Mistaken Identities

Blaire was being pushed out of the room before he knew what was going on. As Khaat was leaning on him he scooped her up into his arms. "My you're awfully lite for a woman who's just had a child." he joked at her grinning. He knew she wasn't too fond of being carried but it was for her own good. He knew the healer was following them, "Why don't you just apparated upstairs and help the Minister and Robert. You can trust me with this one," he called back to her. The hospital was quite quiet actually, a little to quiet. He had the feeling something was about to happen, something not too pleasant.

"The hospital got quiet all of a sudden," he told her chuckling. "Almost like a horror movie," he told her. But he was aware of the wand in his right pocket, easy access in case he bastards who killed a healer and hurt Khaat showed up again. As they were making their way over to the stairs he spotted two familiar faces. Rob & Jen Dent, what in hells name were they doing here. He slowed down and maintained a firmer grip on Khaat.

'Oh, wonderful!' Khaat thought, seeing Rob and Jen there. She ignored them. "You have something against apparating and elevators?" she sighed, asking Blaire. "You only needed to keep me from falling flat on my face. I presume you'll put me down when I get upstairs to the crime scene, right?" she asked him quietly. "Put me down and I'll promise not to try to walk in my stillettos up there. " Well, that wasn't much of a bargain anyway. She doubted she could balance on the stupid things anyway. Perhaps she could persuede her father to take pity on her and use a spell to reduce her headaches. Maybe restore her sense of balance. Well, knowing her father, he would tell her that if she was stupid enough to be up, then she bloody well deserved what she got. He was hard sometimes that way. Might let her face her own consequences. She was safe with Blaire--for the moment. But that might change when her father saw her up and about already. Well, it wasn't his hospital or responsibility, now, was it? It was hers.

Jen spotted Khaat and that Auror or whatever he was that came and got her during the uh...uncomfortable section of time prior to Azkaban. She hastily looked away and moved closer to the wall where as Rob stood up, pushing his satchel round so the bag compartment was behind him. He swallowed a little and ran a hand through his hair before looking between the two of them. He seemed more relaxed than usual which was a damn sight better than having an animosity towards them. He was relaxed. He didn’t want a fight but knowing Rob the way she did, there probably would be one. He wanted to see Phaedra, he wanted her expertise. He didn’t want to see his ex-wife-to-be or her little boyfriend. Jen didn’t think anyone wanted to.

“What’s going on here?” Rob asked, getting straight to the point. “That lobby – people have been scared out of their wits. What the bloody hell is going on? Where’s Phaedra as well? I need to speak to her about a few things.” His hand went to the strap of his satchel and he played with the buckle, looking between the two people before him. He looked at the man and then to Khaat. He knew she was unsteady on her feet so what he offered seemed reasonable to him. “I could take her if you want. I’m sure I can get her to your desired destination faster.”

Khaat was not entirely thrown by his question. He had liked Phae. "Rob," Khaat said gently, knowing they had not been able to keep things secret. "You won't be talking to Phae anymore. There was an attack here earlier tonight. A number of healers were affected, and Phae, well, she's gone. I'm sorry. She was..struck by a killing curse. I'll get whoever killed her and hurt my staff--I promise. That's my job. To not let things like this happen. But I messed up, and I'll get whoever it was that did this--I swear. It's being investigated right now. "

Khaat's mind, even as stunned as it was by being hurled into the stone fireplace, knew she had to find Phae's family and notify them and make sure that she took care of anything that the family could not. She had to pull Phae's file and find out where the next of kin truly was. She would go in person to notify them. That, unfortunately, was also her job. And then there were murderers and kidnappers to hunt down and eliminate. She didn't care whether her father or Matt believed it was their job. Phae was her healer. So was Sophia. Not her father's--not really, and not Matt's. Hers. She was taking this very personally. Especially since this murdering woman had been "gunning" for Khaat herself, and not for Sophia or Phae either one. If neither her father or Matt included her in the investigation, she would track this nutty woman down alone. And that was a promise. Her father was very preoccupied. He might not read her thoughts. Matt was undoubtedly going to be similarly preoccupied with Sophia. Blaire didn't know her that well. So, unless that bloody bond she still had with Rob spilled the beans, she was home safe to hunt, without suspicion from anyone else.

