Marriage is Murder

Jessia nodded and looked at Abby when she spoke of cake and laughed as Robert redirected her thoughts. " okay see you in a few hours" she said and ported back out to Brian's she found Jack up a ladder and Steven and Cassidy blowing up balloons and letting them float up to the roof before tying some to string and making an arch out of them. " nice work " she said and made the napkins fold into cats and sit on the table. Jack finished and took down the ladder as Brant walked in with a large wrapped parcel and a vase of pink flowers following. Steven took the flowers while Brant placed the gift on the table to one side.

(who is jenna?)

Angus finished his work at Robert's and took the bags for Khaat and Brian, the kids, and his own and apparated back to the house. Michael was already in the kitchen. he had the cakes baked. Strawberry. But he hadn't decorated them yet. He had a gentle pastry brush and was brushing the crumbs off the cake and had fondant made and packaged in plastic wrap, chilling. He also had buttercreme icing for decorating made. He had powdered food coloring, flavor oils, and all the necessary decorating tools at the ready.

"Very nice," Angus said, setting the bags just outside the kitchen, in the dining room. He went into the kitchen and put on his chef's apron, tied around his waist and washed his hands.

"Do you know what you're doing with it yet?" Michael asked.

"Yes, actually," Angus said. "If my charms still work, that is."

"How can I help?" Michael asked.

"Make me some bright pink and light pink fondant and leave me some white. Oh and perhaps a bit of lavender buttercream. Not a lot of the lavender."

"You've got it," Michael said, setting to work. "Any idea when they're coming home?"

"They're at Robert's. I think they're going to buy us a couple of hours, but I wouldnt count on much more."

"Well, I figured right then. I figured they'd want to do the party at lunch time."

"Yes. They will. I think dinner tonight will be far more grown up," Angus said.

"Well, I figured right on that too, then," Michael laughed.

"You have the menu planned?"

"Planned and in the works, my boy," Michael replied.

Brant walked into the kitchen and listened to them. " the presents in the living room" he told Angus " and I sent your bags to your room , hope that was okay" he said poring some water himself. Jess walked in and saw Michael cooking.

" all going well?" she asked taking some thumb tacks from the draw close by her " Jacks putting up the banner" she explained and Brant just nodded that he understood before he moved to sort out the flowers for the rooms . He found it therapeutic arranging them all by hand.

"Going fine," Angus said. He got out a batch of frozen cookie dough and flicked his wand at it to thaw it magically. He rolled it out and hastily cut shapes from the dough and put a tray of sugar cookies in the oven. By then, Michael had the fondant colored and rolled for Angus. Angus trimmed one cake into a couple of specific shapes and asked Michael to cover the cake pieces with the bright raspberry pink fondant.

"What are you doing with that butchered up cake, Boy?" Michael frowned at the one cake that was cut into pieces.

"I have a plan," Angus laughed. He found some cardboard cake forms and some skewers and that made Michael even more curious.

"You are going to try to build something, aren't you?" Michael asked.

"Yup," Angus said, busy filling a couple of pastry bags. "Ice and decorate those cookies for me when they get finished?'

"Okay." He turned around when a large package ported in, and Michael almost fell over it, except that Angus grabbed him in time to keep him from stumbling.

"What the devil is that?" Michael was irked.

"Um..." Angus paused, trying to remember. He found the tag on it and looked. "Ah, yes. From Tobias. It did get here in time." As he spoke a number of other boxes ported in, one after the other. "Those smaller boxes would be for Khaat unless they're marked otherwise."

"Jack!" Michael bellowed. "Get this monstrosity out of my kitchen!"

Jack walked in " what..ow" he saw the boxes and gathered them " so where do you want them" he asked as he balanced them in his arms. Brant walked back in and smiled.

"Hey, it turned up " he said and looked at the boxes in Jacks arms. " if I'm right they go in the playroom" Brent took some of the boxes from Jack and chuck "okay Angus do you think he'd have put instructions on how to assemble it?"Brant asked hoping that Tobias had done just that. He lead Jack to the playroom and together they began to put the book case together.

"You lot aren't reading the tags," Angus called. "The boxes of women's clothing are not part of the bookcase! Do, please, not put them in the playroom. Those are for Khaat from Tobias." he had remembered Tobias having a rack of tiny clothes that, although beautiful, he could not sell because they were so small. He was hoping the guy weren't going to try to attach them to the bookcase. He also hoped they could read instructions. "Jess," Angus called. "Keep an eye on them. I don't trust they won't muck this up."

He began to assemble his cake as Michael finished the cookies to Angus's directions. "Amazing," Michael laughed. "So, I presume you want it to move?"

"And play music, I hope," Angus said.

"No problem," Michael said. "I can help you with that. Just keep working. Its going to make the kids all very happy. And hopefully it will surprise a few grownups as well."

Jess chuckled and nodded " knowing those two they will some how" she said and moved to the playroom. Gathering the boxes of clothes she put them into Khaat's large wardrobe. Soon the boys were done and a new book case in the playroom . Jack moved back to the kitchen.

" okay the book case is up and the clothes are in Khaat's room" he said and chuckled " Jess did that " he said grabbing a soda from the fridge. Opening the can he watched Angus " thats going to be beautiful" he said " she's going to love it" Steven walked in and chuckled as he saw Jack.

" you might want to untangle Brant from the rems of tape in the playroom" he said and Jack shook his head smiling.

"Na, lets see how he gets out of it." He said and chuckled softly again as he took a sip of his soda.

Michael got a devilish look on his face. He pointed his index finger towards the playroom and spun his finger in circles, nonverbally causing the tape to hopelessly wrap around and around and around Brant.

"You didn't," Edward laughed, coming in for a cup of tea.

"Um, yeah. He did," Angus said. "He hexed him."

"You're going to make me rescue him yet," Edward said.

"Oh, Jack and Steven will get him out eventually--when they feel like it, " Michael said. "Let them have some fun watching him try."

"Do go keep an eye on him, won't you?" Edward asked them. ""Let's make sure Michael's hex stays harmless, please."

Steven laughed as he heard the cry from the playroom. " ow come on..no not ...ah hay" came Brant's voice and it even made Jess chuckle as she listened to the commotion going on . Steven stood up and shook his head. " I can't stand to listen to that" he said as he walked out the room to help Brant. Soon they walked back in Brant seeming some what out of breath as he pulled the last of the tape off his face.

"Okay, I think I lost an eye brow, hard way to wax though. " he said sitting down next to Jess who moved to run her finger over his eye brow and made the brow return.

"Those were the good old days, weren't they?" A voice said from behind Michael. Michael turned to see Robert had arrived--alone.

"You forgot your platoon," Michael laughed. "And what good old days were those? How long were you there?"

"Long enough to recognize and old prank we used to pull in our day," Robert said. "I see they felt sorry for him and needed to get him out."

"Too bad, too," Michael laughed. "And I was hoping to see what he was really made of, too."

"Oh, he'll get his chance, if I know our family's luck," Robert said. "Are you lot going to treat Brant like a potioneer or a fighter? You know I'd expect a fighter to figure his way out of a bit of tape."

"You thinking we'll need more fighters?" Michael asked.

"You know we're not done with those weird demented werewolves. They'll be back. And unless we can unravel their genetic alteration experiments, they won't stop coming, or making beasts. Either one. But--you've got maybe an hour and then the rest of my 'platoon', as you called it, will be arriving."