Tuscany Trip

Khaat was extremely uncomfortable at the overt physical relationship betwee Steven and Ronata. She was quiet through breakfast while Brian and Ronata and Steven made small talk. Khaat found she wasn't exceptionally hungry. She ate what she could and excused herself. She scraped her dishes and rinsed them and put them in the sink. While they talked, she went outside. Fresh air. That was what she needed. She got an idea. She apparated up to her bedroom and grabbed her purse and then apparated to the garage. She got out an unusual teal metallic finished women's bicycle and decided to ride into the nearby village.

Brian wanted to keep an eye on Khaat. He didn't want her to wander too far in strange place without him. When she didn't come back, he went to the ground floor terrace and looked out on the beach. No Khaat. He looked left down the road--No Khaat. Then he looked right and saw just the smallest glimpse of her riding out of sight towards the village.

"Hm...I guess I"m going on a bike ride. My buddy is going without me," he laughed. "Looks like I"m going into the village, if you two decide you want to come. Gotta go! Thanks for a great breakfast, Steven. You can cook like that again any time." He apparated to the garage and grabbed a man's black mountain bike and figured he could catch up with her leisurely riding in no time.

Ronata couldn't help but laugh as steven told her about prank he pulled at school she felt more rlaxed to day than she ahd ever done but she sensed Khaat wasn't and this upset her a little. She felt Stevens hand on hers and she saw him mouth she will be ok as Khaat left the table "I can't help worry about her" she said now griping his hand " shes a special freind now and I know she is hurting you don't have to be a seer to know it , I see it on her face" she said she sighed as steven held her .

Moving from him she smiled again "I'd like to walk on the beach this morning, and just have a quiet day" she said seeing a smal path landing down to the small privet beach .

Khaat parked her bike outside a women's dress shop and boutique. She went in and was shopping casually, when she heard Brian's voice asking something in Italian to the clerk. Then he came over to Khaat, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed your cheek. "We're newlyweds. Did you know that?" he whispered in her ear. She smiled, amused. She caught the shopkeeper all caught up in watching what she thought was two people in love.

"I don't mean to make anyone feel bad," she said, "If I did, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said. "They weren't very subtle. It'll be alright. I understand why it got to you. Do you see anything you like?"

"Maybe..this one," she said, taking down a white gauze dress that had a broomstick skirt sewn to a camisole style bodice that had shell buttons up the front. There was also a matching oversized white gauze shirt to match.

"I like it," he smiled. "Try it on."

"Oh, I really shouldn't."

"Go ahead."

"Well," she said, really liking the dress, "If you insist."

She ended up choosing the white dress and shirt and 3 sundresses in beautiful prints. They would be easy care and be perfect for the beach. Brian bought her a stylish wide brimmed straw sunhat with a white flowing fabric band, and some other accessories, including a pair of sunglasses that he really liked on her. He banded her stack of packages to the back of his bike and pursuaded her to ride back to the house with him. She was in a better mood by just being with him.

steven nodded to ronata "sure why not" he said clearing away the breackfast dishes and placing them in the dishwasher. He watched as she walked down the path to the beach. Things had changed way to fast even for him and he was not suprised she needed some time and space from him. He leaned on the railing loking down at her he could feel inside that he truly did love her but as he knew he should he had to back off a little and let her deciden he knew not all the way but enouph that she would come to him if she felt she wanted to.

He sighed as he placed the left over rolls in a bread bin and the left over food in the bin , fixing some coffee he sat down on the balcony looking out over the ocean . he stoofd up hearing Brian and Khaat return "looks like you two had a good time?" he said and sat back down loking into his cup "fresh pot of coffee on the side if your intrested" he shouted back inside.

"We did, "Brian said. "And, thanks. Coffee sounds good. The woman is making me an addict now too. " He sent Khaat's packages to her room and poured himself a cup of coffee while Khaat seemed to disappear upstairs right along with the packages.

