I May Look Old, But I Can Still Kick Your Arse

The elevator delivered them to the 5th floor, and Brian strode down the hallway like he owned the whole hospital. Khaat's assistant was busy at her desk when she saw Brian stride by, looking clearly like a man on a mission. "Mr. Quinn?" she asked, concerned.

"Is she in there?" he sighed, pointing to her door.

"Yes, but she refuses to say a word to me," Hannah replied.

"Well, I"m so surprised about that," he sighed sarcastically. "I'm going in." He walked past Hannah into the office and stood in the doorway, seeing Khaat busy using an enchanted calculator working on the hospital payroll. Brian cleared his throat loudly. She looked up from her work and saw him and smiled, pleased to see him. Seeing him always made her heart skip a beat now. She was a bit surprised to see him there.

"What are you doing?" he asked her. She looked at him frowning, motioning to her throat to remind him she could not speak. She saw Jack enter the doorway with him. Brian was not the least bit moved by the fact she could not speak. He shook his head back at her. He wasn't buying it. He pointed his finger at the paper on her desk to indicate she could yet write. She picked up the hospital checkbook and waved it in the air.

"Did you discharge yourself as well?" he asked. She nodded, rooting on her desk for a moment and waving the discharge paper triumphantly at him. "That does not impress me a bit, my dear," he said. She motioned for them to come in and sit down. This looked like it might take a bit.

jack watched the two of them together closing the door behind him he stood with his back to it his arms folded once more as if guarding it and stopping her from leaving the room and them again. He was happy they had found her and she was safe but a little annoyed tht she had just up and left he after all was assigned to prtotect her and thats just what he was going to do with Brian there or not.

He pulled a chair over and sat down on it backwards his arms resting on the back of the chair watching them both as Brian talked and Khaat wrote or signed the best she could.

"You scared me to death," Brian sighed, relieved she was alright. "Please don't do that anymore. If you want to go somewhere, let us know. We'll go with you." She looked at both of them skeptically. She did not believe for one moment they'd have let her leave her bed. "Oh, alright," Brian corrected. "Within reason, we would, yes. But would we allow ridiculousness, probably not, realistically speaking." She folded her arms, raising one eyebrow at him.

"I know you're irked," he said. "Look. Less that 12 hours ago, we didn't even know if you were alive. Give us a bloody break, would you? We worked for days. When we brought you back, you were a catatonic mess...."

She picked up her pen and snatched a piece of paper up quickly and began scribbling hastily in anger. She folded it into a paper airplane and flew it to him. He snatched it out of the air and read it and passed it to Jack. It read. "I am sorry for that. I really am. But I'm fine. I need to go on with my life. The longer I lay down there,...forget it. Neither of you will get it."

"You think we wont' get it? Really?" he frowned. "I think we both get it more than you think. Maybe more than you do."

Jack read the tossing it into the waste basket next to him as he stood up "Khaat Brian ares a lot for you and we both under stand, Cob she has a point, the sooner things get abck to normal the better and easier it will be for us to catch him , but Khaat you still need a body guard, at lest till the people who did this realise they can't get to you, will you at last let us do our jobs" he asked standing to face her his hjands behind his back as he waited.

She glared at Brian and scribbled again and made another airplane and tossed it to Brian. He caught it, opened the note and read it.

"Oh for Pete's sake," he sighed. He handed the note to Jack. It read, "At least he asked nicely!"

"Very well," he relented, realizing there really was some humor in this. "Would you please, please, restrain your need to give me a coronary before my time and let us protect you? If you want to work, fine. But can we at least compromise somehow?"

She looked at him for a moment, not sure what the compromise would end up with.

"No, we won't make you rip up your discharge," he assured her. "But you do need t0 let either me or your father take care of you. Deal?"

She nodded.

He looked at Jack. "Good enough?"

jack sighed and nodded "Thank you " he said smiling at her as he moved to the chair once more and sat down "ow...just promise me I don't have to dance on any plane wings again" he saw the look on her face " Long story Khaat " he said chukaling as he sat down " so will you be alright with that?" he asked folding his arms across his chest.

Plane wings? Well that would be interesting. She was about to go back to her work, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow fall across her doorway. She jumped. Badly. Her heart was in her throat and felt like it stopped beating altogether. She couldn't breathe. She realized she had bumped her cola glass that she had taken with her from her hospital room upstairs.

Brian spun quickly, seeing her jump, his wand already drawn. "Lower that wand," Robert Lupin's voice commanded in an iron strong, completely unyielding tone. Brian breathed easy and lowered his wand. Robert took long strides across the room at an easy pace and sat on the edge of Khaat' desk, on her side of it, facing her. He looked at her, and his hand caressed her suddenly ghostly white face.

