The Ties That Bind

Khaat finished eating about the same time that her mother finished feeding the girls. Khaat took the dishes out to the kitchen and brought back in a wet cloth to wipe off little baby hands and faces. Kate took it from her and made quick and expert work of cleaning up the girls.

"Now, Khaat," Kate said. "Don't stew about the girls. Your job right now is to just take good care of our boy. Got it?"

"I do," Khaat smiled. "I wouldn't let anything happen to him. I promise."

"If you need your father to come to talk to him, just say so. Robert is making Brian give him a portkey so that he can get there if he needs to. Call for him with your medallion if you have to."

"And then I"ll bring a bezillion wizards."

"Better to get a bezillion than none, my dear," Kate smiled. She looked up, seeing Robert and Brian returning. Brian looked better. Considerably. Robert moved over and picked up Dakota.

"Come here, you little monkey," he laughed. "You and I are going to work on that whole 'beating-up-your-sister' business while your mama and papa are gone."

"Be good to her, Daddy," Khaat laughed. "But no spoiling allowed."

"Khaat," he frowned. "Thats what grandparents do. Get over it. We're entirely allowed to spoil as much as we like. You just need to get over it." That made her laugh out loud. Kate picked up Abbey. Khaat picked up the shoulder bag she had packed for the girls, and Kate slung it on her shoulder, while Robert picked up the carriers, magically, that held the cats. "Call if you need me," he told Khaat, kissing her cheek.

"I will. I promise," she replied. He and Kate apparated away taking the girls and the cats with them. "Are we ready?" Khaat asked.

"No, but we might as well go," Brian said. He tossed everyone an old wooden nickle. The kind that Americans gave away in carnivals as prizes. "Your portkeys. We'll see you there in a few minutes. Try to go at least in pairs. Its a long trip." He picked up the bag Khaat had packed for them and reached for her hand. "Khaat? Shall we?"

"We'll see you there," Khaat said, taking his hand. And with that, he portkeyed them out to Colorado.

Cassidy was glad when things calmed down she finished her coffee and washed up the sides placing each back where it had come from . Wiping down the surfaces she finished walking back into the dining just intime to catch an old wooden nickle in her hand and heard him say about getting into pairs to port over but she didn't have to wait as Steven walked over to her . " finish up and i'll port us over " he said knowing Angus might want to go on his own " unless you want to take her Angus ?" he said looking at him " im easy ether way " he said then turned back to Cassidy " Don't think it girl" he said seeing her smirk at his words and he smirked as well.

Cassidy chuckled at his words feeling some of the tenshion was eased for now , she grabbed her bag moved back to the kitchen and made double sure everything was away then she grabbed her bag from the dining room and from under her seat where she had left it earlier. picking it up she took a deep breath she had not gone so far from what she classed as home before and now she was , one part of her was glad steven was taking her, as she alone would not have a clue where to go.

Steven sat down waiting for her and finishing his coffee. " I am just waiting for Cassidy" he said. He knew Cassidy was nervouse he saw that much on her face but he was just glad to be going back to his own country of sorts. He wondered if sometime he could aperate to his own home f arm and visit his family again. he gave a soft smile at the thought of seeing his mother again , though he did know not to go to the Ranger headquaters as it would blow his cover . But seeing his mother again made him smile . finishing his drink he walked threw to the dinning room " you ready ?" he asked as he placed his cup in the sink.

"Either way is fine with me. I know the way. You two want to go with me?" Shouldering his own bag, he took hold of Cassidy's hand as Steven took her other hand. He portkeyed them to Colorado, to Brians largest estate. He had purposely wanted them to see the house from the outside and he landed them outside, standing on the asphalt drive, a short distance from the house, just far enough to try to take in the massiveness of it. Even as large as the estate in England was, this was larger still. By a good deal.

