Fee Fi Fo Fum

Jess stopped the bubbles and picked up the towel " now you can't wear wet pj's to bed, too icky" she said and held up the warm towel for Abby " its nice and fluffy and warm for you, and if you wear your PJ's I might have something you'll like." Jess said smiling as she wrapped the towel around Abby and lifted her out of the bath. Wrapping her up she rubbed her legs dry.

Jack just laughed and shook his head at the banter. "well I know Jess would kill me if I made a wager but I'll say six gold if Brian beats his fastest time on the Assault course." he said and moved quickly towards it.

Jess handed Abby to Kate and smiled as she headed to her room. Looking in a bag she smiled as she took out a large red box. walking back to Abby's room she placed it next to her bed. " Abby I found a special bubble one that won't break." she said lifting the box off to reveal a snow globe where inside were three figures, two adults and a child. " Watch this" Jess said and turned the key on the back. The snow globe lit up in soft rainbow colors and a soft melody drifted from it as the figures danced slowly with in the globe.

Abbey laughed at Jess. The towel was nice and warm anyway, so she didn't really mind giving up the bubbles for a nice warm towel.

"And your cookie would get all soggy," Kate told Abbey. "Unless you want to give your cookie to Papa. He'd eat it for you." Abbey shook her head no.

"I'll put my money on Robert," Marcus said.

"Why?" Brian frowned.

"He pays me," Marcus grinned.

Abbey followed Jess and watched her get out the snow globe and listened to the music and watched the colors. It fascinated her. She loved it immediately, and forgot all about a cookie. It was the first time she'd seen a snow globe.

"Me and Mama and Daddy," she pointed to the figures in the globe.

"It looks like it, doesn't it? It's beautiful, Jess," Kate said. "What do you say, Abbey?"

"Tanks!" Abbey beamed up at Jess.

Jess smiled and nodded to Abby " might be" she said " and your welcome." she looked up at Kate " its enchanted so it won't break if she knocks it over." she told her as she then turned down Abby's bed casting a warming spell on it so she'd be nice and toasty when she climbed in. Glancing up she looked out the window and laughed " looks like were in for a show, the guys are running the assault course." she said holding the curtains open so Kate could see.

"humm..might have a good point there Marcus" Jack said " sorry Brian." he said and began the assault course, climbing up a rope ladder he made it to the top before walking along a thin rounded plank.

"That is a blessing, especially at her age," Kate smiled. When Jess pulled back the curtains, Kate looked outside and saw them running the obstacle course.
"Little boys, every one of them. When Robert put that course together, he wanted to make sure he could upgrade it as the years went on, but Brian didn't live here much to ever run it until Abbey was born. Robert wanted it to be a true challenge to the men he had in Paris. I think that course is probably more sophisticated training than what the Ministry does for aurors. Looks like they're doing alright with it, though. I wish they would just run it to build their own skills instead of having to make everything a competition, but you know that would be how we would run it. Our men are so competitive. We'd run it with teamwork. They want to see who is the most macho or some stupid thing."

She looked at Abbey who was still staring into the snow globe, watching the little figures dance. "Abbey, look here." Kate picked up the snow globe, shook it to make it snow, and then set it back down so Abbey could watch it snow inside. Abbey's eyes grew wide seeing the dancers dancing in the snow with all the rainbow lights.

"It's snowing," Kate told Abbey softly. Abbey nodded, staring into the globe. "Shall we get your cookie so you can come back up and watch them dance some more?" Abbey nodded. "Jess, let's all go get a cookie before the guys get them all, and then we'll tuck Abbey into bed."

Jess chuckled at Kate's words and nodded " it looks extreme, and I agree its the macho man syndrome." she said with a smile as she looked down to see Jack walk towards the course and begin to run it. Turning back to face Kate and Abby she smiled. " yeah Jack loves Angus's cookies, I think he has a really sweet tooth." she walked over and took Abby's left hand " come on Abby, cookie then I can read you a story if you want?" she said softly.

Jack continued to move along the assault course zip lining down to a platform with a long pole he had to slide down to get to the ground so he could continue by crawling under a low platform.

"Papa promised me new stories tonight," Abbey said to Jess.

"And he didn't forget," Kate said, following them. "He said he brought some home in his bag. I'll get you one while you have your cookie."

"Just one?" Abbey moaned.

"That gives you a surprise for every night until the new stories run out," Kate smiled. Abbey never made it through a whole story anyway before she fell asleep. "You go ahead with Jess, and I'll go get into Papa's bag." She left them in the hallway to go find Robert's bag.

