Marriage is Murder

Jess looked at Angus and nodded taking the Smoothie on the tray up to Khaat " of course I'll" she said and headed up knocking she opekd the door " Anugs sent this up and says Brian your to shower and eat while I tend to her" she said " and no arguments " she added smiling as she moved to Khaats side she sighed feling her energy though weak was stable. She smiled to Robert adding slowly her own energy but only small amounts. " Khaat Angus made you something you have to try and eat" she said softly to him. hoped he would go and eat and change as he wore the same clothes he had for two days and they were looking a bit battered and creased.

Stephen helped feel the kids then a nanny took the back up to their room all but Abby he thought it best she saty with the grown ups hoping she would feel comfortable like that.

"Let me wake her first," Brian said. "She's not been awake for almost 24 hours." He went over and woke her gently. "Hey," he said. "I'll be right back. Jess and your father are here. I'm just going to shower. I promise. I won't leave the room if you don't want me to."

She shook her head. She saw the fatigue in Brian's face, and she knew how hard things had been for him. She was going to try to be independent for him.

"You let them know if you need anything," he said to her. She nodded. "I won't be far, Jess," he said, picking up a change of clothes and heading to the shower.

Khaat wasn't trying to be difficult. She was just very tired and sleepy. She started to doze again. Her father didn't like it. He wished he could check her himself. This wasn't right. He went over and flicked the glass with his fingers, making the glass ring. She woke a bit, yawning. She tried twice to drink the smoothie but started to doze in between, each time. He went to the tea tray and added two spoonfuls of sugar to the smoothie and stirred it in and let Jess go back to feeding the smoothie to her.

After a few more sips, she began to come around a bit. Robert was a bit more pleased with the results. He pointed out the empty candy dish on the dresser to Jess. He wanted it filled, preferably with chocolates that would melt easily in her mouth, no hard candies.

"When did you ever have a sweet tooth?" Remus's portrait asked. Robert shook his head. He pointed to Khaat and made a baby motion with his hands. "You think something's off because she's pregnant?" Robert nodded. "And you want her to have sugar easily available, dont' you?" Robert nodded. "Well, she's not awake much. It'll be hard filling that order, wont it?" Robert shook his head. Getting her to eat sugar wouldn't be hard if they simply used the skills they already knew at St. Mungos.

Jess watched Robert and continued to feed Khaat untill it was half gone she nodded her head and knew just what he wanted " soft chocolates I'll get Jack onto it right away" she said but staid by Khaat as she wrote a note and sent it down to them in the living room.

"I'M ON IT JESS" Jack called out and she felt him leave.

" I do hope he gets good chocolates" she said softly and smiled as Khaat took more of the smoothie " I think that sugar made it taste beter for her" she said but frowned a little at his actions. She was worried just as he was if she needed sugar what was causing her to need it apart from the baby.

Robert nodded. He was glad to see her feeling a bit better. He saw the bat land on the windowsill, and he wandlessly opened the window. The bat flew in and transformed into Escobar.

"Ah," Escobar smiled. "At last. You're awake. You had a very close call. You should drink that. Any sort of fluids are good for you." He laid his hand on her forehead and then dipped one finger into her glass unceremoniously and tasted it. He frowned. "Sugar. Lots of it. Well, you need it." He looked at Jess. "Can you arrange to have her diet changed? We'll need to alter her foods for at least a few days." He looked up at Robert.

"You didn't touch her, but you knew, didn't you" Escobar asked. Robert nodded. Escobar looked at Jess. "Her blood sugar is very low. It can sometimes happen when someone has been critically ill. And with her inability to eat because of her illness, and her own changes in body chemistry, its liable to be a problem for at least a few days. Adjust her diet and she may be more alert and start to feel better."

"That was a problem with her other two pregnancies anyway," the portrait said.

"Whether it will remain so this time is too soon to tell," Escobar said. "But it needs monitored at least until she's on her feet again. Hopefully when you get the chocolates, he doesn't get high cacao chocolates where the sugar content is low. All she needs is some regular dark or milk chocolate with normal sugar content so that it melts easily when she eats it. We can cut it into smaller pieces if he gets large bars."

