Marriage is Murder

Jess sat up and saw Robert leave and Micahel dive to stop him she stod up and moved to Michael " Where whould he go in weather like this, we have to go look for him. " she asked worried that he would do himself an injury out in the bitter cold and wind by splicing himself unintentunaly. "Damn it " she cursed looking out into the semi dark that now surrounded the grounds along with the swirling snow that seem to add to the blanket of darkness making it impossible to see where the sky strted and the ground ended. " some days I feel we can't even have our own opinions" she cursed and stormed up to her room closing the door behind her.

"awe hell" Cassidy said and lent against Steven " Im staying out of this one, you should too" she told Steven who wrapped his arm around her and sighed.

" yep thats exactly what Im going to do , that and follow what ever order Brian gives be it to follow Robert and bring him back we do as ordered" he said softly to her " now relax for now Robert knows what hes doing and if getting away is his way of riding the stress then leave him to it" he told her Cassidy lent back on him and nodded.

Brian ran down the stairs in his robe, unsure what had happened. Michael rested his hand on Brian's shoulder.

"Curse or not, he's not a fool," Michael said quietly.

"What happened?" Brian asked.

"He's a great deal more sensitive now because of the curse. As near as I can put it together, some of the others were not all hat understanding when Robert repaired the barn door and were offended that he hadn't left it to them. There was some talking, and I heard someone mentioning something with the general gist of feeling a prisoner here...."

"Oh, no," Brian sighed. "He feels worthless enough as it is, and feels like he's chained people into walking through this whole curse with him. And, purposefully or not, they just confirmed it for him."

"Yes," Michael sighed. "He came here because he thought he would find support and family, but he's not feeling like he's got that right now."

"And he's gone to get out of our way."

"I presume so. He looked to me like he was simply hurt. Like his family had wounded him and abandoned him."

"I need to go bring him back," Brian said quietly.

"You can't touch him. Perhaps you should allow me to try to do that. If I can find him."

"You'll have to wait until the worst of the storm has passed," Brian said quietly. "Its getting impassable out there, even for us."

"He's not a fool," Michael repeated gently.

Upstairs, Marcus had only dozed off when he heard the commotion. He got up quickly, grabbing the first clothes he could find--a pair of dark gray dress pants and a white shirt. He went to Khaat's room, still pulling his shirt on. He found her in bed with the kids, the dim light of the fireplace as the only light in the room, and Brian's side of the bed empty.

"What's happened?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, "But my father's left. He's just...gone."

Jim ported in and stomped off his boots " bloody hell its bad out there" he said as he slipped off his coat. He stopped and looked at them all " ow hell what you guys do now?" he asked and turned to face them all " let me guess it had Robert running for the hills, you know what, I don't blame him one bit" he said and walked around them all " grow up all of you and realize Roberts stressed enough he has given a lot for you, all of you, last thing I wanted to see was my freind out on his own becuse you guys couldn't act responcible, get your acts together" he stormed out of the living room to find Kate finding her room he knocked gently " Kate you in there?" he asked and gently opened the door and stepped inside.

"are you okay?" he asked softly "I just gave those...fools a talking to, they need to get there heads out of there asses and back in the right frame of mind. " he said softly as he moved to stand close but not too close behind her. He was unsure what he could do now that Robert was gone but he knew Robert would return  given time. Though he was tempted to go looking it had taken all his concentration just to port in when he had.

Kate wasn't surprised when someone knocked on the door. She was a bit surprised it was Jim.

"I'm fine, Jim. Thank you. You know, in all my life, I've never seen Robert run from his family except to protect them. This is the first he left from them."

"He didn't entirely run from them this time either," Michael said. He looked at Jim. "About time you came back. Kate, I think getting away from being hurt was only part of it. The bigger part of him wanted to spare his family from being burdened by him...."

"If he truly wants to be burdened,.." she said, angry now. "I'll give him something to be burdened about!"

