LONDON CALLING

"Good," Kate said to Ruby. "Not that everyone isn't welcome to stay here because, of course, they are. But I think everyone wants to be back home in their own rooms around their own things. Makes complete sense to me." She saw Ruby had rescued Angus' buried diploma and she listened to Ruby's suggestion of posting it in the kitchen. "I think that's a fine idea. Or, perhaps in the new office he'll have. It's a bit of an addition to the kitchen, it's the new room off the pantry, before you get to the walk in fridge and freezer. Angus has always had to use Brian's office to do all his paperwork ,and not that he isn't welcome to continue to do that, but as the manager of everything we own and everything Khaat and Brian own, Brian thought Angus certainly deserved his own office. He hasn't told Angus yet, but he has some really wonderful southwestern art pieces and furnishings to decorate it. It will be a really comfortable and inviting space for him to do his paperwork in. It might be just the thing to hang in a place of honor right behind his desk."

"Ruby," Kate said. "Here." She got down an enchanted crystal pitcher and filled it with ice water. She set it on the tray and added a matching glass. "This will keep the ice water cold for hours and hours. Then he can have either hot tea or cold water, whatever he's in the mood for. There are a few of these pitchers and glasses up here in the little cabinet above the fridge. Help yourself if you need one. I've been planning on ordering several for Brian's place."

"Oh, and thank you for finding a certain toy who shall go nameless because of little ears that could very well be nearby for all I know. She's just been beside herself without him, and she'll be overjoyed to get him back. Thank you."

Ruby smiled and nodded " oh, that will be perfect for him." she said watching as Kate got out an enchanted pitcher and explained ther ewere more and she was going to get some for Brian and Khaats new home " I think thats a great idea, I can order some once they say everything is ready." Ruby said " Not a problem and yeah he was under a bush she must have dropped him there when she was picked up." Ruby filled the pitcher and watched the water go cold on the outside.

She heard Kate mention the furniture Brian had got Angus for his office and she nodded " That would finish the room perfectly and he'd love it Im sure." she said smiling " I was also thinking of some profeshional equipment to go with the walk in fridge freezer and maybe a tapastry for the wall, of course keeping with the southwestern theme." Ruby finished the tray and looked at Kate. " with Khaat and Brian's permishion."

Picking up the tray she ehaded up the stairs to their room and gently pushed open the door " hey I bring tea and water." she said softly placing the tray down on the nightstand and pored a glas from the pitcher. Sitting next to him she offered the glass to him " you need me to help?" she asked

"Brian has always wanted his home to be a safe haven, a place where his friends felt at home. When he built that house, he never expected that he would fall in love and get married, and it never entered his head it would be with the girl that was his very best friend from childhood. It didn't surprise Robert or me one little bit, but Brian has said right from the outset that he wanted his friends to be able to put their stamp on it and, so long as what they did, they did out of family and out of love, he would gladly welcome it. Remember, he had no biological family from the time he was eight. His brother and his sister were students at Hogwarts, and he had no one--no one but Robert and me and Khaat and Remus. He has grown up knowing that friends would be his family. So, he's going to agree to whatever you want to do with that space so long as it continues the house décor and as long as it is efficient for Angus and pleases him. He'll be glad to see Angus getting a sense of some sort of roots and permanency. I can ask him if you like, but i already know what he's going to say. You aren't going to have a problem."

Angus was upstairs listening to the quiet and wondering how the wolf had gotten to England in the first place and why, when he heard Ruby come in.

"Bless you," he said, glad to see both the tea and the water. "I would love a ew sips of water, and then I really would like a bit of the tea. Thank you for thinking of it. I really do owe you an apology. I honestly only was out for my usual run. I never expected anything like it.

"I dropped my blinking wand out there somewhere but I have no idea where. It all happened too fast. One moment I was doing my run, and the next minute I was on the ground with a wild animal chewing on me like I was his breakfast. I couldn't find my stupid wand.

"But I managed to lay my hand on a rock. So I clubbed him in the head with it. Took me a three or four hits with one hand to get him off me, but I didn't have the strength to kill him. And I knew I was losing too much blood to try to pursue him unarmed, so I came back to the house. There could be more to it than that, but I honestly don't remember. It's fuzzy."