"Breathe," he said softly, coaching her. She tried, but it didnt' work. "Relax," he said even softer. "It was just me. I'm sorry I scared you. You know what this is. You're having a bit of a trauma reaction. We treat these every day. You know the skills. Stop. Make your mind stop. And then breathe." He went to touch her forehead, and she recoiled from him. Then she realized what she had done and tried not to pull away from him. He noticed, but ignored her overeaction and touched her forehead and cast a calming spell for her. "Now," he said. 'Try again. Breathe."

Calmer, she managed this time. "Good," her father soothed her, taking her hand in his. "Just sit and rest a minute." He turned to Brian and Jack. "This is part of what you'll have to deal with for awhile. You may have to use a touch of a calming spell every so often for a few days. This is, actually, much better than I hoped for. Jack, in Khaat's potions cabinet behind you. Look for the bottle with the rose colored potion. Its a calming potion. You can safely shrink it without compromising it. It might be a welcome relief for her if something like this happens again."

jack took a deep breath smelling Robert in theroom before Khaat jumped he stood up but didn't cross to ehr as he saw robert matririalize and do what he was about to . her watched Robert with Khaat and folded his arms waiting , when Robert spoke to him sh turned and opend a wooden cabinet there sitting on the second shelf sat a rose colored jar taking it down he shrank it and slipped it into his pocket for safe keeping.

Khaat was humiliated. She wasn't afraid of anything. Not ever. And now she was afraid of her own father's shadow. She looked at the floor. Remus would have been ashamed of her. She thought, if she had been herself, tears would have been hitting the tapestry carpet. But there were none. None at all. Nothing. There was a long pause. She stood and picked up her coffee cup and showed her father it was empty.

He felt her deep pain but wasn't sure where it was coming from for her. He nodded. "Can I get it for you, my dear?" he asked softly. She shook her head. She wanted to walk. "Okay. Don't go far?" he asked her. She nodded, agreeing to whatever he asked. Her red stillettos padded softly and gracefully across the deep carpet as she left. He knew Brian and Jack would want to follow, but he raised his hand to stop them. "Don't," he said softly. "Let me." Robert felt like he needed to get to the root of whatever the deep pain was. He watched every step she took, going out to the hallway to watch his daughter walk to the healer's lounge. He had a deep fatherly need to be sure she got there safely. Heaven help anyone who moved against her one more time. Then, a few paces behind her, he followed her.

He went in behind her, not making his steps secret from her. She went over and filled her coffee cup. He went over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. He held her. She was stiff in his arms. She hadn't been this way since....

His thoughts trailed off and then he knew. "Khaat," he said very softly and slowly in her ear, his face so close she felt his breath on her ear. "Remus would have been so very, very proud of you. Just for surviving. You did everything he ever taught you to do. You don't know how I wish he were here to tell you that himself, believe me. No one expects you to even be on your feet, much less working today. Baby, you're pushing to run away from it. You know the only way to deal with it is to deal with it."

He'd been right on the money. It was Remus. It had brought him back so strong, the grief was real all over again, on top of everything else. But he was asking too much. For her to deal with it was asking her to go back through all the torture all again--what Barber had done, and where it had taken her mind. And she wasn't ready to do that. Not in the least. And she didn't think she would ever be ready to face that again.

"Baby," His voice was a soothing whisper now, almost a lullabye for her jangled nerves, "let me have Brian take you home. Please. I'll send Abbey and Dakota home. Get yourself anchored in today. Don't think anymore about yesterday or tomorrow either one. Give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll send you paperwork home to help keep you busy. Just try it my way first for a little while. Do it for me, huh?"

She thought. The shoes did hurt. Truth be told, everything hurt. She was just too injured to wear the beautiful red shoes and all the dress clothes. The silk gown she'd had a short time ago had honestly been a lot better. She relented and nodded. He set the coffeecup aside, put his arm gently around her waist and walked her slowly back to her office.

"Gentlemen," Robert said quietly and calmly, trying to minimize his deep concern for her. "Please, take my daughter home. Be very good to her. I promised I'd send her babies to her. Let me know of the slightest change. That's an order."

"On my last breath, Robert," Brian said softly, taking Khaat into his arms from Robert and wrapping her into his chest. She hid her face in Brian's neck.

"She needs rest," Robert said.

"I know." Brian said softly, caressing her. "You go ahead, Jack. Secure the house. Unless we hear back, we'll be there in two minutes. I want to be sure its clear before I bring her. Got it?"

Jack watched the scene unfold in front of him he smiled when khaat moved to Robert , when Brian spoke that he would guard her to his last breath Jack stood up looking at Robert hoping he could help.

"Sir,I wish to stay with them " he asked standing to atenshion his mind made up "sir i will stay with them both and make sure nobody get to them while Khaat is recovering" he added determined that he would not mess up his assingment , and he always had steven and Ronata as back up if they were not busy..