"Kate, its the curse, and you know it. Things that normally wouldn't bother him now twist his heart inside out.

They suddenly heard a crash--the sound of breaking glass, and the terrified scream of children. Michael immediately recognized Abbey's little voice in amongst them.

A huge limb from one of the trees had rocketed through Khaat's bedroom window. Marcus had seen it only at the last possible second and had flung himself on the bed across her and the children to shield them with his own body. He had heard the breaking glass, felt himself get slammed from behind with huge force and then he'd blacked out.

Jim looked at Michael and nodded " Had to check in with Paris, they had a lead but by the time I got there James was gone as ushual, he'd..." he paused as Michael spoke to Kate and they heard the crash Jim dove out of the room and up the stairs " Cassidy get the kids, Jack get that god damn limb off the bed and Marcus, Now" he called out once Jack had lifted it and threw it back out the window he moved Marcus gently to one side " Jess Khaat then Marcus, hes out cold thats all I can tell" he said barkng at them as if second neture in ordering men and women around.

Jess moved to Khaat and breathed out " shes okay but could use Robert. " she said then moved to Marcus and placed her hands on him lightly. Jim moved to the bed and moved some light bratches then taking out his wand fixed the window as if it was never broken.

"You both okay khaat?" he asked softly "Sorry I wasn't here earlier, I had stuff I needed to check up on, but Im here now." he told her. He looked over at where Marcus and Jess were. "Damn fine man that one" he said "you all can learn from him, he put his own needs second to protect Khaat, learn from it."

It had all happened in an instant. Her first thought was for her children. Since they were all screaming, she knew they were still living. It was a welcome sound, ironically enough.

They all had some cuts and scratches and were going to bruise--from the flying glass and the tree limb. She had more scratches to her face from the twigs and bark as they had shot past her. The kids appeared basically unharmed, except for minor things, because they had been laying down, sleeping.

Marcus was motionless. She felt a wave of panic. She didn't want to lose anyone over a tree limb.

Michael and Kate ran in behind Jim. Kate went to comfort the kids, helping to brush off dirt and snow and glass and doing the hugging and kissing that somehow only grandmas could do.

Brian was only a step or two behind Michael and Kate.

"God," he said softly. He heard Jess mention that Khaat needed Robert.

"Robert will do no good," he said quietly. "He can't touch her."

"I'm okay," Khaat said, trying to regain her nerves. "Just scratches."

"Yes, to your face, where the skin is already so damaged," Brian said. "We'll have to do our best until your father can actually touch you again." He went to Marcus and checked him. The deep cuts across his back were obvious. He would surely bruise, probably badly. Belby was going to hurt.

"He's unconscious," Brian said. "I'm not feeling a concussion. He's lucky there. But...there's something else." He felt along Marcus's white shirt. "One...two...three? No...Two. Two broken ribs on the right and...at least three bruised ones. one on the right, and at least two on the left.

"Can you lot get him to his room?" Brian asked them. "Jess, I know you can deal with all those deep cuts. And I'm sure you've probably set broken ribs before. And I'm guessing you know how to wrap a rib binder around those ribs? He's going to need either a spell for pain relief or a potion or both. And he needs some sleep. He's been up for two nights and this would have been the third. Lets avoid that, shall we? And then lets send for the elves to clean up the dirt and water and snow from in here. I'll be right back."

He went downstairs and got some little cups of cocoa for the kids. He put in just a drop of a children's calming potion in the cups and took them upstairs to the kids. He set the tray on the coffee table in the bedroom.

"Make sure each one gets some cocoa," Brian told her quietly. "Cocoa is good to help kids sleep." He was looking at Abbey and he brushed his hand down her cheek.

"I wanna be with you, Daddy," she said, sniffling. "I wanna stay here."

"Okay," He said. "if they can get it cleaned up, then fine. You can all stay if you want."

