Tuscany Trip

Khaat laughed as Brian left a bit quickly. She could feel he was just a tiny bit embarressed. It was a good thing that they were among friends. She noticed he hadn't said anything when he left. That made it even funnier, in Khaat's book.

The pasta was delicious. Khaat noticed she had to eat a bit slowly because her chest was uncomfortable. But she really was feeling alright. She suspected her father had either cast a pain spell or that there had been pain relieving potion in the potion Brian had given her.

When she finished eating, Khaat sipped on her juice. "Tell Jess it was delicious. I sort of messed up breakfast for us. Thank her for me? Go eat now. Brian will be back any minute. Oh, and if I forgot in all the confusion, thank you for pulling me out of the canal. Brian said he couldn't find me. I"m grateful, Jack."

Jack shook his head as Brian left and smiled as he watched Khaat eat glad she was as it would help her heal , he chuckled as she thanked him .

"Khaat no need , jess would have killed me then brought me back and killed me again if I didn't , besides good freinds are hard to come by " he said smiling "thats ok i'll wait till he does " he replied when she mentioned he could go as Brain would return soon he would not take any chance and stayed sat right where he was.

"I'll tell jess, she's quite happy in the kitchen, i belive shes making a tangerine cheesecake for dsesert" he said feeling his stomach gumble slightly but he ignored it for the moment, duty before food.

Brian had enjoyed every bite of his lunch. He had been a lot more hungry than he had thought. It was a wonderful pasta dish. "Thank you, Jess. That was excellent. I haven't had that in a long time. When you get that list, I'll go into the village and get some things. " He took his dishes into the kitchen and put them in the sink. "I'll go relieve Jack now so he can eat. His stomach has been growling since Venice."

He went back upstairs. "Thanks, Jack. That was really great. Go eat while its still hot. I've got things here. " He looked at Khaat. "How are you, Babe?"

"I'm fine," Khaat smiled. "I feel okay. Really. Stop worrying."

"Do I look like I"m worrying? I just asked. That's all," he laughed.

Jessica laughed as Brian said Jacks stomach had been grumbaling since venice and nodded.

"you noticed too huh?" she said with a chuckle as she ate her own lunch.

Jack looked up as Brian walked threw the dor and told him he could go eat , he turned to Khaat and spoke to brian.

"didn't take my eyes off her for a moment" he said and walked to the door turning he shook his head and smelled the food his stomach imidiatly let out a loud growl.

"JESS HOPE YOU HAVEN'T EATEN IT ALL, I'M STARVED?" He shouted as he quickly moved to the kitchen to find a plate of pasta he moved behind Jess and kissed her " you are a dream hun" he said and heard her laugh lightly.

"Brian," Khaat said gently. "I know how much you've sacrificed and put into this, but I really do need to let me catch these idiots."

"Oh? You do? And how, pray tell, do you plan on doing that when you could have left a blood trail from Venice all they way here, my dear?" he asked calmly, not allowing himself to get rattled. Not yet.

"Brian," she reached for his hand. He went over and took her hand and sat with her. "It took me all my life to get a man I could trust to be a good father to my daughter. I refuse to lose you. This is my fight. For whatever reason, its mine...."

"No," he kissed her hand. "Its ours. Not alone. Not ever again. Together. For now, just for now, lets just take a break. Breathe. Let the wizarding world go on around us and let us just be ourselves. It really is okay to breathe in between the scrapping to get the air in the first place."

That made her smile. He was right. They spent so much time trying to find a moent of peace that now that they had it, it was alright to pause. It was alright to stop for one moment.

"You're right. BUt if she comes back, I won't back down," Khaat said.

"If either of them come back, you'll follow my lead," Brian insisted.

"Do I have to stay here?" she sighed.

"No. You want to go downstairs? If so, I'll take you."

"I can walk."

"You said you understood this thing. Off your feet. Your father's orders. Otherwise, you'll bleed out."

"Oh, yeah."

He got her robe and laid it on her lap. He carried her downstairs to the sofa and laid her there. He accio'd pillows and a light blanket for her and made her comfortable there. "Now, behave," he told her.

