LONDON CALLING

"We wouldn't let him participate," Angus laughed. "After all, somebody needs to be the judge."

"And which one of us is the executive chef, Mate?" Michael taunted him. "You shouldn't be all owed to participate either."

"Fair enough," Angus shrugged. "So if we were to do this, what would the winner get, besides bragging rights?"

"How about you and I cook their favorite meal, anything they want?" Michael asked.

"That could work," Angus said. "Now, Ruby, to finish the ice cream you leave it in the freezer until the freezer stops churning it. When the churning stops, you take the dasher out so it doesn't freeze down in the ice cream, make sure to put the air tight lid on the container and tuck it in the walk in freezer so it can finish firming up between now and dessert. I'm guessing the freezer will churn for maybe 20 minutes or so."

"Did you ever make ice cream in an old fashioned freezer?" Michael asked. "With a hand crank?"

"God, yes," Angus laughed. "That's one of those things you invite the whole neighborhood for because you have to constantly crank that handle for nigh onto half an hour before it's firm enough to take out of the freezer. It takes everybody you know to help do some of that cranking, particularly the last five minutes or so when its getting stiff and hard to turn."

"Exactly," Michael laughed. "And it takes a boatload of ice and salt to keep it cold enough to freeze."

"Yep. Been there, done that. These countertop models are pure genius if you ask me, even though it is a muggle thing."

"Yes, but I've also used a bit of a charm here and there to make a gallon or so of it."

"I have too, but there's something in doing it the muggle way that produces a much silkier and creamier texture. The charm doesn't always get it right. I agree with Kate when she says that fixing food of any kind needs to be done by hand. Conjured food is completely tasteless compared with doing it yourself."

"So you don't want your wedding feast conjured, then," Michael teased.

"I told Ruby that if we ever got married we should just elope," Angus said.

"And we'd all form a posse and track you two down and make you do it again so you could do it right," Michael said. "If you really want to do something special, Ruby, you should ask Kate if you could borrow her wedding gown. It was absolutely stunning. It was an antique Edwardian gown that was 100% Irish lace that was completely hand crocheted, and it had an Irish lace cathedral length veil. She was breathtaking that day."

"I think I've seen their wedding album somewhere. Didn't they do it in complete Edwardian style?"

"They did indeed," Michael said. "We groomsmen all had Edwardian tailcoats and wingtip collars, and top hats."

"I've seen pictures of a wedding breakfast too. Was it that early in the morning?"

"No, no, my boy. Edwardians traditionally served a lavish champagne brunch in the late morning before the wedding and then took carriages to the church for the afternoon service itself, followed by an elaborate reception. It was an all day affair."

"So they really went very old school, then," Angus said.

"Yes, but they would tell you it was worth every minute," Michael said. "Kate and Roberts' wedding album is in the library, up on the top floor of the tower. You should go look at it sometime, Ruby. In our day, Kate Fawcett was the girl in Gryffindor that the guys all wanted to be seen with. Remus dated her first, you know, and they were quite serious about each other for a long while. You'll see some of the blokes in the wedding photos looking like they're glaring at Robert. I've no doubt some were glaring, probably wondering how a man like Robert managed to land Kate. He was one of the brightest classmates we had, but he was also considered to be somewhat of a nerd. Some of the people we went to school with thought the beauty queen and the nerd was a colossal mismatch."

Ruby listened more to their banter and chuckled. She listened to Angus and when Michael spoke of the hand cranked ice cream maker she sighed and said nothing for the moment, it brought back memories of her mother standing over her tapping a switch(a thin cane) in her hand making sure she turned it properly and didn't slow down. she glanced at Angus hoping he would see it was a sour subjest for her.

Ruby looked at Micahel when he spoke of Kates wedding gown and gave a small smile " sounds lovly, probably better than my mothers monstrosity she kept saying I had to wear, yellow and frilly and lace and sequins all over the place , puffy shoulders and these litle yellow silk flowers all over it." she said cleaning down the surfaces ready to put the ice cream into bowls once done.