Jim looked at Brain glad he was there now he brushed brantches off the bed on to the floor as he saw Jess nod her head. " yes I do " she said and began to work. " he should be in his own room and bed" she said and gave him some pain potion so Jack could lift him up and carry him to his own bed Jess went with him and strapped his ribs. Jim continued with the help of the house elves to tidy up the room again.

"There, as if nothing had happened" he said running his hand over the window pain" in fact I think its like new" he added and turned to leave " if you need me I'llbe out side the door , no ifs ands or buts" he told her and carried a chair out into the hall way and sat down.

"Thank you, Jess," Brian said. He left Kate and Cassidy deal with the kids while he made sure that Khaat was tended and comfortable and that the bed was clean and freshened. He gave her a sizeable dose of her potion. He wasn't liking the new damage to the scar tissue on her face. It wasn't going to mend properly. He was hoping Robert was going to recover soon so he could tend it himself.

He saw her starting to get very sleepy again as Jim stationed himself outside the door.

"Good idea. Thank you, Jim," Brian said. He saw the kids were getting very sleepy again too. He tucked them into bed beside Khaat so that they would be between him and her. He covered them and turned down the lights.

He turned to Michael. "We need Robert back, Michael."

"Indeed, but with all due respect," Michael said, at the door, "he might well need a little time to himself first. "As soon as the weather breaks I'll go out and start hunting." He walked out into the hall and looked at Jim. "I take it that you can deal with this without me? Not that you ever needed me before, but if the storm breaks before daylight, wake me up. I'll go out and try to find Robert."

Jim looked to Brian and simply nodded then he looked to Michael and folded his arms " of course and sure will" he said knowing how eger he was to get out and hunt for what ever he could find as well as Robert he guessed as well. Jim settled in for the night and just sat watching. Jess in the mean time cleaned Marcus up and pulled his sheets over him.

"I'll stay with him tonight Jack you go sleep " she told him he nodded and headed to bed leaving her sat by a warm fire reading and watching over him. Cassidy smiled seeing the kids crawl back in with Khaat and brian and lay down to sleep once more.

" best thing for them" she said softly and looked at Kate beofe she too headed to bed after checking on the other children and finding them all asleep still as if nothing had happened.

The house had fallen quiet. Kate sat up in her room, crocheting to keep her hands busy, and listening to the winter storm beat against the house. Brian only dozed in the dark for a few minutes at a time, concerned about Robert. He spent most of the night laying awake, listening in case he returned.

He did not. At 4, Michael was up and showered and dressed. He had gone downstairs, found he had beaten the house elves up and had made coffee and tea.

4:30, Brian got up and showered and shaved, letting Khaat and the kids sleep. It was Christmas eve today. He had things he needed to do for Khaat and his kids. And, as much as he had gifts to pick up, it was far more important for him to make sure their Papa was home where he belonged.

Kate was also up and dressed, choosing a winter white wrap sweater over a pair of gray and white pinstriped slacks, with slate gray suede shoe boots. She had laid out a white ski jacket in case she needed to go look for Robert.

Upstairs, Marcus hadn't moved a muscle all night. He was tired. He hadn't given himself to sleeping soundly in longer than he could remember, and he had simply slid from unconsciousness into sleep without any memory of having awakened at all. The last he knew, he had flung himself over Khaat and her kids to protect them at all costs.

He looked around and saw Jess still there. And no trees. It took him a moment to realize he was in his room. He looked at the clock. He wasn't sure if he'd slept all night or had been out cold. He decided that since he felt more rested than he would have been if he'd been knocked out that long, he must have slept.

He found he was aching--really aching. And stiff. Well, it wasn't every day he got smacked from behind with a speeding tree either. He groaned and laid his hand on the nightstand and used it as leverage to push himself up to a sitting position. His ribs pushed back against him, and, surprised, he gasped in pain, clutching his back, and felt the rib binder.

"Oh, lovely," he sighed. He saw Jess there. "Um...thank you. Khaat--and the kids. Are they alright?"