New Day, New Life

"That's fine. I don't use hats much," Khaat said. "Help yourself, Cassidy. She'll be fine, Jess. Stop mothering." She laughed. "Its good for her to get out and walk and reduce her stress. That will reduce the symptoms if she does it right. You know that. And Steven has done this before. He'll know if he needs to bring her back sooner. In the meantime, relax and enjoy your painting. Angus, help me up please."

"Going somewhere?" he asked, going over and helping her up very slowly and gently.

"I'll be right back," she promised. She kissed his cheek. "You worry too much, Angus. I love you, but you worry too much. Don't let the babies run off while I'm gone, will you?" She went over to the basement stairs and went slowly and silently down the stairs. Angus just held his breath. Stairs were not on her list one day after her c section. Robert would just really come apart when he saw her downstairs.

"I'm going to let Robert handle this one himself," Angus said to Jess softly. "I'm not even getting involved. I didn't hear a tumble, so I am presuming she's alright--until Robert sees her."

Khaat was amazed at the beautiful basement her father had conjured. She checked out each room, having to go slowly because of how weak and tired it made her. When she got to the locked door, she could hear her parents' voices on the other side. She fired her hand at the door, firing an alohamora spell at it. The door blew into splintered pieces.

She looked into the room and saw her father's face. He had a look of surprise and exasperation. "I just made that door," he sighed. "Did you ever think of knocking?"

"No," she replied.

"And tell me you apparated down here," he said, going over to her. When he saw the small beads of sweat forming on her forehead already, he sighed. "No. You didn't. Do I really, really need to say it? When have you ever, ever in your life allowed a C Section patient handle stairs the next day?"

"Never," she replied.

"Then what the devil makes you think I'd let YOU do it?" he said, starting to raise his voice. He flicked his fingers at a large leather wingback chair, drawing it over to him. He led her a couple of steps and lowered her into the chair. She looked around her.

"Impressive war room," she said. "When are we using it?"

"We?" he frowned. "Did I include you in this?"

"You are not separating me out from it," she said firmly.

"The dumbest thing Remus ever did was to go to the Second Wizarding War if Tonks was so determined to go. They had Teddy to think of. That as asinine. One of them needed to stay behind. And then they were stupid enough to not send the boy here into hiding. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I will NOT let you and Brian make the same mistake, and why didn't he stop you, anyway? Maybe I need to fire his ass from being your bodyguard."

"He's making an art studio for my mother," she said definatly. "And for all our other bored friends and family members. "

"Oooooooh!" Kate's eyes lit up. "How lovely! I will have to make him something special for that." Robert shook his head, trying not to be frustrated with both of the women in his life.

"Of course he is," Angus shrugged. "You know how Steven is. He falls in love fast and hard. I hope to heck this works out better than the last two marriages he's had. I know he's known Cassidy for awhile, but he felt the same way about the last two women he married. I just don't want to see him hurt again. Or her either. I haven't said a word to them, and I don't intend to. Not my place. As for us, for dinner, I have some gorgeous fresh salmon fillets that I am marinating. I'll serve a bit of a fresh fruit chutney on the fish. I'm fixing a parmesan risotto and a huge gorgeous salad. For dessert I am doing a fresh made frozen greek yogurt that is vanilla and honey flavored. I'm going to grill some fresh pineapple slices and serve that with a slice of grilled pound cake, the yogurt with a drizzle of honey and a bit of fresh whipped cream made with local turbinado sugar. What do you think?"

"Not a problem," Angus said. He got out a bottle and flicked his fingers at it to heat the formula magically. It only took him a small flick of his fingers to get it just right. And if he knew these children, at least one of the others would not be far behind. Maybe both. About that time, he felt a little hand smacking him on the back of his leg. He looked to see Dakota there, slapping him, her sippy cup in hand. Abbey was just a few steps behind with her own cup.

"Don't tell me. All five of you are going to be after me, aren't you?" he laughed. He flicked his wand. The two sippy cups refilled themselves with juice while two other bottles heated themselves. The three heated bottles delivered themselves to Jack and Jess and the refilled sippy cups delivered themselves to Abbey and Dakota. "Khaat better get used to taking magical shortcuts. Its the only way she's going to make this work with five babies at the same time." Abbey babbled at him and he looked at her. "You're welcome. but you're going to make your mother nuts," he laughed.

Brian finally came back in, a bit overheated. He had been working very hard trying to make this art studio and making it a state of the art place for anyone to work, large and spacious. It was enchanted to look like nothing more than a sunroom from the outside for any muggle who looked at it. From the inside, it was a massive room with stark white walls for the colors to show up more effectively. It had skylights and a lot of windows and was fully equipped.

Angus saw Brian had been truly working himself into a hard sweat. It had been good for him to work off his own stress. He went to the refrigerator and got him a tall glass of lemonade with a lot of ice. He handed it to Brian. "How does it look, Dude?" Angus asked.

"Beautiful," Brian said. "I think they will like it. You all need to go see. Please. If I need to add something to it, I'll be happy to do it."

"Can I see it?" Khaat asked.

"I'll take you in a moment. Let me sit and rest for a moment. I"m tired," he sighed, sitting with the lemonade.

"Thank you," she said to Brian. "Thank you for making that. That is going to really help us to manage our stress constructively. That's an amazing thing."

"Nothing against Cassidy, but I put the kiln in because I knew Kate would have me for it if I didn't put it in there for her. She loves pottery far too much to be without one," Brian laughed. "Alright, Khaat. I've rested. I'll take you to see it if you like." He helped her up and took her to the studio to look at it. Robert and Kate followed and looked.

"Well, well done, Son," Robert said, very pleased. "Excellent." Kate explored every nook and cranny. She noticed he had included a massive loom so she could weave her own fabrics. She went over to him and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you. I"ve always wanted to do that. I can hardly wait."

"Well, lets go eat dinner and then you can all come back here and play," Angus laughed.

"Come on, Khaat. Time for you to get off your feet and get some food," Brian smiled. He took her back into the living room and sat her on the sofa. Angus came in and asked if someone would help him set the table.