Small Packages

"You can have as many necklaces as you want," Angus said to her. "You sure you're not more into rings these days, though?" He knew he was sort of baiting her with the question, but he doubted she'd mind. There was just a momentary pause, but then Angus looked at Marcus and Khaat. "It didn't go exactly the way I'd intended but I've asked Bella to marry me."

"Congratulations, both of you," Khaat said.

"Absolutely. Congratulations. Took you long enough, Mate," Marcus teased Marcus. "Bella, I hope you can get him to be a bit more timely about your wedding."

"What?" Angus looked at him blankly.

"Look, the only one who didn't see that was coming was probably you," Marcus said.

"We were just taking our time," Angus said, realizing, even as it came out of his mouth, that his excuse had been entirely lame.

"You got him past his allergy to commitment. Good for you," Marcus said to Bella.

"He actually is very loyal to a good many things," Khaat said.

"So what you're saying is he knows how to stay on the ship once he's on it. If you can get him there," Marcus said.

Angus simply looked at Bella with a trace of a mischievous grin. He'd go along with Marcus's teasing--for now. Angus also believed, every so often, in paybacks.

"Well I wanna be able to shut my jewelry box." She said with a laugh. Hearing his baited question made her blush and grin at the same time. She smiled when Angus told both Khaat and Marcus about their engagement. She was happy that he asked her even if it wasn't the way that intended to.

"Thanks Khaat." She said with a smile.

She laughed at Marcus' words about having taken long enough. She laughed more at his next words, trying to not to but she couldn't help herself. "I'm sure he'll be on time for our wedding." She said through the laughter bubbling out of her.

She held in her laughter, when Angus had a blank face at Marcus' words, just barely. She knew Marcus' teasing was all in good spirits but she also knew Angus would get pay back.

Bella smiled at Angus' words not knowing what to say at the moment but was trying to figure out something.

"Well it wasn't entirely him," She said finally biting her lip softly. "I didn't mind how slow we were going because I knew it would be worth the wait. My last marriage wasn't exactly a normal one. With Angus though I know he loves me as much as I love him."

"Yes he is." She said agreeing with Khaat.

"You better watch out Marcus otherwise you might get some payback later on down the road." She said laughing then seeing Angus' look made her laugh even more.

"That could be fun, actually," Marcus laughed, thinking about whether Angus could actually dream up any payback that would surprise him.

"We'll remember he said that," Angus grinned at Bella.

"Well, Bella, now you have an additional excuse to get to know Tobias," Khaat said. "I thought I'd had the wedding gown of a lifetime when I married Rob, but that really didn't compare to what Tobias designed for me for my wedding to Brian. My first wedding gown was, probably, more flashy, but Tobias seemed to know my heart. It was more true to who I was."

"And you're not the easiest woman to get clothes to fit, either, Khaat," Angus said.

"No, that's true. But I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a whole range of sizes in her closet."

"And a stack of Brian's t shirts and shirts," Marcus said.

"I like them," she said. She liked wearing Brian's t shirts or, sometimes his flannel shirts when it was cold or damp. They smelled like him. And, once she had them in her closet, she sometimes just didn't give them back.

"Its sounding like you ought to take more than one shrinking shopping bag with you, Marcus," Angus said.

"Oh, I think I have enough for Khaat and Bella to buy anything they want," Marcus smiled. Angus's stomach growled embarrassingly loudly.

"Excuse me," he said. "Sorry about that. Feeling a bit peckish, I think. Bella, I think we should go check the chef for maybe some lunch and that dessert testing."

She laughed at Marcus' words. "Well that really could be fun now that I think about it." She said with a smirk on her face.

"Yes we will." She said laughing and smiling back at Angus.

"Yeah I think I do." She said agreeing with Khaat. She only wondered when they would set the date for the wedding. "Well I hope that I can get to know Tobias so that he can design me one that suits me. My previous dress was too long and to be honest I looked like a abominable snowman. It wasn't anything like what I ordered but it was too late to change it."

"Sometimes it takes a few tries to get the right fit. Right Khaat?" She said knowing what it was like trying to find different things that would feel good when they fit.

"I have a range of sizes as well. Sometimes you want something baggy to wear that's also comfortable."

She laughed at Marcus' statement of having a stack of Brian's shirt in her closet.

"Well with things we might buy while we're there I think we'll need a quite a few." Bella said laughing softly.

She smiled when he said that he had enough to allow Khaat and her to buy what they wanted. She heard Angus' stomach growl and was reminded of that dessert tasting they were going to do.

"Yeah I almost forgot about it." She said with a slight blush.

"I want you to have whatever dress you want," Angus said to her. "Whatever you want, I want it done right. I'm not planning on doing this again with anyone else, so as far as I'm concerned, I'd like us to do this in whatever we decide is right for us."

He turned his attentions to Khaat. "Thank you for letting us take you away from your work, and thank, you, Marcus, for lending me a clean shirt. Let's go get lunch, Bella."

He reached for her hand and took her downstairs to the large, contemporary dining room. The design was fresh and clean. A lot of hospital dining rooms were cafeteria style. This one actually had linen table clothes and wait staff. The hostess seated them near a window. Angus told them that they were representing the Minister for the dessert tasting. The waiter suggested they have dessert, followed by espresso to cleanse their palates. He assured them the desserts would be ready by the end of dessert.

