Rain

Michael had been inside for at least 4 days now. It had been raining relentlessly. 4 solid days of storms and fierce winds and rain. He had gotten an owl from Robert that if Khaat showed up, he wanted to know. The message said nothing more. Michael wondered if he needed to go look for her, but Robert's reply message had said no. That Khaat could fend for herself.

It was a rainy afternoon that was so dark that it looked like night. He had put a fire on in the fireplace and he was devoting himself to a book over tea, with a pipe, when there was a rather urgent sounding knock on the door. He rose and found that one of Khaat's friends had found her. She was soaked to the skin, shivering, dirty, and the friend was seeking a warm place for her. She had refused to go home or to her father.

He took her in at once and had wrapped her in a blanket and put her in front of the fire to get warm. She looked more humiliated than he had ever seen her. He had noticed her right wrist was twice its normal sized and coal black bruising ran from her fingers up, twisted around her forearm to the back of her forearm and ran almost to the inside of her elbow. He had dismissed the friend, promising to take care of her.

He poured her tea and put the cup between her hands. She could barely open her fingers in her right had at all. He picked up her wand from where she'd laid it beside her chair. It was broken. Almost split in half, lengthwise, clear down to the core, from length to tip. No wonder she had been missing. She could not get home. She'd been out in the rain all these days. He wanted to kick himself for following Robert's cavalier dismissal of the fact she had not shown up. It wasn't two moments of her being by his warm fire that she fell into an exhausted sleep. He had never seen her looking so piitiful, and his anger towards his long time friend grew immensely.

He looked out the window and saw that clearly Brian had not believed Robert. Brian still had his men searching. He saw Jack still combing Hogsmeade. And perhaps it had not been the first. Jack was looking behind Honeydukes. Brian went to the door and whistled to Jack and motioned to him.

Jack had been searching al day for Khaat rain ran down his head and down his back but she would not give up on his search when he heard a whistle turning he saw michael stood at his door , brushing the water from his face he walked over to him and looked up " Mister Tramaine , you wanted my attenshion " he said softly his jacket pulled tight around him as he stood in the rain facing him. Behind him he saw Khaat and the disheveled state she was in but looked at Michael waiting for him to say how she had ended up at his. He gave a sigh as he felt the rain dripping down inside his jacket knowing a hot shower was his next call once khaat was safly back home.

"I believe I have what you're looking for," MIchael said, motioning for Jack to come in. When Jack came in, he closed the door behind them. "One of her friends dropped her off here not five minutes ago," MIchael said. "She's a mess. They didn't mention where the found her. I did, however, discover why she's been gone so long." He picked up Khaat's wand and handed it to Jack. "This is why she couldn't get home. She's tired, wet, cold, and no doubt hungry. She went to sleep almost instantly. I hope to feed her and find out where she's been. The only thing she was definite about was that she was not going home. And why, I do not know. I told her I'd fix her some food. I'll wake her up then and we can try to get her to tell us what the deuce happened. Then, at some point, I'm going to have to have a word with my best friend." His words about Robert had a bitter tone to them. He was not going to allow anyone, not even Robert, mistreat Khaat.

"In the meantime, do you want some tea? You're welcome to come out to the kitchen with me if you like," Michael said.

Jack moved inside eyeing Khaat asleep on his couch he was glad she was some place safe and nodded " she is a mess I know somebody going out of his mind with worry , I'd better send a message that shes ok and I'll bring her back once she is better" he said sending an owl back to Brian to let him know. Jack heard Michael ask him if he wanted a cup of tea " sure I need to warm up that water ran down my back and chilled me" he said following him into the kitchen and sat on a stool " so did you get anything from the freind who dropped her off here?" he asked as she tok of his coat placing it on a coat hook he saw to keep things tidy.

"Khaat left some of Rob's clothes that he never came to get. They're up in her old room just where she left them. I took the bigger bedroom for myself. You're welcome to go up and get them and shower and change. I presume you know your way around the cottage. I'll get you some tea. The only thing I know for certain is that they found her out at Remus's grave. I'd have thought you lot would have figured that place out as a possibility. She wanted to come here. But I also found this. Look here."

He led Jack to Khaat's chair by the fire and drew back the blanket. "Look at this," MIchael said, showing Jack Khaat's right wrist. The joint was swollen twice its normal size. Her skin was severely bruised from the backs of her fingers, up her hand, and then the bruise twisted, went around her wrist and up the back of her forearm almost to the inside of her elbow.

"This injury is trademark for Robert. Its a disarming move he uses. I don't know if you've seen him use it. Its a hard, rapid twisting motion, designed to either break the wrist or tear tendons and ligaments. It will at some point need treated. He'll have to get his head out of his ass and treat it for her. I don't know if its broken or not. Either way, it will need to be put in a cast. I've just seen this too many times. This is his work. They must have had some sort of falling out to cause this and to cause her to not want to go back. But for him to use it on his own daughter? I will speak to him about that." He went to wrap the blanket back around her and his eye caught something else He knelt and saw a start of another bruise. He knelt and opened the blanket from around her legs. She shivered in her sleep. He found bruising on the back of the calves of her legs. He stood up and dared to look down the back of her dress. Her back was bruised. Then he took another risk. He found a way to look down the front of her dress. There was a clear burn mark from a wand.

