Third Time is a Charm

Khaat had gone into Sparks, hungry for pistachio ice cream, and getting ever more perturbed at him for not ordering it as she had wanted. She finally ordered the stuff herself, along with about 6 other flavors just on Sweet Tooth Impulse. She blamed Abbey entirely. However, she did find a strawberry that put Rob's favorite strawberry ice cream to shame, and she hoped he might like it.

She settled for a slice of cheesecake and a mug of french roast and curled up in the booth nearest to the fireplace, wrapping in a long, butter colored sweater over her jeans and her white t shirt. It was a rainy day, and she was cold. She was just looking forward to sitting in front of the fire, watching the rain on the window and on the brick Diagon Alley street. There weren't many people in Sparks at this off time. And she was glad for the privacy. She had brought a book, but hadn't opened it yet. It was a muggle fiction--a mystery. Some light reading, she thought. She couldn't garden today, so she had planned on doing a lot of nothing but maybe helping out at Sparks if Rob needed it.

Rain seemed to bring all the crazies out and Jen just happened to be strolling through Knockturn Alley. The whores that usually hung on every corner in their skyscraper heels had retreated to one of the dingy little pubs where they were all born and Jen couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose when she passed. She remembered working in there as a teenager, just to annoy her mother. She loved every minute of it though. She had too much pride to be a prostitute so instead she worked behind the bar, dazzling the customers. She’d quit quite quickly though when she started training for whatever she did now. Being an Auror was boring. She missed being a free lance killer.

Jen left Knockturn Alley and passed her club. She looked in through the window and saw Richard cleaning up. She smiled a little and walked down the road towards Sparks where she hoped to find her brother in the kitchen. She hadn’t seen him in a while and she missed him. Jen walked around the back and opened the door of the kitchen. It was there that she found Rob sitting at the wooden table with a plate of sandwiches and Play Witch in his hand. Jen pinched the bridge of her nose and stole the magazine from her brother. He protested loudly and Lizzie giggled from where she was stood in front of the range.

“I didn’t know you were into this type of stuff, Robbie.” Jen cooed, flicking through the magazine. She stopped at a cleaner picture and frowned. It was well taken but she didn’t know why the photographer was wasting time there. She rolled her eyes and continued to flick through the magazine, dancing around the kitchen as she went to keep the book out of her brother’s grasp. “Rob I can’t believe it. When did I last catch you with this stuff? It was with Reg in your fifth year wasn’t it? Wow.” She smirked and handed the magazine back to her brother. “Just don’t let Khaat see.”

Rob snorted and walked back over to the table. He sat back down and began to flick through another few magazines. Jen shook her head and grabbed an apple and a bottle of water off of the kitchen island. She walked out into the main restaurant and spotted Khaat sat down at one of the tables. Jen waved a little before taking a bite out of her apple. She chewed and swallowed before opening her mouth once more. “Hey.”

Spoiler:

Khaat opened her book and began reading. After a long moment, she glanced up to see Jen hanging out in the kitchen with Rob. She figured Jen was getting him to talk about something rather perverted. Some scheme she either had planned or had just completed. Either that or they were both peering over that PlayWitch Rob believed he was hiding in his desk. Khaat did not acknowledge she knew about it. Further, she really didn't care one way or the other about that. He would always be a skirt chaser. She was okay with that. Didn't mean a thing. Plus, she had expected she would be less of what he wanted as she began to get more pregnant, and she figured it would pass sometime about Halloween if she got back in shape quick enough.

She wondered how long it would take until Jen spilled the beans to Rob in some very twisted way about what had happened in the Blue Moon a few days ago, forcing Rob to try to choose between them. That was the very reason she had not mentioned it herself. She saw Jen wave at her, and Khaat ignored her, going back to her book.

Her initial thought was to apparate out, but she rethought it. She was half owner of this club, and, yes, they did serve Lupins here. Happily so, and graciously so. And would always do so. No, she wasn't leaving. This place was hers too. Just as much as it was Rob's. She took a sip of her coffee. There was something strangely relaxing for her in french roast. And today, it was not half a cup. She had allowed herself a full cup.

