A New Reason to Hate Paris

Robert went downstairs in time to hear some of the conversation in the kitchen. He needed some coffee himself, actually. He listened a little longer while he poured himself a mug of French roast.

"Not entirely true, Jack," Robert said. "Brian makes friends easily, and how close he gets to them depends on how he meets them. For example, when he's buying more art, he makes friends with art dealers. When he's buying things like clothing, he meets people like Tobias. He's less cynical than I am, so he makes friends quicker than I do. Could he have been taken advantage of? Certainly--depending on what he was trusting that person for." He looked at Belby who was coming in behind him. "You'd better get a little more caffeine yourself."

"I'm going to," Marcus said. "What did you mean when you said knowing she was sitting on the floor was a bad thing?"

"The last she did that," Kate said, slicing onions for a potato casserole for breakfast, "was when Remus died. It was how the castle knew to send for us. They found her sitting off by herself in some little hidey hole after the rucus of the battle there died down. Minerva McGonnagall didn't think we'd ever manage to get Khaat to feel more like herself."

"We nearly didn't," Robert said. "I think she was so lost without Remus that she just had no idea what to do with herself without him. Can't say I blame her for feeling a lot like that now. The one thing she put her faith in was that Brian was never ever going to do the same sort of shenanigan that Rob did."

"And you still don't know that Brian did any such thing, but I'll keep a close watch on her, then," Marcus said.

"Brant is right, though," Kate said. "Let her sleep for now."

"This was specific, though," Michael said. "From what we know, Brian went on a mission, or at least we think he did. Brian doesn't go to Paris for recreation--Paris means nothing but work for him. If someone got to him, then who the devil does he trust in Paris?"

"Only the people in the Organization, so far as I know," Robert replied.

"Then perhaps we need to start there," Michael said, looking at them all. "We know different agents are there at different times, but this is someone who, presumably is doing a deployment there right now. I don't know. Suppose we should go back?"

Brant looked up and frowned “Owen's is in Paris, though he spent most of his time with me , training and fine tuning as he calls it.” Brant told them his face furrowed as he recalled an incident of a man leaving Brian's office several days before he returned. “There was this one... no might not even be related” he said trying to brush it off. “A man came out of Brian's office, I didn't think anything of it as well we didn't know he was missing and I thought he'd just gone to get something , he looked...wild and unkempt.” Brant finished and sipped his coffee he looked at Kate as she entered and spoke of Khaat glad of her praise for his suggestion of letting Khaat sleep for now.

When the suggestion came up of returning Brant looked up “ I'll come, there's not much for me to do right now.” he said “ all potions are stocked and if you need me send a message and I'll come in one form or another.” He chuckled bringing his cup to his lips again as he spoke once more “ and we could check out that keycard at the same time.”

"Owens," Robert said thoughtfully. "Hmmm."

"No way," Angus said. "Couldn't be Owens. He's been with us for 16 years. We just celebrated it a month or so ago. We went out to Moulin Rouge just because we could do it. It was like a reunion of those of us who had been there for so many years..."

"Of all the places you could go? You went to see can can girls?" Michael frowned. "You should know all the good places to go by now, Mate."

"Was Brian there?" Robert asked.

"He organized it," Angus nodded. "He trusts Owens. Hell, we all do. Owens has full access to the whole place when we're not there...."

"Well, no. He doesn't," Robert said.

"You should know by now, Angus, that Robert always holds back an Ace somewhere," Michael said.

"That's not important. What's important is that we very well might have put our trust in the wrong person, and that we've got a pirate steering our ship over there."

"I'll get my pack," Michael sighed.

"You don't have a plausible reason for going back, do you?" Kate asked.

"Yes, they do," Marcus said. "Khaat left that wonky clothes-eating bag there. We need to get it back."

"Doesn't take two people to do that," Michael said.

"It does if you're going to check out that key card too," Marcus suggested.

"Well, now, you might have something," Michael agreed. He looked at Brant. "We were going to be up all night anyway. We might as well be doing something with it. How soon will you be ready to leave?"

Brant looked up and listened then chuckled "its a Parisian cabaret, that sits at the foot of Montmartre rose isn't it?" he asked lookign rom one man to the other. " they are a bustling hotspot of Parisian nightlife, immortalized by Toulouse-Lautrec and forever associated with the name of Mistinguett" he paused as he saw the look Jack was giving him." what was an artisan of the Arts in my younger years." he could not help but chuckle knowing he was not that old but he'd had a rather coulrful youth untill he met Robert and he stopped globe hopping.

Jack chuckled and shook his head at Brant " still able to wind you up, we all have our secrets, though mind arin't that colourful and Jess knows them all too.

