"What's wrong with England? Or Italy for that matter, unless you prefer being away from your family." They were a bit full on after all, especially as someone who wasn't used to TOTAL FAMILIAL IMMERSION. Those Moretti's knew EVERYTHING, and when they didn't know, they SUSPECTED. It hadn't been easy facing all those brothers of hers the first time. Not when he knew that they knew that he did unmentionable but highly enjoyable things to their sister.

"Alright. I suppose...." But. Sigh. "Roscoe should be there too, or I won't hear the end of it." His mother. Yeah.

"But your cooking will impress." Even if he wasn't particularly excellent at playing the role of dutiful son.

Van's wand was out in an instant, his fork dropped on the table, arm still around Lily...

...

... but then, only people he trusted had access to this floo and it wasn't long before he recognized Tanner.

"Jax."

He relaxed and stood up, lifting Lilyan gently to her feet as he did so.

"Wait. Don't move." He instructed Jax quietly.

The dark detectors and curse sensors in the room were buzzing and scanning with a vengeance but they soon settled. Safety first of course.

"Rough ride." He observed, nodding to the floo and then moving over to the Auror's side, not touching him, but there. Supportive. And waiting.

"Report."

"No one can really ever be away from my family." Lily pointed out. Her family was everywhere, and yes, they knew everything. "Maybe a vacation spot." She DID enjoy her vacations!

Lily was about to wonder aloud what his parents would LIKE for dinner, when a random man appeared out of the fireplace.

Errrrr..... had he just escaped from Mungo's?

Silently, and perhaps a little sulky, she cleared away the mess from Van's desk and packed it away neatly, before she glanced at the two men. "Um, should I leave.........?" She didn't, though. She just sat in Van's chair and looked confused.

Still coughing, Jaxton waited to move off of his knees; a position he had crouched into when Van had told him to stay still until the alarms had stopped. Sighing softly - and somewhat happily at the fact he wasn't cursed in some unknown way - he fully stood, stretching his back and shoulders which cracked horribly. He winced painfully - broken ribs then, bloody Mailman... - and looked at his boss as he let out a slow breath, breathing through the initial pain.

"One of the worst yet." He agreed, saying nothing as he didn't dare to look at himself. He knew he must have looked a sight - but the man in front of him had wanted to know straight away. "I shouldn't have come straight here..." He said, his eyes moving to the woman. "But you wanted to know..." He looked back to Evander. "It's important." He looked confused, and slightly out of it as he argued with himself over his right to be in the office at that very moment.

"Uh. Right." He said, nodding his head nervously as Evander broke through his thoughts and told him to report back. Once again though, his eyes darted to the third person in the room. "Can she be trusted?" He asked, not meaning to be rude - but his perception of good and who was to be trusted... well it wasn’t to be trusted right now. After the man nodded and told him to go on, he took a few seconds to gather his thoughts then tried to tell him what he could.

“Upon reaching the base, I settled in and toured the surrounding districts; searching for apparition points, floo points and other major destinations that could attract major attention at any particular point. I noted major shops, attractions and which streets were busy at what parts of what days. Turns out the Avenue isn’t as busy as its suggested. The Boulevard turned out to be hushed and no PD recorded. RCI’s were hard to come by, keeping all information on the QT – however a few sources were eventually found.

“Upon finding a few Saint’s, formats were slow to come by but at least I had an in. It took time to get them to trust, more so than normal I think. However, upon finding X-Ray’s it seemed to go smoother. After digging, and formats, LKA Money Box. EAT in Avenue – non-committal. Tracked for a month, routine also non-committal. ATL in Money Box; negative. Tracked through various other props and tvs, normally lost him. Until yesterday. LKA, The Empty Lion.”

Pausing, Jax turned slightly letting out a hiss of pain as he shifted his weight over a busted knee and twisted through cracked (broken?) ribs. “QOA. Surveillance: code 8. Suspect unique. NAT for entrance at 21:00.” He paused once again, a bruised hand raising to rub at his ash covered neck. “Ping-Pong. Mailman lost. Hot Saint packed safe.”

Nipping his bottom lip, Jaxton’s hand once again graced his neck as his eyes blinked. He couldn’t remember being this much in a public place for over eighteen months. So long. So, so long. “Then I came here.”

"Wait a bit, if you would, Lil. Might need you." Van answered, but his attention was now fixed on Jax.