"This," he said quietly, giving them time to catch their balance and breath, "is what Brian does not want to lose. Look at it. Its spectacular. And the view? There is nothing like it anywhere. Mountains, woods, meadows, valleys--I mean, whats not to like?" The last time Angus had been here had been in wintertime, and everything was covered with several feet of snow. Now, the grass was beginning to get green again, and there were the small beginnings of buds on the trees. The air was crisp and clean and had a totally different smell to it than the estate in England. This was heady with herbs and pine and mountain freshness. It was just different.

"Oh. Here," he opened his shoulder bag and handed them each a piece of paper. On one side was a detailed floor plan of the house. On the other was a very detailed map of the entire massive estate. "I figured Brian would not have time to give you the tour. So, I thought these might be helpful. It might take Brian a few minutes to sort out who is going to have which room, so be a bit patient with him. Once the worst of the fireworks are over between him and Kieran, I'll go into the pantry and assess our food situation. There are 4--no maybe 5 vehicles here. I know there is a very large, heavy duty truck. Red, I believe. There is an average sized SUV, and another that is very large and very heavy duty--both black. There is a large black luxury car, for formal occasions, and also I think a white sportscar. And yes, there is a six stall garage to accomodate it. And, no, Brian didn't buy all these. Kieran bought most of them as investments. I think Brian bought the truck for work use on the grounds, and I think he bought perhaps the smaller of the SUV's. I think Kieran bought the rest, but its all in Brian's name because Kieran's credit isn't worth diddly. My guess is that Kieran has most likely been somehow masquerading as Brian because no one in his right mind would get into any sort of money business with Kieran."

Cassidy took Angus's hand and Stevens, she was nervose enouph but to port that far made her stomach turn . sudely after she took his hand she felt the pull and squezzed both mens hands tight her eys shut quickly till she felt it stop and she could breath again her legs wobbled a little and she was glad of stevens arm around her suporting her and stoping her from falling to the ground . Slowly she opened her eyes and smiled at what she saw " WOW!!" she said " its beautiful " she stopped her self and took a st ep forward now walking forward towards it . Her eyes grew larger the closer she got to it " thats ok Im probably going to stay with you in the kitchen anyway , thought i would love to see grounds , the pine even from here smells wonderful and fresh " she said taking a deep breath. when Angus handed her the map she glanced at it and sliped it into her pocket as she walked up to the grand wooden door .


Steven chuckled as he felt her hold his hand tighter as they ported away arriving he saw her eyes were closed and knew from experiance she was not a good porter or aperateer and slid his arm around her waist as he did he felt her give a little and knew it was ok for him to do that. Finally f eeling her pull away he knew she had her legs again and let her . he loked at the biulding in front of him and hummed " how man men are here ?" he asked looking at Angus hoping he'd provided for plenty of men to guard Khaat and Brian. he huffed as he heard about Kieran and the cars " most likaly and don't worry we'll get use to here quickly " he said walking behind Cassidy who seemed taken with the senery he could not help but chuckle having seeing it all himself before having visited on one of his mission as a Ranger. He followed close behind as she walked when Angus gave him the map he opened it and studied it " this place looks huge " he said and looked at him " Im guessing you've been here before?" he asked turning to see Cassidy stood looking at the main door . he chuckled as he walked over to her placing his arm over her shoulder " Cassidy, its a door you go threw it " he said moving her to it.


Cassidy stood looking at the door its detail and carving she had not seen anything like it and it wasn't till Steven placed his arm around her shoulder she realized she was stood stairing at a door of all things and she felt alittle foolish as he pushed her inside with Angus and she blushed .

Khaat and Brian arrived to see Kieran, wearing a pair of sweats, sitting on an Italian leather sofa, with his feet propped up on some sort of obviously one of a kind coffee table. He had a pizza box sitting on the coffee table, and at least half a dozen empty beer bottles laying around, in addition to the one in his hand.

"This is my house," Brian said with an unyielding firmness.

"Posession is 9/10 of the law, Little Brother," Kieran said, laughing, unmoving. "I'vc been here. You haven't been. Who's the babe?" Brian's cheeks began to flush red with anger. He drew his wand and flicked it at the mess and disapparated it completely. "Oh, now look what you've gone and done. And that was a perfectly good deluxe pizza, too," Kieran said.