"I expect wild and weird stuff to happen at Brian's partly because its so bloody big. But here? At Robert's? No way. Its so much smaller and it's so well protected--or at least it has been. I'll figure it out, Ruby. Whatever the heck is going on, I'll get to the bottom of it so it can be safe again. Until then, don't go running outside. It isn't safe. your training in place of the running for now. And make sure you take someone with you if you go outside here at all. We've had to been infiltrated somehow for them to get a wolf that doesn't exist in England onto this property. So we don't know if there are other intruders here or not. We really do need to be in lockdown here so if there is another intruder they can't get into the farmhouse. They're not thinking of it because this house has never been in lockdown before, but if we were back at Brian's it would have already happened."

"Sorry," he sighed. "I'm rambling. It's just that none of this makes any sense."

Ruby sat listening to him and helpped him take a drink of the cool water she listened to him talk of what happened and she gently held his hand " thats why Jack and Brian are out hunting the wolf, they agreed it was strange a wolf like that would be here, there not native to this area, so Jack took brian and there out looking for it Im sure they will find your wand too." she told him " oh and the graonds man at the house said to get better and stop worrying, everything is on traget, they brought some extra men in to cover the grounds, Im going back later just to confirm a few things with them, I can ask them to make sure to lock down the area and strengthen the protection spells too." she smiled to him " now stop worrying and rest." everyone is working like a well oiled machine. Jess has the barn animals fed and cleaned evry morning, Jack patrols the perimiters with Jessie and , is taking care of that wolf, Jessie is sleeping for the moment ready for the next patrol, I have had my first trainning day with Owens, confirmed that the new house is on scedual and found a lost animal of Abbys" she smirked " or as Kate said he whos name we shall not say for little ears." she lent closer to him and whispered the last part, so all you need to do is relax, oh and please let Nigel know if your in pain both Edward and I worry about you." turning to face the tray she pored out a cup of ginger tea and held it to him. " Ginger tea, good for healing, helps you imune system too."

"I'm glad they're on it. I won't go so far as to say they're not sharp but I will say that sometimes I have be pretty daggone direct with them to get them to follow through with what seems to me to be a legitimate concern. Thank them for me. It sounds like its pretty much as good as it gets. And you found Abbey's toy? Let me guess--BooBoo Kitty. We really might as well stitch him to her. She can't sleep or do much of anything right now without him. She might actually go to be in her own bed tonight, without being bribed by someone to stay in her own."

He sipped on the water and then switched over to the tea.

"Bless you. I was so thirsty. Ruby, i'm considering asking Edwardif he wants one of the cabins at the estate. He values his privacy, and I don't know he'll get it with Evan being such a complete dolt. If he's here, hes' going to be a lot harder for Evan or my parents to get to to harass him. What do you think?

Ruby sat and listened to him talk and chuckled " agreed, and yes I found boo-boo kitty, hes washing as we speak as I found him under a bush." she said then she listened to Angus talk of a cabin for Edward and nodded " from what I've seen of Evan he certainly won't , I personaly would love to have him close by, but its his choice..I think we should ask him." she said.

Jack moved down a path following the smell of blood. He paused seeing soemthing on the ground not far away from them " you see that?" he asked " looks like a wand, were in the right place." he said to Brian " you think its Angus or the person who let the wolf loose?" he asked loking around to make sure they would not be attacked.

"Well, Edward isn't intimidated by much of anything, so he isn't going to be manipulated out of his own home, although Evan would like to find a way to shove Edward out of the big house and put him in a retirement home. I think Tyler and I are the only ones who aren't trying to force him out of his own home and out of his money. And its 100% about the money, you can be sure of that.

"Edward says that the main house is just too big for him anymore. He does have a three staff people that live in the servants quarters. Rosaria and Sergio. Rosaria is the housekeeper does all the cooking and cleaning and laundry and whatnot. Her husband, Sergio, is technically the butler, but Edward rather resents having anyone dress him or undress him, so he's a bit untraditional. Sergio basically does maintenance man tasks, manages all the purchasing and a hundred other things for the main house, and then there's Lucio. He is the groundskeeper, and he takes care of the lawn, all the trees and the flowers, cleans the pool, and all of that sort of outside work. Edward has a large garden and a greenhouse for potions ingredients, and Sergio and Lucio both help with that. But other than that, he's alone in the house.

