Marriage is Murder

"Marcus won't let that happen," Michael said. "He doesn't normally interfere with her choices, but he wouldn't allow that one. He knows his job is to protect her, and he'd see protecting her from that as being entirely within his rights.  And there is virtually no chance he'll let her out of his sight. Ever.  

"On the other hand, her husband here might well find himself minus a few little bodily bits by the time you get back if he continues to open his yap when he really shouldn't."

"Oh, she knew what I meant," Brian sighed.

"Don't be so sure," Michael said.

"Oh, she knows," Brian said. "And if she doesn't, well, then maybe its because the other two times were different. She carried small in her other pregnancies...."

"You really did hit your head, didn't you?" Michael said. "Do shut it before you find yourself divorced. Maybe you should take him with you, Brant, before she puts him in a bug jar.  Sorry. No port key. Not that I'm aware of. Not sure how he was planning on doing it, but I didn't deliberately hold out on you."

ooc: please don't let brant tell the ministry anything more about Siberia or his work for Robert. that's not something that Robert would want them to know anything about.

"No," Michael said, looking at Brian.  "You know to ask for it if you want it, Brian."

"Look, she knew what..." Brian began.

"No, now, you look. She is 7 months pregnant. She's getting a little tired of being this size now, and its making her touchy.  You should certainly expect this.  I realize she was bedbound with the triplets by this time, and right now, she's fighting to be up out of bed after her injuries from James. Given her advanced pregnancy, gaining her strength back is harder work.  You're a healer, why do I need to explain this to you?

"And lets please not forget that she just presumed her husband and her father were in a duel to the death.  You might have been in the duel, but she was thinking she was going to lose one or the other of you and was helpless to stop it. I realize this was necessary, but do try dialing down the stress a bit...."

"Dialing it down?" Brian frowned. "An hour ago, we were in a moonlight swim in a Mexican lagoon, and not missing the snow one little bit. I'm not the one dialing it up!  Its our beloved leader and his hairbrained schemes that's got everyone in an uproar."

"Hold your tongue," Michael bristled. "You have no clue whatsoever what he has to live with every day, the stress and the strain in his body and his brain that keeps him trapped within himself.  A lesser man would have gone mad by now.  I'll deal with Robert.  You need to focus in on your wife and the new baby. And its time you brought Angus back from Paris to take care of your estate.  The others have the kids well taken care of."

"Alright," Brian sighed, sitting up.  "I have things I have to do. I have no choice. Jess, could I have some clothes, please? The wet swim trunks really are cold now. I'd like to get cleaned up and into some thing warmer."

"You're going to need help getting cleaned up, Lad," Michael said.  "You've got more bandages than not right now.  And I don't know I fyou even know if you broke anything yet."

"I usually do," Brian sighed. When he dueled Robert, usually Brian broke something or another. He wasn't all that worried about it. "When I figure out what that is, I'll let someone know. Deal?"

In the meantime, Marcus knew that Brian had inadvertently hurt Khaat's feelings. Well intentioned as Brian had been to protect her, he hadn't used his words well. Marcus believed Khaat was an exceptionally beautiful woman, and he intended to try to boost her spirits. He went back to her room and found her there, just looking out the window at the snow.

"I have a request," he said to her. She turned and looked.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I'm getting a bit claustrophobic," he lied. "Do you mind if I go out for some air?"

"No. By all means," she said. "You don't know how to leave me anymore. Its fine."

"Hey," he said, "I have an idea. "Why don't you get your coat and your boots and you can go with me?"

"Me?" she frowned. "You'd want me along? Marcus, I'd just slow you up."

"Do I look like I'm in a hurry?" He laughed. "Come on. It would do us both good. We could go into London for lunch. I know a lovely little quiet Italian place. There's a chocolatier across the street and a few other shops I think you'd like."

"Do you always take your clients on unnecessary outings?" she gave him a slight smile.

"As long as we don't have to go to any cigar shops, I'm good with it," he laughed. "It used to be the first stop I had to make with my old clients."

"How do you feel about baby shops?"

"I'm actually really good with that," he laughed, relieved. He got his black wool coat and got her coat and her boots. He helped her with her boots and her coat and put his own coat on. "Come on. I presume we should tell someone we're going to be gone for an hour or two. I presume they won't mind you being gone that long. Seems like they have enough on their hands with their two patients." He took her and they headed downstairs to let someone know they were going out."

"I'd like to see if I can do this myself, and hopefully not have to have Jess replace all the bandages," Brian said. "I'd like to go check on Robert then. I didn't intend to hit him very hard. Just enough to stop him. I wish I could touch him to get a better assessment for myself."

"I thought it would be a nice day for going out for a quick lunch," Marcus told Jess. "Some fresh air would do her good. I'm not surprised its a bit icy, but thanks for the heads up, since we've not been in the snow for a few days. Oh, and that reminds me. Someone needs to pick up our things from Brian and Khaat's holiday that was shortcut this morning and check out of the hotel. I presume I will need to do that when I get back, unless someone likes the idea of spending the afternoon under the palm trees and perhaps playing in the sand for awhile."

"Its on the room key," Marcus said, handing her two identical keys--his and Brian's. "Its a two bedroom suite. Here's the portkey." He handed her a simple package of chewing gum.

"You sure we shouldn't go do that ourselves?" she asked Marcus.

"No," Marcus said. "Its not necessary for you to go back there. We're going to go out and have a bite of lunch. Cassidy, if you have problems, just come back and I'll go when I get back. Thank you. We'll be going into London, Jess. Trying to avoid the wizarding world for a couple hours. I presume there isn't anything we're in dire need of. Anything you know of that we want? I am generally out of touch with this place's household shopping. Not usually covered in my duties."

"Brian never needs help with anything," Khaat said coldly.

"Now, now," Marcus said. "I think we should go." He wrapped his arm around her waist and drew his one of his portkeys to London. "We'll see you later." He smiled. He was sure that she'd be in a better mood when they returned.

He took her to a very quiet, exclusive Italian restaurant for a glamorous lunch. He bought a bottle of a nonalcoholic sparkling wine and treated her to one of the best lunches out that she could remember of, even better with the recent holiday they had.

It didn't take him very long to make her smile again. He was sure that a little respect went a long way, and it distracted her from Brian's coldness.

Marcus had seen Brian get almost too cold with her when he had had to shift to being too logical, too militaristic, too much of a fighter. Marcus also understood that it came from having his job blended with his love of family. Brian's job was to protect his family, and that was tough even for the most seasoned fighter. He figured that a simple time out would give them both room to breathe.

The restaurant had a live piano player over the lunch hour, and he and Khaat watched a honeymoon couple that decided to dance to the music. He saw the look on Khaat's face.

"You miss it, don't you?" he asked.

"Miss what?" she asked.

"Dancing."

"I miss being thin enough to do it. Or not having my arm disrupt my life."

"Why should that stop you from dancing?"

"But it does!" she said.

"I don't see why it should," he said.

"That's because you're not the one dancing with me," she said. He smiled and stood up and reached for her hand.

"You cannot be serious," she scowled. She looked at her arm in a sling and her baby bump. "Have you lost your mind, Marcus?"

"Maybe you're just afraid to be seen with someone like me," he said, deliberately baiting her. She sighed, knowing he'd said it on purpose. She took his hand and he led her to the dance floor.