LONDON CALLING

Jessie nodded as did Jack who smiled " I'll make sure and Im sure Jessie and I can handle feeding them." he said Jess saw Michael slip sowm firewhisky into Roberts tea but said nothing knowing that he ahd to be bad to need some.

Jess looked at Mia and smiled shaking her head at the sugestion Abby be put to bed. " I think she's had a very long day." Jess looked at Angus and chuckled " and don't worry there will be cookies left for tomorrow." she tells her smiling as she puts two in a cookie jar with Abbys name on it. " I found a stall that makes them so I picked it up for her." Jess said smiling.

Mira took Abbey to bed, despite Abbey yawning and saying she wasn't tired. Mira didn't debate it with her, but instead she just took her to bed, promising her a bedtime story. Mira was learning quickly that Abbey delighted in stories and books.

Khaat had noticed the cigarette but she had missed the firewhiskey in the tea. Brian had noticed, though, and so had some of the others. No one said anything, but for some of them, it did seem to be out of character for the Robert they knew.

"I'll leave you to it, then," Michael told Jack, actually glad that Jack and Jessie were going to handle it. Michael looked at Robert. "Do you have enough of the crisis handled for the moment? Can you trust us to handle it for awhile?"

"Only if you promise to come and get me if anything changes in this right big mess," Robert said.

"You have our word," Michael said, feeling confident they would all agree to it, even if they really didn't plan on disturbing him. "Alright. You've had enough. Let me help you."


"Kaden, why don't you give me a hand?" Brian asked. "Let's make sure he's comfortable for awhile." He wanted to make sure that he was on the same page with Kaden in case he needed Kaden to help keep an eye on Robert when Brian or Khaat or Jess couldn't be there. He levitated the tea mug and sent it on ahead to the bedroom.

Kaden nodded and moved with Brian and Robert to the bed room. " I'll reduce some of the pain." He said and glanced at Brian noting the elevated alcohol level now in his system.  Quickly he pulled back the covers on the bed Ready for Robert to settle down in.  

Jack and Jessie went and fetched the meat for the wolves, Jack knew raw was the meat they liked and was best for them so just put it in a sealed  bag and headed to the base of the mountain where the clearing was. The waited for only a few minutes when the alpha arrived and they handed over the food sevral females and males arrived as well to eat along with the cub that had given them the bag. Jessie knelt down and offered the cub a peice of meat all for it. Happily he took it and ran back to what Jessie assumbed was its father where it lay down and ate. Jack spoke with the alpha and then nodded.

"Okay there going to patrol their territory but they don't feel anything wrong right now." Jack said giving a small female the last peice from the bag.

Jess walked in to the bedroom with a pot of tea and set it by the bed " its charmed to stay warm, so if you wake later you have some tea to drink." she said " now please rest, Kaden is on the potions lab, with about four other wizards he knew and were happy to help, Jack is feeding the wolves, so alls fine for now." she knew it was a blessing when they got times like this and so she would enjoy it while it lasted.

Robert didn't say much of anything while they helped him back to bed. He merely allowed it, and Brian noticed. This really wasn't a side of Robert he saw very often. In fact, Brian had only seen him clearly feeling this miserable perhaps once or twice before at the most.

"Thank you, Jess," Robert told her quietly, glad to have tea nearby. He had a feeling it might be a long night if the pain kept up. Brian pulled the covers up and then took care to position pillows carefully behind Robert's shoulder and under his arm to support it. As he did, he made it look like he had accidently brushed the side of his face, but in fact, it was a purposeful move on his part. As he brushed against him, he cast a sleep spell, and it immediately sent Robert to sleep.

"Sorry, Robert," Brian said quietly, knowing that his spell was far more necessary right now than just about anything else that could be done. He looked at Kaden. "He should sleep now for quite awhile if your pain spell holds him. He's completely exhausted. Have you worked with patients with shoulder surgery before? I don't want to try to fill you in on things you already know."

Kate arrived with some ice packs, knowing that Robert almost always used them after a surgery.

"Oh, well done, Kate," Brian said. "I was just going to make a few of those. Thank you. Kaden and I will take care of them. Kaden, I want to put one against where he had that big goose egg on his head yesterday, and then I'll put the others on his shoulder. Kate, is Michael still here?"

"He is. He's gone to take a quick shower. He thought we might need him to sit up tonight," Kate said, "but I can sleep in my own bed, right?"

"Absolutely," Brian said. "You'll wake anyway if he needs something. Tell Michael he's got the couch tonight."

"We still have a guest bed or two left," Kate laughed. "We'll be fine."

Kaden looked at Brian and nodded " a few of them" he said honestly to as he tucked some blanket around Robert. He looked back and saw Kate with ice packs. Kaden took them and charmed them to stay cold placing them on a towel close to the bed one he placed gently on Roberts shoulder then the other under Roberts head where the bump sat. " thats done," he said checking Roberts vitals again and nodding as he made note they were stable.

" I'll stay by his side if you wish, so you can carry on as normal." he said to Kate knowing this was probably normal for them all. Jess left the room and cleared away the dishes and left over bread making anote that the unicorns might like some bread rolls as a treat the next day. Now she set about starting something for their breakfast when every one woke.

"I think I'll take advantage of the quiet and get a shower in myself," Kate told them. "I won't be gone more than a moment."

"We'll be fine, Kate," Brian reassured her. "He's going to sleep for awhile now, I think."

"Thank you. Michael really needs to sleep too. He's completely knackered," Kate said. "If Robert is going to sleep, I might be able to spare Michael too if he doesn't go too far."

"He won't be out of earshot. You know that," Brian reassured her. She nodded, took some fresh clothes out of her dresser drawer and headed for the shower.

