"Believe me, this is not where I want you," Robert laughed. "What I want is for you to be well and able to take care of your family. Rob, when you were shot, Khaat knew instantly. That bond of yours told her immediately that something was drastically wrong. I know you don't remember much, but she lost a lot of life energies having Abbey. Then when you were shot, she apparated right to you and purposely gave you almost every spark of life energy she had left. It was her free choice. You can gripe at her later for that. When your griping won't kill her, feel free.
"However, if she hadn't, you honestly would have died before we could have helped you, regardless of what Jen intended. To be honest, I am proud of Khaat for doing what she did. I will not lose my daughter--I promise you. But she is a lot farther away from being well than she was before all this happened. Her bodyguard is also a healer. I do not want her without a healer or a bodyguard around the clock for awhile, and the man that is with her is one I would trust with my own life, let alone my only chlid's.
"When you're up to it, she would really perk up if she could see you. That would help her turn things around quite a lot, I believe. And, believe me, I need her to move out of being critically ill just as soon as possible. The longer she's in that state, the harder it will be for us to get her back. And as far as I'm concerned, if you can rollerskate or skateboard or magically race your bed down the hallway from here to there and back, I really don't care. I can look the other way to a certain extent. Hell, I might even help you do it. And, yes, you can have Phae for awhile yet, but not around the clock. I do have to take care of my staff and not burn them out.
"Your mother might be a different story. I don't know if she even knows what has happened to you yet. Yes, I know she deserves that, but when she finds out where you are and what has actually happened, she'll blow a gasket that will blow a hole clear through my roof and most likely blow out all the windows in the building. Not that she doesn't deserve to do that, given the circumstances, but she isn't going to like one moment of this. Besides that, I would really like to keep my roof and my windows. Do you have the slightest idea how I keep Charlotte from losing control completely if she is still here? If I can explain this to her without her losing her mind and damaging property, I'll bring her up here for a very short visit. Deal?
"Oh, and so you know, I know Jen would have killed you instantly, too, if that was what she intended, but she did make a very critical error of judgement, and I am not in any position to help her. Neither is Matt right now for that matter. He has to follow through in processing the letter of the law. And for right now, he does not need to know that at least a part of Jen's motivations for what she did was her anger at you for overdosing on your own illegal potions. That doesn't help her defense, does not excuse her behavior, and does not make it right. In the end, it does nothing. If Jen reveals that herself, then we will have a whole new set of problems, but the information won't come from me. And I am equally positive it won't come from Khaat. Perhaps you and I can think of a way to help Jen, but I doubt that will be today. Right now, my priorities are you three--you, Abbey, and Khaat. And neither you nor Khaat are up to solving anyone's issues but your own. "