Mariana stopped in place along with Blaire and Khaat while she was listening to them talking in a rather depressing way, at least depressing for herself if not for anyone else. By the time she got a good view of the reason why they stopped she spotted Robert and his sister. Even though she hadn't had much contact with them she could still recognize them anywhere and anytime. Even though Mari had impression nothing is going to happen she still held her wand in her hand by her side and though it wasn't pointing anywhere yet it was clear she could defend anytime. "Yeah Phaedra is indeed gone, but why are you intrested for the rest of happenings? Don't tell me you are now worried for someone..." Mariana asked though adding last part more for herself and on her own surprise, her tone was totally regular.

In life you lost people, people you don’t know, people you knew briefly and people you cared about. You lost people in life but one person Rob didn’t think he’d see the back of was the little Greek girl that had wormed her way into his heart in such a short time. He had no idea how she’d done it but he cared about her a great deal. This had stunned the Azkaban-escapee into silence and his face paled to a pallor that he didn’t think it would ever reach. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before clamping it shut and turning his head away from them. He swallowed back any irrational displays of emotion and tried to combat the wave of sadness that had washed over him. Of course, that sadness was replaced with anger when the little Healer opened her mouth.

Rob’s eyes flashed angrily and he whipped his head back around. His wand was in his back pocket and he was just itching to use it but he could control himself. Evidently the girl had no sense of loss. Phaedra had ten times the talent and skill the little chit could ever hope to have. An animalistic growl was thrumming in Rob’s chest just begging to be let out and he was sorely tempted to do so but he knew Jen would kill him if he stepped out of line. There was no way she was going back to Azkaban; that much was clear. “Unlike some people, Miss Diggory, I do indeed have feelings. I am sure your death will be just as sad but with your flippant nature towards the death of a colleague, I won’t be one of the people thinks of your passing as a sad event. I do hope that other children your age don’t have the same attitude. It would be a wasted generation.”

He turned his attention back to Khaat and tried to block the child out of the equation. She wasn’t important. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before speaking. “Do you have any idea who killed her?” He asked quietly. Then it occurred to him. She wouldn’t have been moved yet, it was a crime scene. “Which floor? Which floor did she die? I would like to see her.” It was a request but he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. The poor girl probably didn’t even know what was going on. An innocent, killed in cold blood. Now Rob was involved...whoever had decided to kill Phaedra was a walking dead man. When he tracked them down he’d make them regret stepping foot into St. Mungo’s. He looked back at Khaat and his eyes bugged out of his head. “Hold on, what happened to you?” He hadn’t paid her leaning against Murray much mind but his brain had only just registered that she’d probably hurt himself. Now he wanted to know why. It was a reflex. Things might have gone sour for them but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about her.

"Bloody wench hurled me into the fireplace," Khaat sighed. "I hit my head on the stone. That was the last I remembered until I woke up downstairs. It's got my sense of balance all screwed up and gave me a hell of a headache. I'm sure my father does not expect me to take over what he's doing, but I really don't give a crap. Its my hospital, and she and Sophia are my responsibility. Blaire is making sure I don't smack my face into the tile floor.

"I am not sure who killed Phae. But it was a woman who went after me. I've never seen her before. Aggressive twit. Ugly too. I'd have remembered a face like that cow's. She was...oh never mind. Come with me. I'll make sure you see Phae. That's fine with me. I know you liked her. Be aware, though, that Matt is up there with my father, and he's going to be ill tempered when he realizes you're out. Especially right now. My would-be murderer killed Phae and took Sophia hostage. I"m sure that is liable to make Matty a bit snarky. Stay with me. I'll make sure you get past him and my father. I'll preoccupy my father with how I discharged myself against medical advice. That will make him not give a rat's pajamas about whether you see Phae or not. Matt will just plain have more things on his mind.

