Bollixed

He didn't answer. He just picked her up and took her to the master bedroom.  


He had eventually drifted off contentedly to sleep, and when he woke, he was still skin to skin with her. Maybe, just maybe, she was strong enough to deal with the sort of unpredictable work he had, the difficulty in never knowing what was coming next, or if the next duel would be his last. It was a lot to ask of anyone.


At the moment, though, he was feeling like it was asking more than he was willing to give to not be here.  As he watched her sleep, he had a stupid thought.


I wonder if Rose would be happy in the house with the kids for a week or so.  I could be happy just being the two of us for a few days. Not forever.  He saw their clothes cast aside on the floor. He wasn't in any kind of hurry for them. Did they ever have to dress again?


For some reason, his mind was leaping ahead, into foreign territory, into wondering what it would be like to decide to have children of his own. Wondering what it would be like to be free to try. Wondering if she was the one he, someday, was supposed to be doing this with to have his own family.

Bella had fallen asleep shortly after Angus content and happy. She began dreaming and everything felt real like it was actually happening to her. She woke up ten minutes after Angus did and realized her head was on his chest. She lifted her head yawning softly then looked up at him. She looked around the room before looking back at him. "Hey, did you sleep well?" She asked grinning before kissing his lips lightly. "What time is it?" She ran her fingers through the hairs on his chest softly as she waited for his answer.

She raised herself up on her elbow and said, "We need to go get Rose soon." Upon those words she immediately thought of children with Angus. It left her breathless and she realized that she liked the idea of it with him. It had been a while since she thought that way about a man. She realized it was because it was him, she only wanted that with him. She knew how dangerous his job was but she knew that he would try his hardest to come back to her. He may get hurt every now and then but she would heal him. She bit her lip as thought about this and decided that it was best for now to keep it to herself. She didn't know if he would feel the same and she certainly didn't want to ruin anything between them.

"Hi," he smiled. When she asked if he slept well, he nodded. "I did. I trust you did too? Don't worry. I've got time. I've got just enough time to try to make myself look like I know what the hell I'm doing before I meet your mother." He wanted to clean up and dress in business clothes, to make himself look like he was what she undoubtedly would expect in a professional.

"I've got time to disillusion her later," he teased. Then he stopped teasing. "Look, I'm not going to say you can't go to get her with me. But I really think I've got this.  I'm going to go clean up, dress a little better--something with a tie, probably a jacket, since that's what she expects. It'll be all good."


He kissed her. Then he groaned, not wanting to get up.  "Come on. The clock's moving, and we're not. One of us is always presentable, and the other has to work at it. And I'm gonna need all the help I can get."


He nudged her gently to uproot her, and then he got up and dressed.

"Hey, anything else I need to know about your mom ahead of time?" he asked. "No passwords for child security or any of that stuff?"

"Yeah I slept very well." Bella said grinning at him. "You look great in anything Angus. You'll do just fine with my mother, just be you. My question is though what are you going to tell her when she asks how you know me?" She smiled wondering what he would tell her mother.

She laughed at his tease, "I'll stay here and wait for you to come back. I don't mind staying here, I can understand why you want to go alone. I have never seen you in a tie and jacket." She grinned at him as thought about seeing him in one.

She kissed him back and giggled when he groaned. "Ah yes the clock constantly moving faster than we are. You always look presentable to me but if you need help I can help you." She said as he gently moved her. She got up herself and dressed smiling the entire time.

"Actually not with my mom but with Rose. My mother taught her to ask people who pick her up for a password. It's always the same one, the password you'll need is butterfly." She said smiling softly as she thought about anything else that he would need. "Oh and with my mother always address her by Mrs. Barnes. If she asks you to call her Jenny don't it's a trick and she does it to pester people. Don't fall for it she hates being called Jenny. Just call her by her last name and you should be fine. I'll be right back I gotta find my hair clips." She kissed his lips again as she went off to find her clips for her hair.

"Okay," he said. "Got it." He tossed the keys to the cottage on the bed and headed back to the main house.  He cleaned up and put on a dark suit, with a dark shirt and suddenly went blank on how to tie a Windsor knot.  


He tossed the black tie on the bed, deciding to give that up.  


"You're pitiful, you know that?" he heard a voice at his bedroom doorway.


"What?" he looked up to see Marcus Belby in the doorway.


"Braindead over a girl, are you?" Marcus teased. "Got a brainfart the size of Ireland?"


"No, I just..."

"Liar," Belby replied, coming in and picking up the tie.  He made quick work of helping him with the tie. For a moment, Angus felt 11 again, trying to tie that damned Gryffindor house tie.


Angus looked in the mirror. This business suit gear was so not his thing. 


"I look ridiculous," he said.


"You look smart, but you rather do behave like a nine year old girl in high heels."


"That awkward?" Angus sighed.


"Close," Belby said. "You want me to go with you? My guess is that I look more believeable."


"And you'll introduce me as your trainee, will you?"


"Not unless you really do look stupid when we get there."


"We'd better go," Angus said, glancing at the clock. "Or we'll make a bad impression by being late."


(ooc. didn't know if you wanted to npc her mother or just move forward to when they get back. whatever works.)

Bella smiled as she watched him walk out of the cottage towards the main house. She grabbed her clips from the living room putting her hair up in the french twist. Deciding that she need some company while Angus was gone she grabbed the keys he tossed on the bed. She walked out of the cottage locking the door behind her. She walked the path that lead from the cottage to the main house.

