Tuscany Trip

Khaat watched Brian fall asleep in his great exhaustion. He had a lot on his mind, but he wasn't able to stay awake to think. He needed to rest, Khaat knew. Khaat looked at her wand, laying on the nightstand. Sometimes, as close as it was, it felt too far away.

"I'm sorry this isn't the paradise for you two that it should be," Khaat said. "You both deserve time at the beach, a walk in the village, all the things that should come with being in one of the most beautiful places in the world...."

In the middle of her words, Angus appeared with two other men with him. Each one had baskets and bags of some sort of provisions with them.

"Angus," Khaat smiled, delighted to see him. "Jack, Jess, this is one of Daddy's operatives here in Italy. This is Angus, and his two friends, Sal and Mark. They're absolutely totally trustworthy."

"Very nice to meet you both. Robert told us about you both. Any friends of Khaat's and Brian's are friends of ours. Robert sent you a lot of food and some medical supplies. This is NOT what this place usually looks like. It looks more like an infirmary."

"We know," Khaat said dryly. "It's just for a couple of days."

"Well, we've come to help. I've got two more men on the outside, and its clean at the moment." He looked at Jack and Jess. "Robert wants the two of you to be able to have the afternoon off. We're here to babysit the sickies so you two can get some sunshine and fresh air. And don't worry about dinner. We have it in hand. Its a surprise. So, go enjoy the beach. Its beautiful."

"Can we get Brian's car from the village?" Khaat asked.

"Of course," Angus said. "We'll do that. Don't worry."

"Well," Khaat asked Jess and Jack, "Can you two lighten up enough to enjoy a romantic afternoon for two at the beach?"

"Jack," Khaat said, "there is an extra set of keys in the kitchen drawer nearest to you. Its the one with the red key fob. You're looking for a red Lamborghini. There won't be many of those down there. And probably only one with black scrolling on it, sortof like racing stripes. Its a standard shift, so I hope one of you can manage it. By the way, the beach is magnificent. And very, very private. Take your time. We've got a small platoon here for the moment. It would be either incredibly stupid or just arrogant to try anything now."

Angus went over and checked on Brian. He checked his dressings while Brian slept, never moving, never even realizing Angus was there. Angus covered him again and looked up at Khaat. "He's been worse. He'll be fine--don't worry. He bounces back fast. Looks like Robert was serious about wanting him to sleep, though. Brian doesn't ever sleep this deeply. Never. Looks like Robert zapped him a bit. That actually will help him bounce back sooner, I'm sure. Now, how about you? I hear you got one of those stupid enchanted bleeding things. They're a pain in the ass. The boredom while you wait for the potion to undo the enchantment is the worst part of the whole thing. Do you remember that wound I took 4 years ago? Was trapped flat on my back in your dad's farmhouse for nearly 3 weeks."

"That wound nearly killed you, Angus," Khaat said, her great affection for Angus betraying itself slightly. "Daddy nearly drove himself crazy trying to stop that."

"I remember. He made himself sick trying to find a way to keep me from bleeding out. It just wouldn't stop. I know what you're going through. I brought you some things to maybe keep you busy a bit and keep the boredom from getting to you. They're muggle things but they're worth a try."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Anything for you," he kissed her forehead.

Angus had been very kind and generous to Khaat. He had brought her a stack of muggle magazines, knowing how much she liked them. He also brought her a crossword puzzle book, a pleasure book just for leisure reading, and he also brought her a couple of muggle handheld electronic games. Once she tried them, she understood fully why muggles loved them so. She loved them immediately. The first game as a solitaire game and the next had something to do with firing at little different colored boxes. They were very addicting. And, true to her Gryffindor nature, she loved the challenge they presented. It made Angus laugh, who said he had anticipated it and he presented her with a supply of extra batteries, telling her he knew she would like them.

He told her about a couple of other handheld devices that had multiple games on it and asked her if she was interested. The sparkle in her eyes told him all he needed to know. He promised to buy her one and several games. She insisted she wanted all the games. It made him laugh heartily, telling her she had no comprehension what, in fact, she was asking for. He promised to supply her with plenty.

Jack and Jess hadn't been gone more than about 45 minutes when Brian woke. He looked over at Khaat and frowned.

"What the heck is that?" he asked.

