Marriage is Murder

Khaat let the house settle into some sort of routine, letting them talk. Kate and Robert decided to take the kids up to the large playroom upstairs. It was a different sort of a playroom than at home. When Khaat had been pregnant with Abbey, Eli had done a one of a kind painting in the playroom--a magical fairytale mural that went all the way around the room, and it kept changing. The story started over once a week. Kate took them upstairs to the playroom where some of the kids settled in merely to watch the mural on the walls instead of playing.

One of the babies started to cry. Khaat frowned.

"They shouldn't be hungry," she said. Marcus went over and picked up a noisy Daniel. He sighed.

"Oh, he's not," Marcus said, his sleeve wet. "I hope someone brought diapers. And probably lots of them."

Cassidy looked up and picked up a large bag "All in here " she said and took out new born diapers and handed one to him "are you going to do the honers or shall I?" she asked with a grin as she moved a small bin over to him as well for the dirty diaper. Brant watched from the kitchen now cutting the cookies into their shapes. He looked up at Cassidy and Marcus.

" I'm sure he knows how to change a diaper Cassidy he does have children of his own after all" he said placing the last cookie on the tray to bake in the now hot oven. He chuckled as he had not changed a diaper and might not get the chance if things stayed the way the did for him. Jack stood watching Brian not sure what he was doing but he would help if he was needed.

" um..you want a hand?" he asked his arms folded over his chest.

"I can do it," Khaat said.

"I've already got him," Marcus said. "Relax. Its not a big deal." He made very quick work of changing Daniel and putting him back in the crib. "Now, I do need to go upstairs and change my jacket. Will you be alright for a few minutes, Khaat?"

"I think I can manage," she said, amused. "Top floor, second room on the right--should be your room."

"I'll find it," he said, nodding, heading upstairs.

"Unpacking all this kid stuff," Brian said, as he removed all the mountains of baby stuff and kids' clothes and toys that they'd needed to bring. "This house was never set up for newborns. Never needed it. The last we were here with the kids, Abbey and Dakota were just past their first birthday. We don't have anybody that age anymore. Abbey's going to be four tomorrow. Doesn't seem possible, does it?"

Jack looked at Brian and chuckled "They don't stay babies for long." he said as he helped place some of the clothing into draws and onto hangers in a wardrobe. The sound of footsteps came from the hall way as Steven walked up and into the room.

" okay so this is where your hiding" he said and smiled as he saw Jack with some clothes " ah the...they grow up so fast speech, I know that feeling John is nearly fifteen it does fly by" he said smiling " you still have several young ones " he said placing some shoes onto a low shelf. " you'll survive" he heard Jack chuckle " hey you too still time for more on your part" he said and grinned seeing the look on Jacks face.

"Khaat really sorta has been just tossing out this 'I-want-ten-kids' as her sort of magical number," Brian said. "And I don't know why. Neither does she. I never gave it much thought when I built the house, but it is built for a huge family. We don't have an issue with not being able to afford them, and she's healthy. So at this point, unless she changes her mind, I see no reason why we can't have more kids.

"But I'm definitely going to have to add on to this house. I suppose we could get a larger villa, but we love the villa, and we completely love the location. Beach on three sides? Its ideal. We have plenty of land. We can expand. But its also reminded me that Robert and I need to be working on checking all the safehouses to be sure they can accommodate al of us. We will probably need to expand some of them too."

Jack stood and listened to him as he spoke and chuckled " well, shes healthy as she can be after having twins in a stone cell." he said continuing to hang up more clothes. Steven waved his wand and several items flew out and hung themselves up in the closet. Jack chuckled as he placed several trousers in a draw.

"Wonder why I never thought of that." he said as he made several pairs fold and lay in the draws" makes things a lot easily." He said sending more to the closet. " not much left now and I wouldn't worry about it, this experience might hold her off for a while yet." Jack said

"We all just need a chance to breathe," Brian sighed. "Robert's got his own damage that he hasn't even thought about voicing to anyone from living for months with that unconscionable curse. And Khaat's had to look not just over her shoulder but all around in every direction for entirely too long. We all need a chance to breathe. I'm hoping Edward is right and that we might be able to let our guard down just a wee bit.

"You have no idea how much I want my wife and kids to just be able to go play on the beach and not have to be afraid for their lives," he sighed. "I'm doing everything I know how to do to provide them the best protection available, and its still not enough. James still gets through whenever he wants to. But if I could just give them a couple of days. That would mean a lot."

Jack looked at Brian and sighed "Edwards right though he will be super busy and theres no sign of him here" he said and sniffed the air. "Nope, no sign" he said placing the last item in the closet as Steven placed the last item in the draws.

"There... all done" Steven said as he stood up and walked over to Brian " let just enjoy the day with our kids and other half's" he said and then looked at Jack " sorry mate, forgot" he said but saw a smile on Jacks face.

"Its fine, Jeffery says shes doing much better." he said " she needed to have space to get her thoughts back in sync, still don't know what caused her to leave with out a word but I now know where she is , ow Jeffery said he'll send his report to your desk" he said to Brian " but he did say to keep her out of active duties, I agree with him."

"I hope you're right," Brian said. He listened to Jack talk about Jess. "I have no intention of scheduling her. I can't and I won't until I have some sort of explanation that makes sense and some sort of clearance. And then she's going to have to prove to me that she's physically and emotionally ready to work. However, you are aware that as much as I might not schedule her, I can't assure that it will be stress free. I haven't been able to make it a James free zone for a long time."

He paused and then took a deep breath. "Alright. Enough dark thoughts. We haven't been able to feel like Robert has been entirely with us for months. And we need to get some sense of family back. So--lets see if we can't enjoy some of this Tuscan life that we came here for. Are there enough of us to get the kids to the beach?"

Jack nodded and then smiled as he changed th subject to the beach and the kids " of course there are Brian" he said and chuckled as Steven moved to stand with him " just say when and we'll be ready" he said smiling.

"I'll get Brant and Angus to make up several picnic baskets too" Steven said " kids will be hungry after playing in the sand, beside would give us all time to work on our tans , some of us " he glanced over at Jack " look like milk bottles" he said and Jack just chuckled.

"okay so I don't get out in the sun much" he admitted and chuckled softly."some of us just can't hold a tan like others." He said