Thinking more about it she smiled " I think if we do, I'd like an outside wedding, depending on the weather of course, under the open skys or stars depending on the time of year, It would be simple." she said hoping they would change the subject a little. " Im sorry but this topic kinda reminds me of when my mother tried to arrange my marage to a guy I'd never met, that was when I left, thats what they're like ." she told them

Angus wasn't blind to Ruby's sudden touchy mood. He just decided she perhaps just needed air, and Michael had obviously seen it too. It was little kerfuffles like this that made him insecure in their relationship because it made him feel like he didn't know her at all. One minute they were fine, and the next she was getting touchy and a little icy.

He decided he needed to not cause drama over nothing, that maybe just a momentary time out was all they needed. He was about to go outside for
just one or two minutes of fresh air when he heard an owl at the window. The owl was screeching and tapping, so he went over to the window, opened it, took a message from the owl, and gave the owl a treat before he closed the window again. He opened the message, read it, and put it in his pocket.

"I need some more herbs for the salad," Michael said, not wanting to get involved in anything between Angus and Ruby. He got down Kate's garden trug and a pair of herb scissors and went out to Kate's herb patch.

"I'm going outside for a moment," Angus told Ruby quietly. "I'll be right back." He went outside and, without any sort of word to anyone, he ported out, but not before Robert had seen it. He was coming into the kitchen because he had heard the owl too, but he arrived just in time to see Angus port out.

"Where's he think he's off to, one handed?" Robert asked Ruby. "He'd better not be misbehaving because if he is, I'll kill him, and then Edward and Brian will both kill him, and Nigel will kill whatever is left."

Ruby smiled at Angus to let him know she was fine. Turning she heard the owl and watched him open the window and take the note " all right" she said watching him leave the room to go out side. When Michael walked in and asked where he'd gone Ruby shook her head " I have no idea, I didn't even know he'd left, but maybe we should wait to see if he returns on his own, or we need to fetch him back." she said then sighed " I realy need to sit down and tell him everything about Jessie and I's perents." she said to Micheal moving to a chair she sat down "What I said tonight is the reason I left my perents that and the fact they treat myself and my brothers like slaves, cooking, cleaning, scrubbing floors for me as well as making the beds it was hell micheal, I felt like a seervent only there to do their bidding, when they arranged for gary and I to wed that was it, we both didn't want it, he had a boy freind already, so that night I packed a bag and left, never looked back, went my own way stood on my own two feet, and now...."  she looked at the back door.

(she's talking to Robert, fyi. Michael's outside. Robert was the one who came in--lol)

"Well, we can't very well go after him if we don't know where he went," Robert sighed. "Sounds like you had some good reasons for leaving. You need to know you aren't alone, though in having some emotional scars. I think everyone here has some. You can let your past war wounds bind you closer to the people here, or you can let them tear you apart. It really is a matter of choosing who you are willing to be vulnerable with. In my experience, I've found the team functions much better when they understand each other.

"Remember, we have all sorts of people right now trying to find any reason they can to split us apart. That makes it even more critical for us to be open and honest with each other, with no secrets. Even a small secret, right now, could have drastic consequences," he told her as Michael came back in. "That's why it bothers me that he's apparated out without a word."

"No, Mate," Michael said. "He didn't apparate out. He ported out. There was no wand involved. He reached in his pocket, obviously, for a portkey. He intercepted a message from an owl and then he left."

"Damnit," Robert sighed. "I knew I heard an owl."

"You did," Michael said. "Angus took the message, didn't share it, and buggared out."

"Now I am gonna kill him," Robert sighed.

"Ruby, your ice cream's quit churning. You should get it in the freezer," Michael told her, going to the sink to rinse his herbs.

