Tuscany Trip

'Anyone is welcome to go, I'm sure," Khaat said, "I'm going to look for some ingredients for a dinner I'd like to make for us some night. I sort of miss cooking. I don't get to do much of it when St. Mungos's gets busy and I would like to fix a couple of special things before we go home. If that's okay with everybody."

"I'm good with anytime you want to cook," Brian grinned. "So what I'm hearing you say is that you're bored with being in the house and you want to go out. Particularly to go shopping. YOu need some fun again on your vacation. Am I right?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm sick of being indoors. I want to be outside in the sea air and the sunshine...."

"Well, you realize the more you do of that the bigger a target you make of yourself."

"Daddy? Can you come?" Khaat asked.

"I'm' sorry, my dear," he said, "But after breakfast, I really do need to go. Thank you for letting me horn in on a night of your vacation. I'll try not to do it again."

"Don't be silly," Brian said, "Our house is your house. You're welcome here anytime."

"Thank you. Delicious breakfast, Ronata, but I do have to go now," Robert said, taking his dishes to the sink. He went over to Khaat and kissed her cheek. "Be very careful, Dear. Don't take any unnecessary chances. Please."

"I won't," she smiled. "Come back to me--in one piece."

"I plan on it," He smiled. "Watch your backs, All." And with that he apparated out. Khaat couldn't help but feel a small twinge of almost homesickness at his departure. She took a deep breath and said, "Well, shall I clean up the breakfast dishes and then we can go?"

Mangos. Khaat smiled slightly. Well, mass quantities of mangos weren't any cheaper than her cheesecake cravings that she had had with Abbey. Well, maybe the cheesecake was cheaper. She still could only eat one slice of cheesecake at a time. "Let's go," Khaat said. "I really, really want to get out a bit."

Brian picked up the keys to the red car and said, "I'm ready to go whenever you are. Let's go." They moved down to the garage, Brian's wand drawn, just in case. But there was nothing. No sign of trouble.

They drove into the village and Brian parked the car near the farmers market. "Do you know what you need, Babe?" he asked, turning off the ignition. "Yes. I do,"she smiled.

"Care to share?

"That's a secret," she smiled. She started at the meat market. She bought a mix of ground beef, ground veal, and ground pork. She moved on to the produce. She bought onions, tomatos, bell peppers, celery, carrots, garlic, and more.

She moved on and bought fresh pasta, tomato paste, ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella, paremesan cheese, mascarpone cheese, asiago cheese and a couple of others-- and all sorts of ingredients for perhaps one of the most delicate and delcious desserts she had ever made. She bought a fresh baguette, fresh creamery butter and incredients for a wonderful salad. She kept shoving things into shopping bags, and Brian, laughingly, just kept taking them from her. This was going to be an incredible dinner.

She barely noticed he was buying things of his own for a meal he had planned to make at some point. And he was enjoying every thought of cooking this meal. He had an idea of what Khaat had had in mind, and he wasn't going to spoil it for her. But his plans were very, very different.

As she passed a dress shop, she saw a skirt on the mannequin in the window that totally captured her. It was a beautiful print that had just a bit of knotted fringe on the bottom of the mid calf length skirt. "Go in if you want to look at it," he told her. "It doesn't hurt to look. And it would be beautiful on you."

"You think?" Khaat asked Ronata. "I do like it. Lets go look." She went in and inquired about the skirt. The shopkeeper showed her the skirt and Khaat tried it on. To her dismay it was much, much too large. The shopkeeper brought her 3 other, progressively smaller sizes until she found one that fit. Khaat has irked. She had not worn such small sizes since she had been pregnant with Abbey. Neither her father nor Brian had said anything about it, but she had noticed her own clothes had been, what she had thought was merely a trifle baggy. She had just been magically altering them once she had gotten them on. She grabbed Brian by the front of his shirt and looked at Ronata and Steven, "Excuse us one moment." she said, dragging Brian away from them into a far corner of the shop.

"What are you keeping from me, Brian Quinn?" she demanded very softly, angry with him now.

"Nothing you shouldn't have noticed for yourself, Khaat," he said very calmly. "You've allowed yourself to take this whole business personally, just like you blamed yourself for Rob's leaving you."

