Tuscany Trip

Khaat finally began to stir. She had slept soundly once Brian had forcefully driven her worst fears away. She didn't voice her fears easily, but that had never ever stopped Brian from seeing through her like glass and seeing every single one of them. She woke, finding she was using Brian's chest as a pillow.

"Were you here all night?" she asked softly.

"Yes. Since about 2."

"I'm sorry. I should have been braver."

"Don't be sorry. It's alright. Feeling better? Any more nightmares?"

"No more nightmares. I' m fine at the moment, but I havent tried to get up yet, either. "

"Let's try--slowly." He shifted to allow her to move, but her stiffness stopped her. She groaned. "Hold still," he said calmly. "You're just going to hurt yourself that way. Here." He helped her stretch out, and he got a bottle of lotion and treated her to a full body massage. It was a mix of a lot of pain from all the bruises and battered muscles, and also relief as he began working out some of the stiffness and soreness. He was slow, methodical, and very thorough. It helped immesely. "Better?" he asked.

"Much. Thank you."

"Okay. Glad to help. I'm going to go shower quick. By then you should be ready to shower. If you need help just ask."

Khaat watched Brian get up and go off to shower. She got up and opened her closet. As she did, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The bruises were now fully black. She was hideous. She hadn't seen it yesterday. Hadn't looked in the mirror. Suddenly she was totally humiliated and embarressed. She closed her closet. No sundresses or shorts today. She chose a pair of well worn, soft jeans, a cotton longsleeved blouse with a thin pinstipe windowpane check in a tan color that was so pale it was merely a trace of elegance. She didn't wear the blouse much except with jeans. She showered, combed her hair out and left it wet to airdry. She rolled the sleeves up partway up to her elbows and checked herself in the mirror. She sighed heavily. There was no way to cover that up or make it look any better. She felt hideous. She was trying very hard to come to grips with the fact that they had all seen it before--continuously, every day since it happened. And she wasn't sure if it really did look worse today, or if it just felt that way. She did know, as a healer, that sometimes it took a day or two for bruises to fully manifest. But she had never felt this victimized or humiliated in her life. She chose slip on sneakers. She was hoping to slip off down to the beach to take a walk by herself after breakfast. Somehow she had to come to grips with this before she brought everybody down. She put on a tiny pair of gold hoop earrings and went downstairs.

Brian had just gotten a couple of cups of coffee--one for himself and one for her when he saw her come downstairs. He kissed her forhead softly. "Very pretty," he said. "Coffee?"

'Thanks," she smiled. "Good morning." she said to Steven and Ronata.

"Eventually," she told Steven. "Took me a bit. And it does feel good to be up walking again. "

"That's because you havent had any pain potion yet," Brian said, sipping his coffee.

"No, and I might not need it. At least not that strength. I might be alright. I think I might try to go for a walk on the beach. I know we can't have this shoreline view forever, and I'd like to take advantage of it."

"Can I at least have a few sips of coffee first?" Brian sighed. He hated when she got on an adrenalin kick like this. She needed to stay busy, and he knew that. When she got something on her mind, she seemed to refuel physically and it seemed to allow her to push more than he liked. And, right now, that meant he was going to be pushed. One thing about it, life with Khaat was never dull. He was starting to think Rob left because he couldn't keep up with her maddening pace through life. "You know," Brian said, "It might be nice if we could have some breakfast first?"

"Have a piece of toast," she said. He laughed out loud at her abruptness.

"Thank you," Brian laughed, relieved. At least with Steven and Ronata around, he'd get to eat once in awhile before Khaat dragged him out and about. He glared at Khaat, "If you're going to start one of these marathons and drag me with you, at least fuel up first. Eat. Or I'm not going."

"I really can go without you," she shrugged carelessly, "Thank you, Steven." She sat down to breakfast.

"No, you cannot," he ordered. She rolled her eyes at him to tell him that she was not in the least afraid of him and that she planned on doing whatever she wanted to do. He sighed heavily, laughing. He looked at Steven. "She really is her father's daughter," he sighed. "I see more and more of Robert in her every day. You know, in another ten years, she'll be unbearable."

"Hey!" Khaat socked him in the arm playfully.

"Can you see it when Abbey and Dakota are teenagers? It ought to be a very lively house."

"What's on your schedules today?" Khaat asked Steven and Ronata. "I'm hoping I'll be up to sightseeing in another day or so. I don't want to miss Venice at least before our vacation time runs out and we all have to go back to work."

"Ok," Khaat said. She finished her breakfast about the same time that Brian did. He picked up their plates and took them into the kitchen along with their coffee cups. He returned to her.

"Alright, Hotshot," He said to her, "Lets see how far you can go. Let's go. Come on."

He took her outside, making sure that he was aware of everything that moved within wandshot. He let her walk on the beach. He talked with her a long time to try to get her to stop being so intense. He knew she was worrying about Abbey and owning responsibility for all the crap that had happened, but it wasn't her fault. Robert, he felt, owed her enough of an explanation to take her off the hook, but, hell, he wasn't providing that to anybody for some asinine reason. He eventually provoked her enough that she vented at him about how angry and frightened and frustrated she was. Once that had happened, she seemed to be more herself. Less desperate to be active. More, well, Khaat-like again. He was grateful.

"You ready to go back inside?" he asked.

"I suppose," she replied.

Brian and Khaat returned to find the living room empty. "Hm. Gone again," she sighed.

"Dont jump to conclusions," he laughed. "You know better than that."

"You're right. You up for some dueling practice?"

"What?" he frowned. "I am, but you're not. I'd maul you, fair and square."

"She's not going to wait until I"m healed, Brian," she frowned. Brian sighed. She was right, and he had put Robert in the same position that he now found himself in with Khaat. He had forced Robert, time and time again, to fight him when Brian had been wounded and Robert had not wanted to. Brian wanted to know how to fight through the pain. He understood her thought process well.

"Fine," he sighed. "But at MY pace. Not yours. If I say stop, you stop. You got that?"

"Fine. Let's go," she said. They went to the rec room in the basement. Brian somehow knew that gorgeous pool table would be the first thing to go. He sighed. He had liked that table.

They went through the formalities, and he let her get off the first shot. "Expelliarmus!" she fired. He'd had his shield up, and her spell bounced off.

"Aquamenti!" he fired, striking her with a blast of water.

"Woss!" she frowned, now dripping wet.