Chapter 83

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or NCIS or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOTgive permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

"What I don't understand is, why you still have a nanny? You're on leave for up to a whole year, Hadrian, and Heather's been staying with you to help for the last few months. It just seems unnecessary," Jillie said. Heather had complained to her that Barbara had accompanied her every time she'd taken the children out anywhere as well as on the few occasions that Hadrian and Tim had both been out of the house, and it just didn't make sense to Jillie. Both young men were warm and friendly with Heather, there was no sign that they mistrusted her in any way.

Heather pricked up her ears, she'd wondered about this too and was a little insulted that both the boys seemed to trust the nanny far more than they trusted her with the children, but she hadn't felt comfortable questioning them about it. She didn't want Tim to think she was criticizing his parenting or his husband. Tim and Hadrian both talked about wanting to be hands on fathers and they did both spend a lot of time with the children both playing and doing the work of caring for a child and Heather thought yet they still had hired help whether they needed it or not.

"You're right, it isn't actually necessary to have an extra babysitter at the moment, but there are several other reasons we kept her on. The first is that the children love Barbara, she's part of our family and she provides emotional as well as physical security for them. Tim and I are both occasionally away with work for extended periods and as much as I wish things were different, it's Barbara that has been the true constant presence in their lives for the last few years. To have her suddenly disappear would hurt them. And if they associated her disappearance with Daisy's birth and my maternity leave they could come to resent their sister. Secondly you have no idea of how difficult and stressful it was to find a nanny that has all the skills, temperament and qualifications we wanted and at the same time the security clearance we needed, not to mention one who was willing to deal with our nontraditional family and unpredictable hours on top of that. Thirdly, while I am on maternity leave from my regular job I have no doubt if a real crisis occurred in my area of expertise I will be pulled in at very short notice to help deal with it, and I don't want to have to mess around looking for someone to look after the kids while people are dying whose deaths I might have helped to prevent if I could only have got there sooner," Hadrian explained.

"Barbara has cut her hours back to our previously agreed minimum, and the cost isn't too exorbitant for the peace of mind of knowing the children are so well looked after, by someone they like," Tim added. "It's been great having Mom stay with us and spend time with the children but she can't stay forever and when she goes back to look after the Admiral and Hadrian goes back to work we are going to need Barbara."

"I understand," Heather said nodding. Barbara had done her best to be unobtrusive when Heather was with the children, going as far as busying herself with the cleaning and tidying while the children played with their grandmother in the house.

"What is your area of expertise?" Sam asked curiously.

"British domestic terrorism, particularly a relatively small but powerful terrorist group that started in England in the late 1960's, that keeps a much quieter profile than most. They're privately funded and their backers are wealthy enough not to need the publicity to drum up support. While in their heyday they did take credit for most of their actions they don't always these days. They're a mostly underground group far more secretive than the IRA and every time we've cut of the head and think we've finished them, they start to pop up somewhere else. The one positive thing is that unlike a lot of the European terrorist groups they have absolutely no interest in working with the middle east," Hadrian said.

"That's tough, is there a secret leader hidden in the background running things?" Sam asked a little too enthusiastically.

"No, we know for sure who the original leader was and I killed him personally. There is no possible doubt that he is dead, and he was too much of a megalomaniac to take orders from anyone else. Most of the followers he had with him at the time were either killed in the battle or imprisoned and extensively interrogated, and the group fell apart the way we would expect it to do without a clear line of command. The problem is that we never found a comprehensive list of all his followers and several of them have gathered together to try to resurrect their cause," Hadrian said bluntly.

"How dangerous are these men?" Heather asked. "Are my family safe?"

"They aren't capable of producing another 9/11. On their own most of them are only a minor threat but if they manage to reform their organization they could cause nearly as many incidents in a couple of weeks as the IRA does in a bad year which would cause widespread panic, but most of their power base is in England and Europe," Hadrian replied. "So far they have been hindered by the fact they can't agree on a new leader so when too many of them get together they start fighting amongst themselves but eventually someone will have the power to unite them."

