Marriage is Murder

Steven listened, smiled then nodded to her." the yards a mess but hes got it partly put his system I think " he said and smiled more as she mentioned what he had brought he realized he was missing lunch " I'll tell him and Robert leftthe yard in a bit of a mess but hes okay , tired but okay" he said smiling as jack and a Tired jess walked in  food smelling the food.

"smells good " Jess said and sat down as Jack went to get her and himself some food. Jess moved to check on marcus and smiled seeing him sleeping and stable. Jack gave her some food and she ate hungrinly at it then drank her cola.

" I'd  better get back  " Steven said and moved to Kate " she'll be fine " he said hoping to iliviate some of the worry he could see on her face.

"I appreciate it," Kate said. She hadn't thought she was hungry until she saw the beautiful steak au poive.  "Remind me to tell him this is what I want for my birthday," she said. "I know this sounds self centered of me, but I honestly want to eat, check on Khaat, and then borrow her quarters in her office and get a shower and some comfortable clothes. Makes me sound like a crappy mother, doesn't it? And if I'm going to be here all night, I have to go downstairs and get all new magazines for up here. These magazines are from 2018.  I don't have any interest in 8 year old magazines. You know, on second thought, we ought to just take over her quarters and station ourselves there. Its definitely more comfortable there than here. What do you think?"

Downstairs, Brian sat alone, picking at the wonderful dinner. It was the mere taste alone that kept him at all interested. He hadn't eaten all day, and the taste was the best steak au poive he'd ever had--better than all the times he'd had it in Paris. He wished Khaat could taste it. He knew how she loved it.

He heard an autumn night rain begin, the rain hitting against the windows.  This was just the wrong place to be tonight. They should have been home, the two of them, sitting in front of the fireplace in their bedroom, their kids all safely asleep in their beds next door.  But his baby girl was...well, he didn't know where the heck Lee had her stashed.  And Khaat--he wondered if she would want to come back to him at all. Why should she? The physical pain of recovering from wounds like this would be insane.  And if she just made that one more short step across the veil, there would be no more pain, no more curses, no more werewolves--and there would be Remus.  It seemed like a no brainer to Brian. Why would she return to him now?

He thought he heard a whisper. But it was so short and faint, he wasn't sure. He turned around, and saw no one in the room. No one but him. Well, him and Khaat. He didn't think he had lost his mind--not quite yet.  

"Git!" the whisper came again. He heard it clearly this time.  He still saw no one. Then he saw the fingers on Khaat's good hand move a bit. He went over to her.  

"Hey," he called softly, frowning slightly. There was just no way it was her. Not yet. "Are you with me?"

"You're a git," she whispered, her voice so weak it wasn't even a good whisper.

"Why?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear her answer.

"Steak? Share, Git!" she said, needing to force herself to be heard. He thought a moment, and then he laughed.

"Are you hungry?" The gratitude he felt in his heart was one of the most powerful things he remembered ever feeling in his life. He had to take a second to breathe, to get ahold of himself. Had she honestly chosen him after all? When giving up would have been so easy?

"Starving," she said. That was far better than he hoped. Even though it wasn't the best medical judgment, for her, he would do anything. And if a taste of his steak was what she wanted, he would give it to her. He took a very tiny bite of his steak with the cream sauce and gave it to her.  It seemed to melt in her mouth.  "Thanks," she said.

"How are you awake?" he asked.

"Your sleep spell sucks," she said. "So does your pain spell."

"That's because I haven't used a pain spell yet," he said, reaching up to draw off her pain. She was visibly relieved, so relieved she groaned softly. "Better?" She tried to nod, but he caught her cheek in his hand. "No.  You have to lay still, Babe. This time, you really do."

"How bad?"

"We've got it. You don't need to worry about..."

"Tell me," she said.  

"You're in ICU," he told her softly. "You're going to be here awhile...."

"Marcus!" she was upset. "He was..."

"Shh. He's alright. He's fine...."

"Its not safe," she tried to tell him urgently. "You can't all stay here... James...he'll come...all the...lives..at risk..." He felt her weakening suddenly and sharply due to her fear, and he didn't need to be a seer to feel her deep fear.  He laid his hand on her again and added life support to steady her irregular vital signs. He knew she was terrified that James would be back. She had every right to be afraid of being vulnerable to him, not just because of what he had done to her, but also what they knew he was capable of doing to anyone else if he had a mind to do it. But he could not afford to let her be afraid. In this shape, if she were this stressed, she could still die.

"Stop," he told her. "You have to stop. We've got this...."

"No...."

"Listen to me," he said steadily. "You stop, or I really will have to sedate you. You can't do this."

Jess walked back into the room and stood watching walking over she stood facing her " hes right Khaat relax and recover thats all you have to do " she told her placing her hand on Khaats head gentlyshe felt the pain relife Brian had given her but added to it and calmed her. " I don't know what else I can do since Robert has gone home to clean up " she told Brian and sat close by " I'll be here for as long as you need me" she said smiling to him feeling the hard part was over " their both going to be fine." she said feeling Brians worry even if she wasn't a seer she could see it plain on his face.

Steve chuckled at Kate and noddth Khed but then moved to the room wiaat and Brian in glad to hear talking came to let you. " just to let you know Im heading back , need anythng? " he asked Jess thought for moment and shook her head "you might wnt to go change " she said to Brian.

