abbey. No one is ever going to take you from me. Nobody."
"I want doggies dead," she said to him.
"Me too, honey," Brian agreed.
"They kill my mama," she said.
"Your mama? No. They didn't. She's not dead. Look," Brian said. "She's here. Come with me." He took her over to the bed and showed her. "See? Remember her boo boos? Its going to take her some time to get better. But she's not dead."
Abbey looked at Khaat and then at Remus's portrait.
"She not with you, Unca ReRe?"
"No, Sweetie," the portrait said. "She's only sleeping. Your daddy wouldn't lie to you. Not about that...." Remus was cut off by Khaat's trying to move. It was painful for her, and it made her groan a bit in her sleep. For Abbey, though, it was relief. She'd seen dead people. They didn't move or make noise. She hung onto her daddy with all she had. Brian picked up the empty coffee pot and was going to try to send it downstairs for a refill, but it was hard to do onehanded. Robert sent the coffee pot and the tea pot back downstairs for refills.