"By the way," Brian said, taking his cup out to join Steven, "Don't take Khaat's discomfort personally. Coming here to Tuscany has been a lifelong dream of Khaats, one that Rob promised to fill for her countless times. She still wanted to come here, but I think a part of her is having a bit of a hard time being in such a romantic place without the man that she truly loves. And as big of a loser as he is, there is a part of here that still loves her. She doesn't want to, but she does. She is really happy, I can tell, but there are moments when she still finds herself wishing that things had turned out differently. But then, I know you know what that's like. She's okay right now. I think she's embarressed that Rob got to her again. So I think she's pulled a bit away because she doesn't want to bring you two down. Maybe we need to go do something together, the four of us this afternoon. What do you think?"

steven looked down at the beach as Brian spoke "yea I do, I think Ronata is feeling the same, shes awfuly quiet this morning" he said hoping he hadn't done something to upset her. "yes I think that will be good , sailing may be find a nice quiet beach and have a meal on the sand " he sugested placing his cup on the counter as he pored Brian one now with a small smile on his face. "seems both our ladies are out of sorts"

"Well, if I"m not mistaken, Ronata took Khaat's mood too seriously. I'm presuming she just doesn't know Khaat or understand her and so she takes everything she sees personally. You know as well as I do that is a very dangerous, self destructive habit if one is going to live in the wizarding world. Particularly in an area that is already so politically charged. If we all took things seriously around here, we would have all killed each other a long time ago.

"Steven, no offense. I like Ronata--a lot. Khaat does too, or we would not have asked you both to come with us. But Ronata is a really fragile woman. She has the potential to be a strong woman, but, well, she's going to have a very, very difficult time in England, especially in Khaat's tough, rough and tumble gang of family and friends, if she doesn't learn to be able to roll with it a bit. It might really help her a lot if you can help her learn to lighten up a bit. Remember you had to learn how tough a bunch the Lupins really are when you started to get to know them, too. I've heard stories about that. You might have to help her not be so afraid of everything, and she'll listen to you before she listens to anyone else."

Steven sighed and nodded wondering how he could do that "My problem is how ?" he said "she seems to one minet be fine, then next shes pushing away" he walked over to the balconey down at where Ronata sat on the beach "leave it with me I think of something" he moved down the path to the beach .

Reatching it he found her sat looking out over the sea and sat down next to her "you all right?" he asked softly seeing her look at the sand at her feet and shake her head "ok so whats up?" he asked and she turned to look at him the sea air had turned her cheek slightly pink.


Ronata looked at Steven as he sat down next to her she knew she had to say something to him but what could she say then he asked her what was wrong and she sighed "last night when you had the nightmare you held me " she said looking from the sand in front of her to him and back.

steven nodded "yeah, I rember" he said "I also rember that if you hadn't come in and woke me, things could have been worse" he said looking at her "is that whats bothering you?" he asked "the fact that I held you" he turned where he sat to look at her .


Looking at him Ronata nodded "I... I have never been held like that by man other than my father" she said now looking at him she could see a smile on his face and she looked puzzled at his reation.

"Ro , Last night I was acting out of instinct, Janet , my wife use to hold me like you did, when I had nightmares , I guess it thought you were her because...."now was his turn to become stuck for words but he took a deep breath and continued "because of how I feel around you" he saw her look up at him and he nodded

Khaat came downstairs wearing the new white gauze dress and coverup with kicky little white sandals. She found Brian by himself. "Did I drive them off?"she asked.

"No," Brian said. "Ronata is just trying to adjust to our crowd. Its a hard adjustment for her. She's not used to all the...well, rough stuff."

"Well, if she's going to be around Steven, she'd better learn," Khaat sighed. "I dont' mean to be hard on her. I like her. I do...."

"Don't worry. I talked to Steven. He's followed her to the beach to talk to her. I suggested we all go out this afternoon and get our minds off all this dismal crap."

"Excellent idea. Do you have a plan?"

"I do," he grinned.

"Why am I not surprised in the least? Do I need to change?"

"No. You are always very beautiful," he caressed her cheek.

Ronat looked at Steven he made sese in a way but glancing back up at the villa she saw Khaat and Brian then looked back to Steven "we'd better get back" she said and stood up but she paused feeling a tug on her hand . Looking down she saw Steven had hold of it as he stood to face her "Steven please , Last night was nice but its too soon , for you and for me " she said and slipped her hadn from his to walk back up to the hose she paused and loked back at him "you coming or do I have to send Brian down" she said with a smile knowing he would know she wasn't rejecting him just telling him to back off a little.

Moving up she joined Brian and Khaat "you too look cozy?" she said glancing back at Steven as he folowed her back up the path and she chukled but her smile was not as happy as she had been.