Brant turned and looked at Michael as he spoke to him, with a smile he accioed his small green battered potions bag and smiled "How about...Now" he said sliping the strap over his head to rest on his shoulder.

"Moulin Rouge is probably the most famous place in the world for can can dancers," Michael said. "I didn't picture Owens being into can can dancers, though."

"You know all about those, would you?" Robert asked, amused.

"I'll get my pack and the card key," Michael said, choosing to ignore Robert. He came back with his pack slung on his shoulder.

"Be careful," Angus told them.

"Always," Michael said, offering Brant an arm so they could return to Paris.

The last thing Brian wanted was to return to his body to be returning to physical and emotional pain. The last he knew, Luther Burke was making Brian regret even breathing, and it hadn't been the first time he had blacked out and come conscious again in order to face more ugliness. He did not have it in him to do it again, not like this.

The pain was back, and Brian could not avoid being thrust back into it all again, forced conscious again because he could not stay in the nothingness. It hurt to inhale, hurt to try to think. He tried to claw into something, anything to try to brace himself for more, but instead he clawed fabric. It was confusing. It felt like a blanket, but he remembered no blanket in the cell Burke had him locked in.

He opened his eyes, but everything was fuzzy. His head was miserable, and nothing made sense. This wasn't the cell, but where the devil was he?

Jess felt the shift in Brian's energy and his confusion as to where he was. She moved to his side seeing him move and feeling the pain he was in she gently placed her hands on his removing some of the pain but she feared not enough to make him comfortable. “Shush, your safe, your home.” She said softly hoping he'd understand that they had got to him and rescued him. Jess knew Robert would pick up on the change and she hoped he would stop by soon.

She'd been with patients in the hospital, Taking Brian's hand she checked his pulse and found it to be steady for the moment, his energy though weak was also equal , from what she could see other than the pain his wounds were healing well. “ Jack, Brant and the others went and found you, using your clues that you left.” she said her voice soft and gentle so not to cause any more pain to his senses if he could hear her.

Brian had braced himself for another blow to his head, but it hadn't come. What he had gotten was the last thing he had expected--kindness. He tried to absorb what he'd been told. Home? He was home? Was it real? Was he home?

His mission had failed, but he'd not honestly expected to succeed this time. It had been no real surprise that he'd been caught, but he'd honestly expected to die and to have done it a lot sooner. He hadn't realized he'd left any clues behind at all, so he had not expected anyone to come for him, let alone to have done it in time.

His head hurt like nothing else he'd ever known, and the intensity of it dulled the pain everywhere else. Burke had not gone easy on him, and most of the beating he'd taken was repeated blows to his head--or at least that was what he remembered. After a certain point, it all had blurred together.

Downstairs, Robert felt restless, like he couldn't sit there anymore. He attributed it to merely the late hour, so he refilled his coffee and went upstairs. He went to Brian's room first, wanting to check on him, but when he found Jess speaking to him and saw Brian awake and restless, his own restlessness made sense. Robert went over and sat on the bed.

"So you're in there finally, are you?" he asked Brian gently. "It's good to have you home."

"Why?" Brian managed, upset. He didn't understand why they'd risked so much to come for him. Robert touched Brian's forehead and cast a calming spell, and he could feel the damage finally manifesting enough for Robert to get a reasonable read on the extent of it. It was going to take time and a lot of work on Robert's part to make it right.

"Expect us to leave you there? I think not," Robert said.

"I have to go back..." Brian began, frowning.

"Calm yourself, Lad," Robert said, knowing the last thing he wanted was to tell Brian was that he'd been set up. Brian wasn't ready to hear that yet. "The case has moved on in your absence. You'll have to let me manage it for now."

"No, you don't understand..." Brian began.

"Enough," Robert said quietly to him. "Stop. You need to stop and listen." He laid a hand each side of his head and drew off as much of the pain as he could for now. He looked at Jess. "Jess, could you get a double dose of pain potion for him, please? This is going to be difficult to control for a few days."

"Water..." Brian asked. "I need water..."

"Slowly," Robert said, giving him a few slow sips of water. Brian clutched the glass, desperate for more, and it infuriated Robert to see that Burke had deprived him of everything--even a bit of water. "You can have all you want, but let's do it slowly, shall we?"

Brian's grip on the glass faltered, and Robert caught his hand and laid it back on the bed. Brian had clutched at Robert's hand before Brian had even realized he'd done it. Robert was the only father figure Brian had known since Brian's own parents were killed, and there was something reassuring for Brian in reaching out after all Burke had done and finding Robert's strength still there, the touch of a father figure still wrapping around him when all else seemed to have gone so sour.

