Tea Time

That sounded good to Khaat. It was immensely practical. "I like it. Its a good idea, Rob," Khaat said, actually pleased at his idea. "Eli, we do understand your need to be independent. And we really do want that for you. Actually, you have a lot of advantages, including financial, that a lot of young men and women your age don't have a clue of having. Not really. I don't think any of us are trying to make you do anything you don't want to do. But some of us have made some mistakes in our lives. Well, most of us have. And we really dont want to see you going down the same painful roads we have. Its not that we're trying to strip you of the right to make your own decisions, but some of the choices we made are incredibly painful. And we care enough about you that we don't want to see you hurt. Either of you. If we can keep you from being hurt in some of the ways we were, then we're glad for it.

"And if we can somehow help you to be more independent and help you to stand on your feet, in the way you both want to do it, then, that's wonderful. So tell me. Are you planning on telling your parents down the road, or not? You certainly don't need to tell them now, but that thought is going to cross your mind at some point in the next nine months."

Rob poked his tongue out at Khaat. “I was just backing him up. It was basically what he was saying but he babbles too much, don’t you Eli?” Rob grinned at the Slytherin who merely glowered at him in response. He took the cup of cider away from Thierry before he gave himself hiccups and put it down beside his empty mug.

“I’ve made mistakes Khaat. They hurt me every single day and there’s nothing I can do about it. I know you want to send me off on the right path but I need to make mistakes. This whole thing is a mistake but I want to set it right, turn it into something I won’t regret. I don’t regret it...I never will but I think Chase and I need to make mistakes with you lot picking us up, scolding us, Rob laughing, and sending us on our way again.”

Elijah blanched. Of course...he’d already thought about Marina. “She ...I don’t want to tell her Khaat...not unless I really, really have to.”

"I can't blame you for that. I probably wouldn't want to tell her either," Khaat said dryly. Peronally, though, a part of Khaat was itching for a chance to tell those aristocratic nitwits Eli had been born to exactly where to get off at. They had truly no clue about how great Eli was. All they seemed to notice was what they believed were his shortcomings. And some of those things that they didn't like were actually strengths as Khaat saw it, not liabilities. If they'd have had their heads out of their..bank accounts, well, then Eli would certainly not be feeling so abandoned now. Like he had felt for years. Eli would, of course, not understand her rage. He had come to see abandonment as just status quo. It wasn't that he enjoyed it, but it was what it was. And that was worthy of his parents being flogged at the very least, Khaat thought.

She glanced up and saw Rob looking at her. Damn. She saw by the look on his face that he had not forgotten what it looked like for her to get really more than anxious and willing to take up a good fight. And she was already gunning up for one. This time the "bullets" had Eli's parents engraved on them.

"Stop it," she snapped at Rob. "You don't know crap." She had all the determination any good Lupin should utter in her voice, but she knew Rob could see right through it, hard as she didnt' want that to happen. And if he said a syllable to the oblivious Eli, then Khaat would just turn Rob into a cheeky hat.

“I don’t?” Rob quipped. “I think I do, darling.” He knew what Khaat was feeling and he didn’t like the idea of her going and offing Elijah’s parents. It would leave the boy insanely well off, yes, but it wouldn’t do any good. It would probably make things worse. Marina and Viktor were fine as long as the public didn’t know about the family scandals. “It would just leave Elijah and Chase exposed, Khaat. Someone will notice if they disappear off of the face of the earth and then they’ll ask questions. The media will focus on Elijah, they’ll pick up on his attachment to Chase and then they’ll find out. Keeping those who don’t need to know in the dark is important right now. Marina and Viktor are included in this. No one needs to know except the people they trust the most.”

“I know you’ll see it as no loss and Elijah will too but it will leave them exposed. I don’t want to work hard to throw a veil over them and shield them unless I have to and I won’t be pleased if you’re the reason why I have to. We have to be rational. Marina is the only thread. Viktor won’t mind unless she gets irate which she will. Killing them will do no good, I’m telling you.”

Oh, he never could keep his mouth shut. She swiftly leveled her wand at him. "And exactly what sort of cheeky hat would you like to be, my beloved?" she hissed, full of sarcasm. Brian snatched the wand from her hand with a lightning swiftness.