"Oh, one more word of warning, I know you and my father have not gotten along, but try to suck up if you need to, just for appearances. Matt has made him the new Head of Law Enforcement. I won't let you go back to Azkaban, but it might take some doing. " She looked at Blaire. "Onward, please?"

In his own life or death situations in the past, cynicism was the way Rob had coped. He found his own mortality amusing but Phaedra’s death did not just hit home that his short time on Earth was not being spent correctly but also how lucky he truly was, to even exist. Her life had ended before it had even begun. Before she could love and grow stronger to brave the storms that were coming. She was a child, an innocent, and she had been slaughtered with two words. The thought revolted him; the fact that life rested in the hands of not only yourself but someone else, someone who had the power to decided whether you lived or died. No one should have the latter of the two powers. It didn’t work. You had no right to take a life. Yet here he stood and here Jen stood, both of whom had blood on their hands. They too had ruined families and lives by what they called necessity.

Swallowing, Rob reached out and gripped the stair rail, his knuckles turning white with the pressure. Closing his eyes momentarily, pictures of Phaedra flashed in front of them. A growl of frustration and fury rumbled in his chest. He needed a cigarette. A cigarette and a bottle of Whisky would be about right. Then he’d need somewhere where he could wallow for a few days, weeks, months...however long it took. Phaedra was dead and mouldering away on a floor somewhere. This wasn’t fair. If perhaps by some stretch of the imagination and he’d have been there in Phaedra’s place. Perhaps he’d be there but he sincerely doubted it. The only people that generally got the better of him where the Indians but that was because they usually connected a sodding shovel to his head before carting him off to New Delhi to once again put him on trial for doing whatever he did was so wrong.

Reaching around for his bag, Rob flipped it open and took his packet of cigarettes out from in amongst the potions. It was a foolish combination but it would be a moderately painless death one would hope. He took one out from the packet and put it between his lips, chucking the packet into the bag as he did so. He ran his fingers through his hair and gripped the roots, tugging at them. He was trying to make some sense of the situation but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t believe she was dead until he had her corpse in his arms. To touch her, to see that she was as lifeless as they were saying; the thought....no, it didn’t bare thinking about....he couldn’t, he wouldn’t. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and tucked it behind his ear.

“I don’t care if they chain me up, strip me naked and whip me ‘til I bleed to death to be quite frank.” Rob remarked flippantly. He wasn’t worried about either man if he was going to be honest. They didn’t matter and neither did the Minister’s daughter just yet. Rob was 90% Matt had already gone completely spare but they were detracting from the fact that someone had died. They could go on and on about broken furniture, bumps, bruises and a missing person but the fact was that someone who was probably only going about their day like normal had in fact died. The living were always so much more important than the dead. The fact that Sophia was alive was hope, yes, but it didn’t change the fact that a life had been lost. Just because Phaedra was dead didn’t mean she lost any of her worth. “Now,” Rob exhaled slowly, taking his cigarette out from behind his ear and a box of matches from his blazer pocket. “Which floor?”

Khaat wasn't going to say what she was really thinking. The prat was flipping out over some little tart that he had actually kidnapped. He was going ballistic over his own kidnap victim. He hadn't evidently cared enough before, when Phae had been alive, that he had thought enough of her not to use her for his own gain. So his show of being totally beside himself was just more than Khaat was willing to swallow. Rob had his moments when he could be a really wonderful guy, but clearly something had warped him. She wasn't so sure it was Azkaban. He had been weird before this. Well, the first Khaat had seen of his psychological imbalance was when he'd gone so crazy in Sparks the night Abbey had been born.

