Tuscany Trip

Brian saw Khaat, and he tried hard not to betray the seriousness he felt. He grabbed a large coffee mug and poured a cup of coffee for her. "Sit," he told her gently," I'll bring it to you." He poured her a generous amount of pain potion and took it and the coffee to her. He put it on an end table near a deep comfortable chair and carefully lowered her into it. "Sit and relax. I want you staying in here today and staying at a low roar. I have to get the worst of the storm damage cleared away. And it has to be done by hand. We do havve some neighbors, you know. And I"m not sure if they're wizards or not. It at least has to look muggle.

"Don't bring them for lunch," she sighed, embarressed.

"Don't worry. Steven and I have had our share of bruises, I'm sure. And Ronata might as well get used to it now," Brian smiled. "I'll cook breakfast. You enjoy your coffee, and I'll cook. Ronata, can you stay with Khaat today and help keep her company? Maybe spend a girl's day with her while Steven and I work outside and clear away a lot of damage to the property? Its going to be a big job. You might have to fix lunch for us, if you don't mind."

Ronata moved from Steven to sit next to Khaat "sure I don't mind , would a proper plowmans do its quick and easy" she said smiling and looking at Khaat before looking at Steven who smiled at her bringing over her coffee and kissing her gently "thank you Steven" she said softly before blushing to look at Khaat , she put it down to such a tender moment in her full view.

Steven smiled " ok Brian I got my work boots on how about you?" he asked showing him a pair of well worn cowboy boots, light tan with a faded bran on the side.

"That would be fine," Brian smiled. "I don't get ploughman's lunches very often. I'm not sure why. And, yes. I am dressed. But I'm not going out to do anything until we do breakfast first. " Brian got out a lot of fresh fruit and began preparing it for a fresh fruit salad. He knew Khaat rarely turned down fresh fruit for breakfast, and it just sounded like a nice refreshing way to start the day. He had decided on the fruit salad, with some light and fluffy scrambled eggs, and some whole wheat toast.

"I'm not reallty hungry, Brian," Khaat said.

"I don't care," he replied. "I'm hungry and we all need to eat. Drink your potion. You'll feel better."

"Oh, fine," she managed a slight laugh, taking the potion. She chased it with a healthy drink of her hot fresh, French Roast.

Ronata sighed as she watched Khaat drink her potion and then quickly the coffee . she sat and drank her own but she turned down the food feeling a little off but the coffee seem to sit fine with her. She looked at Steven and became deep in thought she began to wonder what it would be like living with him but found her self smiling as she realised it might not be as bad as she thought , he could cook at least as could she now , well almost.

Steven watched the smile cross Ronata face as she seem to stare off into space. He smiled as he drank his coffee "Brian have you ever known Khaat to be .. I don't know off?" he said "one minuet fine the next in a world of her own, she 's taking twice as long in the bathroom too ?"

"Not generally," Brian said, starting to hull and slice a quart of strawberries. He had already prepared some raspberries and other berries. "She sometimes can get that way if she's overtired for some reason. But she sort of compensates with far too much coffee." He sliced a variety of fresh fruits and mixed them together in a bowl. He made a dressing with fresh orange juice, champagned and a chiffonade of fresh mint. He stirred them together and set the bowl of fruit salad in the refrigerator.

He scrambled some eggs and cooked them quickly, along with some toast. He plated up the eggs and toast and put the fruit salad in separate small compote dishes and said, "I thought we'd just eat in the living room so that Khaat doesn't have to get up again. Is that alright with everyone?"

Steven listened to Brian , "can't be that she's always out before me " he said with a sigh "its fine with me , wonder if Khaat could find out?" he said softly "you know woman to woman kinda thing" he moved with Brain holding two bowls of fruit offering one he frowned when Ronata shook her head then stood up.

"excuse me" she said and quickly moved out the room. Steven took this opportunity.

"Khaat could you talk to Ronata, she seems a little off " he said with a sigh "I am a bit worried about her "he looked back at the door she had gone threw "she won't say anything to me" he sat and ate his breakfast.

Ronata moved into the bathroom the smell of the fruit being a little too much for her, and she had to get to the bathroom. Now away she took a deep breath feeling her stomach return to normal "must have been some bad fish " she said to herself before moving back out to sit with Khaat smiling at Steven.

Khaat already recognized the symptoms. She had seen them clearly. She did not need to examine her to find out what was going on. "I'll get to it this morning," she said quietly. "It looks like she needs some air right at the moment."

"No. You won't," Brian said, glaring at Khaat. Khaat looked at him. He clearly knew all the signs too. He had seen what she had seen. "I'm a healer too. It shouldn't take long to check this out, but you need to rest, Khaat. I'll take care of it. Eat, Khaat. I'll refill your coffee." Brian brought the coffee pot and warmed up her coffee, and refilled his own, and offered to refill Stevens as well.

Khaat was quiet. It appeared Steven was the only one who had not figured out he'd gotten Ronata pregnant. It wasn't Khaat's business to judge, but silently, she thought it was asinine that neither of them had taken any reasonable precautions. Just a couple of weeks ago, Ronata couldn't stand to be touched by Steven, and now she couldn't keep her hands off him. Not ever, it seemed. And, in addition, Ronata was clearly pregnant.

Ever since waking up from his coma, Steven had been so completely stuck in his thinking that he had to have a woman, Khaat knew she really should not have been surprised that he hadn't given one moment's thought to using a bit of common sense about his responsibility in this. Ronata was equally responsible, but she did seem to be decidedly more naieve. Steven had been, not that long ago, just plain desperate.

"Although, it doesn't take a healer to know what her issue is," Brian said, returning from the kitchen and taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm not sure how the two of you are missing it, to be honest."

steven sighed and looked at them both "I didn't i guess i just didn't want to accept it i guess " he said softly "she's pregnant isn't she, we used protection except for one night , she just wouldn't wait " he said with sigh he drank his coffee and stood up "well you ready for work " he said needing something to work on.

Ronata walked out of the bathroom an back to the living room she sat quiet with Khaat . She looked down at the floor not her as she knew she would know "I didn't mean it to happen" she said softly "if he doesn't want it I will go with his wishes " she said now puling up her legs to her chest "I can only guess it was that night i was so drunk I guess I slipped , its my stupid fault" she said now on the verge of tears "go on tell me I've been stupid and how silly I am to get pregnant to some one I have only know a few months"

Khaat sighed heavily. "You two had better get on the same page with this. It takes two to create life. You both know that. Placing blame on yourselves or one another won't change anything," she said. "I think you both need to talk. You need some private time to decide what it is you want to do. You both know how it happened, but the fact remains that it happened, and now you both need to decide--together--what you plan to do. It doesn't mean you need to make a permanent commitment to each other if that is not what you want, but it does mean that you are now put into a time frame where you will have to make some key choices rather quicker than you might have had to do otherwise. It does rush your relationship a bit. If you have children together this soon, you may be forcing yourselves to bypass some relationship building things that you might have had time to do before children arrive. That's not to say you can't still build those things, but you will certainly have more obstacles to deal with along the way."

Steven looked at Ronata then at Khaat he placed down his cup and walked over to Ronata and lifted her over his shoulder she screamed "ok this might take some time " he said looking at Brian he held out his hand "you got that thing I bought? he asked " the small black box" he said holding out his hand.

Ronata had only just stopped sniffing when she felt Steven toss her over his shoulder "HAY!!" she screamed as she hung like a sack of potatoes "KHAAT?" she said looking at her "Brain you can't let him treat me this way" she said half meaning it half smirking she gave up and rested her arm on his back bobbing as he walked to threw to the bed room.