"You did right to come here." Van cut that line of thinking off, his eyes taking inventory of the Auror. He suspected broken ribs, but who knew what other bumps and bruises Jax was sporting?

"I trust her." So. That was an answer to that.

Van listened intently, letting out a quiet grunt of acknowledgement here and there, but otherwise staying silent, and mentally joining a few dots between Jaxton's mission and a few others.

"Empty Lion." He repeated quietly, more to himself, sounding surprised, and like a few things had gone click. "Interesting." At that last bit he grinned.

"I knew I could count on you, Tanner. Look, My fiancée here, she's a healer." He looked the man over. "I'm guessing the idea of flooing to St Mungo's and claiming your bed there doesn't approve right about now, so listen, if she doesn't mind, maybe you'll let her check you over, and then you can head back to my place for some shut eye." Van... didn't really stay at his apartment anymore. His bachelor pad, really. No he spent more and more time at Lily's place. It was about as secure as any place was likely to get, and best of all he had a few portkey's already tuned that way, if Jax preferrred that to flooing. "Then when you get yourself cleaned up and get a few hours shut eye, you can report back here and get the hard copy out."

He turned to Lily and held his hand out. "Lily? Would you mind?" He asked her softly, trust in his eyes.

The Healer's eyes had already been at work, spotting things. The ribs were most obvious. There was also way he favored one knee, and that awful cracking noise. She hadn't healed a broken bone since she left Hogwarts. It brought back memories, at the very least.

"Problematic." She spoke, standing from the chair and glancing over the desk at the wounded man, "I have no potions with me, I'm not quite sure you've suffered a broken rib wound before, but it's an awfully painful fix without something to numb the pain." Of course she didn't mind helping the man. Why should she let anyone remain in such awful pain?

"Do you happen to have a direct floo home?" Lily raised an eyebrow. COME TO THINK OF IT....

did he?

Hehe.

Right... not the time. Right.

Jaxton nodded his head. "That's what I thought. Unexpected - yet not surprising." He said, a soft shrug of his shoulder produced yet another wince from the man. He'd given up trying to figure out each of the different parts of him that hurt. He hurt all over, but that wasn't his priority right now.

"Fiancee?" He face contorted slightly, as if it hurt him to think of something that wasn't related to anagrams or acronyms. He gulped and looked at the pair, fingers kneeding into his neck. "Congratulations." He said, looking down to the floor before looking upwards at Van.

"No... No hospital!" He said, shaking his head. After so long under cover the idea of being in a hospital scared the American man more than it should have - but who could blame him, really? His neck twitched slightly, and he looked back to the floor, fighting the reflex to run. No, he could trust Van. He'd been there for him the last eighteen months... He could trust him. Stay here. Trust, yes.

"Can't go yet." He said, shaking his head slightly before he stopped due to the pain. "Need to talk to Ali. Been gone too long. Need to say sorry." He said, nodding softly. Eighteen months with no word... She probably wouldn't even look at him now.


"I have..." He said. "Didn't have potions in the attack, so had it repaired without potions..." His eyes darted around the room. "If its too much trouble, I'll bear the pain." He said softly. Then he'd find Ali. Then he'd have a shower. Then he'd collapse and sleep for a year...

"Of course." Van assured her. His floo went to all the important places. Mmmhmm.

"Trust me mate, talking to her while you're a mess won't make it any easier." Neither did NOT talking, and not seeing someone for almost a decade and then hiring them and watching them date that tosser Recard. That was a learned lesson.

"Clean yourself up, sleep, come back. You can talk to her then. Say sorry... if you must." He understood. Van gave the auror a hard look. "That's an order. I need you rested and we've just hired a new load of employees. Its busy out there, and I can't have you stomping around, looking like you've broken out of the holding rooms, muttering insanities under your breath." He added gruffly, hiding his sympathy.

"A few more hours won't hurt you."

He turned to Lily, expression apologetic. "Could you take him back to mine, fix him up?"

Lily tsked. Men. Always thinking they could take more pain then they should. She stepped around the desk and shook her head, "I'll meet you there." She spoke to the man and Van both, though it was obvious who she was meeting, "It will only take me a minute to stop home and get my bag."

Cause she had a bag. A Healer bag. Hot. Yep.

