LONDON CALLING

Kaden laughed at the staletto situation " I don't blame him those things are dangerous." he said " but I do have some freinds who enjoy wearing them and they say they can be comfortable if fitted right." he said as Robert spoke again " agreed, if you wish I'll watch her tonight so you can get some rest, no offence but you look like you need it and Im sure the others have things well in hand."

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " I guess not and thank you I actually love being in the kitchen, again mom and gram taught me to cook" she told him " simple dishes are my favorate, shepards pie, cottage pie, sometimes even a simple pizza with the toppings on the side so people can mae there own." she heard him talk of preperations for breakfast and smiled " well if you want I could start on the fruit salad while you do the cinnamon rolls, and I'll add extra berrys for Abby too" she offered on hearing his question she shrugged then thought about it " I guess long term, they never told me a deadline, guess its a perminant loan, an un collocamento a lungo termine " she said and looked at him.

"Actually, I would appreciate that. I am tired tonight," Robert said, "but if there's any change, please wake me and let me know. My room here is just straight across the hall. I hope she sleeps straight through, but if she wakes and is upset, you can use a sleep spell to send her back to sleep. If Brian or Marcus happen to be there though, they can sometimes soothe her pretty quickly. Trust your judgement."

"Alright, I'll take you up on it. I have plenty of fruit in the big walk in fridge, and there should be all sorts of different kinds of berries in there. Help yourself to whatever you want to use. Since you're on an extended assignment, I think it would be good for you to have some sort of quarters on the grounds. At this point, I can offer you a guest room in the main house or one of the log cabins on the grounds. Kaden and Jessie have a cabin here, I think, so there wouldn't be probably much difficulty either way in having you around some sort of familiar face. Of course, you know you aren't forced to stay, but sometimes, as you're finding out, it's just plain easier that way. Did you bring any sort of a bag with you today?"

Kaden nodded at Robert " I'll be right here for her all night" he said and heard him mention a slep spell " I'll only use it if its the last resort" he told him prefering to have her soothed by some one she knows.

Ruby smiled and nodded "Great" she said and was about to move but heard him continue. " um..I'll just have a room, if thats okay and well no, but I can get stuff from diagon alley so don't worry" she told him " oh I get up early to run I like the morning sunrise, hope I won't disterb too may people." she told him. Moving to the walk in she removed several berrys and fruits, She added ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice, ⅓ cup packed brown sugar, ½ teaspoon grated orange zest, ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 cups cubed fresh pineapple, 4 cups strawberries(extra for Abby), hulled and sliced, 3 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced, 3 bananas, sliced, 2 oranges, peeled and sectioned, 1 cup seedless grapes and 2 cups blueberries. "ensalada de frutas perfecta" she said and looking at Angus as he made the cinnamon rolls. " so who taught you to cook?" sher asked

"Thank you. I appreciate that," Robert said. "i'm going to drop in on Marcus and make sure he's alright, and then I'll probably shower off the dungeon dust and, before I got to sleep, I'll go get some of the late supper in the dining room before its all gone." He left Khaat in Kaden's hands and went to see Marcus

"We have plenty of people here who have lots of clothes. I'm sure we can find you something for tonight," Angus told Ruby as he assembled a huge batch of dough for the cinnamon rolls. He listened to her talk about running in the mornings, and it made him laugh. "Well, you won't be waking anyone up here. Robert designs all our trainings, and a morning run is mandatory for all team members. He doesn't exempt himself from that either, and no one seems to work harder at keeping up with fitness than he does. I've worked for him for years, and no matter how early I get up, he almost always is up first and has been out on his run and is just getting back when I get started in the morning. The man is a chronic insomniac, so he runs at the weirdest hours--probably because the weird hours is the only time he really gets to do it. You'll see everyone up and about at or before daybreak.

"So you know, there's a workout room in the basement, and we all have memberships to the St. Mungos gym. Robert designed that gym, and he updated the auror's training room at the Ministry while he was Minister. The estate here has a great running course, and it's well marked and well lit. There's an obstacle course too, but you might want to wait on that one until you're a bit more familiar."

He plunged into kneading the huge doughball by hand until it was silky smooth, and then he rolled it out and put in his signature mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and spices and then rolled the dough back up again for it to rise overnight. He wasn't satisfied until the dough was in a huge snake shape about five or six inches in diameter. Then he covered it with clean towels and put it on the counter to rise.

"My gran taught me how to cook, actually," Angus answered her. "My mum and dad weren't around all that much, so it was actually my grandfather and my gran that did most of the raising. And its' just as well. I didn't have much in common with either of my parents anyway. My gran was a really good Scottish cook, and she was taught by both her grans. One was Scottish, and the other was Irish. And then, when she and my grandfather moved to Italy, she was taught Italian cooking by some local Italian women who were part of a ladies' group at a local muggle church. They thought my gran was just a lovely lady that had a big garden, and they thought my grandfather was a retired chemist. And my grandparents just let them continue to believe it. Anyway, my Scottish gran learned Irish and Italian cooking, so I learned all sorts of cooking. Not to mention the years I lived in America with Brian and then in France. So my cooking style is sort of an eclectic mix of things.