"Meaning what, exactly?" she said, feeling like he was accusing her of doing this deliberately.

"Meaning you've not eaten as well as you should have and you're doing everything you know how to burn off your anger and anxiety. You're burning off more calories than you're taking in. Yes, you're building up your strength, but you're losing wieth. Plain and simple. That' how that works, Khaat. You burn more than you take in, and you lose wieght. You tone up, build muscle, and that's all well and good, but, yes. You're losing weight. You've lost about 12 pounds from when we got here at the beginning of the summer. You keep altering your clothes but you don't change them back when you take them off at the end of the day. They just keep getting smaller every time you alter them and make them smaller than the last time you shrank them."

"You didn't tell me!"

"You should have seen it for yourself," he said softly. "Look, I'm not blaming you. Its just a fact, that's all. You blamed yourself when Rob left you, like you weren't woman enough for him and made some gross error that caused him to stop loving you. Well, that was crap and you know it. Rob was just an enormously immature idiot who didn't know what he had when he had the one woman he will ever bond to. Most men look their whole lives for that and can't find it. What an idiot. It wasn't your fault he's a 9 year old in a man's body. And you know what? I'm really sorry your dad hasn't read us in on this case he's on, but that doesn't mean it has anything to do with you. Believe it or not, Robert Lupin makes a lot of enemies. And they would love to hurt him. And, frankly, hurting you might be one sure way of not only getting his attention but also in hurting him. And yes, your father is keenly aware of how much weight you've lost. Look--stop worrying about the numbers on the size tag and buy what you like. You aren't helpless. You can alter the clothes bigger or smaller. And we can get you back in fighting form in no time. So now that you know, don't ruin the day for everyone by being snarky about it. Go back and shop. Got it?" She sighed heavily. He kissed her forehead. "Forget it. We'll handle it. Alright? I"m on top of it."

"Okay," she said, returning to the racks and starting to browse again.

Khaat liked the white top that Ronata found. She also liked several other pieces that she found. At this rate, she would be able to replace her wardrobe or she would have to make her closet bigger. One or the other. She got a bit discouraged at the tiny sizes she had to buy, but she said nothing. She found a silver evening dress that she liked and went back into the dressing room to try it on.

It fit like a glove. She liked it a lot. Just as she was turning to look at it in the mirror, she felt someone grab her from behind, a gloved hand over her mouth, the hand had a rag in it with some sort of noxious smelling chemical on it. In seconds, she fell limp, everything fading. The last she saw was that awful woman's face behind her in the mirror. She tried with everything she had to call for her father.


Robert, meanwhile, though miles away had heard her distress call. He always heard those, no matter how far apart they were. Since Remus's death, he had seemed to be linked to his daughter. He apparated to he, and was surprised to find himself in a bloody dress shop. He saw Steven, Brian, Ronata...no Khaat. But she was here. He stormed through the shop, a man on a mission--to save his daughter from whatever she was in danger from. Brian saw Robert apparate in, into a muggle dress shop. Hm..Breech of magic. That wouldn't be pretty, no matter how that worked out. But Robert was not the least bit concerned. Something was wrong. And Robert was heading right for the dressing rooms where Khaat had gone.

"Damnit!" Brian cursed, running full speed past Robert towards the dressing rooms now.

Robert didn't speak. He knelt beside Khaat and put his hand on her forehead. "Choloroform," he said. "She'll be alright once she comes to. I can't help her here. Steven, take the women home. Brian, you're with me." He rose to his feet and stormed back into the women's dressing rooms like he owned the place, his wand drawn. He knew that he was in every violation of every wizarding law there was, but he honestly didn't care. He'd explain to whomever later, if it came up.

He found her laying on the floor. The wild eyed woman didn't look so wild eyed at the moment. "Tasha, tasha, tasha," Robert sighed. "We did talk about this. Incarcerous!" He bound her with magical ropes and took her wand. "Let's get her back to the house. I need to have a word with her."

He and Brian apparated Tasha back to the house, taking her directly to the basement. He knew Steven would not bring the women to that part of the house.