A New Reason to Hate Paris

"Don't strain yourself, Mate," Michael laughed. "A for effort, but let me see if I can help. We can make the first bit work well enough."

"Indeed," Robert said. "I do have a couple of tricks up my sleeve that can help. Not every potion is listed in the restricted section of Hogwarts..."

"Oh, no," Angus sighed, already unhappy. He looked at Robert, knowing where this was going to go. "Could I just break my own leg, please?"

"Sissy," Michael teased as Robert got up and went down the hall to the potions lab.

"There's a potion that Robert created for situations like this," Angus told Brant. "The problem is that it creates a very real looking and acting wound and requires not only an antidote but usually some bandages. Not to mention that it causes nausea and is fueled by the energies of the person who drank the stuff. Ever notice the clear bottles of a blue liquid on the top shelf way to the back? Yeah--don't do us any favors and make more of it. It's called Blueblood potion."

"It will be easy enough for Angus to go to headquarters," Michael explained. "He will look truly injured to the untrained eye. Brant, you show up with some bandages and the antidote, and it should give you the reason you need to be there for at least a few hours without being suspected. However, the lion's share of the investigating will be on you. Finish up early before the antidote counteracts the blueblood potion, and you'll have to help our reluctant cook home. if it passes, he'll be tired enough that he'll still look injured to the crew there. It's an illusion, of course, but muggles have been making illusions and calling it magic for thousands of years. One would think wizards could do it better."

Brant on hearing Robert chuckled and looked at him “Ain't that the truth of it” he said knowing himself that several potions he had were found in other countries in lost tombs or backs of libraries in old dusty unused books. He looked to Robert as Angus seem to realize what potion he was suggesting and he tapped his chin.

“could work” He said softly as he listened to Roberts idea and explanation as to why it would work he could not question it. Though on hearing Angus's words and Michaels response he could not help but chuckle. Listening to Angus he frowned slightly pacing a little as Angus continued explaining then Michael.

“Hum... well, if Angus is willing, then lets do this, we all need to know who is the leak so we can plug it ” Brant told them all.

(we haven't picked up Brian or Khaat since back on page 9 or so, and at least several hours have passed, so i'm going to move on a little with brian and khaat. presuming that's okay.)

Marcus had managed, when morning came, to coach Khaat into starting to minimally move forward. He had found her a change of clothes--just jeans, and had encouraged her into a shower. She had no desire to be there today, and Marcus didn't owe anyone an explanation so he took it upon himself to take her out. He believed he needed to encourage her to get some food, so he started the outing by taking her into Muggle London for breakfast.

Brian was awake--about as much as any man could be awake, given the pain he was in. His head didn't feel like it belonged to him, and he knew that wasn't thinking nearly as clearly as he wanted to.

It had taken him a few minutes to get his bearings and realize he was really home. He was alone in the bedroom for the moment, but there was evidence all around him that, most likely, he had not been alone for long nor would he remain alone. Whoever had been with him would be back.

He sat up slowly, needing a long moment for the dizziness to pass. He was stiff and sore everywhere, and even without a good look at the damage, he could see bruises just about any place he looked. Someone had been kind enough to make sure he was cleaner than he last remembered and had provided him a pair of pajama pants. At least he wasn't naked.

He stood up and found that his legs weren't going to hold him at first. It took quite a bit of work, but he managed to make it the short few steps to the chair by the window. He needed to see outside. His last view of the outside world had been an alley in Paris in the dark. If he were truly home, he wanted to see it.

He hadn't thought he'd actually ever see this again. He'd written it off. He looked at his left hand--his wedding ring was still gone. He wondered if Khaat were still here at all or if she'd moved out. He wasn't honestly sure how long it had been since he'd left on his mission but he did remember he'd more or less told her it was over between them and had told her he wanted her out of the house. There had been no kind way to do it, but he knew her life would stop if she stayed here, knew she would grief herself to death. He believed it was actually kinder to hurt her by asking her to go than by asking her to go on without him. Not to mention, he knew he'd broken the one cardinal rule they'd always had between them--the 'no secrets' rule.

It would be too bloody big a house for him to ramble around him by himself. At the moment, he felt like burning it down to erase the fact that he'd actually survived, and she was most likely either not here or not planning on staying.

He leaned back in his chair, resting his head on the back of the chair. Damn, his head hurt.

Robert brought back the blueblood potion from the potions lab and handed it to Angus.