"No transfigurations in front of the children," he said quietly to her. He wasn't necessarily rescuing Rob. He was protecting her. He had no desire for Khaat to change Rob into some tacky hat and then most likely wear it to the showdown with the Krums just to spite the Krums and Rob both. That would be like her to do that. "You can change him into a hat later. Maybe a fez. Chartreuse even if you like. Just not now. " Actually, he didn't really have any objection to Rob being morphed into some ugly hat, except if Khaat wanted to keep it in their closet. He didn't want her husband on a shelf in his closet, not particularly. If he had it figured, she'd end up skipping off to Azkaban for offing Viktor and Marina, and her husband would still be on a shelf in his closet. That was not at all a pleasant visual. Hm...How long could he keep her wands locked up?

"No more coffee for you," Brian said, pouring tea into a clean cup and handing it to her. "It's undoing your pain meds and making you snarky, Babe. You'll have to excuse her. Her shoulder is a bit painful. She doesn't lose a duel very often but when she does, she does it in fine style." He wasn't getting into exactly how extensive the damage was. That wasn't their business. Brian laid her wand aside and took her hand in his. She sighed heavily and began to surrender her anger, not just her anger at the Krums, but her anger about a lot of things, to him. He felt a bit of relief. That was his Khaat. Fiercely loyal. And her loyalty to him kept her grounded. Their commitment to each other, as loose as that actually was, kept them both safe. He didn't guess Rob probably liked it, but oh well. Would he rather be the hat?

Was it bad that he found her anger oddly thrilling? Probably not but it was weird. Khaat was irate enough even without Rob unintentionally trying to bait her. He was being sensible he felt and he knew that he was right when he said that killing the Krum’s would leave Elijah and Chase exposed. At least with their overly exposed egos they covered the two teenagers. The media was obsessed with fame which meant they loved the Krum’s and the Potters and any other family with a certain amount of fame. If the Krum’s were offed them the media would have a field day with Cyrus Skeeter at the head.

“I’d love to be a fez, actually.” Rob quipped with a sly grin. “Would Robert wear me? I’d get to see everything he does ... that’ll be loads of fun.”

He didn’t particularly want to be a hat, not really, but teasing Khaat was too good to pass up. Rob kicked his feet up onto the table and slid down in his chair slightly. He put the now slumbering Abbey on his chest and kissed her head before looking over at Elijah who was speaking quietly to his son. The child had become interested in the woven bracelet hugging his father’s wrist. It was a beautiful piece of jewellery and the Slytherin had always had love for jewellery. Perhaps it was just a variant of his love of all things beautiful.

But it wasn’t just some old woven bracelet. It had woven with it a piece of pink ribbon which looked fairly old. One end was frayed but it had been tied off as it had been woven into the bracelet. Rob didn’t remember ever seeing Elijah with it before so his interest was piqued along with Thierry’s. The boy slid the bracelet up his father’s arm as far as it could go before tugging it back down again. Elijah didn’t take it off to let the boy touch it like he’d done with the ring. This told Rob that he was more attached to that than he was to the ring. Thierry slid off of his father’s lap and sat in Jen’s seat. He pulled the mug of cider back to him and drank deeply from it, amusing Rob to no end.

“Can you not kill my parents please?” Elijah joked. “I mean, they wouldn’t be missed but I think Rob is being sensible. Feel free to turn him into a hat though.”

"Robert wouldn't be caught dead in a fez," Brian laughed. "A fedora, maybe, but a fez, definitely not."

"Rob and sensibility is usually an oxymoron," Khaat said. "Although he does have his moments. Maybe I'll make you into a pink fedora with a pink satin hatband and give you to Chris. Chris would probably be actually able to pull off wearing you with some style."

"Who's Chris?" Brian asked.

"A friend of Rob's. The grapevine told me fairly recently Chris was pregnant. So when is he due?"

"He?" Brian looked at Khaat.

"It's not unheard of," Khaat looked at him. "In fact..." She looked at Brian. Perhaps he could volunteer to carry the Quinn children instead of her.

"No, no," Brian shook his head. "I refuse. Don't even look at me like that. I won't, and you can't make me."

"Oh, alright. I'll let them live, Eli," Khaat said. "For now. I won't promise long term." She wasn't going to promise not to at least transfigure them when they did inevitably did eventually find out. She picked up her tea mug and was about to take a sip when she glanced up across the restaurant and saw him. The man in the dark cloak. She'd know that mysterious figure anywhere. Her blood froze in her veins for an instant. Her only thoughts were of Abbey and Dakota. Nothing else.

"Accio!" she summoned her wand. It snapped into her hand, and she apparated out the instant the wand hit her palm. Brian glanced up when she summoned her wand and saw the same figure.