"I think Kate intends to come here to bed beside him as normal," Brian said to Kaden. "I think, for tonight, it would really help if you were to help Khaat and I try to assess the damage in the potions lab. I think you're sorely needed there with us tonight. Can you see how many employees you can gather up?

"Khaat and I will try to find Robert's books and notebooks," Brian continued. "He's got a virtual library in that lab, and every one of those books is important to him in some way or another. Let's see if we can get some cleaning done and see, first, what we can salvage of his books and the notebooks.

"I know Khaat has some blank inventory books upstairs," Brian told him. "If we get the worst of the cleaning done, we can start some sorting of anything that might remain and get some of those blank inventory books from her secretary and start inventorying what we have left. I think this could take us a few days, but any news we can bring Robert will help put him at ease, I think. For him, its the not knowing that makes him crazy. I know Gabe and Mira would like to help us tonight. Michael is staying here with Kate, and I think Jess might be staying too. I don't know for sure about her and Jack. But I think you and I and Gabe and Mira will be alright going to St. Mungos.

"I am sorry you haven't had the proper breaking in that I planned for you," Brian apologized. "This really isn't the usual way things go, but I'm glad Jack's doing such a good job of orienting you to it. I promise we'll get things sorted like they should be, and then I'll have more of an opportunity to fill in the holes in your orientation. This just has been all buggared up the last couple of days."

Jessie looked at Brian and shook his head "yes sir, and its all taken csare of, there cleaning and sorting as we speak, Kaden arranged it." he said " I'll make sure a lecturn is added or a nice desk, so notes can be written up" he already had his eye on a nice mahogany desk.


"Sir, Patiants come first, besides I met Kaden and thats a big plus to me." he said with a smile and a slight pinkness to his cheeks. " I agree we could all go and let them have some quiet, we can check on how far they are in the clean up. "

"I'm glad they have a head start on it," Brian said. When Jessie mentioned a desk, that was something Brian hadn't thought of. "I don't think that lab has ever had a proper desk in it. Robert just inherited it from the last bloke who had it, and I don't think he made any changes. He does use a desk in his potions lab here, but mostly for when he's doing inventory. At St. Mungo's I think he just sits on one of those miserable wooden stools by the hour and does all his work there, whether its making potions or doing paperwork. I would have to think that would surely get uncomfortable to do that for very long. Those stools are not comfortable."

"I agree, of course, that patients come first. I think the house is going to be very quiet between now and daylight. And if Jess is here, she can add to his pain spell or pain potion if he gets too uncomfortable. I think he's tired enough though that he may well sleep straight through. And if Jess needs us, she knows how to reach us. There is very little she can't deal with, actually. She's grown to be pretty strong and resilient, so I think they'll be in safe hands..."

And then, a completely new thought hit him. "Before we go, we need to do one more thing. We need to find all those blooming footstool puppies and make sure they're settled for the night. The last thing Robert needs is a bunch of yelping puppies. I wonder if Michael brought socks for them. I bet he didn't mention it but the only thing those dogs eat are socks. Black socks, with an occasional argyle as a treat. If he didn't bring socks, we'll be stealing some of Robert's, I think."

(the new lab and Roberts new desk.)



Jessie nodded then remebered the carrier out in the living room " I think I saw them in their carrier, Jess and Jack had spoke of adopting two of them." he said " but mostly they have stayed out from under foot." Jessie stood up and moved to the living room " yep still sleeping." he said and gently closed the door to the carrier. " now contained" He left it where it was so not to disterb them while they slept. " if not I got some old ones they can have." Jessie said with a chuckle while Jess looked over at them.

"argyle socks, they like argyle socks best" she said over to them Jessie shook his head.

"nope just reguler marine socks." he said and then scratched his chin " thinking about it I don't think they would like those, I didn't and I had to wear the darn things, looks like Roberts it is." Jessie said watching Jack as he moved to the back door " okay patrol number two" he said and headed out.

" Brian I'll watch Robert if you ant to join them tonight" Jess said wiping her hands clean.

"Well, since the dogs are settled, I think I'm good to go. Thanks, Jess. I think Kate's going to go to bed in her own bed tonight, so if Robert so much as moves, she'll know. I don't think you need to stay up, but do try to sleep with one ear open in case she calls you for something. I appreciate your hanging around to make sure things stay good overnight. You know as well as I do that it isn't wise to leave a surgery patient for very long, especially who has had as much bleeding as he did. I don't see any evidence that there's any bleeding there now. The surgical closure spell seems to be holding well. So unless the enchantments wear off the ice pack or the pain spell wears off, he should sleep. He didn't even know I hit him with a sleep spell, which is probably good for me that he didn't know what hit him. Send for us if you need anything, won't you? And unless I hear from you, I'll see you all in the morning." He drew his wand and apparated out.

Michael was clean and showered, and dressed in a pair of jogging trousers and a long sleeved tee shirt with the sleeves pushed halfway up to his elbows. He slipped outside the kitchen door to get a few breaths of the cool night air, and he lit a cigarette. It had been a long stretch the last couple of days, and he couldn't actually remember when he had slept last. He didn't have insomnia. He had his friends--the people he loved most in the world--who had been in trouble for the last three or so nights running. And now he was tired.

Kate had offered him the guest room straight across the hall from hers and Roberts, but Michael was afraid to get too comfortable in case they needed him during the night. And now he was debating whether he needed to make a pot of french roast to try to stay awake yet one more night. He had heard Brian's reassurance, but the doubt nagged at the back of his mind. What if? What if something went sideways and he was sleeping so deeply he slept through it? And, could he stay awake anyway once the house got completely quiet? Did he really need to? Would Gelding give them all just a few hours peace?