"When do I not?" she looked at him.

"When do you?" he replied.

Jessica smiled as she saw Brian carrying Khaat down and place her on the couch . She sighed seeing the bandage and felt a little like it was her fault . Jess made a pot of coffee and pored a fresh mug , moving to the couch ahe handed her the cup and sat faceing her

" Hoew you feeling?" she asked puling up the blanket a little" she gave a small sigh "you had me worried for a while " she said loking down she looked up when she felt a hand on ehr shoulder loking at it she saw it was jacks

"don't blam yourself , this guy is just good so is the woman " he said softly as she lent down and kissed her then sat in a chair behind her.

"I'm fine," Khaat said. "I'm sorry we didn't have time to tell you both. Daddy talked to us just a bit last night. He thinks that this man is some sort of a higher paid assassin, paid to clean up what Tasha isn't getting accomplished. Whoever is paying them obviously has a great deal of money. Personally, I can't think of anyone who would want me dead. Not that badly, anyway. Not to pay that much."

"Robert doesn't know either," Brian sighed. "Or he says he doesn't. He's been very vague about this from the start. And he's not changed that a bit. He did make clear that Tasha is a professional, and this guy, by far, outclasses her. Robert says even I haven't met this class of mercenary so far. And I thought I'd met them all. Shows how little I know. I suggest none of us blame ourselves. If we fall into that trap, we'll go where Steven and Ronata did. It pulled the four of us apart very quickly. And none of us in this room can afford that.

"Well, they also had their own issues," Khaat sighed, feeling badly for them.

"I"m not saying that they didn't. I"m just saying we can't afford to go there," Brian said.

"Agreed," Khaat said.

Jack nodded and pulled jess on to him " hey you hear them , there higly paid " he said wrapping his arms around her. Jess nodded and held him back "right and highly exspecive means hrder they fall , when they do fall" she said now feeling better "ow Khaat trust me this isn't going that way , besides we have been married along time now and I trust him with my life " she said patting jacks hand "even if sometimes he dose act like a big kid" she said and laughed.

"hey I so don't""hye said and pouted in a boyish manner "well not all the time" he said and smiled hugging jess closer.

Brian walked over to the counter and found Jess's shopping list. "Alright, all, I"m off to the village. You're in charge until I get back," Brian looked at Jack. He left and took his car and went into the village.

He purchased the goods, and just as he was ready to go back to the car, he saw Tasha in front of him. He had a truly bad feeling about this. He turned and saw a cloaked man behind him. He could not see his face. Damn! Well, they couldn't fire on his out in public very well, could they? He kept walking, his blood nearly freezing in his veins. He didn't like being caught where he couldn't fight. He finally got fed up with it, and made a risky move to detour into the alley.

The minute he stepped out of sight, he dropped his bags and drew his wand, spinning around and firing at them. Tasha apparated behind him, and he was caught in the middle. He fought for several minutes, using only a stupid crate for cover. He felt like an idiot. He couldn't have taken this to someplace where he had some cover, could he? No. Had to choose to fight it out in a blind alley.

He took several hard hits. He was bleeding freely, but he hadn't missed entirely. He had struck several hard, hard blows to both is assailants. He finally struck them so badly that they had to leave him. Both his attackers were bleeding badly.

He fell to his knees, bloody and gasping for air. He clutched the packages and apparated back to the villa into the living room.

"Brian!" Khaat screeched, coming unglued. She flew off the sofa and flew to him instantly. "Jack! Jess! Brian's been hit!"

jess jumped off jack and dove for Khaat "you back to that couch leave him to us " she ordered , jack picked him up and carried him to the bed room, jess rummaged for a first aid box. Finding it she ran into the bedroom and began cleaning him up."Im no healer Brian Khaat has that title " she said "Khaat, call your father, please " she shouted back into the living room not really knowing what to do but she did keep presure on his bleeding wound to stop it , or try too.

Jack moved back to Khaat he was a bit lost at what he could do till Robert arrived he picked up the bags and moved them to the kitchen , then went to Khaat and checked her over. As he waited for Robert to appear.