Ackerly wasn't glad to be called away from work in the middle of a weekday- especially when they were still trying to sort ou the werewolf attacks that had taken place just a couple of weeks before. But whenever Isabel sent him an owl- he knew that it was serious. She never sent owls, she hated them, and she definitely never sent them to him when he was at work. All it said was "Help. Hurry." He'd rocketed from his desk, and apparated to his wife's new house with her new husband on the outskirts of London.

Joshua was still laying on the floor, barely conscious. "What happened?" Ackerly demanded, not even thinking before swooping down to check and see if he was breathing.

Isabel was still shaking. "A man- a big man, with a wand," she managed to get out between deep breaths and sobs. "He just- he came in, and he started flinging spells. He said he was going to keep coming until you were dead!"

His wife's new husband was definitely bad off. Ackerly couldn't be sure what spells had been used, but they were nasty. There were a lot of open wounds, and Ackerly's healing magic never was that great. "Stay back until I can get this mostly cleaned up," he said to her, not caring if he tampered with a crime scene. This was his wife, damnit. (Well, ex-wife.) The mother of his child. The woman he was still undeniably in love with. Ackerly drew his own wand, and closed up what wounds he could, enough to stop the bleeding.

"I need sheets," he said to Isabel. Best to give her a task. "Flat ones, not fitted," he specified, watching as she slowly backed out of the room.

A few cleaning spells later and most of the blood was gone. Ackerly wished he had a potion for the pain he knew the man was feeling, but he didn't. The auror might have wished doom and damnation upon Joshua in the past, but he had never meant it, and it was hard to ignore the pang of guilt now that something had happened. Josh had been a good dad to Baxter and Lucinda, a good husband to Isabel. He didn't deserve anything like this- and Ackerly just hoped that they could get him to Mungo's before it was too late.

Isabel brought the sheets, and Ackerly charmed them to lay flat and stuff, then carefully levitated Josh's body onto the make shift stretcher. "Where's Lucinda?" he asked, suddenly remembering the baby. "Is she okay?"

"Not here," Isabel said. "She's with your parents."

"Good," Ackerly said with a nod. "Grab my arm, Isa," he commanded. She quickly latched on, and Ackerly apparated all three of them to Mungo's. He felt drained afterward, that was a lot of magic to move three people. A lot to clean up and to heal- things he didn't do on a regular basis.

Ackerly flashed his badge to get them rushed in, and after he saw Josh to his room and was sure from the mediwitches and wizards that he was going to be alright- he sent his patronus to the office with a message of where he was, what he was doing, and what was going on. "Don't leave me," Isabel said from the bedside. "Don't leave us here."

He turned, sighed, and summoned a chair, sitting next to her. "I won't, Isa. Not this time." They sat there, watching the witches and wizards work- and Ackerly intended to keep her word to her this time. He couldn't keep putting his job first- not after something like this. Isabel couldn't take care of herself- Josh couldn't protect her, and what if Lucinda had been there? What if she had gotten hurt? Or what if that crazed wizard had taken off with her? Ackerly was itching to get going and figure out what the hell was going on- but right now he had to take care of Isa. She needed him. His family needed him. And for the first time it seemed that was going to matter.