Jess nodded as she listened to Ecobar and nodded " of course I'll let Angus know he is the one who organises the food" she said feeding her a bit more of the smoothie until it was all gone. Jess chuckled as she heard Ecobar talk about they type of chocolate " the only chocolate Jack knows it high in sugar " she said and smiled as Khaat finished her smoothie " all gone "said and placed it next to the bed. Soon Jack retuned with some chocolates he managed to get from Lizzie.

" okay will these do " he said and first showed Robert " there soft none are the hard hazel or solid cocolate ones, I thike some are caramel" he said and saw Jess chuckle." no I didn't test..well maybe one or two." he said making her chuckle

Robert checked the chocolates and nodded. He put them in the candy dish and put them on the nightstand beside Khaat. He looked at Khaat and saw she had drifted back off to sleep already. He frowned.

"I wouldn't be concerned," Escobar told Robert. "She came closer than we told you." Robert was immediately angry that he had not been notified, and he was concerned that he wasn't sure why she had had such a close call. Escobar didn't offer that little piece of information. When he didn't, Robert clutched Escobar by the lapel of his elegant jacket.

Escobar merely looked at him, unphased. He didn't move.

"I gave her my word," Escobar said. "I realize you want answers, but I gave her my word I would not answer those questions without her permission."

Robert was outraged. He didn't want this vampire to be closer to Khaat than he was.

"Robert," Remus's image said. "I was here, remember? It really was her choice. He's telling you the truth. Ask her when she wakes."

Robert turned and left the room abruptly. He stormed downstairs and encountered Brian who had assembled a sandwich of sorts from toast and egg casserole, with some strips of bacon on top of the egg casserole, topped by another piece of toast. Robert frowned at the somewhat weird concoction. Brian was trying to make breakfast-on-the-go from the breakfast leftovers.

He unhappily poked Brian in the chest, careful not to make contact with anything but the pocket flap of his shirt so that there were several layers of fabric between him and Brian.

"Yes?" Brian frowned. Robert pointed upstairs. "Is she alright? Do I need to get back?" He went to set his plate aside, and Robert stopped him. He gestured to himself.

"Oh," Brian said. He glanced around to be sure they were alone and would not be overheard. "Robert, her blood supply was so low from almost bleeding out that we had to take far more than we normally would have done. Far more than we told you we would." Robert understood. In order to make sure James smelled enough of her blood, they had nearly taken all she had. And that meant that Brian had had to keep her alive with life support all night while Escobar used spells repeatedly to rebuild her blood supply enough that to get her off life support. It explained it all. Including the low blood sugar today and the extreme fatigue she had.

"We made the choice together--for the kids," Brian said. "It was a calculated risk. Any less and we would run the risk that the plan might not have worked. She does not want Jack and Jess to know what it took to get their kids back. She was very firm on that. She wasn't keeping it from you. And I supported her. The problem I have now is that I can't keep her warm. She's complaining of being cold."

Robert understood that was also from blood loss. He accio'd a business card from Tobias and one of Khaat's warm winter nightgowns and a warm knit shawl. He found Steven. He handed him the business card and the nightgown. He pointed to the nightgown and gestured to them. More. He wanted more warm nightgowns and shawls for her as soon as possible.

Steven had watched Robert and Brian but said nothing it was not for him to say when Robert turned to him he nodded and took the card and looked at the warm night gown " you want more of these , got it" he said and ported right to the shop. Knocking he walked in to it and looked around he saw the night gowns and walked over to Tobias. "Hey Tobias, Roberts, asking for more of these night gowns, don't ask why can you deliver as many as you have to use?" he asked " I'll wait while you sort the order" he looked at him knowing as much as he wished he could tell him he could not.

Jess just sat beside Khaats bed and kept an eye on her when she saw her shiver she pulled another blanket over her. " thank you Khaat" she said softly as she brushed her hair off her face.

"Give me a few minutes," Tobias said. If Robert were making a quick request for something in Khaat's size, it was because Khaat was in trouble somehow. And if it were for only nightgowns, she was either sick or hurt. Tobias wasn't stupid.

He went into the back and boxed up a good many nightgowns in warm winter fabrics. The prettiest ones he had. He found his nicest shawls and packed them and several pair of warm slipper socks. He included some warm robes for whenever she could use them. Then, as an after thought, he added some pairs of winter pajamas for, hopefully, when she was better enough to use them.