"There. That's done. That will make some good sized rolls in the morning," he said. "And your fruit salad looks great. There won't be much of that left, I can tell you. We'll serve it alongside some eggs and bacon. They won't need potatoes tomorrow with the cinnamon rolls. I've tried that, but the potatoes get left behind because everyone's grabbing the rolls."

Robert made his way down to the kitchen, showered, changed and in jeans.

"Did you lot leave me anything to eat?" he asked.

"I think Kate made sure of it," Angus laughed. "She's still in the dining room, I think. Robert, is there any problem with my borrowing a pair of pajamas and a change of clothes for Ruby? Since she's going to be with our team awhile, she's going to need a room and some things."

"No problem," Robert waved his concerns aside. "You know where her closet is and how she organizes it. I just passed Abbey's room, and Brian is out like a light on Abbey's bed beside her. So you'll just have to help yourself tonight."

"Will do. Thanks," Angus said, as Robert made his way past into the dining room. "When we finish in here, we'll stop up and slip into her closet and see what we can find and then I'll show you your room."

Ruby listened to him explain about the running and chuckled as he explained about the early running of Robert " guess its the best time of day." she said smiling as she watched him " those will be great, and I agree the rolls will be filling enough, too much starch isn't good." she heard him talk about who taught him to cook and sighed "Your gran sounds like a wonderful woman to me, to have taught you so many diverse recipys." she looked up as Robert spoke to ask if he ahd a plate of food for him. She looked at Angus as he spoke of clean clothes and a pair of PJ's for her to change into. " you didn't have to ask, but.. thank you." she told him.

Jack finished his food and sat back on his chair he smiled seeing Robert enter but it was Jessie who spoke up " how is she?" he asked as he had a second bowl of the soup and some bread. Jess looked for Kaden as she stood up.

"Kaden staying with her?" she asked " i'll let him know if he needs a break I can tke over for a while." she said to Robert Jack stopped her moving.

"not before you look after me." he said and she chuckled.

"oh your such a baby" she said and he laughed " its just a minor bruise."

"My gran really was a wonderful woman. Her name was Caprice, and she was like Kate, in her own way. My grandfather has always had such a dangerous job, and my gran just took it all in stride, no matter what came. It left a huge hole in his heart when she passed years ago. He had retired from all the werewolf hunting, but after she died, he got pressed into taking it up again--pretty much because of James and nutters that either followed him or wanted to be like him. We've had one hell of a surge in people being turned to werewolves lately. I don't need ministry statistics to tell me that. I've seen these new wolves for myself.

"I already knew his answer, so it was just more of a courtesy sort of thing to ask," Angus shrugged, waving her concern aside about asking Robert for clothes. "I mean, the woman has a huge walk in closet, and she's more or less got a dressing room built into it. Nobody's going to care if we borrow a few things, and least of all her. She truly won't care, believe me. Shall we go invade the wardrobe department?" he asked her.

"She's alright," Robert said to those in the dining room. Kate motioned for hi to sit, and she got up and fixed him a plate. "And so is Marcus. No broken bones for either of them. Just cuts and bruises. And really weird mix of muggle meds in Khaat's system. No wonder she was more out of it than not. She's asleep, and I think Marcus was going to go over and check on her and then head to bed himself. And yes, Kaden is staying with her so I made sure to tell Marcus not to stay up all night with her. Thanks, Jess, I appreciate your help. Oh, and by the way, so you all know, I'm going to Paris to talk with the Minister of Magic there in the morning, so I won't be here for awhile to look after her. I'm going to need to depend on you and Kaden tomorrow morning for awhile. I'm sure Brian has duties here and maybe with the aurors tomorrow. I'm not sure. But i left detailed instructions written down in her room. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Do you really need to go to Paris?" Kate asked him.

"Yes, indeed. After what we saw and experienced tonight? Absolutely. I probably should have gone tonight. I sent a floo message to Owens and asked him to have a stealth crew simply keep an eye on the lodge property. I don't want them to go onto the property or be seen. I only want them to do surveillance."

"Was it that bad?" Kate asked.

"Yes," he replied as she put a plate in front of him. "I shan't bother tellling you the details while I'm eating. That's enough to shut down the strongest appetite."

Ruby chuckled at Angus discription of Khaats wardrobe " I tend to only have the necessities" she said taking out her toothbrush from her pocket " I shrunk it" she said chukaling again " alright, but just a pair of trousers a shirt and some pj's." she said waiting for him to lead the way.

Jack held Jess tight against him " hes not wrong there" he said looking at Kate. " that place needs shutting down and soon" he said and looked at Jess " I am glad you wern't there." he told her.