"You know how to use this," Robert said to Angus quietly. "Don't go to extremes. Just enough that would make you need to go to headquarters for help. Don't make Brant work ridiculously hard to find the mole and keep you safe."

"Your concern is overwhelming," Angus said sarcastically when Robert's concern was for Brant and not for what Angus was about to endure for the sake of the cause.

"It's an illusion," Robert rolled his eyes.

"Right," Angus replied, a trifle angry that Robert was dismissive of the pain that was undoubtedly coming.

"I'll do the cooking for the next two days, Mate," Michael volunteered.

"And the dishes?" Angus asked.

"Jack can do the dishes," Michael shrugged.

Jess walked back in from freshening up she sighed seeing Brian stood by the window walking over she placed her hand lightly on his shoulder drawing off some of the pain from him “ Here this should help and its by Roberts orders.” she said gently “You should be resting.” Her hand never moved as she checked him over. “She's still here, if that's what your wondering, Marcus is looking after her.” she wished he'd return to his bed but she moved a chair to behind him. “ at least sit down and take the drink..please .”

Brant looked between the two men then chuckled but at Roberts words stood arms crossed he shook his head at Roberts concern. “ I'll be fine thanks” He said then chuckled at hearing Jack would do the dishes. “ho, I wish I could see that” he said as Jack walked in.

“See what, me doing dishes?” He asked with a smirk “ Angus I'll gladly help out with those.” he told him smirking at the still gaping Brant “We all have to do our part.”

He heard someone talking, and when she drew off some of his pain, he saw it was Jess. He never questioned when she handed him a potion, and he took it, sitting by the window.

"I just needed to see outside," he told her quietly. "Didn't think I'd see it again." He heard her when she said Khaat was still here. Whether that turned out to be a good thing or not was still to be determined.

For him, he still had Gelding's words and Burke's actions in his head. He didn't want to talk about it, not now, not ever.

"I appreciate all the work you all have had to probably do to get me out," he said, "but I have to go back. I have to finish what I started. It's more complicated than you know."

Downstairs, Angus looked at the potion and tucked it in his pocket. Giving it another moment's thought, he looked at Robert.

"We get hazard pay when we get hurt on a mission. I presume I get hazard pay for this," Angus said to Robert.

"Your injury is an illusion," Robert said, "so I will be happy to give you an illusion of hazard pay." Angus rolled his eyes in irritation, as Michael couldn't help a small laugh.

"Oh, give it here," Michael said, holding his hand out to Angus to take the potion bottle from him.

"You would raise questions," Robert said. "He won't. Owens would think nothing of Angus being around, under the circumstances."

Jess sighed and shook her head at him saying he had to go back “ why they got the book, there down stairs now trying to find out who the leak is, so.. relax and recover.” she told him drawing off some more of the pain he felt and moved his energies to where it was needed so he could heal quicker. Moving to the night stand she pored some potion and mixed it with the water.

“Here, I was told to give you this, I know your still in pain so don't argue with me.” she scolded him gently. “They'll find the leak and fix it, you need rest and sleep.”  she hoped this would be enough to get him back into the bed to rest.

Brant chuckled at Roberts words watching the interaction between the two men then accioing his bag he slipped it over his shoulder once he'd checked everything was inside that he needed including the antidote Angus needed to get over the blueblood potion come the time

"Leak? I don't know what you're talking about," Brian said, more preoccupied with just being able to see the view from his window. What he'd experienced haunted him. He wasn't trying to be difficult with her, but getting to the chair he was in had been work enough. He wasn't ready to get up out of it and make the few steps back to bed. Short as the distance was, it had been monstrously hard to get here, and he needed to sit a moment before he tried to make the journey back.

"Give me a few minutes, Jess," he said, not questioning the second potion she'd given him within a couple of minutes. "I'm tired."

"You aren't up to speed on this matter, Lad," Remus's portrait told Brian. "Not all is as you're seeing it to be at the moment. What you do need to do is to apologize and make things right with your wife."

"Marital advice from bachelor artwork," Brian sighed.

"I wasn't always a bachelor," Remus said.

"You were when you were painted," Brian replied.

"Be that as it may, I haven't been unobservant. You've made a misstep. The last thing you need is for your wife and children to move out, and it is the very last thing you want. I know you. They're all you ever think about, every moment of your existence--its all about them." In irritation, Brian tried to fire a wandless spell at Remus's image but he missed. The portrait frowned. "Your aim isn't worth a damn," Remus laughed gently. "Save your strength--it looks like you need it."

"He's annoying," Brian said softly to Jess.