He selected, for himself, Crépe au Fromage de Chévre,
goat cheese crepes baked with spinach and prosciutto, garnished with a red brandy cream sauce served with rice and vegetables. He added a glass of wine with his lunch.

"What would you like, my dear?" he asked her.

Bella smiled at his words, "Thank you Angus." She said with a smile to him. "So do I which means you'll need to help out with some things. Neither do I, we'll just have to figure out everything that comes with it." She was happy that she was going to start a life with him.

"Yes thank you Khaat. I'll be ready at eight tomorrow. Yes let's go. Bye Khaat. Bye Marcus." She said giving them a wave.

She took his hand and looked around while he lead her downstairs to the dining room. She was surprised at the dining room expecting it to be like a cafeteria. She looked at the tables covered with linen cloths and that there was a wait staff. She looked out the window for a moment before returning her attention to the waiter and Angus.

She looked at the menu to see what she might want and found that what he ordered sounded wonderful. She never had it so she decided that she would try it to see what she thought of it.

"I think I'll have the same thing. I've never had that kind of crepe before." She said with a smile. "I wasn't expecting it to look like this. Most hospitals dining rooms are like cafeteria's and they always seemed like, I don't know, like there's no warm to them. This is wonderful." She admired what Robert did down here and was amazed by it as well.

"Well, it sounds like it should be everything a good crepe should be," Angus said. "What's not to like? Proscuitto, cheese, spinach? It's really hard to beat simple ingredients done well." He looked around and saw they'd added some simple but elegant Christmas ornaments--enchanted sparkling glass orbs in jeweltone colors suspended from the ceiling by gold ribbons.

"Robert has always had a firm belief that nutrition is highly important to rapid healing. And, apparently his memories of the food here were not impressive, so when he and Khaat started here, one of the first things they did was to change up the food here. Its probably the only hospital restaurant I know where healthy people come simply to dine. And one of the few I know that has a wine menu, but a glass of wine can be a very healthy thing for a good many ailments."

"The St Mungos I remember from a boy was a dark, outstated, stinky place. Always made me feel more condemned than cared for. Not so much now. You'll be amazed by the spa. Its one of the largest in the wizarding world. Takes up the full basement. It has a full sized pool, a running track, exercise room, room for classes, sauna, whirlpool, anything you can think of. Including full massage services. Everyone who works for Robert gets a family membership to the spa with unlimited use. I add you and Rose now to my membership, and you can use it whenever you like. It never closes. Its open 24-7. The membership includes a family sized locker. I'll get you a key so that you can store workout or swim clothes there for you and Rose."

"Yes it does and it's really healthy as well." Bella said with a smile. "All the really good tasty things that make a good crepe. Yes it is hard to beat those kind of ingredients if they are done really well." She saw him looking at the ornaments suspended from the ceiling. "Oh those are beautiful," She commented looking at the ones closest to them. She loved the colors as they sparkled against the lights.

"Well that is true, with the right nutrition it can help with healing. Well at least he got the food to where it can be beneficial for those who are sick. That's something for them to be proud of, that people come here to simply dine. I was wondering about that, I knew that some don't have anything like that." She said shifting slightly in her seat.

"That's horrible, I'm glad that it's not like that now. The spa is that big?" She asked astonished. She thought about a great many things that she could do with that access. "I think the only thing I would use it for would be the massage services. They've done so much with this place that it's simply amazing that they have all of it in one building." She said with a smile.

"Speaking of Rose, I wonder how she'll react to us being engaged." She said softly. "I know she won't be upset or anything but I still wonder."

"Do you think Rose will even understand it?" he asked. "I mean, I presume she'll understand it once we're married, but I guess I just presumed she might not understand it at this stage yet."

Angus knew that Abbey had stacks of fairy tale storybooks that showed illustrations of weddings, stories that ended with a lovely "happily ever after" line. He knew Abbey understood at least that much of it. He figured Rose would understand wedding dresses and some of the things that were in the storybooks.

"You know, that makes me sort of think about what sort of a role you want me to have in Rose's life. I don't want you to feel forced into her calling me her dad, but I won't oppose it if you do. I don't want her growing up without feeling like she had a dad, or feeling that perhaps I didn't want to be there for her. But, I guess I think that at some point she needs to know the truth."

Angus knew that Abbey believed Brian was her biological father. It was all she'd ever known. Dakota didn't know that Khaat and Brian were her grandparents. She just thought of them as her parents. He presumed that, at some point, Khaat would explain to them the difference. Perhaps by then it would make no difference in their hearts. He could only hope that Rose would surely understand that it took more than a contribution of DNA to make a decent father.

His thoughts were interrupted momentarily by the waiter bringing their order. It looked picture perfect and smelled divine.

"I don't know, I mean with her being two she might not." She said. "I agree with you I think she'll understand it when we're married. I still think I should tell her about it though even if she might not understand it."

She thought about a great many things that Rose might understand but she wasn't sure about this. She knew her daughter loved fairy tale books about princess' and happy endings.

She listened to him about him saying what role he should have in Rose's life. "Rose already loves you and I think she already thinks of you like a dad to her. I would like if you were to treat her like a daughter, if that's what you want to do." She said softly wondering if that was something that he wanted to do.

She wondered what Angus would think about being a father to Rose. She already knew that Rose loved Angus and always thought of him very fondly. That reminded her about the drawings that Rose did for him that were adorable and had a lot of color.

She saw the waiter bringing their order and she took in the smell of the food. "This smells amazing and it looks so good." She said her mouth watering.