LONDON CALLING

Ruby looked at the clothes and took out some leggins and a work out top placing them with the shirt and jeans. Walking over she saw a simple pair of trainners and placed them with it. On hearing them talking she turned to look at them both "Thats fine, but I will be joining Angus for a run, if thats all right." she asked picking up the clothing she had gathered in her arms. "I just hope you can keep up." she said with a smirk but then looked at Khaat.

Kaden chuckled and looked at Ruby " I thinking you might not keep up with him." he said then looked at Marcus " I might take you up on that run while Jessie sleeps in a little, the excersise will help me sleep better." Ruby looked from one man to the other.

"that assault course, how hard is it?" she asked " I know my bro still hasn't mentioned it to me so Im guessing hes not finished it yet?" she asked knowing that was exactly why he'd not mentioned it Now she looked at her watch and saw the time.

"well if we're going for that run, its only half anhour away" she told them" I realy should shower and change." she saw the slippers and picked them up placing them ontop of the PJ's.

"You're welcome to join the run any time, Kaden, but don't tell her everything," Angus laughed as Kaden said she might have trouble keeping up with him. "Let her find out for herself like the rest of us found out." He looked at her when she asked about the course. "The obstacle course is designed to be challenging for our most advanced fighters," Angus said. "Robert continues to up the challenges all the time so it doesn't get stale, and he doesn't always tell us when he does so sometimes we head out to run the course and end up being surprised. Even so, even with all the training we've had, it still isn't a good idea for one to run the course alone. It something you should only take a partner on because parts of it can be dangerous. I think we should start with the run. Let me show you your room, so you can change, but you might want to wait on that shower until you finish your run because you're going to want to shower after your run anyway. But you do what you like. Thanks, Marcus. We'll see you later."

He took Ruby down the hallway and showed her a room that was a couple doors down from Robert and Kate's on the other side of the hall. It was one of the first available ones since there were others here already, like Gabe and Mira and Michael. This room was done, like the rest of the house, in southwestern decor. The walls were a deerskin colored stucco, and the fabrics were a beautiful shade of turquoise, set off by tasteful pops of fushia and orange. Like the rest of the house it looked somehow warm and friendly and relaxing all at the same time.

"Almost all the guest rooms have ensuite baths. Yours is there," he pointed to the door on the far left, near the window. "The closet is the first door on the left. I think you'll find everything you need between the closet and the bathroom, but if there's something else you need, just ask. Our supply closet is abundant. Alright, I'm going to go down and put on the coffee and the tea and get the egg casserole put together and in the oven. I'll see you downstairs in a bit." He left her there, stopped to change into his running clothes and then went down to the kitchen.

Ruby listened to Angus explain the obstical course and decided not to touch it untill she was a lot more perficiant. " ok well I'll change and join you." she said before he left she lifted on her tippy toes and light kissed his cheek " thank you , for today." she said and headed into the room closing the door behind her. Quickly changing into her leggins and top she slipped on her trainners and headed down to the kitchen.

"So you ready to run?" she asked watching him make the egg casserole as she stood by a stool and waited. " from what I've seen the views around here are quiet breath taking." She started to do streches to warm up her muscles read for her run.

"They are. From here, everything you can see is part of the estate. Be careful if you walk the estate by yourself. There are some very sharp cliffs and drop offs on the northwestern corner. If you make friends with Archangel, he's a fine companion if you go walking. He's Khaat's eagle. She uses an eagle instead of an owl. Kate has the ability to speak to birds of prey, so she trained up Archangel to do owl duties and to be a companion..." He was interrupted by a host of barking, and a moment later Michael's footstool puppies burst into the room, loud and carrying on, and most of them piddling on the floor from excitement. And coming in, albeit it a bit later, was Otto and Faline.

"Oh, lord, someone let the dogs loose before they took them outside," Angus sighed. "Ruby, meet Michael's dogs. The plaid bloke is Otto. He's the dad of that litter, and the little ruffled chintz one is Faline. She's the mum. I'm sure you don't see footstool dogs everyday. But don't tell them they're footstools. They think they're cocker spaniels...." And before he could finish, there came dashing into the room a little labrador pup. "Oh, bloody hell," he cursed. "Now I know who let the dogs out early. Good morning, Abbey," he sighed, frustrated. "Does Papa know you're wearing fur this morning? I bet he doesn't, does he?"

Ruby froze as she heard dogs but laughed as she saw foot stools bounding about like dogs and puppys. " oh lord no, this is definaly a first, there cute but not for me" she paused and saw a little labrador puppy run in and Angus speaking to it. It was then it dawned on her and she smiled " Abby?" she asked walking over to her. "Hey Abby, im Ruby, i think you were asleep when I arrived, " she said kneeling at the puppys level. Ruby looked up at Angus and smiled "Shes an animagnus, thats rare for some one this young." she said " won't that mean Brian is awake too?" she stood up and looked in the direction she had come.

Jess had heard the noise and come down to see what it was all about. " okay Abby its not time you were up, and the dogs need to go outside, but not you." she said and picked up Abby. " okay we need to get her dad to change her back."

"Well, normally, when Michael's with us, the dogs have been out before bed, but evidently we missed that before we all turned in last night," Angus laughed, getting out the paper towels to clean up the mess.