"I told you what quarters were yours. This is not it. Go back to your apartment, or I'll send you there," Brian said.

"Now is that any way to be? How many years has it been? And you still haven't introduced me to the dish," he got up off the sofa and moved towards Khaat. Brian apparated in front of her, standing firmly between Kieran and Khaat.

"Don't you even think about it," Brian said. "She's mine."

"Like your shirt or your shoes or...oh looky here!" He snatched Brian's left hand and drew it up to look at the platinum band on his ring finger. "Really? You? And...her? What on earth does she see in the likes of you?" He laughed uncontrollably for a moment and then he glared at Brian. "Oh thats' right. The money. Thats' why she likes you. You buy whatever you want. You bought yourself a trophy wife too, didn't you?" Brian flicked his wand at Kieran and he vanished completely.

"Brian! You didn't!" Khaat panicked.

"No," Brian said. "I didn't. I wanted to, but I didn't. I locked that prat in his apartment. He's magically sealed in. Let's hope he doesn't have anyone else in the house. We'll need to check it thoroughly to make sure we don't have guests."

Steven heard voices inside and moved quickly to wards it leaving his bag at the door but by the time he got there it was over and he stood blinking " guess i missed the introdution 's " he said slipping his wand away and shaking himself down as he felt his mucles tense ready for a fight but finding nothing but Brian and Khaat stood in the room he smiled " hey , guess y did send him to his room then" he said and chuckled looking at the mess around the room " god what a slob " he said ckicking a piza box to one side "I got patrol, I'll make sure the house to secure first " he said and moved back to pick up his bag passing Cassidy and Angus " the place is a tip " he said and shook his head " im gonna patrol if you need me call me " he said and headed out to check the house out , but staying away from the apartment that he knew Brian's brother would be in. It was the main house he cared about for now .

Cassidy walked in and almost imidiantly was hit with teh smell of stale pizza and stopped catch her breath " now that's got to change " she saiod and quickly moved to the living room , with ehr wand out she quickly tyied up the piza boxes and placed some scented candels around to get rid of the stale smell . she looked at Khaat and shook her head " he is a slob , totaly diferent to Brian " she said swiping down the last of the surfaces. Standing up she looked around and then at Khaat before she spoke " Im guessing hes in his aprtment , its a good thing too , im dreading the state of the kitchen though if hes not one for cooking it might be clean " she said making the cleaning cloth disapear . Aiming her wand at the fire place she lit a fire art to and made it start to feel like a home again and less of a doss house for his brother.

Steven walked back in to the living room and looked at Brian " all's secure i checked all rooms and windows secure , looks like he used the main bed room though , you'd better change and clean the whole place first" he said looking at Cassidy who stood stunned .

"he did not " she said and dove past him to the main bed room , she stood loking at it in silance " ow my god this is gross " she said waving her wand she made his things disapear and the room clean up even the sheets she changed for them then walked back into the living room " that was so ...god it was gross " she said and shivered " its clean now and don't ask me to tell you what i found under the bed " she said now realizing how bad his brother was.

"Oh, believe me, I have a pretty good idea," Brian sighed. "Just the same..." He flicked his wand and set in motion a powerful cleaning spell through the entire house. "I dont' want a trace of him remaining in my house. He can trash his own place--if I let him stay there after this. All of you--watch him. Do not let him even consider laying his hands on Khaat. As far as he knows, she's my wife. Thats what I want him to think. I don't trust him any farther than I spit him."

"I can take care of myself. What happens if I get a chance to turn him into a teacup?" Khaat managed a smile at him.

"Do it. And then break the cup," Brian said dryly. Khaat took his hand.

"Brian, we're alright," she reassured him.

"For now. I need to search the house for information on his gambling debts. Its in this part of the house someplace. He hasn't been living in his part of the house. I need to get everything he has on what he's up to his eyeballs in," Brian said. "Khaat, go take a look at the house. You all take the tour. I'll..."

