Hunting the Hunter

"No, not yet," Michael said. "We've been knee deep in emergencies in this house since James showed up at Sparks before daylight. I figured I could start tomorrow with that since we've sort of been in crisis mode today."

"Well, hopefully since he showed up this afternoon too maybe it means he'll stop for awhile," Brian said.

"You're hoping for a lot," Robert said. "Obsessed people are often over the top and excessive. I trust nothing when it comes to James."

"Well, its not like he's given us any sort of thing to trust about him except that he's most certainly not trustworthy," Michael said. "That, and he hasn't changed his views on Khaat one bit. Next time you lot decide to take him on, I plan on just shooting him and getting it overwith."

"Why didn't you do that this afternoon, then?" Kate frowned.

"Um...I was being respectable of the women's sensibilities?" he responded lamely.

Kate just shook her head. "That excuse needs help, you know that?"

Jess smirked and shook her head at his words and left him to a Kate to talk to him. " no time like the present " Jack said softly as he glanced at Michael " unless you want Kate to vet them for you?" he said and could not help the chuckle he gave at him " as for my brother hes always been predictable so I don't think he'll be back anytime soon, he'll lick his wounds and wait till his numbers are back to strength again."

Jess sighed and nodded her head knowing he as right, James always chose the wrong time to show his head. Now more than ever she felt she could use the meditation room and wish it was already built.

"Uh, no," Michael said to Jack's suggestion. "Thanks, but I think not."

"Take your time, Michael," Brian said. "I know what you want to do, and its great. Khaat and I support it. But there's no hurry, really. I'd rather you make sure whoever you hire is the right person."

"Let's be honest, Brian. I'm 62 with two identical twin boys that I have no clue what to do with," Michael said.

"Not while they're this age, but they do eventually get past potty training. They can eventually feed themselves too and can even talk. That part does get easier. You can deal with the boys once they get through that part.  We have a lot of help here, so don't let yourself feel pushed to hire somebody just to get it done right away."

"Thank you, Brian," Michael said. He wasn't going to talk to anyone about the burden it felt like. As much as he loved the boys, this wasn't his thing. He hadn't ever wanted to marry, and he hated Maddie for abandoning everyone without a syllable. His hatred for her grew by the day, every time one of the boys cried and they had no mother to hold them or comfort them. He was going to try to be a good father with whatever life he had left. But he had no clue about babies, and he certainly was never going to have a clue about being a mother. He had had enough of a hard life himself. He would be damned if he would let his boys suffer in the same way.

And now he felt pressured to hire some nanny almost immediately. The idea had only been sprung on him this morning, and now the folks at the estate seemed to be pressuring him about hiring some woman he'd never heard off the same day they'd given him her name. A part of him wanted to just let Brian take the boys for a couple days and let him buggar back of to his cottage in Hogsmeade for a moment's peace to think. Robert had talked to him and provided immense encouragement and reassurance.

"Get a good night's sleep, Michael," Robert said. "It'll all look better in the morning. When was the last time you got to sleep through the night?"

"The last time I left the boys here," he said. "And that was about the last time I got to clean my house too."

"Well, maybe we need to get you a house elf too," Robert said. "Or just send Suki and Dottie over for a part of a day to get you caught up. I think everyone here understands that frazzled feeling. You know, I bought some cuban cigars at Christmas. Maybe we should try them after dinner."

"Cuban?" Michael frowned. "How the hell did you get those?"

"You're not the only one who knows how to acquire a couple of the finer things in life," Robert grinned. "Saved them for a special occasion, and this seems as good as any."

"Just getting a chance to smoke one is enough of a special occasion to justify it," Michael said. "Count me in."

"I thought you might," he smiled. "We'll leave the little ones to the younger folks and we'll have the evening to ourselves."

When dinner was done, Michael excused himself from the table. Brian watched him for a moment, watching him leave. He looked older and more tired tonight to Brian. He looked then at Robert who was finishing the glass of iced tea he had.

"Don't worry, Brian," Robert said, "I've got him. He'll be alright."

"What you all don't know is that he's been seriously thinking of just giving custody of the boys to Khaat and me," Brian said. "What keeps him from it is how much he loves the boys and how much he knows they're the only blood family he's got left. He feels incompetent and incapable of something that he thought was supposed to come naturally. He's not doubting the need for a nanny, but he's completely insecure as a father in every way."