And that was THAT. She'd decided. "Healer's orders." She added to BOTH of them. Obviously Van was in charge around here, but she was mostly in charge of him, so she got to decide. Hehe. She looked at the man again, "I want you to sit on the couch until I get there." AKA, don't be heroic and do something... Gryffindorish.

She knew the urge well, but it must be fought more often than not.

Then, to Van, she stepped close and got a kiss. Hehe. "I'll talk to you later." THAT was a promise. "Love you." HEHEHE. With that, she went to the fireplace, already knowing where Van stashed the floo powder. She waved goodbye before she left.

Jax wanted to argue, he truly did - and before he'd gone "MIA", he would have. Now however, he didn't have it in him. Especially not today. "Come back later?" Jax said softly, then he sighed nodding a little. "Just a few hours." He said, wondering if he'd be able to sleep at all. It hadn't been coming to him easily lately, an hour or two at most a night. He had too much to do - too much to sort out. Mentally and physically. Sigh.

"New Employees? When is their induction?" He asked, figuring he should go to - it would give him a chance to catch up with what was happening in the Ministry... it had been a long time since he had truly been here. Well, he would go if Van didn't mind of course.

"Yes, Ma'am." Jax said softly, nodding his head in her direction as she moved to the fireplace, and then disappeared. "I'll get fixed up, have a shower and then grab a few hours of sleep, it that is okay with you?" He asked his boss slowly. He would rather have gone home, but he knew that Van's house would be as protected as his own - if not more so considering how long he had been away. He moved in the direction of the fireplace, but didn't reach for floo powder yet. He hadn't been dismissed.

He knew he could count on Lil. She was a bleeding heart, unable to handle seeing anyone who was injured without trying to help them if she could. It was more endearing than annoying, luckily.

"And you." He answered quietly. Loved her, that is.

He watched her go then looked at Jaxton.


The man got a quiet but firm nod. Later, yes. Van wasn't going to let him out of the office by any other means. He understood what it was like, all of it, and a moment to recollect would help the man immensely.

"Tomorrow." He answered succinctly, waiting for Jax to figure out that he was going to do exactly as Evander had instructed.

Ah there it was. "Yes. That's precisely what you'll do." He preferred it when people thought things were their own ideas.

"You're dismissed. See that you're well-rested tomorrow. I imagine it will be a big day."

Jax nodded his head. "Where am I going?" He asked, motioning to the fire place. He needed to know Van's address so that he could actually go and get his ribs sorted... and everything else. Damn, he hurt. And he needed a shower and a shave. Food would be preferable too... but after some sleep. He sighed, suddenly really tired.

"Oh, Van? What do you want me to do with the Mailman?" He asked softly, looking over his shoulder at the man. He wouldn't ask again, and if Van wanted to talk about it tomorrow - then that would be fine too. He just needed to put the question out there.

"Its passworded, not addressed." He answered and then told him the password. "And make yourself at home you hear me? Help yourself to my clothes, and food and the like." They were pretty much of a size. Most people wouldn't be able to fit Van's clothing, but Jax could.

"Nothing right now. If he's secure, he can wait. We'll keep him alive, but that's about it."

Jax nodded his head. "Trust me, Sir... I wouldn't have left him if I didn't think he was secure." His life (and his injuries), weren't worth his weight in gold... especially not if the man got free. No, he wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon. He nodded his head and held out a single hand to shake Van's with. "Thank you." 'For everything', went unsaid, but it was an unspoken agreement between the men. "I will see you tomorrow, Sir." He smiled at him once more before throwing a hand of power onto the fire and stepping into as he said the password.

Travelling through floo with broken ribs...? Wouldn't recommend it.

----ooc: Everything from this point is current to the wwrpg timeline, after the coup and after van got married----

Caedwyn Howard fussed at her jacket briefly outside Mr. Bole's office door before she finally knocked. There was no accounting for the slight wrinkling on the cuff from where she'd been sitting on the sleeve while she worked through documents that morning, and she wasn't sure her hair was holding up to the summer heat.

Nothing like meeting with the boss and feeling an utter mess. She knocked anyway.

Van got up and limped to the door, leaning on his cane. He opened it and smiled at Cade.

"Come in, take a seat."

He held the door for her.

"Mr. Bole, sir, I could have opened the door myself," Cade scolded him lightly, although she stared a bit longer than necessary at the cane-and-limp. Mostly just thinking about how to make it easier for him to get around, although there was a little regret on his behalf. Evander Bole was a force of nature and shouldn't be confined by the limits of his own body.