"How much danger are my family in?" Heather demanded.

"My family is as safe as I can make them," Hadrian replied. "The Admiral isn't the only reason for the level of surveillance and security around the house and the security was one of the reasons we chose the house we did. It is very well protected in ways you can't see as well as the security you can. That's also one of the reasons we kept Barbara and that she accompanies you every time you take the children out, she is combat trained, armed and dedicated to protecting the children's lives above all else."

Heather looked disconcerted. "Don't you think that I should have been told of the risks?" she demanded.

"You knew that your son and I are both federal agents. Tim is on the top team at NCIS headquarters, he's dealt with more than his share of terrorists too. He's lost teammates and colleagues to terrorist attacks and risks his life to keep this country safe on a regular basis. Why would you need to be told that there are security protocols, necessary to keep us safe? Or that some of those precautions were due to my job as well as Tim's. You're married to an admiral for goodness sake, surely you're aware of the risks?" Hadrian said pointedly.

"And in spite of the ever present risks involved in our jobs, the biggest actual threat to my health and well being in the last six months has been the Admiral," Tim added fiercely. "If only because he had the clearance to walk right through the Navy Yard into the NCIS building without an escort and assault me at my desk."

"You can't mean that!" Heather protested, horrified.

"He did and if Gibbs and Tony hadn't reacted so quickly I would've been seriously beat up. He's probably not on the top ten list of current threats to actually kill me but he definitely needs to be considered for the list of people that would definitely seriously hurt me if they met me alone in a dark alley and thought they could get away with it, if Hadrian was with me he would probably be in even more danger than I am and I'm not sure how he'd react to finding out about the children. Hopefully Gibbs, Tony and the Director have done enough to convince him that he would not get away with it. If anything happens to me he will be a suspect and the investigation will not be good for his career even if he can eventually prove he had nothing to do with it," Tim told his mother bluntly. "So it is extremely important, not only for my sake and the safety of Hadrian and the children but also for the Admiral's sake and yours and Sarah's that he does not find out where we live."

"We shouldn't be airing all this in public," Heather protested, embarrassed.

Tim looked at her in astonishment, did she really believe he could have his Aunt and Uncle back in his life without them knowing what was going on when he knew they were also still in contact with the Admiral.

"It can't be kept secret. Your family need to know how serious it is that they know not to pass our contact details on to the Admiral before we can even consider giving them our address or inviting them to our home. It will create confusion and resentment if we refuse to tell them where we live without giving them an adequate reason," Hadrian said quietly.

"But your children can't live in a prison of protection," Jillie protested.

"They don't live in a prison, they have as much freedom as we can give them without compromising their safety. Their school is aware of the security risks and well protected, all their friends' parents are checked out before they go there to play or the parents enter our home but we haven't had to veto any visits yet, and the children's friends aren't aware of the background checks. The protection isn't burdensome on them, at the moment they're not even aware of it, though it will become more difficult when they get old enough to want to go places on their own," Timothy said calmly.

"It's better than the protection I lived under after my parents were murdered by this terrorist leader, less intrusive and more effective," Hadrian replied. "And it's better that they are protected than have to recover from the terror of being kidnapped and/or injured to get to me."

That silenced all of them, the reminder that Hadrian had lived with this threat all of his life and the fact that he'd already lost one family to these terrorists, and was still committed to fighting to make the world safer from them in spite of the personal cost.

-o0o-

Jillie wanted Tim and Hadrian and the children to stay with them for the rest of the weekend but Hadrian and Tim had worried that they wouldn't have the space or the privacy so had booked into a motel. Teddy was excited about staying there, they had an indoor pool and he'd already met a couple of other children his age when they'd checked in and dropped off their bags.

