Marriage is Murder

Jack turned on hearing her and laughed "None taken, right now Khaat I hate him just as much as you do." he said and listened to Brain and Khaat talking to each other he stayed quiet as he stood guard when she spoke of going back to work he moved to stand with Brian. " there doing fine as is " he said " just rest Khaat" he looked at Brian for confermation of what he ahd just said and stepped back. Jess moved to her side as she tried to move and palced her hand on her.

" shush, you should rest." she said softly check her vitals at the same time her heart rate was up a little butalming spell she f with a small calming spelt it lessen and she stepped back. Macking a note in her chart of what spell she had used she moved to stand with Jack.

"Khaat," Brian said. "You really do need to sleep. Let us handle this...."

"But Daddy can't..."

"You're right. He can't be here," Brian said. "but he can still call the shots, to some extent, and we need to let him do that. I'll talk to him--I promise--if you give me a chance to do that. How about just shutting it and go to sleep. Its getting late anyway, and you're overdoing it already."

"Promise?" she asked

"Yes," he said. She nodded. She shut her eyes and a moment later she'd sank deep into sleep. He wasn't going to disturb her. Anxiety was just a normal part of almost losing her life. She needed rest and time. That really was the best medicine, much better than magic.

Jess sat and watch Brian with Khaat and how she slipped into sleep again Jess checked her and smiled. "Good, she’s sleeping" she said " your better than a healer for her Brian" she said smiling as she looked over at Jack who nodded that he would not move from the room while she was not there. " I have to check on Marcus" she said and left. Jack sat and watched them both, Jack felt if he had his brother ever got together he knew he would do to him what he tried do to Khaat but he would not fail. James would die at his hand, Brian's or Robert's.

"I'd rather not have to be her healer, Jess," Brian said. "I'd rather just be her husband and the father of her children. That's enough for me, really. But I made her a promise. I told her I would go talk to her father, so I need to keep that promise. I'll do that in the morning if she's better. Besides that, Robert needs rest himself.

"You'll find Marcus upstairs in Khaat's quarters. The last I knew, I'd given him permission to stretch out on the bed in the bedroom. I'd be very careful if I were you. Marcus is a man not used to team work. He's very used to being on his own in all kinds of situations. Those sorts of guys generally sleep with one eye open. You come up on him too quietly or too fast, and, if he's really tired, he might mistake you for an enemy. Especially now since he nearly lost not only Khaat but also his own life this morning. He'll be a bit edgy.

"If I were you, I would deliberately make some noise at the doorway. Drop your keys or something. Don't be subtle. Don't scare the crap out of him, but don't sneak up on him either. Kate's up there. Talk with her so he hears the voices or something."

After Jess left, Brian glanced back out at the rain. "God, Jack. I'm going to be a father again. This isn't the time we had wanted. I thought we had it covered. We had the potions. We had the spells, we were so careful. Normally, we'd both be thrilled. We said we wanted a ridiculous number of kids. But I didn't need to get them all in the first couple of years of marriage. I don't know what this will do to her if I tell her. Somehow I don't think that's what she needs to know right now while she's still in ICU."

Jess made note and left as Jack loked at Brian " nobody perpares for it Brian" he said and chuckled softly " if I were you I'd wait til she was in better health then tell her" he added plaching his hand on Brians shoulder hoping to give him some comfort. " I have to admit we wern't ready for the twins but you get through it " he sighed.

Jess knocked on the door to the bedroom before opening the soor and walking in. " marcus I just came to see how your doing" she said softly a she walked over to the bed. touching his shoulder felt he drew off some pain she felt he had but was glad to find all was healing well and smiled. " that better?" she asked.

Marcus rarely ever allowed himself a deep sleep. He had drifted in and out of a deep sleep tonight because he felt torn between fatigue and duty. That and just being uncomfortable. The wound to his arm was painful. He had certainly suffered worse in his time, but that didn't make it any easier.

He woke when he heard Jess knock. He didn't bother to turn on the lights. He could see well enough from the lights in the sitting room. He yawned as she came over, checked him and then removed the pain.

"Much better," he said, glad for the relief. He hadn't been planning on admitting that he was getting stif and really sore, but she exactly asked either. That kept him from having to give that 'always duty fit' response he'd been so trained to do. "Thank you. How's Khaat? Any change?" He was quiet for a second.