"Damnit!" He exclained. He looked at Rob, "Your wand! Guard these children! If he gets through us, he'll come for them next." He apparated out to Diagon Alley to follow Khaat. He managed to apparate right in front of her, between her and the man in the full black cloak. He still couldn't see his face after all this time, and it frustrated him. He could see everyone in Diagon Alley coming to a screeching halt right in front of Sparks.

" Contego!" He covered himself and Khaat with a shield. " Hey! You! Big, tall, and ugly!" Brian shouted then at the figure. "You lose! Even if you kill us, you lose! Gelding is broke! He doesn't have a farthing! Your contract is useless. If you don't believe me, go check it for yourself. You've been duped!"

The figure paused, as if he were thinking, and then with a great flourish of his wand, his apparated out in a great cloud of black smoke.

"Show off," Brian mumbled angrily. He turned to see Khaat and wrapped her close. "You alright?"

"I am now," she said softly. "Thank you." She kissed him slowly. She was more grateful than he knew that he had been there and had gotten rid of him without a single spell being fired. "You're wonderful."

He laughed. "So are you. Come on. I'd like to finish my breakfast. Lizzie's scones are really quite good." He looked up and saw everyone looking at them. "Show's over, Folks." he said. "Matinee will be this afternoon right before tea." He led her back inside and back to the table.

Elijah allowed himself to drift off into the caverns of his mind as Brian and Khaat spoke among themselves. He wasn’t listening too much of it but he did return to the realm of the living when he felt arms wind around his shoulders. He looked up and saw a flash of blonde hair before a pair of lips were on his cheek. He moved his head and looked at Chris who was practically glowing with pride and ... pregnancy? Elijah smiled at the blonde and allowed the man to bombard him with hugs and random kisses all over his face. “Aww...Eli’s all grown up!” Chris cooed playfully. Elijah felt his cheeks flush red and Chris pinched his left cheek. “You’re so screwed.” He laughed.

Elijah frowned a little and David cleared his throat, dragging his husband away from Elijah. David sat down in the chair next to Rob and Chris deposited himself on David’s lap. Rob seemed to wake up, being eye level with Chris’s swollen stomach, and began to prod the man for information on how everything was progressing, as if he knew exactly what he was talking about. “Don’t kid yourself, Eli.” Rob said distractedly. “Of course I know exactly what’s going on. Hold Abbey,” Elijah found himself with the Animagus’ daughter in his arms and Elijah slid her into a comfortable position in the crook of his arm. Elijah watched Rob as the man poked and prodded Chris’ stomach, much to the chagrin of both the man in question and the man he was sat on.

When the spell met Elijah’s ears he looked up to see Khaat Apparated from her chair. Brian left a parting order to Rob who was focused on Chris before Apparating out himself. Elijah looked at his surrogate father and got to his feet. He kicked Rob roughly and glared at him. “Do your job you ass!” Elijah growled at him. Fauve’s arms wound around Eli’s leg and he felt Thierry come up beside him. Rob blinked a few times before jumping to his feet and kicking Elijah back although not as hard because he had Abbey in his arms. “I’m doing my job, hole.” He retorted. “He’s not even come round the corner yet and they’re out there. I’m quite content to leave things to the last minute, Elijah. You need to learn to apply arrogance to everything you do. It helps focus your mind.”

Rob tapped his temple and turned back to Chris once more, frustrating Elijah to no end. Huffing, Elijah turned and looked out of the windows, chewing on his bottom lip as he strained to see what was going on outside. Elijah felt his foot tap against the tiles on the floor, moving to the beat of the music blaring from the juke box and Fauve began to move with the music. Smiling down at her, Elijah nudged her towards her brother and the two danced over to where the juke box was. Elijah nudged Rob with his foot and handed Abbey to Chris who took the girl eagerly. Elijah pulled Rob up and the two walked towards the window just as Khaat kissed Brian.

Elijah looked at Rob and saw the man blanch. “There’ll be no living with her after this,” Rob said absently before turning and striding back over to the table to retrieve his daughter from his friend. Elijah’s eyes caught something glistening on Khaat’s hand and he moved closer to the window only to step away again. He blinked a few times and felt his heart go out to Rob before turning himself and walking away. He wandered over to where his children were and looped his arms under Fauve’s. He lifted her off of her feet and span her around, smiling at her giggles. Elijah set her back down again and ruffled Thierry’s hair before joining the table again.