"It's his first time staying in a motel, and he's eager to try their pool," Hadrian had explained when Teddy had come up and asked if it was time to go yet.

"You've never been on holiday?" Jillie asked shocked.

"We've never stayed in a motel with the children," Hadrian corrected. "I have an apartment in London, and we've also stayed with my godbrother and his family in England and we have a holiday home. Inherited from another branch of ancestors. But the heated indoor pool with waterslides is the big attraction today, he doesn't mean to be rude."

"That's quite all right, there isn't much for a boy his age to do here at this time of year," Pete said.

"Will we see you again for dinner, or brunch tomorrow?"

Hadrian looked at Tim.

"Brunch I think, we're going to go swim and then some people are going to need an early night," Tim decided.

"We'll see you around nine thirty then if that isn't too early," Jillie said enthusiastically.

"Not at all," Tim said laughing.

-o0o-

"Today went well?" Hadrian said as the two tired father's got ready for bed. They'd had a busy afternoon in the pool with the children and then dined on room service before bathing each child and getting them into bed.

"Better than I expected, though they gave you quite the third degree," Tim said, glad that his husband didn't seem too upset by it.

"Think of it from their point of view. Their beloved nephew turns up after at least five years of avoiding all their family get togethers, and not only comes out as bisexual but brings with him a husband they've never met and three children they hadn't known about. Of course, they wanted to know all about me and what sort of influence I have on you. I think I got off fairly lightly. Imagine what we'd do if it were Teddy or Sarah," Hadrian said reasonably.

Tim laughed. "I'm beginning to be glad they didn't have access to truth serums and thumbscrews."

'Or the ability to transfigure us into a tree,' he thought, his laughter dying.

Hadrian looked at him, watching somberly as his husband realized thumb tacks and veritaserum weren't the worst a wizard could do.

"They wouldn't have even if they could. They want you to want to come back," Hadrian said gently.

"That doesn't mean they aren't going to spend the evening talking about us and coming up with another list of questions for you," Tim replied.

"Let them," Hadrian said.

"You didn't find their questions too intrusive?" Tim asked hesitantly.

"Tim from what they said, Pete and Jillie have worried about you most of your life. And you suddenly turned up after all this time and have been disowned by your father because of me. They need to know that you're genuinely happy and being treated well and I'm not taking advantage of you somehow," Hadrian said. "I'm not going to take offence because they love you. And they don't have the resources to do a background check on me like I did for you on Sam."

"Thank you," Tim said hugging him tightly.

"I liked Amanda and Sam," Hadrian said.

"I liked Sam too. He's good for her," Tim agreed.

"Should we offer them the beach house for their honeymoon? The wiring will be done by then, and the elves know how to hide themselves from guests," Hadrian asked. "We could easily put in an electric hotplate and washing machine, and your coffee machine of course. Or the flat in London if they'd prefer. It's totally nonmagical."

"That's a great idea. We can go ourselves later in the summer. It's a very generous gift," Tim said.

"But it also won't cost us much unless we offer to pay their flights as well," Hadrian said. "Should we? Or do you think they'll be offended."

"I'll ask if they've already made plans and bookings. I got the feeling that the size of the wedding is a lot bigger than Amanda actually wanted. As her only daughter Jillie insisted on all the trimmings," Tim said. "She seemed a little jealous when we described our wedding."

Hadrian smiled reminiscently. "It was exactly everything we wanted except for having your Mom there."

-o0o-

Nine thirty next morning might have been early for the other adults who were still milling around the kitchen in pyjamas and robes enjoying their first cups of coffee for the day but Tim and Hadrian had been up for hours, eaten a light early morning breakfast, played in the pool for an hour before Hadrian returned to the room and bathed and dressed the children and took them to the park to play while Tim went for a run then quickly showered and dressed before picking them up to head to his Aunt and Uncle's.

"Hello sleepyheads," Tim greeted cheerfully.

"You didn't used to be such a morning person," Amanda grumbled.

