Escape to Brian Quinn's

Steven smiled as he apologised "its ok , and I guess not" he said to him as he walked with him to the kitchen "yeap he did but he told me they would be weak for a while , two broken" he said watching him pour the tea "among other things " he said softly feeling a slight tenderness on one cheek where robert removed the tattoo "Its me who should apologys, i acted like a jerk " he loked at brain and waited "last night kinda gave me a wake up call , one i will never forget in a hurry" he said rubing the tender spot "it made me think about where thngs were going and , to be honist I hated it " he said "so, Im sorry, sir. " he said and held out his hand to brian

"Apology accepted," Brian smiled, shaking his hand, "And, please--don't call me sir. It makes me want to look behind me for Robert." He laughed. "I really am sorry I hurt you. But I am glad that you are getting your thinking straightened you. When you let your emotions get the better of you, it could become life threatening for you or whoever you were trying to help, or whoevver you were working with. I knew you were a better ranger than that and that you were also a better auror than that. I just had to, more or less, get your thinking back on the right track. Still friends?"

steven chuckled "you don't know the half of it " he said smirking "and yes still freinds " he said looking at the tea cups "need a hand?" he asked smiling as he retched for the kettle and pored out the teas. " do you think I could see her once Kate has ?" he asked "if you think its too much I'll wait till tomorrow " he said now feeling some what relaxed but he could not help wonder about the wolf back at hi farm and how she was doing. He looked up at Brian "so whens the next mission?" he asked cashually

"For you? Not for awhile. I need you right here for now. I'll let the others do the organization's missions for a bit. Khaat did mention today that she really wants to try to go to Gabrielle Delacour's birthday party, if even for a few minutes, at the Blue Moon. She really wants us to not be seen. Her plan is, for now, until we know Jen and Rob have been arrested, to not be seen with bodyguards. Robert will never stand for us not going, but--we can compromise and go and not be as obvious.

"I presume you know she's had a student, Elijah Krum, living in her house. Him and his adopted 5 year old daughter. Elijah is, from what Khaat tells me, a very accomplished musician and artist. Khaat is paying for Eli to play music at the Blue Moon at the party for Gabrielle and to sing, and then she's also purchased one of Eli's paintings for Gabrielle. Her plan, right now, is for Elijah to actually function as her escort--to distract attention away from us as her guards. It really is not an all bad plan, so long as we're close enough to help her if she needs it. However, she won't be able to get up. She'll be in a chair the whole time she's there, and she's alright with that. So--I will need you and probably Jack on that evening, both. This will be her first outing in public after being all over the newspaper headlines."

Steven felt annoyed at first till he explained and then he sighed "ok , so when is this party?" he asked helping with the tea . placing the cups on a tray he picked it up "shall we take this up to Khaat of leave it down in the living room?" he asked trying to think about what he'd been asked to do and not teh fact he once had a tattoo on his butt that morning as he knew brian would pick up on it . As he picked up th tray he put it back down forcing back some pain that stil lingered as a reminder "sorry Robert said it would take a few days to heal fully "

"Well, since Katherine has not come down, I presume that Khaat is awake. Let's take it upstairs. You know, you could just lfoat that tray upstairs and not have to actually carry it. I'm thinking the party is coming up in the next day or so. I am not sure I want to even breathe that to Robert. He'll choke me for even thinking of letting her go, but she is an adult, and I can't make her choices for her. That's not our jobs--any of us. All we can do is suggest to her, which I have, what we think is or is not a good idea. I cannot take away her right to be an adult and to live her own life. Rob did enough damage where that is concerned. I want her to not make her choices based on what anybody else wants for her, but rather based on what she wants for herself--for the first time in a very long time. Does that sound weird?"

He left the kitchen, to head upstairs and saw Katherine's gift bags floating up the stairs ahead of them. "Well, I take it she's awake," he laughed. "Gift giving time, evidently."

steven nodded " yeah could do " he followed Brain up the stairs and made his bags follow too at his side as they moved , the closer he got teh more he felt his stomach go topsy tervy as he walked taking the handel of the bag he took a deep breath he had not seen her awake yet only sleep. he brushed down his shirt and trousers to lok clean as he felt. and wited for brain to enter the room .

Brian heard the sound of Kate and Khaat laughing a little. He hadn't heard her laugh since before Abbey was born. It was a good thing to hear. It meant she was healing. He entered and saw that Katherine had helped Khaat prop herself up on some pillows and that Abbey was getting a trifle frustrated from feeling a bit tangled up in her onesie that was just a trifle too big. Katherine was helping her untangle herself, and Abbey was starting to have a bit of a short fuse with it.

"Tea, Ladies," he said, watching Katherine's gift bags settle on the bed. "And another visitor, Khaat."

When Khaat saw Steven come in, she smiled, "I'm glad you came. Good to see you. " Katherine took two of the mugs and set one on the nightstand beside Khaat. "Ah, Daddy's ginger peach tea," Khaat smiled, "One of his better blends, and I like them all. Come in, Steven. Make yourself comfortable."

He moved into teh room and placed his bag nest to her on the bed "just somthing to say get well " he said "and concratulations , shes adorable" he said with a small smile he saw a seat in the back of the room and sat down , not wanting to be in the way of every one as they saw to Khaat , no he jkust watched , he could see threw the window the last rays of light disapring behind the trees and was glad to be inside.

'Thank you, Steven," Khaat smiled. Just at that moment, Abbey let out a little angry cry and then promptly spit up on Katherine's shoulder. Katherine didn't lose a beat. She just got up and walked over across the hall to the nursery to clean up Abbey and herself, telling Khaat to open her packages. It made Brian laugh.

Khaat chose Steven's package first. She was delighted with the silver picture frame and the assortment of baby things. Each item in the assortment of baby items would be well used and very well chosen. "Thank you," she said, deeply touched. "Abbey and I will use all of these things. Thank you so very much. I think I'll put her newborn picture in the frame when Daddy gets it to me. It'll be perfect."