Brian wasn't surprised that Jess had come downstairs.

"I thought you all were eating," Brian told them. "You should eat while its still hot." He felt her vital signs stabilize again under his spell. He looked at Khaat again. "Look," he said, "Its okay for you to be upset about James. You certainly have a right. But we're not going to cave to this. You and I both know that Remus taught us better. Remus understood the curse as well as anyone. He never wanted us to run from it. He only wanted us to be smart about it. The only other thing that makes him different is that James is a nut. I am not ever going to give up what we have to that. You got that?"

She was quiet for a moment. Then she said. "Be sure," she said very softly.

"Oh, you have no idea how very sure I am," he said to her. "You let us handle James. Jess is right. For now, all you have to do is get better. We've got the rest."

He heard Steven tell him he needed at some point to go change.

"I will, Steven," Brian said. "I've got time, though. I'm not going anywhere. I'm more concerned about making sure Belby gets a chance to get some sleep. He did battle with James face to face in the middle of the night and brought her here. He needs a chance to eat and rest and get some fresh clothes."

Jess smiled at Brian and nodded " I have eaten enough " she said watching and listening to him with Khaat she smiled knowing he was right. she ehard them talking about the curse and spoke softly " so does Jack, now he understands about it and controls it with the potion Robert gave him" she said softly but understood what they ment " even Jack would say James was a nut" she smiled at them both.


Steven listened to brian and nodded "yeah, we brought a bag for him earlier and he's sleeping right now." he said softly so not to disterb Khaat as he felt she needed the sleep. " I'd say he was a perfect eition to the orgnisation." he said smiling" and I don't think Jack would hold it against him as we all have had a go at that wolf" he said folding his arms across his chest.

"Don't let me forget about him, Jess," Brian said. "He's going to be really stiff and sore in the morning. He had quite the battle."

"I want him dead," Khaat said clearly. Brian looked at her.

"You can want that, but you're not going to fight him," he said.

"You need the stone," she said.

"Damn the stone," he replied. "I don't care about the stone. I do, however, care about you. Wizards have been killing werewolves for centuries without that stone. You're not battling him anymore. I'm done with that." The page had turned for him. The fact that she was pregnant took away any possibility, for him, that she would be fighting anytime in the next foreseeable year at least. And Brian didn't intend to still be fighting James a year from now.

"Git," she said.

"I know. I'm still a git. I love you too," he laughed. "Do you need anything?"

"Water?" she asked.

"We can manage that," he said. He looked for it, but realized they hadn't gotten her any yet because she hadn't been awake til now.

Jess looked at Brian and nodded " hes fine, I have people on that " she said and accioed a jug of cold water and a glass. Putting some in the glass she added a straw and walked and looked at Brian " do you want to or should I?" she asked knowing Brian was wanting to stay close " just rember litle sips for now" she said but knew Khaat knew she needed at this momshe knew eventualy shent. Steven moved and left the room to head back for his on food. Jess was glad Khaat wanted some water as it was rehydrating her which was a good sign.

Jess let Brian give Khaat the water and she moved to sit down in a corner just incase. She knew eventualy she would have to head back home to wash and change but right now shewasstaying close to her patiants Khaat and marcus.

Brian gave Khaat the water and when she'd had a few sips, he set the glass aside. He checked her wounds. There was a bit of bleeding but he had expected it. It was normal for the level of damage she had. He actually wanted some of it. It was necessary for normal healing.

"How deep?" she asked.

"Too deep," he told her. "I thought we lost you for sure. You were in surgery nearly 6 hours."

"What'd you do? Muggle stuff?" she frowned.

"No," Brian said. "If we had, you wouldn't still be here." He saw lightning light the sky outside and heard a loud clap of thunder. Then all the lihts in the hospital suddenly went out. "Oh, hell," Brian sighed. "I hope the night team goes and fixes the that. we don't normally have trouble with this, but we can't be sitting in the dark here."

Jess took out her wand and held it " luminus" she said and the room lit with a light blue glow. " I'll go check "she said as Jack walked in and stood gard his nose flaring at every smell tht entered the room he was on high gaurd duty and was not going to let any one past.

"Good to see you awake Khaat." he said softly but his eyes watched very dark corner as he held Jess's wand to light the room. He was in no mood for his half brother tonight. Jess came back and took her wand from Jack.

" their working on it power should be back soon" she said checking Khaat.

"Thank you," Brian said to them, glad for their swift response to make sure that things were taken care of.

Khaat heard Jack speak to her. "Hi, Jack," she said. "Jack, no offense, but I really, really don't like your brother."

"I don't think he's going to take any offense at that whatsoever, honey," Brian laughed.

"We have to talk," she said to them. "I take it we're fighting?"

"Hell, yes, we're fighting," Brian said. "Did you even need to ask?"

"Then I have to be seen back at work immediately...."

"Whoa. Hold it," he frowned. "You don't realize. You're not going to be working for a long time. You and your father both are going to be on sick leave. There's not a damned thing I can do about it..."

"We can't afford to be gone from the Ministry right now...."

"You're not listening to me," he said to her slowly and quietly, looking right into her face. "Its not that I'm holding you back. I'm just telling you that it is literally impossible for either of you to work, no matter how much you both want to. England will have to do without you, at least for the immediate future. Its done."

It struck her hard. That was not at all what she was prepared to hear.