"And yes, that is Abbey. She's not an animagus exactly. She's actually a metamorphmagus. Inherited it from her bio dad. Brian is her adoptive dad. Khaat is definitely her real mum, but her first husband--the tosser extraordinaire--is Abbey's sperm donor, and he's a metamorph. And that's about the nicest thing I can say about him. He was one of England's biggest criminals, we found out. So far as I'm concerned, though, Brian is her real dad in every way that counts. But it's hard to say if he's awake yet. Abbey has a clear mind of her own, and she could well have dashed off from her room and left him sleeping.

"You're right, though. It's rare for someone her age to start showing magic, but she does. In Kate's line, the magic shows early, and all the women tend to be seers. Abbey seems to have that ability too, in a limited degree, but still more than for your average three year old," he said.

The puppy seemed to like Ruby and greeted her with all sorts of puppy excitement, including tail wagging and much wiggling.

"She likes you," Angus laughed. "Robert is the one who manages to sort her out, Jess, but I don't know if he's still here or not. He was buggering off to Paris bright and early. If he's not here, she'll have to 'wear her fur' til he gets back, I suppose," Angus said.

"Jess, I just stuck the egg casserole in the oven. It needs to bake for about 35 minutes. The cinnamon rolls are in both of the large convection ovens--two sheets in each oven, and there are four more sheets of them to go in. They bake for about 20 minutes. The glaze is in the piping bag in the bowl on the counter so it warms up a little before we pipe it. Ruby made the fruit salad last night, and the tea and coffee are already brewing. Haven't set the sideboard up yet, though. If Ruby and I take a shorter run, can you handle the ovens? I imagine Kate will be down shortly to help."

Ruby grabbed some cleaning rags and began cleaning up from the dogs with Angus as she listened to him tell her about Abby's father "oh, I heard about him, Robert Dent, his names crossed my desk a few times, yeah right scumbag, sorry Abby, but your adoptive daddy is way better." she said finishing up some pee she'd seen on the floor. Standing up she looked at Abby and chuckled " you know I think theres still a bowl of fruit salad in the fridge." she said softly to Abby. " but you can't eat it with out fingers." she wiggled her own to show her.

Jess stood holding puppy Abby that changed to a happy giggly human Abby. Jess handed her to Ruby who wlked to the kitchen and took out the bowl. " here you go." she said and sat her in her high chair. " its all yours." she looked up at the pair of them and smiled "what, worked didn't it, and we didn't need Robert ether." she said chuckaling.

"Yeah. That's him," Angus said. "Biggest black market potions dealer in England--of all time, I might mention. And he never told Khaat he had a dark side before or while they were married. She only found out after Abbey was born. And at the time, she was in the critical care unit at St. Mungos. She nearly died during Abbey's birth. Robert didn't hesitate to bust his son-in-law and saw him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. All of Rob's English assets were awarded to Khaat for his complete abandonment of her and his child. So he buggared off to the continent and ended up fathering a passel of children with some countess, or so I heard. Complete loser. The only time he saw Abbey was right after her birth. Hasn't seen her since or even tried to contact Khaat to ask about her. We've had no contact from him at all. And my opinion is that he's better off."

"I'm for anything that works. Well, let's go dash off for a short run before the others come down for breakfast," he said to Ruby. "We'll be back shortly, Jess! Good luck with the dogs." He headed out the back door, figuring Ruby would follow. He pointed her in the direction of the trail just to indicate to her which way they were going and then he started out at an easy pace. They weren't trying to finish a time trial. They were only going on a leisurely morning run, after all.

Ruby handed Abby back to Jess and nodded " yeah what a loser, I had to sit in on that , it was required since it was a high profile case." she said moving with him to the door and out side " that breeze feels good" she said and started her run along side him. Her pace was steady as she ran her breathing never faultering. she paused once to take in a view but thencaught up to him " it is beautiful here." she said continuing her run " so diferent from where Jessie and I grew up, thats was all dust and cacti" she continued her run making it all the way back to the farm.

Jess fed the pups and let them settle back down setting Abby at the low coffee table with some crayons to draw with while she looked on. She was glad every one was back and safe.

"You should have seen his potions lab. Nasty business, that. I went with Robert and Jack, I think, and we tore the place to bits, and destroyed every bottle of swill we found, and set the whole business on fire. We still try to keep an eye on that location because we know what a prime location Rob told all the underworld that it was. We don't want to give anyone the opportunity to set up shop there again.

Well, I am rather fond of dust and cacti too," he laughed. "Brian has an estate in Colorado in the mountains, and we go there in all sorts of weather for training. Robert does some intense survival trainings, and those are normally there, partly because there are so many more weather extremes there, and partly because we know this estate so well that it wouldn't quite as much of a survival challenge here--much like camping out in your backyard as a kid. Brian is a huge enthusiast for southwestern art and authentic Native American art. He has often traveled to the southwest to some rather exclusive auctions or gone to the tribes themselves. He donates regularly to the tribes to combat some of the chronic problems with the tribes--poor infrastructure, poverty, no industry to speak of, unemployment, poor health care. The list goes on and on. It doesn't solve things, of course, but they do appreciate that he remembers them every month. He treats them well, and in their own ways, they treat him well too. Khaat has often wanted to go with him on one of those buying trips but he hasn't gone since he took her and Abbey in.

"See those orange marks here and there? Guide marks for the obstacle course. The marks are a sort of code that guide the runner to the next code mark. Some of them instruct the runner what the obstacle actually is. I can teach you the marks so that when Robert says your ready to try any part of it, you can read the code.

"So, when you're not running or working? What are you doing with yourself? What's your idea of fun?"