Marriage is Murder

"She did very well," Angus said. "But she's trying to be normal when she's not normal. If you guys can deal with lunch without me, I'm going to go try to fix her something she'll eat. I saw her face and Marcus's. She's hurting almost more than she can stand, and he knows it. I'm going to go to Robert and ask him to try to draw it off for her. I'd ask Jess, but she's done it once today already. I don't know how much more she can do. And then I'll try to fix her lunch. With a little luck, Jess and Cassidy will have been in the kitchen anyway and they'll surprise is with something ready to eat already."

"Thank you," Angus said to Jess and Cassidy. "Smells wonderful. Give me a minute and I'll help you get the kids down here to the table."

"I'll go get the five of mine that can eat solid food," Brian said. "I don't know that I can manage twin babies and five toddlers, though."

"Give me a second, and I'll help," Angus said. He headed upstairs, dodging the trays that were heading upstairs. He knocked on Robert's door.

"Come!" Robert called.

"I wasn't sure if you'd come back in yet or not," Angus said.

"Yes, well, Kate and I wanted a chance to freshen up a bit," Robert said. "Something wrong?"

"You might want to check Khaat's shoulder. I think she's probably overdone it," Angus said.

"Oh, I'm quite certain of it," Robert said. "I'll ask her if she wants my help, but she's going to have to follow my rules."

"What do you think the chances are of that?" Angus said, feeling there was virtually no chance of that.

"Right now?" Robert said. "I think she'll agree to just about anything to make the pain tolerable. I think the chances of her agreeing to my rules are probably fairly excellent."

"After she calls you a bastard?"

"That's a given," Robert said with a very slight, amused smile. "I'll take care of it. Thank you. Go eat. You've earned it."

"I said I'd help feed the twins," Angus said.

"We'll get them," Robert said. "Go eat. Kate and I will be along." Robert headed across the hall to Khaat's room.

Robert invited himself into Khaat's room. Marcus had insisted she sit on the bed, whether she felt filthy dirty or not. Marcus was in the process of mixing firewhiskey and pain potion in a whiskey glass.

"That won't be necessary," Robert said to Marcus. He looked at Khaat. "You are a stubborn woman. Are you ready for help now?"

"No more than any other time," she said coldly.

"You have every right to be angry with me, but we've talked about this. You know what's at stake."

"I don't care anymore!" she said angrily. "I don't give a damn about England anymore. I don't care about Gideon Pierce. I don't care about werewolves or anything else...." she said.

He merely let her vent. She had a right. He was deliberately using her as a pawn--a pawn in order to try to save England. And she was tired of her father putting politics ahead of his own child. She had the right to feel that way, but he couldn't heal her now.

"You want to hurt like hell or not?" he asked softly. "You can cuss me out with or without pain. Your choice."

"I want to move my arm!" she said.

"You will. Just not today," he said quietly. He reached over and felt the immense pain in her shoulder. "I'm going to try something." He decided to try to see if using more of his own energies would give her better relief. He felt the source of her pain and attempted, rather than a slow, disciplined relief, more of a magical ripping sort of motion, ripping the pain from her shoulder.

It made her head spin violently. She blacked out for a moment. Robert left his hand on her shoulder for a moment, checking her pain level and drawing off any residual nausea. He looked at Marcus.

"She'll be alright," he told Marcus. "No more farm work today, huh? She'll be awake in a few minutes. Get her to eat. I'm going downstairs to be with my grandchildren for lunch. Let me know when she feels ready to finish cussing me out." He went downstairs.

"I think I've got it for the moment," Robert said. "Thanks, Jess. Just don't try what I just did. Its risky because its almost impossible to ground oneself in the process. And its only as effective as one's energies are. But--it might give her some deeper pain relief, at least for awhile. And its not going to let her get up and go back out to the fields, which I'm not disappointed at either. If you would, though, do make sure that Marcus has it under control while the rest of us are outside this afternoon."

He headed down to the kitchen. He had worked hard in the fields and did want some food. He was hungry. He was hoping there was some soup left.

"We're not going to finish all the field work in one day," Angus said. "But she was in no condition to go anyway. Its fine. I appreciate her help but its not worth it if its going to cause anyone that much pain. We'll be fine without her, I'm sure. Can you and Cassidy handle making dinner this evening? I will try to make sure that either Michael or I stay behind tomorrow and deal with the kitchen duties tomorrow."

"As I said," Edward said, "I still can send back to Tuscany for a few Donohues. Either for the fields or the kitchen."

"Or we could simply heat up those frozen pizzas you all are such fans of," Angus teased.

"What?" Robert frowned. "We're eating what?"