Ruby heard Robert and nodded " I want to tell Angus about everything they did...everything, but right now thats dificult since hes not here." she said Hearing Michael mention the ice cream she stood up and walked over to stop the machine. Taking out the sturring blades she placed the bucket with teh ice cream in the freezzer to set, hoping she was doing it right and not messing up everything.

She looked at Robert and cleaned up " should we go after him, and I mean me?" she asked " I don't want him to hurt himself." concern now in her voice as she looked at both of them. But the more she thought about it the more she realized she didn't know where he would have gone. " and you did say we were to stay together as pairs."

"Ruby," Robert said to her, "your emotions are getting in your way. Stop and think for one moment. How are you going to go after him if you don't know where he went? He could be anywhere on the planet. And you don't have any way of knowing how many portkeys he has and where they all go to. The worst thing you could do is to go porting off to parts unknown, by yourself, trying to look for him. That would be a perfect time for Gelding or James to lay their hands on you. Then I'd have two of you that I'd have to try to worry about and possibly track down and rescue. I don't think that's a good plan at all.

"For now--and just for the next little bit--I really would like you to get your mind and your hands busy here instead of you running off by yourself. Maybe you could set the dining room sideboard for supper. I'm sure people are getting hungry, and whatever Michael and you have been working in, it smells wonderful. We'll keep a plate for Angus that he can reheat when he gets back.

"I know you're tempted to worry, but even one handed, Angus can outfight most of Gelding's men. He's done it time and time again. And he's trained with his grandfather on how to not get eaten by werewolves. He certainly can keep himself safe."

Ruby looked at Robert and nodded knowing he was right "Your right..I..I guess I just don't want to mess things up between us, I love him, but your right hes a grown man, a grown trained man." she said and gave Robert a light hug " thank you." she said and moved to the dinning room to set the table for supper. she laiedout the plates and bowls including a small one for Abby before heading abck to the kitchen to bake fork buscuits. She placed butter and suger into a bowl and creamed it together then added the flour mixing till it was a dough, then slowly she rolled it into small balls and flattened them with a fork on a sheet tray.

Placing them in a pre heated oven she began cleaning up thinking of other things to make to take her mind off him being away from her. While the buscits were coolikg and after she'd done the cleaning she sat down with a book and started to read.

Michael took the two lasagnas from the oven and cut them into squares and put them in the dining room on the side board. He had cut the square small enough that if someone wanted to try both lasagnas they could, or they could simply take two squares of the one they wanted. He set out the caesar salad and large pitchers of lemonade and iced tea, and he opened a bottle of chianti to put with the lasagnas for those who thought they wanted a good Italian wine.

"I think we're ready whenever people want to eat," Michael told Robert. Robert called everyone for supper, and it didn't take Abbey more than a moment to dash into the dining room. It made Robert laugh.

"You must be hungry," he said. She nodded emphatically.

"Daddy says pizza!" Abbey said.

"And your daddy's wrong," Robert laughed. "But you'll like it anyway. It's great big, gigantic noodles."

"Basketti?" she asked.

"Well, sort of like spaghetti," he nodded. She reached for him to pick her up, and it was frustrating for him to know his hands just didn't work. He wasn't able to pick her up.

"Ruby? Can you lend a hand?" Robert called.

Ruby sert down the book hearing Robert call to her. " of course" she said placing the book down next to her she stood up and lifted Abby into the high chair." there you go" she said smiling as she moved to bring a plate of the lazagna to her " Michael made it so it has to be yummy, and angus and I made Ice cream with fork buciuits for after." she said walking abck to take them out of the oven now golden brown on top.

Jack smelt the buscites and walked in " wow thise smell good" he said Jess nodded she liked them too.

"They're for desert" Ruby said glancing out the window hoping Angus would return soon. She turned back and placed the buscuits on a cooling wire before taking two peices of the lasagna and putting them on a plate covering it she palced it in the warming draw and left it for Angus when he returned.