A Return

Khaat was delighted to hear Gar call her name. She had lost track of where he had been or what had happened to him. She came out of the kitchen, not sure what he would think now that she was 6 months pregnant. She came out and wrapped him in a warm hug. "Gar! Oh, my heavens, where have you been! I have missed you so much! So come in, sit down, and tell me. How are you? Catch me up on your life."

"I'm just glad you're home," she sighed, kissing his head. "You have no idea how much I have missed you. Truly. Are you hungry? Well, that's a dumb question. At you're age, you're always hungry. What can I get for you to eat? Its on the house. Whatever you want. I'll make sure you have it. And you know you're always welcome back home again. Always."

"Gar, you're like a son to me. You're family. I don't think you ever left my mind while you were gone. I am so anxious for you to see the house now. My magic went a little wonky while you were gone, and some of our furniture has come alive. For example, the living room ottoman thinks its a dog. We've started calling it Otto. It loves to go on walks and loves to run in the yard and play fetch. I think it will give you a good giggle. Its been lonely since I haven't been home much.

"And I'm anxious for you to see Abbey's nursery. It's pretty much done now, but I really do want to know what you think. I think the only one's that really live there at the moment are Elijah Krum, when he's not at Hogwarts, and his adopted 5 year old daughter, Fauve. She's a wonderful, brilliant child. You're going to love her, and she'll love all your tricks. I can't wait for you to meet her."

"I am so anxious for you to be a big brother for Abbey. She's going to need big brothers. I don't plan on having more any time soon. I think one at a time is enough for me. At least, I plan on a break between kids. And I want Abbey to be one of the happiest little girls in England.

"By the way, I want to put a workout room in the basement in a corner. I might expand the basement in order to accomodate it. After Abbey, its going to take some work to get back in shape. Are you interested in helping me design a home gym to get me back into shape after delivery? It seems Rob is very busy these days, and home construction is not my thing at the moment. But I bet you could design it and put together a really awesome spot for me. Maybe you'd even like working out with me at first to keep my father from worrying that I"m overdoing. You know he'll worry about that. "

She hugged him again and kissed him on the cheek. "Now I'll stop worrying knowing that you're alright. Welcome home. I'm going to get a piece of cheesecake. Its one of my cravings. That and pistachio ice cream. You want some cheesecake with me?"

She brought a couple of slices of cheesecake over with a pair of forks. "Rob really does make the best cheesecake," she said. "I think I"m going to be taking over Sparks again, though, because Rob is far too good a wizard to be happy with muggle cooking for the rest of his life. I think I'll hire a couple of 5 star chefs so I can go back to St. Mungos. I don't know that I can do both. And right now, I'm not sure that I can do chef work as far along in my pregnancy as I am.

"I think climbing sounds great. I used to do a lot of it when I was a child. I just havne't done it for a very long time. It is incredibly good exercise. It sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. Try that cheesecake. It's probably one of my favorites."