"No," she said softly. He stopped and looked at her. "We're in this together. Isn't that what this..." she showed him her rings, "...is all about?"

"You shouldn't have to be," he said.

"And what road would you not walk with me?" she smiled.

"Alright," he said. He looked up at the others. "Search every drawer, every nook and cranny, every shelf, everyplace you can find. If there is any paperwork here about who, specifically, we need to talk to, then...."

"If we can't find anything, I suggest we use veritaserum. He is a wizard, afterall," Khaat said. That had not entered Brian's mind before.

"Yes, we certainly could," Brian said.

ooc: were we going to bring jack and jess on this too? i couldn't remember. i thought we had talked about it at one time.

Cassidy nodded and watched them she now understood his hate of his brother. She moved to the kitchen finding Brian's spell had made it clean but from the pile of piza boxes and beer bottles that sat in the bin she could imajine how much of a mess it was . opening eaach draw she familierized her self with the lay out even with being early morning she had to know. as she opened one draw she found some bills and paper work and shoke her head lifting them out she walked back to Brian in the living room " is this what your looking for?" she asked handing him the large pile of papers into his hands " seems he thought the cutlry draw was a paper storage draw. " she said and headed back to make some coffee getting the feeling nobody would be sleeping yet.


Steven walked around the house again checking each draw in every room , he came to one room and opened a cupboard there in a corner sat a box . His curiosity was peeked and he movd to pull it out of the cupboard. Lif ting it to the bed he opened it there inside sat bills , final demands and I O U notes had written. Steven gave a low growl and picked it up walking down the stairs to the main livingroom. "Seems your brothers been a busy bee" he said and placed the box on the coffee table in front of them " theres some from car hire companys, and several hand written IOU's I hate to think what and who they were from" he said now smelling coffee filing the house .

Cassidy flicked on the kettle and then took out the containers she had brought with her palcing each down it grew to its orginal size and she emptied it out on to a plate or platter. Once the kettlel boiled she made a pot of coffee and one of tea . Taking a tray she made it up and carried it threw " I thought we could al use a hot drink and something to eat" she said and sighed seeing the box filled with papers.

Khaat and Brian had each found more bills. Khaat had found some when she had gone to place some of the clothing in the now empty bedroom drawers. Somehow someone had made room for her in Brian's drawers and in his closet in his room. The master bedroom was beyond exquisite. She remembered how even his small quarters in Paris had the flare of elegance to it. It wasn't overdone, but it was full of rich woods and so strongly looked like the captains quarters in an old time sailing ship from the 1500s or 1600s. It was a room she had really liked. And Robert's quarters were not that much different in Paris.

Here, it was done in every sort of way to acknowledge nature. To salute the untouched beauty that lay right outside every window and every door, off every balcony and porch. And she could see places where obviously some of his most precious pieces of Native American Art had been. Now they were gone. She hurt for him. And when she opened one of the drawers to put in her lingerie and nightwear, she found a false bottom in the drawer and a number of more debts and threats that had been sent to Kieran. They threateneed to kill him, his entire family, and burn the house to the ground. And by the date on the note, they didn't have much time left. She wasnt sure she wanted to show this to him at all.

Angus had gone into the family room and found it had been used as some sort of den of iniquity. It was revolting. He set spells to put the room to rights. He wanted to burn Brian's expensive furniture rather than to have anyone sit on it. He knew a lot of spells, but he didn't know if there was one to scrub his brain of the images of things he knew had happened here. Maybe he'd have Robert obliterate that memory from him or have Kate take that thread out and just toss it altogether. He found a huge rip in the bottom of the black Italian leather sectional and when he turned it over, he heard noise. Rooting inside, he found several large manilla envelopes that had presumably more damning evidence inside. He opened them, having a strong desire to go breech Brian's containment of Kieran Quinn and throttle Brian's older brother. Instead, for now, he took what he found back upstairs and laid it on the table.