"Three kids and a career in law enforcement will do that to anyone, waking at dawn is starting to feel like a sleep in at this time of year," Tim replied.

"How long have you been up? We could have made this earlier," Jillie said.

"No the timing is good, we had a snack when we got up before we went swimming and then to the park, Daisy is about ready to go down for a nap and the kids will be hungry again soon," Hadrian said reassuringly.

Jillie and Heather began taking food out of the oven, and soon an extravagant breakfast was laid out for everyone to help themselves.

Hadrian dished up a pancake and sausage and cut it up for Rosie while Tim helped Teddy choose what he wanted, which was mostly meat.

"He doesn't like pancakes?" Jillie asked surprised.

"He does when there's no bacon or sausage to choose instead. He's a real little carnivore," Tim said smiling at the little boy.

"This is really good," Hadrian said, helping himself to a little more frittata.

"That's quite a compliment from you, Heather says that you're a wonderful cook," Jillie said.

"I enjoy cooking," Hadrian said with a smile.

"How can you eat so much and still have lost weight?" Amanda asked incredulously as Tim piled his plate high for the second time.

"I spent an hour in the pool and ran six miles this morning while you were still sleeping," Tim said defensively.

"Do you run too Hadrian?" Pete asked.

"I run with Tim sometimes but not so often in the winter but I prefer to play basketball with friends and run after the kids than pound the pavement," Hadrian replied. He'd returned to training with his local quidditch team though he had to use the time turner to make it to the games, and the ongoing dueling training he taught when not on leave gave him more than enough exercise.

"Are you going to put Teddy into sports this summer?" Sam asked.

"He wants to play soccer next winter but he's still deciding what he'd like to do in the summer," Tim said. Hadrian had talked about letting him join the junior pre-quidditch team where the brooms were limited to between one and two meters off the ground and there were five chasers and a keeper on each team with no seeker or beaters, but they couldn't tell Tim's family that.

The conversation came around to the upcoming Black Friday sales. Heather laughed when both young men shuddered.

"I would have thought that with three kids you'd be keen to get the best Christmas toy bargains," Amanda said teasingly.

"I will probably hit up the on-line sales on Friday," Tim said. "There's no reason to risk permanent injury for a few bargains."

"And what about you Hadrian, will you brave the madness?" Jillie asked.

"Heck no, Tim does most of the Christmas shopping on line, the dinner is my contribution and I'll head to the markets for fresh produce," Hadrian exclaimed. He didn't tell them that the majority of the Christmas shopping was already completed in case they were both called in on a case and didn't get the opportunity later.

"What are your honeymoon plans?" Tim asked Sam.

"Somewhere warm, with a beach, preferably somewhere quiet," Sam said. "Nothing too fancy, but not camping or caravanning either."

"We haven't made a final booking. The wedding has eaten up more of our overall budget than we expected," Amanda admitted softly, glancing at her mother to make sure she wasn't listening to them.

"Well if you're happy with basic, rustic and isolated we could lend you the holiday house. The wiring should be completed by then. There's a service that will clean through before you arrive and after you leave and stock up the kitchen for you, but you'll be on your own in terms of cooking and laundry. It's over an hours' hard walking to the village, or twenty minute by powerboat so you'd need to get your boat license before you go. We'll stock up the place so you shouldn't need to go into town at all if you don't want. There's a private sheltered beach just outside and the surf beach is also about an hours' walk."

"How private is the beach?" Amanda asked.

"Totally, we've never seen anyone except our guests there, and it isn't overlooked except for our house. There's no phone or internet coverage or television and only about half the house is livable but it will be enough for the two of you," Hadrian said grinning.

"You're having it rewired?" Sam asked, "What else needs to be done?"