"Edward enjoys spending time here because nobody is trying to swindle him out of anything. He is with like-minded people here that he can have endless intelligent conversation with, and they like him just for who he is and not for his stupid bank accounts. When he gets frustrated, he says he just wants a little log cabin where he can hunt and fish and paint and sketch and be at peace. So, why shouldn't I give him that place? It isn't as if Brian would stop me. I think the folks here would like to have Edward around more often too. Maybe if I can come up with a bit of a design, Brian might help me build it. And I bet Kate would do some of her amazing stained glass windows for it.

"Maybe, we should make it as a duplex--part for Edward and part for us. I know there are times I really do need to be staying in the main house, but there are times I could be in a house on the grounds. Sort of like Jess and Jack do, floating back and forth. I'm thinking it would be a great thing to be able to have a bit more privacy to be starting a family--or maybe just practicing to start a family." He flashed her a bit of a smile.

Brian looked at the wand Jack and found. It was a well used wand, but it had some new scratches.

"It's definitely Angus's. I'd know it anywhere. Looks like he might have tried to defend himself but he either lost it or it got knocked out of his hand," Brian said. "Looks like a lot of blood in one spot. And I can't tell if it's all Angus's or if some of it is the wolf's too. Wait, that rock over there, the one that's shaped like an oversized bread roll. Is that more blood too? Suppose Angus hit his head? Or did he whack the wolf with a rock?"

Ruby listened to Angus talk about Edward and how the others wanted him in a home "No way is he ever going in one of those places" she said then listened more to what he had to say even mentioning a duplex, she smiled and nodded " I think thats a grand idea." she said she smiled when he mentioned starting a family and nodded " I understand and agree, I think Edward would love to be right beside his gran children, and I would love that too." she said smiling.

Jack moved to the stone and picked it up " wolf blood, looks like he hit it hard" he said turning it over in his palm. Placing it down he looked around " there, another pool." he moved to where he saw it and touched it " still warm, its not long left here." he said and looked to the tree trunks. " that way" he pointed to one that had scratches taken out of it.

"Think of it. These will be great grandchildren to him. though. They won't be his first. The truth is he already has 6 children, 21 grandchildren, 57 great grandchildren. Most of them he rarely sees, quite honestly. It would be nice for him to have a great grandchild or two or twelve that he could get to know and spend time with. He has so much wisdom that he needs to be able to pass it on. There's something sad in the fact that out of the 21 of us grandchildren, there are really only two of us that have any sort of positive relationship with him--Tyler and me. And Tyler is decent, he's just sort of a wet dishrag--excessively introverted. Not a lot of courage, that one, but he does have a good heart, and he's one of the hardest working fellows you'd ever meet. I'll talk to Brian and to Edward and see what they tell me.

"Question, though. If we do get married someday, do I have to invite any of my blood family other than Edward and maybe Tyler? I'd much rather either just invite this family we have right here--or elope. Flat out.

Brian took Jack's word for it that he somehow knew the difference between human blood and wolf blood. It all looked the same to Brian. So far as Brian was concerned, one red puddle looked like another.

"So, he definitely caused some damage, then. Is that what you're saying?" Brian asked. He followed Jack and was starting to see some tracks too. And then the tracks seemed to take an abrupt turn to the right. Brian followed it, and the tracks turned into some streaks.

"Drag marks," Brian said. "Someone or something else was here, and they dragged what I can only presume is the wolf Angus wounded. And they went off that way." He pointed. He pushed through some underbrush to where he thought for sure they would find the wolf lying, and while there was another little puddle of blood, the wolf was just completely gone, and the trail just abruptly stopped completely.

"It's like he just vanished," Brian frowned. He looked up at Jack. "I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like something dragged the wolf off and then just apparated out with it. And if that's the case, we're not safe here either. If we're right, we've been breeched here too. We might not be safe at either place or in Paris. Our options might be becoming a bit limited."

Ruby listened more and gasped at the amount of people in his family. When he mentioned if they were to marry she took holod of his hand and smiled "You invite who you want there, its not like I'll have anyone but Jessie from my side, but I do like the idea of having just the family we have here...or elope, but I think if we did that Kate and the others might have our heads. " she said with a chuckle.

Jack followed brian seeing the tracks then how they changed to drag marks he followed Brian then paused as he saw the pool in trampled down grass. Moving over he scruntched his nose. " yep I agree." he said now standing up from where he'd crouched and looked around. " I smell a faint burnt smell, its what I always smell after aperation." he told him looking around the clearing for any clue but came up empty. " we should get back and let Robert know, quietly." he said