Brian had gone into the office and gone to the inwall safe there. There was the most damning evidence of Kierans crimes that he had done so far, and crimes yet to be committed. He sat heavily with it in front of him for a long moment. Kieran was lucky he wasn't a dead man yet. Brian had either come just in the nick of time, or he was going to get them all killed trying, and he wasn't sure which.

He took his finds to the living room and saw Khaat coming back with more. He saw Cassidy had put out the meal she had prepared back home. Home? That was home now? The concept rolled around heavily in his brain. This had been home for a lot of years. But now, it just felt like some place he used to live. When the whole concept of home came forward in his brain, all he saw was Khaat's face. Her beautiful face. And the faces of his girls. Wherever they were, that was home. Nothing else mattered now.

"Thank you, Cassidy," Brian said quietly, staring at the piles of gathered information. It would take all night to sort through. He saw Khaat's face as she laid her pile on the table. Her eyes were full of pain for him and reluctance to add to it. "Its not your fault," he told her. "We knew there would be more. I'm alright. Lets just do what we need to do, okay? This place used to be a lot of fun. Maybe when we get this settled we can find it again." He laid his own stack of evidence on the pile, with a pile of computer discs, cd's and dvds and memory cards from cameras, presumably holding photographs. There were a lot of those in, of all things, a ziplock plastic bag. This was going to take hours and hours.

"I'll help," she told him. "However long it takes."

"And me, Mate. I can go as long as you can," Angus said gently. "You're not alone. We're here for as long as it takes and for whatever you need." Angus saw some sort of battle drawing closer. And he had a feeling lives would be risked, maybe some lost. He didn't know. But it felt massively dangerous. He wasn't leaving. He had pledged his loyalty to the Lupins long ago, and he knew it meant he pledged to stand by them, and, if it called for it, to die with them. He was fully prepared.

"Any of you remember how to use muggle technology?" Brian asked. It was a long time, but he was sure he remembered, and Khaat had to use it periodically for her job, so he knew they were relatively good, but he wasn't sure about Steven and Cassidy or Angus.

Steven shook his head and sighed is as he saw Khaat and brain bring more into the room " whats this guy got agenst healthy living its like he just doesn't give a damn" he said f eeling the warmth of the fire against his chilled skin as he loked and moved the papers on the table in front of him. Pikcing up a computer disk he glanced around and saw a computer in the corner " thats something I know how to use " standing up he felt his legs slightly stiff , moving she worked out the stiffness then moved to the computer. He brushed off the dust and started it up sliding the disk in he opened each folder in turn and sighed "brian it seems hes been raking up debts and investing in companys that fail hes .... " Steven paused as he recognised ont of the companys " he invested in a company owned by Burke " he said his tone low and very deep showing his disaproval " hes still sifening money off of your account " he said his own dislike of kieran growing more and more the more he loked into his past. " Brian sir, i just want it known that if i see that man i will be pleased to tare him a new ....." he looked at Cassidy and Khaat " you get the idea" he printed out the information and showed it to Brian as he turned the computer back off . His anger level now reatching its limit .

Cassidy pored out the coffee and habed out teh scones she wished she could cook some thing hot for them al but she knew till suplies arrived she would have to put up with the food she had brought with them and fight now she was glad of it . Her thoughts were she would not cook and hoped Angus would not till it had been thouraly cleaned . She turned to hear Steven speack to Brian and under stood why he was angry this was Brian's family home why his brother was using it like he was was beyond her. She wondered if he spoke to Khaat like she ws nothing what would he do with her but she knew if he did he was in for a rude awakening as she knew she would put him on his butt if he tried anuthing with her. She took a deep breath noticing a mark on the wall and wondered just what had sat there, she knew what ever it was would have been beautiful and expencive , she shook her head and sighed still anoyed that his his own brother could do somthing like that to Brian who she respected and felt to her was like a big brother. She took a scone and ate it smiling at how well they ahd turned out . " Angus I don't think im going to sleep tonight I'l help clean the kitchen i noticed a lot of expencive equipment still in there im guessing he didn't know about that kind of thing." she siad sipping her coffee and eating her scone.