Tuscany Trip

Robert heard Brian come home, and he came very quickly upstairs. He saw Robert there and sighed with relief. "I am so sorry, Robert," Brian said quietly. "She alright?"

"She's fine," Robert said.

"I've never seen her drink before," Brian said, frowning at the firewhiskey bottle. He went in and picked up the bottle. "Damn! She went through most of it."

"She's fine. She's, relatively speaking, apparently somewhat impervious to the stuff. She was only starting to slightly slur."

"Well, she is still liable to have a headache in the morning."

"I'll take care of it."

"I will. Neither of you were here."

"That's my fault. I'm in charge. I'll have a word wtih Ronata. She's forgotten her assignment, clearly."

Robert frowned deeply. "That woman works for me? She's suspended," he said sharply.

"I'll take care of it, I said," Brian repeated gently.

"I just did. Until I say otherwise," Robert said firmly. At this rate, he expected her hormones would not adjust again until sometime after delivery. And he was not trusting her with anyone else's life when she was not responsible with her own. "And you!" he charged at Brian, "You ever leave her again, and I'll fire your ass. Your only responsibility is HER until I tell you otherwise. You got that?"

"I got it," Brian replied quietly.

"And as for you," Robert looked at Steven, "You're a capable auror, but Ronata has your head turned every which way but in the right direction. If she's going to work for me, she has to get her head in the game. She has to stop needing to be the center of her own universe. There are a hell of a lot of lives at stake in what we do, and especially right at the moment.. She'd better stop being a drama queen or I don't need her. And I don't know if I can use her while she's pregnant anyway. Not for the work we do. Your assignment is, now, to see if you can get her straightened out because she is on extremely thin ice with me right now. In the meantime, I am calling the shots with Khaat's safety. Either one of you have an issue with that?"

Steven looked at Robert as he spoke to Brian then to him he had every intenshion of doing just what Robert had said.

"Not any more , sir I have woken up from that. " he said " I have every inteshion of setting her straight even if it means putting her over my knee and I mean that in every sense, enouph is enouph." he said his face straight as he spoke. he turned to Brain and spoke again. "Honey moon is over, the gloves... come... off" he said looking back at Robert he agreed with everything he ahd said and if she wouldn't sort her self out he wanted nothing to do with her while he was on duty "If you'll excuse me , Captain, C.O.B, I will check the primiter and make sure its secure for the night... again." he said and moved away from the bedroom to give them privacy.

He moved around the out side of the villa, he saw nothing but the odd owl and bat flying around. moving inside he checked every lock and window bolt, even drawing the main curtains in the lounge and poring himself a cup of coffee. He got the feeling it would be along night and he was prepared to see it threw.

"You'd better straighten out your staff, Brian," Robert said, after Steven left, "You surely don't want me to do it. And they definitely don't want me doing it. And I don't want his having to resort to turning her over his knee. If she is not any more mature than that, don't you even bring her to Paris the first time. She'll be done before she starts. This is far, far, too important than to have someone who is behaving like that onboard."

"Agreed," Brian said, deciding he was not going to tell Robert Steven had already resorted to that once. "Robert, I should have let Steven go after her alone...."

"First of all, she shouldn't have gone. Secondly, no, you shouldn't have. You all three left your primary protection client alone and unprotected except by her own devices. That is totally unacceptable!"

"I've never seen her drink before. Not like that."

"That's because she's never done it," Robert said. "She was angry and frustrated beyond her own limits."

"You wanna tell me why?"

"No. She has a lot on her mind. I'll handle that. I'm staying with her tonight. At least as long as I can. You can get rid of this now." He motioned to the bottle and the glass. Brian sighed heavily and picked up the bottle and the glass and left quietly. Robert rarely got this angry, but it was better to let him cool off than to keep jabbing at him. He took the bottle down to the kitchen and put it away, and put the glass in the sink. He poured himself coffee and a cup for Robert. He sent Robert's cup upstairs magically for him. He looked at Steven.

"Might be a long, long night," he sighed.

Steven looked at Brian and he placed the glass into the sink , he held up his mug "yes, you got that feeling too " he said walking over for a refill "How is she really?" he asked as he pored a second mug his brow still furowed at ronatas actions "Dam it, Brian she put Khaat at risk , our primary assingment, I have never had any boss chew me out like Robert just did and its because of her" he pointed back to the room Ronata slept in before facing him.

He paced the floor as he held his cup in his hands thinking. "If she wants to stay she had to prove she is worth keeping here so far she's not done that but got in our way." he said still pacing.

A figure appeared at the door, her hair all tussled and her eyes half closed but her face said it all she had heard every word he had said, walking over to Brain she looked at him face to face.

" I do not pertain to understand what has happend, but I am going to guess what ever it was was inexusable, as My boss I say this I can not apolagys for what I can not remember " she turned slightly to face Steven but spoke to Brian. " But I put my self under your command " she slipped off her medalion "If you say leave I will leave .." she turned and walked to Steven facing him. " I would never think of hurting you, Khaat or Brian " with that said she gave him one almighty slap across his face. "and don't you DARE ever think I would" she faced Brian again. " your disishion, cheif officer Brain, sir?"

"It's not my choice right now, Ronata," Brian said quietly. "It's Robert's. He's taken that decision away from me. And he's too angry at the moment. He is not going to make any choice while he is this angry. Not unless he's forced to.