But she wrested her eyes back to his form before he had a chance to turn and catch her, and Cade sat. Cade was obedient above all things.

"You wanted to see me."

"And I could have used my wand." Van pointed out equably. But he was doing his best to keep moving as much as possible, even in the smallest ways. There was little hope that he'd ever be completely able again, but Evander wasn't one to give up.

He limped back to his own seat and relaxed into the chair before he answered.

"I did, yes. You might be interested to know that Ryan Chambers is leaving the British Ministry."

"I'm just saying you should be willing to use your employees. I don't think any of us would be unwilling to shoulder a little responsibility as you recuperate." And if they were unwilling, she'd box their ears. Naught little employees.

The news about Ryan leaving did interest Cade, and she sought something politic to say. The man had unnerved her from the first day, and she certainly didn't mind seeing him go, as it would make the working environment more comfortable. But it never boded well for an employee to speak negatively of a superior. "I wish him well in his new endeavors."

He gave her a serious look. "I used you all quite ruthlessly in order to restore the ministry." And that was enough. The fact that they had followed him into the proverbial fire in the first place meant a lot to him. Especially since he wasn't the only one who hadn't come out unscathed on the other side. They were all at least a bit singed around the edges. And he knew that they still follow him into the flames if that's where he led them.

... it was a good thing he wasn't power hungry.

He grinned at Cade. "Oh yes. We all wish him well. The man has twins on the way and he's decided to, what was it, retire and use his 'experience' as a law man, find work as a private investigator, so that he can choose work as he pleases." What Van didn't mention was that he and Ryan had had a few words about the other man's attitude toward the woman in their department. In other departments too but specifically MLE, which of course was Van's focus. Ryan had chosen to leave of his own accord however. The timing had been good.

"It isn't really using people if they go willingly and fully knowing the stakes, is it?" Cade had been one of the last to join his fight, as Van well knew, although her hesitation had never been for moral reasons. Having a family reset one's priorities.

The little smirk on Van's face indicated he knew full well that Cade had objected to Mr. Chambers, and probably knew why. Her shoulders untightened, and she offered a little smile of her own. "That's a complicated business. Some get into it believing there is more glory and more money, but that's hardly the case for at least the first four or five years." And some got into it to circumvent the law. Merlin knew that's why her husband's partner had been in it.

"It feels like it is." Van answered. Sure he laid most of it on the table -not all of it, mind, he couldn't lay it all out because of Gevrik and his mind-reading - but it still felt as if he used his employees as pawns to some degree. Perhaps that was the job, but Evander had always tried to know his employees as people and not as numbers. He absently turned the ring on his finger as he regarded the woman sitting in front of him.

"Most of the DMLE are due for pay reviews now." She was no exception. Van summoned her file and opened it in front of him. "You've been upskilling quite steadily, even outside of your assistance with eradicating the cult in the Ministry."

"I have," Cade agreed. She felt some relief. Job performance review and pay raise? Merlin, she was worried he'd been calling her in to fire her. Nothing like an intimidating boss man to make you sweat all morning.

"I feel it's important to stay vital, especially because so many of my job responsibilities overlap into other areas of expertise. If I get complacent..." Well, her daughter wasn't going to be an orphan so long as Cade could help it.

"I don't accept complacence." Evander said by way of agreement. "But likewise I believe in hard work rewarded." So that's why she was here. "You have a few options actually. The first would be a pay increase to the next tier. That'd be a ten percent increase from the baseline." He paused, "And the second, which I'd most like to see, depends on how much extra responsibility you'd be willing to take on. As I said, Ryan Chambers is leaving, and this leaves IUMO without a chief. I would like you to consider that position."

If Caedwyn was surprised by the offer, she only betrayed it with the briefest fluttering of her eyelashes. Inside, however, she was in turmoil. Extra responsibility, extra work, longer hours, managing people... up against the extra money and opportunity to be a part of the new world she was sure Van was helping to create at the Ministry.

When she stacked them against each other, the decision nearly made itself. "I would be selfish if I expected things to get better without rolling up my sleeves and doing my bit, and I wouldn't be able to look my daughter in the eye if I asked others to step into the gap I refused to fill. I have to at least seriously consider the offer, don't I?" Her lip finally quirked into a half smile. More than seriously considering it, actually.