"Its a muggle game," she said, not taking her eyes off all the little colored boxes she had grown fond of "shooting."

"Yeah. I know. I did live in the muggle world for awhile. What I meant was, what the heck are you doing with one?"

"Angus brought it. Daddy sent Angus with supplies." She looked over at Brian, grinning, "Angus loves me."

Brian laughed, shaking his head. He looked over and saw Angus sitting not far from them, pouring a soda over ice for himself. "You do know you have unleashed a monster, right, Angus? Now she's going to want them all."

"She already asked for that," Angus laughed. "Who know? Maybe she'll actually get them."

"Oh no," Brian sighed.

"How are you feeling?" Angus asked Brian.

"Like I got my ass kicked," Brian said dryly.

"Fancy that," Angus said. "Looks like you did. In all honesty, though, you've looked worse after dueling practice--except for the bleeding out part."

"Yeah, I know. I'll be fine. It's Khaat I"m worried about."

"I've checked the dressing. She's fine. She hasn't soaked through her dressing. Its alright. But since you're both awake,..." He got up and poured them both doses of potion and gave a glass to each of the. "You'd better take those or Jack's wife is liable to hex me or something."

"She's a good woman, Angus," Brian said. "And she's one of Khaat's best friends." He looked at Khaat and toasted her with his glass. "Cheers," he said dryly.

She laughed, as they drank the contents of their glasses.

Khaat had stayed awake, playing one of the video games, while Brian slept. It was not like him, even when injured to sleep like this, so consistently. She wondered if her father had added a sedative component to his potion. That was her best guess. If Brian figured that out, he would quit taking it. She was positive of that.

Physically, aside from pain in her chest from the wound itself, and being weak from bloodloss, she felt fine. The potion kept the pain at bay, and not being allowed on her feet kept her from making an idiot of herself like she would have if she were up on her feet.

She had found that one of the magazines, a very nice thick one, had countless wonderful pictures of rooms that had been excellently decorated. It gave her ideas. All sorts of them. She really did want to do a room for Abbey, and there had been a whole section on children's rooms. She was hoping that she and Jess could do this project over perhaps the next couple of days. She wanted the babies room to be right across the hall from the room she now shared with Brian. It seemed strange. When they had come to the villa, it had been her room. Brian was generous and loving, and he always gave her the best, including the master suite in his own home. But now, since coming back from Venice, they had simply shared the same room without hesitation. And Khaat was insisting that he now share the master suite with her. He had agreed, to her absolute delight.

Angus had made himself at home in the kitchen and had made up a batch of homemade whole wheat bread. The dough had been set aside to rise and was on its second rise. He had brought some excellent fresh fish from the daily catch on his boat and had filletted the fish and had seasoned it and set it aside to cook in a short bit.

She had heard him cleaning, peeling, and chopping what sounded to hear like a whole garden's worth of vegetables, and at one point, she knew she smelled the unmistakable smell of Italian lemons. That smell warmed her heart. She had come to find Italy's lemons as the finest she had ever tasted. It was already making her hungry, and Angus had yet to put the heat to anything.

"Ah," Angus smiled, "I have a boat. My men and I did some fishing today and caught some beautiful fish--too beautiful not to share. So I"m fixing fish with a Meditteranean spice rub, and I'll grill it. I'm making a caprese salad, the freshest vegetables I could find in the village I was in this morning, a porchini mushroom risotto, fresh whole wheat bread, and for dessert, well, I know how Khaat loves cheesecake. So I found some gorgeous lemons. Italian lemons are some of the best you'll find anywhere in the world. So I am making a lemon cheesecake with Italian fresh lemons and garnished with candied lemon peel. My men will join us, but they will eat in shifts so that the security does not slip.

"Once we have a chance to thoroughly check your supplies here, we will finish re-equipping you tomorrow. You will only need to go out if you choose to, not because you have to. One of us will check in with you here at least once daily. More if you need us. At least until Khaat and Brian are back on their feet again.

"I could be back on my feet at any time," Khaat said. Angus just looked at her and scowled. Khaat really wasn't all that serious about needing to be up at the moment. Had she been kept away from everyone else in her room, then things might have been considerably different. But, as it was, with Brian injured, she felt a need to be close to him. So, she was, relatively, fine with being here off her feet so long as she could be beside him.