"Alright," Angus sighed, resolved to let it play out as the plan had developed. He figured, if the plan went as it had been laid out, he would not have had his pack with him, so he didn't take it now. He drew his wand and looked at Brant. "Give me a few moments to go and break my own leg," he sighed, apparating out.

(i'll pick it up with angus arriving at headquarters in the next post)

Jess was about to answer him when Robert walked in and spoke, with a nod she moved to remake the bed ready for when Brian was ready to sleep. As she worked she listened to them talking she looked up at the pair of them and smiled as Brian spoke to her and she chuckled at his words.

“With out question, but I have to say he is right.” She said not looking up as she finished making the bed.  Jess moved and opened the window slightly to let in a soft warm breeze and the sound of the people working around the house. Jess smiled at the sound of Jack's voice as he shouted an order in a rather gruff way to some one.

“I know one thing, I don't know where or what I'd do without Jack and our kids, they keep me grounded and give me a reason to keep living.” She glanced over at Brian. “ I feel like that for all my family.”
 
Brant watched then nodded as Angus told him to wait before leaving giving him several minuets head start before he would enter and would subtly give him the antidote there for giving them the time and reason for being at the Paris headquarters.

"Yeah," Brian didn't disagree with Jess. He had felt that way at one point too, but he knew it was not going to be something that a conversation would patch. He had done the one thing that she did not know how to fix. "I know it works for you and Jack," he said. "And I'm glad for that."

"I might just be artwork," Remus told Brian, "but it does make me observant, if nothing else. I see far more than you might think."

"You see too much," Brian bristled.

"Oh, please," Remus sighed. "I'm not talking about that. You think it's irreparable. I don't think it is necessarily as over as you think it is. Yes, she's hurt, and you know why. She feels like you betrayed her."

"I had no choice!" Brian said.

"I know it feels that way right now," Remus said. "Before you stay stuck permanently in gloom and doom, you might want to give thought that whether you live with Khaat or not, she's still the mother of your children. You will always be tied to her. You need to find out a way to be civil to her at least."

Robert decided to check on Brian and he entered the bedroom without knocking. He wasn't entirely surprised to see Brian awake and trying to be up. Brian looked at him, waiting for the accusations to begin.

"I blew it," Brian said, admitting his mission failure first.

"Not in the way you think," Robert said. "It turned out that nothing really was the way they wanted you to think it was. You were set up. Gelding's messing with you--he's infiltrated us, and he's doing it to not only destroy the organization, but also to destroy you."

"What do you mean 'infiltrated'?"

"Just what I said. We have some sort of a mole, and we're going to root him out. We'll get to the bottom of it..."

"That makes no sense," Brian said.

"You weren't supposed to make sense of it. All I need you to do is to put a time out on all this."

"How can you possibly ask me to do that..." Brian began, frustrated. Robert heard the voices outside, and he came over and looked out the window, using the opportunity to lay his hand on Brian's shoulder to cast a calming spell. "I know your tricks," Brian said.

"So you do," Robert acknowledged. "I've told Jess I want you to do nothing but take care of your physical needs for now. The rest of it will come. By the looks of it, you've already been up long enough. Come on. Back to bed for a bit. Enough of this for now." He didn't give Brian much choice and he helped him back to bed. As much as Brian did not want to sleep, his own fatigue took over and he slept almost instantly.

"He'll be alright," he told Jess quietly. "It's all a stretch for him because it looks entirely different to him than it does to us. Thomas Gelding worked hard to turn Brian's thoughts all around. It will take time to unravel. For now, let's just encourage peace and quiet. And I want him to get some food and fluids soon. I think Michael's going to make lunch soon, so hopefully that will help Brian pick up his energies a bit. Would you like me to relieve you a bit here, or are you doig alright with it?"

Jess was about to talk when the Remus did and she took a back step, leaving it to him to explain. She was more relived when Robert walked in and spoke to Brian again. She smiled as Robert spoke of what he'd told her to do for him. She listened as she re maid the bed with fresh sheets and covers leaving one side open so Brian could slip back into it. She was relived when he finally did and fell sound asleep.

“I'm...doing okay I think, I'll watch him for now, well Remus and I will, I'll get Jack to fetch something from the kitchen once Brian wakes again.” She said and smiled at the picture on the mantle hoping to reassure her self she was not out of her depth, after all she was a healer not a physiologist. “ I hope he didn't do too much damage in there, for Khaats and the kids sake.” she could not help but sigh “ Even I know the mind is a delicate thing to mess with.”