“Rob,” Elijah growled out the man’s name as Khaat and Brian neared them and the Herbology teacher looked up from the cup of tea he’d been putting Firewhisky in. Rob vanished the bottle with a flex of his fingers and Elijah shook his head, pouring himself some raspberry juice as he did so. He looked at Khaat and he smiled. A chair scraped against the tiles and his eyes travelled to the right to see Jen sit down beside him, plopping Fauve on his lap as she did so. She pulled Thierry onto hers and smiled at Elijah. “I’m furious,” she informed him, “But congratulations, sweetheart.” Elijah smiled and kissed her cheek, leaning into her slightly. She hugged him with one arm before the two separated.

“Do you think someone could come with me to Bulgaria? I want to take whatever is left and if my mother is there perhaps inform her of the, uh, latest development.” Elijah said shyly.

"I believe I called first dibs on that, my dear," Khaat smiled calmly at Eli now. Brian always did seem to shed pespective on things for her. "I can't wait to meet your mother. And I haven't seen your father since the Triwizard Tournament. He was in an older class, but I met him a couple of times. I doubt that he'll even remember me. But no matter. I'd still like to see if the years were good to him. I always enjoy seeing if men age as gracefully as women do."

"Oh, Chris," Khaat smiled, seeing him there, "Congratulations. You too, David. You're going to be awesome parents. When are you due, Chris? I was going to send you a letter anyway. I have a...small interior decorating project, and I really do want your expertise if you're interested. No particular rush. Brian and I have a new property in Italy, and I want a nursery for the girls to share. Are you interested in perhaps designing something perfect for my two little princesses?" She was so hoping he would say yes. Actually, she was hoping that Eli would do some wizard murals on the wall so that they constantly moved to delight the babies, but she knew that if Chris took on the project he would already have thought of that, the color schemes, the theme, and half the furniture---all in a nanosecond.

""Rob," Khaat said. "There is one thing you probably should know. Tasha wasn't the only threat Gelding had out there. There is a second paid, contract assassin. We've never been able to see his face, but he's been contracted to finish Tasha's job. And this one makes Tasha look like a first year Hogwarts student. Thats why we still have not told anyone where, exactly, our house is. And we've been laying all sortts of protective enchantments around it. But, for obvious reasons, you do have a right to know."

It was unlikely that Khaat would get her wish but Elijah hoped to have his. He didn’t want to see his mother or his father, not that the moron would even notice his presence. He actually wanted to see Micah and Stelladora, if they were still there that is. Elijah relaxed into his chair and began to idly play with Fauve’s hair. She reached for Elijah’s raspberry juice and cupped the glass with both of her hands. Thierry hovered protectively near her but the six-year-old merely smirked at her older brother and lifted the glass without a problem. Elijah chuckled as he watched Thierry pout and shook his head before looking at Chris who Khaat was now addressing.

“Me?” David asked incredulously, his eyes bugging out of his head. “I had no part in this – it was your ruddy husband mucking around with genetics and biology and whatever else he screwed up.” David pointed an accusatory hand at Rob who looked innocently at the other man and Chris glared at both of them, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest. He looked at Khaat and smiled happily at the woman. “A couple of months yet,” He smiled, slapping David’s chest, knowing that the man had rolled his eyes. “Oh! That would be amazing. Elijah will help too.” He grinned. “David can make the stencils and Rob and Pierre can make the furniture, can’t you boys?”

The collective no came from two of the men and a confused ‘okay?’ came from the youngest who Chris smiled widely at before hitting both David and Rob over the back of their heads. Both men flinched and a smug smirk tugged at Chris’ lips. “Good boy, Elijah. I’ll help you plan that lovely little room you’ve got in the back of the mind for your baby and I’ll help you make Fauve’s and Thierry’s in exchange for you doing some serious painting.” Elijah blinked in confusion and nodded, deciding to appease Chris because he had made a fair deal. “Fabulous! I’ll even design some baby grows for you and our children will look smashing together.”

Elijah groaned loudly and shook his head before burying his face in Fauve’s hair, nuzzling her neck. Rob smirked a little to himself and found himself being addressed. He looked at Khaat and shrugged non-comittedly. “It’s fine.” He said after a moment. “It’s not our top priority to inform me of every little thing that goes on in your lives.” He looked back down at his tea and lifted the mug to his mouth, sipping some of it and savouring the taste. Elijah scowled at Rob though the curtain of Fauve’s hair and lifted his head. He decided that perhaps it was best to change the subject before things got worse. “What did you have in mind for the room, Khaat?” He asked.