"She's been blasted with a wand. Into something hard. A wall maybe. If he did that to a pregnant woman, I'll beat the shit out of him," MIchael said, angry, wrapping the blanket back around her. "She's bruised everywhere." He took a moment to stand, take a deep breath to reel in his temper. "I should cook. Thats what I need to do. She needs to eat." He went into the kitchen and poured Jack a mug of tea. Then he began to put together one of her favorite meals. It wouldn't take long, but he needed to get his hands busy,

Jack listened and nodded " I will once i know Khats going to be ok" he siad and gave a soft sneeze as he moved with michael to the living room sitting near the fire as he watche michael he too saw the bruise on Khaats arm and frowned when he saw the other bruises he growled " Im sure he had his reasons but yeah they better be good ones to do that " he said and sipped his tea till he was warmed . standing he quickly moved to the room and changed into some dry clothes bringing his own down to be dried and moved to sit back in the chair .

Michael put together a quick comfort food meal for her. A beef stir fry with fresh vegetables and noodles. It would be healthy and fill the aching hole that he knew had to be in her stomach. "Help yourself, Jack. She may eat better if she's not eating alone." He planned on having some as well. He paused a moment, thinking, and then filled two more bowls. One for himself and one for Jack. He put forks in the bowls, deciding she'd be doing well if she could cope with a fork, let alone chopsticks. He motioned the bowls to follow him. He went back in, motioned for Otto, who came on the run.

He sat on the ottoman and let the bowls hang in mid air while he gently woke her. She had already slipped into a deep sleep, and it wasn't easy bringing her back from that deep of a sleep. She woke slowly. "Easy, Child," Michael soothed, brushing her wet hair from her face. "You're alright. You've gone too long without food. You have to eat. You can go back to sleep when you finish. I know you're tired. Here. Sit up." She obeyed, and he plucked a bowl out of the air. "Here. Try that."

"Thank you, Michael," she managed very softly. Then she realized Jack was there. "Jack. I was beginning to think I'd never see any of you again unless I could walk far enough," she said. "I didn't mean to do this. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Khaat," MIchael said. "Don't cover for him."

"Him? Him who?" Khaat asked.

"Your father. I saw some of the bruises. I know who makes those. They're as trademark as a signature, at least to me. Those are his handiwork." He saw Khaat look up at both of them.

"It was my own fault," she said softly, poking her fork around in the bowl. "Don't blame him for that."

"Don't play with it," Michael reprimanded, pulling his own bowl out of the air. "Eat it."

Jack nodded and took abowl " thanks I forgot I hadn't eaten since this morning " he said andtook some " this is good " he smiled seeing Khaat now wake and he smiled " hey you would I was looking all day Brians worried himself sick over you " he said softly " and it wasn't your fault from what michael's said something happened between you and Robert " he said and took another bite of the food feeling warmer with each bite he felt better and hoped Khaat did too as he sat watching her. " I did owl Brian but i added i will not force you back if you don't want to go I won't force any one to anything they don't want to do " he said sighing as he finished his bowl " that was real good Michael" he stood up and moved to teh kitchen again placing his bowl in the sink.

"Thank you, Jack," she said, glad he wasn't going to force her to go back.

"Did you have any problems with Brian?" Michael asked her.

"No. None."

"So, why are you not going home to your children and the man who loves you so very much? Can I ask, my dear?"

She was silent a long moment before speaking, she lowered her head, not looking at him, and the tears began again for her. "Talk to me," Michael finally coached her very softly.

"Do..do you have parchment and a quill?" she asked.

"Of course," he said. "In the study right where you left them. The house has changed very little." She got up and found Michael had removed her shoes. The bruises were more apparent now. She didn't bother to ask Michael where her heels had gone. She went into the study and sat and wrote a rather short note. She sent an owl.

She returned quietly. Michael wrapped her tightly in his arms and she hid her head in his chest. "What did you do?" he asked.

"I resigned. I walked away from it all."

"He wont' accept it, you know. He'll most likely burn it the instant he reads it," Michael said. "I'll talk to him for now. You don't have to. Not yet. I want him to eventually treat that arm. It needs a cast. You know that."

"I...don't think its broken," she said.

"Doesn't matter. It needs a cast either way. You know that."

"Can't be cast til the swelling goes down," she said. "No point in anyone bothering with it yet."

"You're a lousy liar, Khaat Lupin. Always have been. Now, what were the tears for? Besides feeling like he's done with you."

"No, its not him. Its me. I'm done with it. I'm done with all of it. I failed. I"m done."

"Just like that. You're giving up?" he asked.

"Yep."

"You'd better sit back down until your brain starts firing on a couple more cylinders," he sighed, lowering her back into her chair.

Jack sat quiet and listened and sighed when she said she had given up " geez Khaat, never known you to give up so fast " he said sarcasticly and sat back hoping he could relight that fire that he knew was still inside her " I guess jess was right , when things get tough you give up " he looked at her as he stood up to face her " did jess give up when she was taken and tortured , no she kept going , did cassidy give up when her freind was taken ...no she went after them making her stronger , did steven give up when his first marrage broke down, no, he found delilah and now look at them, hapily married with twins and two adopted sons" he said his face now in a frown as he moved closer " Guess your just a quiter khaat" he moved to Michael his head close to his " I hated to say all that but I don't like her this way shes a lot stronger than what i see, I know it is still in side her" he looked at her again.