"I've shrunken my own toothbrush a time or two myself," Angus laughed, "but we do keep all sorts of extras on hand because we have sudden guests all the time, so if that miniature toothbrush disappears, we have more. Come on. Come with me, and we'll invade the princess's boudoir." He led her upstairs to the master bedroom, and he saw the door ajar. He cracked it slightly and saw Kaden there and Marcus. Marcus was just checking on her.

"Knock knock," Angus said quietly. "Ruby's staying with us, so we've come to raid the royal boudoir for some jammies and a change for tomorrow."

"I can help you there," Marcus said. "She's got some new things that haven't been sorted yet. And she's got a bloody big stack of more jeans."

"More jeans? Lord, she's got a bezillion pairs already."

"Apparently not like these," Marcus laughed. "You know how she is. She tries to blooming hard to look perfect. Always afraid of what the press will say about her."

"And the sad truth is that she's right," Angus said. "She ends up in the gossip columns and the agony columns with people wanting to dress like her. God, I'd hate to be under the microscope she gets shoved under."

"Indeed," Marcus agreed, motioning them to follow him. He opened the older french doors that had once closed her normal sized closet but now closed an enchanted walk in closet. Everything was properly sized and sorted by color and by item. Blouses with blouses, dresses with dresses, dress trousers were by themselves. There was a separate rod for evening gowns. A floor to ceiling stack of bins held neatly folded pairs of jeans. Drawers held lingerie, pajamas, socks, and all sorts of other things, and then there were drawers of scarves and shawls and all sorts of accessories. Hats and shoes and handbags were properly sorted and shelved and organized. Costume jewelry and the lesser expensive good jewelry was in a dresser all its own. Her vanity held the brushes, hairpins, ribbons, barrettes, perfumes, cosmetics. And there, cast haphazardly on an upholstered bench was a scattered array of boxes with clothes all cast asunder--new jeans and tops, a couple of summer shawls, some sandals, and several boxes of summer stilettos.

"You gonna let her have those heels?" Angus looked at Marcus.

"Nope," he replied. "Those are coming with me yet tonight."

Robert finished his plate and volunteered to help Kate clear the dining room and do the washing up.

"No, my dear," she said, caressing his cheek as she picked up his plate and walked behind him to take his plate to the kitchen. "I have a feeling by what you're not saying that we should be very grateful that you're all back safe and sound." He reached up and squeezed her hand momentarily but did not reply.

Ruby followed Angus and listened to him talk " guess that does help, but Im more of a simple type no fuss no muss." she said as they entered Khaats room she smiled at Marcus as he spoke to Angus who she could tell seemed relaxed around her more now. " wow, you wern't kidding" she said seeing all the clothes. " I could fit my bedroom back home in here three times over" she said moved around and looked at everything. When heels were mentioned she screwed up her face. " as I said to Angus im simple in clothing so I don't wear jewlery, too identifyable when out on missions." she said to Marcus " you should know that." she gathered a pair of jeans a new pair of underwear and a simple tee along with a pair of light blue silk pjs.

Kaden sat watching and saying nothing he touched Khaats hand and checked Khaat he found her sleeping deeply but her vitals steady. " try that light blue shirt, I think its one of Angus that got mixed in" he said Ruby picked it up and looked at it.

"only if he dosn't mind." she said looking at him " do you?" she held the shirt against her.

"Yes, well, you see that narrow door over there on the left? If it's a pair of trainers you want, open that. There's a floor to ceiling spinning rack of just trainers alone. Every color and style for just about every purpose," Marcus told her. He listened to her discussion of mission wear.

"Well if its mission wear you want, you're in the wrong closet altogether. She might have a little mission wear here, but most of it is downstairs with everyone else's. The mission wear for the team is all kept in the team's equipment room in the basement beside the armory. Oh, and I think there are a pair of silk slippers that match those pajamas in with the other slippers. She tells me they're enchanted to soothe away aching feet, but I'm not sure if she's serious about that. You're welcome to try them," Marcus said.

"Well, I hear those stilettos she likes are miserable things to actually wear, so if anyone would deserve to have enchanted slippers, it should certainly be someone who feel she has to wear the world's worst shoes," Angus teased.

"Oh, I guess that is mine," Angus said, recognizing the shirt. "No, I don't care. Going to be pretty oversized on you but help yourself since it's freshly laundered. Do you need some workout clothes, if you're going running? That's just to the left of the jeans that are all properly put away. The top drawers hold the workout tees and sweatshirts, and the bottom drawers hold all the workout shorts and trousers."

"She's joining the morning run?" Marcus asked.

"Well, I don't know exactly. She said she runs in the mornings, and I told her we're all required to so she might as well join either them or me or Robert, actually," Angus said.

"Robert runs at about 4 am," Marcus said. "Angus usually starts out between 4:30 and 4:45, and the rest of the crew generally start out together at about 5:30 and get back just in time for breakfast. I'm sure you're welcome to go with any of them. My own running time has always rather depended on what Khaat's schedule is but you're welcome to go with me too. Whatever works for you."