"I swear, Jess," he said, "if I'd known she was pregnant, I'd have never let her be out at that hour. I should have known better than to let her go at that hour anyway." The plan had seemed so sound at the time. With Robert at the center of everyone's concerns, the best way they had known to protect the truth from getting out, the best way they could keep everyone from seeing the hideous bruises that Robert was giving her every time she tried to get close to him, was by taking her out at weird hours. And London had been far safer, always, than the estate. Now that wasn't true anymore. Now there was no place safe for any of them.

"I think you're right, Jack," Brian said. "Her vital signs are so unstable that I don't want to upset her. She's better than I thought she'd be at this time, but I don't see us getting her out of ICU for at least another 12 hours minimum. Probably 24, if it stays good. But Robert clearly knew she was pregnant when he got here. I want him to tell me how long he's known and why he didn't tell us."

Jess sighed and shook her head " don't blame yourself " she said " none of us knew untill now, were as shocked as you " she said as she sat down next to him " Kate and I should have picked it up I gues with Robert's curse we just didn't pick it up" she told him.

Jack listened and nodded " well thanks to him and marcus there both still alive" he said " and we both know now, once shes home we'llexstend the nursary and one more isn't going to harm, Im glad Jess can't have any more" he said smiling but he thought of Steven and Cassidy and what if they did and how full the house would be. " might need to add an extenshion when they become teens though"he chuckled.

"Well, we do have an advantage on the Americans in that department. Their kids don't go to boarding school. If we can get by over the holidays and the summers, we might survive having a million kids in the house," Brian said. "Either that, or we'll have to start looking for summer camps to have them home in shifts. Maybe by then, Robert can buy us a small country to take over."

"Well," Marcus sighed, "I saw Robert make the same gesture that we all saw. He said he guessed she was two months pregnant. That would mean she might well have been pregnant when she was in that business in that pit in Morocco. From what she tells me, her pregnancy with Abbey was high risk. And I'm not fool enough not to already know that triplets are high risk period. But I'm also not a healer. Should I presume that this child will be high risk just because of her other two pregnancies being so dangerous? If I'm going to be with her so much, I do think I need to know."

Jack laughed softly at the comment on a contry to take over " well 2 more years and mine should be old enough to go to school so that gives us breathing space" Jack said. Jess listend and nodded at Marcus words,

" your right she was and we have healers on stand by not that we'd need them this soon, Robert has checked her and the baby over and their both doing fine, as long as she dosn't become stressed. " she said softly " we just have to get her past this critical period in her healing" she added knowing every hour she servived was a good sign.

Kate stood and stretched, feeling like she had been too far from Khaat for too long.

"I'm going downstairs," Kate said to Jess and Marcus. "Its a mom thing. I just need to see she's okay. Feeling a bit restless I guess."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Marcus asked.

"No, no," Kate said. "I'm just going down one floor. You go back to sleep while Jess's spell lasts. Get some rest." She went downstairs and when she got within a few feet of Khaat's room, she smelled Turkish cologne.

She didn't feel alarmed. She didn't feel danger. She presumed it was just perhaps his watchful presence. She went into Khaat's room, noticing the smell went with her.

She checked on Khaat and was relieved to find her asleep. She had overheard a bit of Jack and Brian's conversation about babies.

"Don't question your blessings, Brian," Kate said softly, brushing Khaat's hair. "In our lives, we never know if we're going to be here today or not. Today was just another reminder of that. If you were to ask her, she'd be the first to tell you that if she had the choice and if she knew her life might be cut short, she would choose to give you every single child she could give you."

"Yeah," Brian said. "I know."

"Its tempting to be overprotective when things like this happen," Kate said. "I know that very well, but you really do need to hold back and try to keep it in perspective with what is reasonable for our family."

"I just want her safe, Kate," he said.

"As so we all," Kate said, noticing the cologne smell was a bit thick around Khaat. "Apparently its well in hand. I think Remus is here just checking on her. If it were important, he'd have awakened her, but he hasn't done that. Perhaps you need to see that as a good thing and relax just a wee bit. Besides, you were up last night and tonight both. I'd say she's in better hands with Jack for protection purposes. I really dont' think anyone's going to get past him tonight. Doze here if you like, but you need a bit of sleep yourself."