"He's hurting," Robert said. "He feels like he wasn't a good husband or Maddie wouldn't have left him. And that's not true, of course. The damned law put them together, not love or any definition of it. He feels like he failed with his relationship with Alete. That wasn't his fault either. Alete just was emotionally unstable. I have her in St. Mungos now but I don't know if she'll ever be stable enough to get out of the psychiatric wing. And she was probably the only woman Michael ever truly loved. Now he feels like a failure as a father too. He doesn't want to fail at his choices with the boys, either with choosing a nanny, or, if that doesn't work, letting them go."

"He's not going to have to let them go," Brian said with fierce determination. "He wants to be a dad, and I promise he's going to get to do that. If It doesn't work with a nanny, I'll work it out with him, but those boys are going to know and love their dad."

"And I will help him interview a nanny," Robert said. "I've put together a list of candidates, and I'm working on sending owls to the top five. Ms. Barlow is one of the five who will get an owl. I'm hoping one of the five will work. If not, I'll go farther down my list. And that brings me to a simple request. Jess and Jack, could I get you to go to Michael's place tomorrow and go through it? Clean it, put things in order, and if there's any repair work that needs to happen, can you catch that up for Michael? Also, check with Snidely about Michael's food supply. He's very rigid and particular about what he keeps in the house. I would imagine he's got a standard shopping list someplace. Snidely can find it for you, and you can put in an order for them for him? Maybe Lizzie would fill that for you and have them sent. A little pick me up for him is certainly in order. And, if you can think of some things that might pamper him, go for it. I'll go into Flourish and Blotts tomorrow and see if they did any good with the rare books that I asked them to find for me for him. What do you think you two?" he looked at Jess and Jack. "You willing to help me to lift his spirits a bit?"

Jess listened to Robert and nodded at his suggestion " of course we will it will look good as new and clean when were done , to his standards of course, nothing out of place." she said Jack nodded to him as well.

"Sure, Jess can clean while I fix anything that's damaged." Jack said and glanced over at Michael. " we both hate to see him so run down, yet we find it easy, guess its different for different people." Jack sighed and slipped his arm around Jess.

"well put fresh groceries in his fridge , In expecting his will be past its best by date , by now." she said now mentally making a list of things to collect.

"Oh, I'm sure its nothing quite like that," Robert said. "He'd rather be caught dead than to have very many spoiled things in the fridge. But he's probably just plain out of a lot of things. He probably just hasn't restocked. And, he's been fairly particular about the quality of what he buys. As I said, he's a man of habits, so I'm sure Snidely will be able to find his pantry list for you. And, I'm sure there's probably a list of things for the babies. That's one thing he won't miss. He'd buy for the babies before he bought for himself. All the same, you should check that list too. You'll be able to see what he thinks are essentials to keep in the house. Remember, he has gourmet tastes, so I'm sure you're not going to find canned soups or the like on the list. But when it comes to running the house? Snidely's the one you want to talk to.

"He's also fairly particular about the yard and the flowerbeds, so I'm sure that if the gutters still have autumn leaves in them, and the yard is full of dead branches from the winter, that's probably grinding on his nerves. Simple things like sweeping the porch in front and the patio out back would help a lot.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get that box of cuban cigars and break out a bottle of brandy. If we're up late, then consider us as having said goodnight."

"Enjoy," Brian smiled. It had been a long time since Robert and Michael had sat up late just talking, and he was glad to see them doing it.

"I think one of us needs to check on Marcus and Khaat to see if Marcus's headache has flared up. I'm sure the pain meds we gave him earlier are done with, and I really want to see if her leg is still bleeding."

"Oh, let me know if its still doing serious bleeding. If it is, I'll have to do a bit more surgical repair on it," Robert said. "I'd rather us nurse it through the night because if I do, I'd rather be better rested before I operate again."

"We'll do our best to get through the night with it," Brian promised. "But I need to relieve Belby soon so he can get some sleep. A man who's missed a couple nights of sleep and has a concussion is in need of some undisturbed shut eye."

Jess smiled and nodded " of course." she said Jack nodded the things he'd suggested were things he did all the time at his own place and he wondered how Michael did it being on his own.

"Does he even have a ladder?" Jack asked " or am I gonna have to climb up to the roof?" He said and chuckled remembering the last time he did that , he scared a poor woman out her whits as she was walking passed. So much so he had to apologize to her.

"Snidely, okay well ask him when we get there, might take us all day." she finished as Li walked over to them.

"I started a clean spell before we left so it might not be bad inside as your expecting but...it wasn't the best" he said both Jack and Jess nodded.

"we'll leave first thing in the morning" Jack said and Jess agreed. They both watched as Robert moved to check on Marcus and Khaat.

"A catburglar doesn't really need a ladder," Kate laughed, "but when Khaat lived there, she and I did a lot of gardening together. Then, when Brian moved her out, he left all that behind. You'll find that the garden shed is fully equipped with all kinds of tools for gardening and home improvement.