She entered the door and decided that she should grab her things from the room she was in last night. So she decided that was where she was going to start as she headed up the stairs. She got to the wildflower room and began packing up her things and saw the pictures of Tuscany still spread across the bed. She grinned as she sat down on the edge cleaning them up and putting them back in the leather binder she had. Everything was packed up in her bag neatly, she thought about that happened since last night. The one thing she lingered on was not so long ago in the cottage that she would be living in. She smiled thing of that time and giggled softly.

Angus and Marcus and Edward went to pick up Rose. It almost took him by surprise when a platoon of bodyguards stood in front of Rose and her grandmother, with her grandmother having a tight hold on Rose.

To her credit, Rose recognized Angus straight off and called to him. He got the feeling Bella's mom did not approve. Marcus immediately stepped in and somehow managed to do a diplomatically correct introduction and to win her confidence. He addressed her with formality and respect and used the password smoothly.

She had recognized Marcus from the countless photos in the papers. When she asked where Bella was, Marcus merely gave her a slight smile.

"She is serving in some private employment for my employer today," Marcus said, not entirely lying since Bella had wanted to earn her keep. Her mother immediately jumped to the conclusion that Bella was doing some private chef work for the Minister, and appeared to Angus to be sufficiently impressed. Angus noticed Marcus didn't move to correct her.

Mrs. Barnes released her hold on Rose for just a moment, and Rose took full advantage of it to run to Angus, who scooped her up with a big hug and a kiss on her cheek. Satisfied, Bella's mom allowed them to take Rose.

Carrying Rose, when they were out of earshot, Angus asked Marcus, "How'd you do that?"

"Its a gift," Marcus grinned, enjoying any opportunity he got to tease him.

"That's what I like about you," Angus said. "Your humility."

The whole business hadn't taken more than 30 minutes. They ported back to the estate, as Suki was serving the kids some fresh baked sugar cookies. Rose was just in time to enjoy a warm sugar cookie with the rest of the kids.

Somehow Angus didn't think he'd have to tell Bella that Rose was back. Somehow she'd just know.

Bella managed to get all the bags into the cottage and began unpacking everything. She put away her clothes as well as Rose's, she couldn't stop grinning as she did this task. She never thought in a million years that she would be here. She hummed as she swept through the house keeping herself busy. The pictures she took from her apartment were now placed about the cottage. She had found an empty picture frame in her bag that she had almost forgotten she had. She put the picture of Rose, Angus, and herself in it then placed it on her bed side table.

She felt the need to return to the main house and she decided to follow it. She walked down the path towards the main house when she could hear Rose's voice mixing with those of the children. She raced the rest of the way to the house opening the door quickly. She walked to where she knew that the children would be.

Rose looked up at the instant Bella appeared in the room. "MOMMY!" She squealed as she ran to her as Bella opened her arms to catch her daughter. "Ggie came to pick me up. Paw paw too!" She chattered eagerly to her with a big smile.

Bella kissed her daughters cheek and smiled at her daughters excitement. "They wanted to come get you from grandma's house. I can tell that you are excited that they were the ones that picked you up." She said grinning as she looked over at Angus. She then turned her attention back to her daughter.

"Maw maw had everyone awround us. She held my hand too tight." Rose said with a look of confusion of why it was like that. "Mommy? Can I spend the night wit uile?"

Bella laughed at her daughter's words about her mother. "Grandma was just being protective sweetheart." She said trying to stifle her laughter. "Really? I get you back for two seconds and you wanna spend the night with someone else?" She teased her daughter then grinned. "Okay on one condition. You have to give me a big hug and a kiss, deal?"

Rose cheered at the thought of spending the night with her friend. She hugged her mother and gave her a kiss before being asked to be put down. Once on the ground again she ran over to where the other children were.

Bella walked over to where Angus was and smiled softly at him. "How did it go?" She asked curiously wondering what her mother did or said to the three of them.

((OOC: Omg I am soo sorry i completely forgot to respond to your thing at the bottom of the last post I am soo sorry.))

"She was impressed as heck with Marcus," Angus laughed. "And my grandfather. She just sorta looked at me like, 'And you are??'" He laughed. "You're right. She's a little bit over the top, but Marcus did stretch the truth about where you were a wee bit. Told your mother you were serving some private employment to his employer. That seemed to impress the heck out of your mother--at least for now.  


"I can't say that I feel that she's going to be impressed that you're in a log cabin. I sorta get the feeling she's going to think its entirely too primative for her tastes.  Should be interesting if she comes to visit. Probably will have to put her in the main house so she can say she slept in the Minister's house. I don't know. Maybe she'll warm up to me eventually. Actually, it made me laugh a bit. I guess I haven't met anyone that determined to be proper."

Bella laughed and said, "She'll know who are now. I'm surprised her mouth didn't drop open when she saw Edward and Marcus." She giggled softly as she looked at the three of them. "Well my mother, in my opinion of course, lives to be over-the-top about many things. Like her dinners as well as her parties." She made a face at those words remembering all those times. She was about to say something else when she saw an owl she recognized immediately. "Well that didn't take long," She said pointing to the owl perched on the window sill.

"My mother wouldn't be impressed with it because it's not her style. She thinks that everyone should have houses like hers and I love houses like the cottage." She said grinning. "If she were to visit and we put her in the main house she wouldn't be able to stop talking about it. She will warm up to you eventually. My father is her complete opposite. He would love the cottage because of it's unique beauty. He would like you though," She reached up and kissed his lips softly.

Bella walked over to the window sill opening it and the owl flew to her shoulder. She shut the window back and opened the note laughing bitterly at the note. She looked over at Angus and sighed softly before looking at the note again. She walked over to him and showed him the note trying not to get the urge to throw it in the fire.


"This means she's digging for information. Having you over for dinner is a plot of hers." Bella said shaking her head in exasperation. "It's her way of causing trouble. I think I know what she has in mind and it's nothing good."