"We're installing solar panels and a back-up diesel generator and having it wired for the first time. The house has been empty for years and the previous owner was not one for modernizing. It's too isolated to make conventional wiring affordable and running it through the bush would be a huge fire risk, so they kept the old kerosene lanterns and woodfired stove to cook and heat water. The bathroom looks ancient but it is fully functional though it isn't luxurious, and there's no air-conditioning though the house is well insulated and stays fairly comfortable. The house itself is sound so the rest of it is just replacing the rotten furniture, carpets and curtains. We had Hadrian's godbrother and his family stay last summer so there is a guest room furnished if you aren't comfortable using ours."

"Godbrother?" Amanda asked confused.

"His mother was my godmother and my mum was his. Both of us lost our parents very young and should have grown up together if it wasn't for an old man's manipulative meddling. Without much other decent family we've become close," Hadrian explained. "Tim and I are godparents to their second child."

"But they aren't godparents to yours?" Sam asked.

"No, we would have liked him to be but we've decided that we don't want the children brought up in England so their godparents are friends we have made here. Neville understood," Hadrian explained.

"Not the family," Amanda said.

"Not Heather because of the Admiral, and Sarah isn't ready for the responsibility. She honestly doesn't want to be given custody either. And we couldn't ask her to cut herself off from her father like that," Tim said.

"Her father?" Amanda asked surprised.

"I have no doubt that he is biologically my father much as he may wish he could deny it, but he's disowned me. A real father doesn't do that," Tim replied.

Amanda nodded soberly. "He's never treated you like a son," she said.

"I think he did until I was three or four," Tim said. "The family snapshots up until then don't show any signs that I was traumatized or afraid of him."

"Did something happen to him then?" Hadrian asked.

"I don't know, I never thought to question it. I guess I could ask permission to access his service record for that time but I'd need to explain why," Tim said thoughtfully.

"You could try asking your Mom. She might know if it was something big enough to be in his record. Or at least she could tell you which boat he was on at the time, but it might have been something quite small that had a personal impact, a conversation or even something he overheard or misheard. You might never know," Hadrian suggested.

Tim sighed. "I don't suppose it really makes much difference now anyway, even if I knew why what he's done makes me want to keep the kids as far away from him as possible," he admitted.

Amanda and Sam approached Tim as they were preparing to depart which with three small children took a surprising amount of organization even though they'd only been there several hours.

"Um if you were serious about the offer we would like to use your holiday house for our honeymoon," Amanda said awkwardly.

"I was, I'll bring the keys to the wedding for you."

"Um you haven't said where it is?" Sam said.

"On one of the smaller islands in Hawaii," Tim replied.

"Oh um…" Amanda stopped. Blushing and turning away.

"Hadrian and I would be happy to give you the flights as a wedding present if that is the issue," Tim said gently.

"Seriously!" Amanda exclaimed.

"It's too much," Sam protested.

"It really isn't. I could almost buy them with my frequent flyer points if it makes you feel any better," Tim lied.

A/N: Thank you to KEZZ 1, veyronking995, Kourtney Uzu Yato, rmiser1994, SpiritBlackPaw, aisa.32, Fyreheart, sandipi, Sakihinata, raysterek92, xDarklightx, Reader Ethiriel, Melikalilly, mother oracle, caged21hearts, lia, lilly-flower15, fandomsneverdie, charm13insomnia, knuckles 8, Sakya, Guest, Rainbow2007, DarkRavie, Millie07, Rori Potter, buterflypuss, Village-Mystic, dalynch81, The View From Up Here, Chezakeeba, delia cerrano, mooneysfate, acherongoddess, luramos, DS2010, Guest, Harriverse, Silvermane1, Firehedgehog, Fallow55, mayawene, staar, lillisa34, serenityselena, Rebecca, siobhan.22, Guest, Erimenthe, natztash, Locket1, fancyspinner, Kittens Kat, 16, Beth9891, Parafet, Breezabee10, Millie072, bethb1973, ellainaparker, kurotenshi-08, CiernyDae and all those who followed and favourited for your support.