Jen bit her lip. Clearly Khaat was still pissed about the time in the nightclub. Jen had her reasons though, even if they were pretty pathetic. She was rushed off of her feet that day and she couldn’t even take five minutes out to have a glass of wine. Clearly she hadn’t been prepared for the amount of time and energy you had to put into the nightclub. She’d passed out that night behind the bar, she had been absolutely shattered. Richard had, had Gibbs take her home.

She knew she had hurt Khaat’s feelings but she hadn’t meant it at the time. She didn’t mean it now either. She wanted to make it up to Khaat somehow but how she could she wasn’t sure. Jen did have some ideas at the back of her mind but she wasn’t going to pose them to Khaat just yet. She wanted to weasel her way back into her sister’s good books first. So, Jen sat down opposite Khaat and put her bottle of water on the table.

“I, uh, never got to thank you for the lamp. It’s beautiful. I’ve never received something so unique. Thank you.” Jen figured that was the best way to start. Otherwise, she had no idea.

"Oh," Khaat looked up, "You're welcome. Sit, if you like." Khaat saw Jen reaching to make things right, so she had no need to persecute her. "Rob made fresh cheesecake again. He makes more of it now that he knows Abbey loves it. He does make really good cheesecake, though. Even if I weren't craving it, I would still be tempted to get addicted to it. You ought to try this one. It's lemon. I can't get him convinced to make pistachio anything. Damn it." She put her bookmark in her book and closed it. Muggle paperbacks were cheap and sometimes amusing. The ones about their thoughts about the wizarding world were always amusing and always wrong. She sometimes bought one or two of those just for the giggles.

"Muggle paperback," she said, "Good, cheap entertainment that doesn't cost much and keeps me out of trouble with Rob. They're mainly just amusement. I read them and then donate them to a muggle charity. This one really isn't half bad. A muggle mystery writer who is well known in their circles--Agatha Christie. Woman should have been wizard. She's just bloody brilliant."

Jen smiled a little and opened her bottle of water. She sent her apple away towards the kitchen and heard a shout from Rob. Clearly the apple had hit its target. Jen smirked to herself and listened to Khaat intently, making a face at the mention of cheesecake. “I don’t like it really. I prefer Apple pie if I am honest. I find cheesecake far too rich.” Jen doubted she’d ever like cheesecake. But she wasn’t sure, some things could change. She hoped she wouldn’t one day need a cheesecake fix though.

“I suppose.” She shrugged. “Rob doesn’t care what you get up too unless you’re trying to kill yourself or if you’re with Vincent. I think it’s those two times that he gets pretty pissed.” Jen smiled and shook her head. “I think that Muggles are odd. Their books romanticize magic and I don’t understand half of it. Probably why I prefer Wizarding fiction.”

"I honestly am trying to be whatever he wants me to be, make myself into whatever he needs from me," she said softly, finding herself unusually revealing more of herself than she normally would to perhaps anybody except Vincent. "And as far as Vincent goes, he's just someone to share a cup of coffee with. We're not friends, and we're not enemies either. But we do enjoy the arguing. It seems to be almost a sport of its own with us. It really is no more serious than Rob's intentions towards Miss PlayWitch of the month." She had deliberately let that slip. "And, no, I wasn't snooping. But I have been asking Rob for weeks to order pistachio ice cream, so I had to find the order forms from the supplier in his desk to order it myself. It doesn't bother me that he has that sort of rubbish. A lot of men do. It means nothing. And it is actually wiser to have it here than at home where all of my teens' wandering eyes could find it. Their hormones are raging enough without that kind of help.

"I suppose the only thing I miss is the adventuring. I do really miss that. I'm trying to occupy myself with housecleaning and gardening and cooking until I go back to work. That, and using the fitness center at St. Mungo's and going running.

"Oh, and by the way, Daddy and I went back to Texas and cleaned up that illegal wizarding potions mess. Razor and his gang are dead. Thought you might like to know. Funny, I don't have much regret about killing anymore. Some things are just necessary. "