He thought a moment and then went back into the back room and got out a pink cardboard box and set it into the larger box he was packing for Khaat. He scribbled a hasty note and tucked it into an envelope, addressed it to Robert and closed the larger box.

"I'll add it to his tab," Tobias said. "He'll understand the rest. I trust he'll let me know what else he needs."

Upstairs, Marcus had slept a few hours, had showered, shaved, and now returned to the bedroom, feeling refreshed. He hadn't needed more than three or four hours. He hadn't felt comfortable leaving her more than that.

Escobar saw him come back in. "You're an odd human, aren't you?" Escobar asked.

"How so?" Marcus asked.

"You don't sleep, do you?"

"Yes. I do. I did," Marcus said. Escobar looked at him, studying him.

"You're either a trained survivalist. Or you're in love with her," Escobar said.

"I trained in the dark forest in Eastern Europe--by myself," Marcus said. "I know how to survive. And, incidently, my client and I are both married."

"That never stopped anyone before," Escobar shrugged. "But the dark forest does explain a lot. Romania?"

"Romania, Transylvania, that whole region. Foul place in the winter."

"Indeed," Escobar agreed. "But you're not fighting to survive now."

"No," Marcus said. "But she is. And that's enough."

Brian arrived back in the room with the odd little plate and refilled his coffee mug.

"That looks positively disgusting," Escobar frowned. "Its not even hot. How can you eat that?"

"Its food," Brian shrugged.

"Well, when you finish, perhaps you'll finally let someone attend to your burns." Brian looked up at him, not intending for anyone to know about that. Escobar rolled his eyes. "Did you not really look in the mirror? Your hair is singed. Your clothes had burn holes in them when you returned yesterday. We're not morons. And I saw your burns during the night. You're an idiot."

Steven stood and waited seeing him return with several boxes he nodded " thanks Tobias " he said and nodded " yep it will be wther me or Jack that comes wth the order " he said shrinking the boxes he placed them in a bag picking them up he waved , smiled and left porting abck to the main house. He headed upstairs and to Khaats closet before he unshrunk the boxes and made everything hang its self up. Finding the note adressed to Robert he walked down to find him " here from Tobias" he said and handed it to him.

Jess looekd up as Escobar mentioned burns on Brian. " okay Escobar please take over Khaat for me" she moved to Brian checking him she set the burns healing " superfishal burns Escobar" she said setting the last burn healing " should take a day or two to heal fully" she said.

"Thank you, Jess," Brian said.

"What were you doing screwing around with dragons anyway?" Escobar asked.

"I was on an errand," Brian said. "And I got the job of giving a dose of potion to a cranky dragon with a head cold."

"Nasty business. I'd have left him alone."

"She," Brian said. "She was getting vicious about her eggs, and every time she sneezed she set the forest on fire."

"Did they at least give you a decoy?"

"What decoy?"

"Don't tell me. They handed you a bottle of potion and a broom," Escobar said.

"How'd you know?"

"And I'm guessing there was no one in sight when you landed, was there?"

"No."

"You got punked. That's as close to a suicide mission as any dragon keeper wants. I'm guessing the man running the dragon camp was nowhere in sight when this happened."

"He went for supplies. That's why they needed help."

"No they didn't. They set you up. You really don't need to be messing with dragons unless you know more. On the up side, though, if the dragon has half a brain, she's liable to like you now, and if you go back and they try to set you up again, she might very well eat them. Would serve them right," Escobar said.

"Nobody deserves to be eaten," Brian said.

"Hang in their another 570 years and then tell me you still feel the same way," Escobar said dryly. "You will change your mind."

Robert took the note from Steven and opened it. He read it. It was a note about some of the Christmas gifts he and kate had ordered, but not listing any of them. Robert turned the note to Steven and showed him the P.S. on the bottom of the note. It read "The pink box is for Abbey. T."

Robert frowned, unaware there had been a pink box, but he was aware that Abbey was the grandchild of his that Tobias knew and had spent time with. Tobias did like to buy girly clothes for Abbey and sometimes sent them. He and Kate usually then made sure that the other kids had some gifts too. Robert kept making a mental note to honor Tobias's request to meet the other kids too. There just didn't seem to ever be the time to do it.