"I'm sure the cleaning spell has helped, and, so far as I know," Kate said, "the furniture does pitch in and help when its properly motivated. So it might be in good shape. Oh, and one thing? You might find the babies' room looks a bit sparse. Its got the essentials, but since the boys have been here so much, Michael just hasn't gotten out a lot of the new things he bought for the boys. Its there. We made sure he had everything he needed, but he's very rarely there with the babies. He hasn't even had time to take most of it out of the packaging they came in. Not sure where he's put it, but its there somewhere." She heard the clock chime seven. The kids were due to be in bed in the next hour, and there were Khaat's seven kids to be bathed, and Michael's two, and, she guessed, Jess's kids too.

"Can we possibly get all these kids bathed and in bed in the next hour?" she sighed. "That's a lot of baths in an hour."

Jess glanced at the clock as it chimed and saw some of the children start to droop their heads. " I agree Kate " she said and chuckled as Jack caught one boys head from landing in his food. Jack lifted him out of the chair and rested him on his knee.

"Jack and I will make a start in the en-suit, if you wish to bathe Abby in Khaats bathroom we'll do the rest." she said gathering those she could see would walk up the stairs. soon they walked them back up to the nursery. As Jess washed Jack dried and dressed and placed in to bed each child.

"last one " Jess said carrying Dakota out now dressed in a pair of red flannel pajamas's.

"I believe its my turn to do bedtime stories," Brian said. Abbey always liked stories at bedtime, and she liked to cuddle with her daddy while he read stories. He made sure the kids were in bed and then sat on Abbey's bed to let her cuddle with him while he read. She fell asleep quickly, though, and by the time he was done with the story, she was in such a deep sleep that she didn't even know he'd laid her back and tucked her in.

He went to the bedroom and found Marcus sound asleep sitting on the sofa in the bedroom. Brian felt for him. Marcus needed rest. As willing has he was to guard Khaat, his body was simply giving out. He tapped his shoulder. Marcus woke quickly.

"I'm heading to bed, Mate," Brian said. "I won't be needing you anymore tonight. Thanks for stepping in, even when you aren't feeling well." He poured him a stiff dose of a pain potion and handed it to him. "Take this when you get into bed. It'll help you sleep and help you feel better in the morning."

"Thanks," Marcus replied, not even up to fighting him about taking the large dose of pain medication. He got up and took the potion with him and went to his room.

"He's not good," Khaat said quietly.

"No. He's not. How long has he been asleep?" Brian asked.

"Since just after he ate dinner."

"Ah. Full stomach, soft couch, quiet room. A perfect recipe for dozing off. Its alright. I'm glad he can rest. He should feel a bit better in the morning. Now, let me check that wound. Let's not soak the bed with blood if we can help it. How's it feeling?"

"Miserably sore," she confessed. "The spells and potions wore off awhile ago."

"Okay, I can fix that," he said. He opened the wound and wasn't happy with how badly it was still bleeding. "Well, you certainly know how to bleed, don't you?" he sighed. "You do that very well. I don't think this can wait. I don't know that this can wait til morning."

"Til morning? What's happening in the morning?"

"We're going to have to go back in and fix the bleeders," he told her. "You know we can't leave it like that."

"If you're going to do that, just numb it. I really don't want to..."

"I can try," he answered, "but it's deeper than that. And you really aren't going to miss anything anymore tonight." He cast another pain spell to cut her leg pain. "Hold tight. I'm going to go get a surgery kit. I'll be right back."

He got the surgery kit and then found Jess. "Hey, I really don't like how heavily Khaat's leg is bleeding. There has to be another bleeder. I need to find it. You're welcome to join me if you like. I really don't want to disturb Robert for this. He's just not in any shape to operate tonight--not till he gets some sleep."

Jess had just finished putting Dakota down when she heard Brian and nodded leaving Jack to finish reading the bed time story they had insisted be read. Walking with Brian she entered Khaats room and smiled " hum..still being a little bleeder I see" she said jokingly to her as she moved to inspect her wound.

Placing her hands ether side of it she sighed and looked at Brian. "Your right, its in deep but I will try and stop it, give her the pain potion." she said to him. Jess refocused on the wound finding the artery that was still bleeding and making it slow as she slowly closed the tare it had. Leaning back a little she relaxed just a little as she looked up at Khaat.

"That should do it, but no moving you could open it again." she said softly. " I'll have Robert come and bolster it in an hour." she smiled at her as she wiped her hands clean. "Rest and sleep, please." Now she asked as her friend.