"You're safe now," Robert reassured him gently. "It's over.."

"Don't let them see me..." Brian began.

"Who?" Robert asked. Brian did not immediately respond, but Robert realized who he was talking about--he did not want Khaat or the kids to see him as he was. "Oh. They're alright. Don't worry. You'll feel world's better after some sleep. Give it a bit. We aren't going to leave you until your head clears a bit. Jess is going to be here for awhile, so let her know if you need anything. We'll get you a bit of pain potion, and that will help you rest without dreams. You won't need to worry about that tonight."

Jess was relived when Robert showed at the door she moved away letting him sit on the bed and pored a glass of water knowing it would be and had been the first thing several patients had asked for when waking. When he asked she held it out to Robert and moved to find the pain potion Robert had asked for, returning she heard and smiled at Roberts gentle words to Brian but paused at Brian's.

“Here's the potion you asked for Robert.” She said holding out the small bottle “Do you want me to administer every two hours or just when the pain is showing?” She asked taking a small spoon and placing a single dose on to it. Moving next to Robert she held out the spoon feeling it would be the safest way to give it to Brian.

Robert looked at the spoon with the pain potion and looked at the glass of water that only had two or three sips left in it.

"Here," he said, "let's just do this." He took the spoon and added the potion to the little bit of water left in the glass and swirled it to mix it. He held it up to see for himself that it was mixed sufficiently and then gave the rest of the contents of the glass to Brian. The moment it kicked in, Brian slept.

"He's exhausted, so let's let him sleep while he can," Robert replied to Jess about the pain potion. "You'll know when it starts to wear off. My best guess is that it should hold for about five or six hours at a time. The pain spells will need to be renewed about then anyway."

He looked at the bottle of pain potion to be sure they had enough for awhile. He made a mental note to get a bottle of the double strength out of the potions lab downstairs and get it for Jess and to get her a calming potion and a sleeping potion. If she had those closeby, she'd be prepared for the worst of it.

"Brian tends to rally quickly, at least physically," Robert said, "so be prepared that the minute he gets a bit of his energies back, he'll be too restless to stay in bed. As long as he's not overdoing, I'm fine with him being out of bed. He's not going to be able to go much farther than a few steps at best, so I wouldn't worry about that. He'll be too stiff and sore to do much more."

He checked some of the dressings that they'd put into place earlier and found they were only draining as much as he expected. He did not believe they needed changing yet. He figured they might hold, maybe, until Brian woke.

"Frankly, I'll bet you that if he gets some sleep and some food and fluids, we won't be able to keep him in bed. I'm far more concerned about the concussion. He's going to have trouble with that. He tends to get pretty severe headaches anyway, and this isn't going to help. I expect those to escalate for him, maybe for weeks. That's going to take some longer term maintenance and work on my part to help reverse the damage. It's a bloody good thing he's not a muggle because if he were, this would likely be irreversible. It's very serious indeed.

"He might have some memory issues, and we aren't going to entirely know what those are until we see them. His balance might not be worth a tick, so we'll have to watch him around stairs for a bit. I've seen other patients have a lot of drowsiness or sleeping, sometimes nausea, sometimes bothered by noise or bright lights, sometimes vision problems.

"The other thing that I expect will be off for him is his mood. What he's been through is extreme. Some of the Unspeakables that have been through this sort of thing have needed time to get past the nightmares, the depression, sometimes increased anxiety or irritability, but Brian has never been one to talk about things. He was a horrid little buggar about that as a kid. Kate and I thought he'd hang onto that grief about his parents forever, and I don't expect him to know how to handle this any better, given the circumstances. I plan to give him a very long leash with that at first. In the meantime, though, I might go drop in on Mr. Belby and see if my daughter is still in the corner of his room. If she's not still sleeping, I might need to have a word with her before it gets entirely out of hand, and then I'll bring you some additional potions to have at the ready here. Is there anything else you need? Can you brief Jack when he comes to relieve you?"

Jess listened and nodded to every word making mental notes as to what he had suggested and said about Brian's memory issues and his balance being off along with a host of other issues he'd have once he woke.

“I'll be there to help him as much as I can, it is my job as a healer after all” she said with a warm smile. When he spoke of Khaat she nodded and moved to sit at the side of Brian's bed once more. On hearing his request to brief Jack when he took over she nodded “ of course and no I don't think so , if I need anything Im sure Jack could get it for me.” she said seeing him appear at the bedroom door.

“Of course I would, hows he doing?” Jack asked walking over to Jess his arm slipping around her waist as he gently kissed her cheek.