"Here's the bottom line. You threw a whale of a temper tantrum and left. Steven was concerned so he and I went after you, leaving Khaat alone. Robert is understandably angry at all three of us for leaving our protection client alone and unprotected. We're all in this stew together. We all made mistakes. You should not have thrown your fit and taken off, and Steven should have just let you go. And I never should have followed him. That's where we all misstepped.

"But, if you think about it, we did learn something very, very important. Robert rarely ever gets that angry--ever. But he is right now. That in itself tells me volumes. Whatever is going on that he won't tell us has to be extremely dangerous and something he is willing to put his own life on the line for. He's willing to do whatever it takes to, not only follow this through himself and not trust it to anyone else, but also to keep Khaat completely out of England and hidden. That tells me this is far, far bigger than we know. And more dangerous than we can possibly imagine. Robert was truly afraid for Khaat's safety. He isn't afraid of much of anything, but tonight he is afraid. We'd better all be on task because the stakes in this game are probably higher than we can possibly appreciate. Something is very, very wrong. And he's willing to lose it all, including his own life, to try to make whatever this is right again. "

Ronata listened to Brian as he told her what had happened she gave a sigh. "I don't remember any of it, the walking out none of it as far as I am aware I just woke up and its wednesday, but you are right he should have just left me, I am not your cheif concern Khaat is right now" she looked at Steven over her shoulder "I have already move my things out of his room to make it easier" she said once more talking to Brian but looking at steven as she spoke "we both don't need the distraction right now" she stood holding her madalion in her hand "You can tell Robert I will accept what ever he decides to do."

Steven moved to take a step towards her but stopped as she faced him he could not talk his cheek still stung with the slap she had given him, he loved her , didn't he , yes he did, but right now he felt like that was lost. In one sentance he felt he had lost her and his child.

Ronata looked at him though her face ment business her eyes still sparkled at him. "you and I will talk after this is all over" she said to him moving from the kitchen back to her room her madalion still sitting on the counter.

Brian pocketted her medallion. She was not fired yet, and she was leaving critically important and secret magical items on the kitchen counter. That did not impress him much. He understood that she was feeling emotional, so he decided to let it go.

"Go take care of it, Steven," Brian said. "This is not functioning like a team. You need to get this resolved. Robert and I will handle Khaat, at least for now. You'd better go find out what that business was all about in the cave, if she can clue you in. We don't need leaks in this. And until we know who that was and what the devil they wanted, we don't know that was not just a distraction. Go unwind it and find out what that was all about. Until I know they are unrelated, Khaat's not going anywhere. And I'm not likely to let her even use the loo by herself. Neither is Robert. If you want to get back on the job, go find out if that stunt in the cave was unrelated, or if I have somethign to worry about."

Steven moved to face Brian. "C.O.B, Could I hold her madalion? " he asked holding out his hand for it "She can not give up on this that easy, its not something she can do one day and drop the next because she doesn't want to do it. " he said listening as he said he was told find out what happened back in the cave "I will C.O.B don't worry about that " he said loking at him.


Ronata sat on her bed her mind clouded, she could not understand why she had done something so stupid nor could she recall that days events it was as if she didn't do it , she ahd left teh meadallion on the counter as a sign she was wiling to leave the organisation if the wanted her to, even in her own mind she was a risk and she knew it. Moving to the shower room she slipped out her things catching her self in a mirror there on her tummy sat a light red mark she had seen a similer one on her mother once when she was dressing and she had been told it was the mark of the flyers who were grounded.

She let her hand run over the mark though red she felt no pain.

"You can hold it for right now but you cannot give it back to her under any circumstances until Robert or I tell you. Understood? She's, technically, suspended. Robert's decision. I have no ability to override that. She has to prove herself now if she wants to be able to get back in Robert's good graces. You know Robert. That's just the way it works. She has to prove that she is mature enough and able enough to be part of the operation. Anything less, and you'll just be returning that to me. There won't be anything either of us can do. I might be Chief Officer, but, Robert is still the Captain of this ship, and what he says still overrides anything I might think or say." He gave the medallion back to Steven, hoping Steven fully understood he only held it temporarily. Ronata now had to earn it by proving Brian's trust was not misplaced.

"Go on now. Get that done. Report back to me with anything you find out," he instructed Steven. "If I'm not here, I'll be up with Robert and Khaat trying to get Robert a bit more like himself. I think if I can get him to de-stress a bit, he'll feel better. He's exhausted. I have no idea when he slept last. Did you really look at him? He looks like hell. I haven't seen him like that in a very long time. I'm going to try to make him a bit more human again."

Steven looked at The madalion he now held "I fully understand " he said and slipped it into his pocket he would keep it with him till Robert or Brian said she could have it back , he nodded when Brian asked if he had noticed Roberts haggered apperance. "yes sir but its is not my place to comment , though ... he looked as if he'd been to hell and back twice, sir" he said ne nodded and looked at Brian "good luck C.O.B" he said.

moving to Ronata's room he knocked before he entered finding her slipping on teh light green nightdress he had bought her back on the boat.

"And what do you want?" she asked with her back to him , slowly she turned to face him her arms folded across her chest as she spoke.

Brian moved to stand in front of her "I have been asked to find out what happened" he asked watching her as she moved to the bed.

"I have been asking myself the same question over and over but I just don't know" she looked at him " I went to sleep next to you then I wake to hear you saying all those things about me, I remmeber shadows feelings but nothing more " she said and stood up "and this " shr lifted her night dress and showed him the mark "my mother told me it was the mark of a grounded flyer my mother had it" she said lowering it back down.

"and you don't rember anything " he watched her shake her head " what do you rember , think Ronata we have to know if what happend was detramental to this mission"