"Blaire," Khaat said, reeling in any emotion whatsover now, "Please. Upstairs. Thank you. I told you, Rob. You need to follow me. Regardless of how upset you might be. You need to do this right or you'll be grieving her back in your Azkaban cell. Contrary to what you might think, we're upset too, but we have a job to do. Unless we do this right, we could miss some key clues that will help us find Phae's murderer and also get Sophia back alive. Revenge for Phae only makes us feel better. But getting Sophia back alive actually accomplishes something productive. You need to do this my way for right now--I'm sorry." She was finding a need to move back into Director mode fast. It was doubtful, in Khaat's mind, that Rob would ever grieve for her or for Abbey that way. That just plain hurt. But she wasn't about to show anyone that. It was none of their damned business. And besides that, her head hurt. She laid her aching spinning head on Blaire's muscular shoulder. It would ease the pain for a moment until she had to go back to work again.

Robert Andrew Dent wrote:In life you lost people, people you don’t know, people you knew briefly and people you cared about. You lost people in life but one person Rob didn’t think he’d see the back of was the little Greek girl that had wormed her way into his heart in such a short time. He had no idea how she’d done it but he cared about her a great deal. This had stunned the Azkaban-escapee into silence and his face paled to a pallor that he didn’t think it would ever reach. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before clamping it shut and turning his head away from them. He swallowed back any irrational displays of emotion and tried to combat the wave of sadness that had washed over him. Of course, that sadness was replaced with anger when the little Healer opened her mouth.

Rob’s eyes flashed angrily and he whipped his head back around. His wand was in his back pocket and he was just itching to use it but he could control himself. Evidently the girl had no sense of loss. Phaedra had ten times the talent and skill the little chit could ever hope to have. An animalistic growl was thrumming in Rob’s chest just begging to be let out and he was sorely tempted to do so but he knew Jen would kill him if he stepped out of line. There was no way she was going back to Azkaban; that much was clear. “Unlike some people, Miss Diggory, I do indeed have feelings. I am sure your death will be just as sad but with your flippant nature towards the death of a colleague, I won’t be one of the people thinks of your passing as a sad event. I do hope that other children your age don’t have the same attitude. It would be a wasted generation.”

He turned his attention back to Khaat and tried to block the child out of the equation. She wasn’t important. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before speaking. “Do you have any idea who killed her?” He asked quietly. Then it occurred to him. She wouldn’t have been moved yet, it was a crime scene. “Which floor? Which floor did she die? I would like to see her.” It was a request but he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. The poor girl probably didn’t even know what was going on. An innocent, killed in cold blood. Now Rob was involved...whoever had decided to kill Phaedra was a walking dead man. When he tracked them down he’d make them regret stepping foot into St. Mungo’s. He looked back at Khaat and his eyes bugged out of his head. “Hold on, what happened to you?” He hadn’t paid her leaning against Murray much mind but his brain had only just registered that she’d probably hurt himself. Now he wanted to know why. It was a reflex. Things might have gone sour for them but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about her.

Mariana leaned against the wall as it was clear this was going to last for a while. On her opinion Khaat was too generous with her ex, housband though she couldn't do much about it. If her eyes could kill they would do so right now. "Please don't make me laugh.." she said controling herself not to burst into laughing because it would be a disrespect for Phaedra who just died. "I'm not sure you even know what feelings are, but i guess we're lucky because i wonder what would happen if you didn't have them..." she added though last part was a clear sarcasm from her part. If he claimed he did have feelings and did everything he did, it was indeed luck he didn't have them because it would be worse then.

"I couldn't care less what will happen when i die. You couldn't understand me even if you pinpointed all your chicken brain cells to do so. Don't lecture me, better lecture yourself and do ask yourself what's been your life so far.." Mari replied through shrug teeth though still keeping her serenity. If she lost control, it would be only bad for her not for Robert. "I'll give my respects to each dead person because they died for a reason. And if you have problems with my attitude you're free to leave." she added quickly like she wanted to terminate this rather unpleasant conversation as quickly as she could.

Her face finally turned to Khaat who was talking rather lively with her ex housband. "Khaat we should really get upstairs soon. You're not even supposed to be on your feet.." she said watching to see what would happen next. As Khaat went upstairs with Blaire she stood up and follow them to see what happened to Sophia and Phaedra's body not even turning around.