Brian had laid out the course to Robert's specifications, so he knew it well, and that gave him a slight advantage. Marcus, though, was actually enjoying the surprise of it. He rarely got to run a new course cold like this, and out in the field he didn't always know what lay ahead of him. This gave him a chance to practice awareness, especially since it surely would look different in the light of day tomorrow. Right now, he was liking the surprise the darkness could bring. He wondered about Robert. He knew Robert was fiercely dedicated to training and working out, but he honestly had not seen what he could do. He wondered where Robert was on the course, since Robert had almost immediately disappeared when they'd started their run. Presumably he was ahead but he didn't know how far ahead he was.

Jess looked at Abby " oh that's way better than any of mine" she said with a smile at Kate's words Jess lead Abby down stairs to the kitchen. Once there Jess gave Abby her Cookie and waited for Kate to join them.

Jack knew Robert was ahead of them he could smell his scent But he wanted to show Robert he was dedicated to 'what he said, he did' and he pushed forward on the assault course threw the dirt. He jumped across some upright posts then climbed up a rope to the top where he balanced on a thin piece of wood and walked over. He could hear the others close behind him and knew he was slowing down. He gave a growl and pushed himself onward hoping the end would soon show its self..

Robert was only a short distance ahead of Brian when his alert to St. Mungos began to glow. They were paging him specifically, and the sudden bright light of the alert surprised him as he was trying to scale a steep rock face. It made him slip clear to the bottom, skinning the palm of his right hand. He paused for a moment, cursing softly. He hadn't had a chance to sleep in several nights in a row, and he was hoping tonight would be different. He picked himself up and scaled to to the top, knowing he was going to get dust and dirt in his hand, and might likely leave blood on the rocks behind him. He flicked his fingers at it, hoping that a quick wandless spell would get it all, but his spell was hastily done and sloppy. He pressed onward, knowing he had only a short way to go to finish. And then he would have to go straight back over to St. Mungos.

Meanwhile, Abbey was eating a warm chocolate chip cookie with a sippy cup of milk. She got down from her chair, put the cookie on the table and dashed off to the playroom and came back with one of Khaat's old scarves she had been given to play with.

"What are you going to do with that, Abs?" Angus asked.

"For Papa," Abbey said, climbing back up into her chair.

"Why does he need a pink scarf?" Angus asked.

"For his owie," Abbey said.

"He doesn't have an owie," Angus frowned.

"Uh huh."

"How do you know?" Angus asked. She shrugged and took another bite of her cookie. Angus looked at Jess, hoping Jess might understand what in the world this two year old was talking about.

Jess watched Abby and frowned she watched her go to her play room and return with the scarf. " Abby I think this might be better." she said holding up a large plaster. " I think Robert hurt himself on the assault course." she said and looked at Abby " is that right?" she asked " where is his owie Abby?"

Jack paused he smelt blood not a lot but the freshness of it made him speed up. Knowing Robert was ahead he moved quickly threw the course and reached the rock wall there he saw on some of the rocks was, blood. Grabbing the stones he pulled himself quickly up it to become level with Robert. "Hey you okay, I smelt blood?" he asked holding onto the rock with one hand his claws digging into the rock like grips on a tyre tread. It was now he noticed Roberts medallion glowing. " not another one" he said softly.

"Dunno, but he has an owie," Abbey said.

"Do you know how he got hurt?" Angus asked.

"Falled down and gots a boo boo," she said with her mouth full of cookie.

"That course is not short," Angus said, and it's tricky at night. Even so, it wouldn't be like Robert to fall on his own course. I think we should wait a little. Maybe it's nothing."

Kate brought down a storybook about a little girl's new umbrella.

"I have a story for you, Abbey," she said. Then she looked at Angus and Jess. "Alright. What is it? What did I miss?"

"Abbey says Robert fell and has an 'owie.'" Angus said.

"That doesn't surprise me," Kate said. "He's not had a chance to get even a wink of sleep in the last four nights. He has no business running about in the dark as sleep deprived as he is. I told him if he went back tonight, he was going to take one of you lot with him whether he liked it or not. I'm getting more than a little concerned about him. And if Abbey's right, it only proves my point."

Robert heard someone catching up. He was glad someone was making good time besides himself. He expected it to be Brian, but it was Jack instead.

"Skinned my hand," Robert told Jack. "I was almost at the top of the rock climb when the alert went off. Bloody bright light startled me. I meant to take that damned thing off before we went out. I guess I forgot. Skinning my hand is going to be minor compared to what Kate will do to me if I go again tonight. She tries her best to be understanding, but her patience is running short. And, frankly, so is mine." He sighed heavily.

"I'll get it worked out. Another week should be all I need," he said. "I'll get some more wide eye potion when I get there so I can get done whatever it is they need and then get back."