LONDON CALLING

"Aggie," Abbey said, curling tight to him. "Where your mummy and daddy?"

"They died," he told her. "Sort of like ReeRee."

"And you sad now?"

"Yeah, just for now," he told her.

"But, Aggie," she said, tugging on his sleeve so he would look at her, "they bad peoples, Aggie. I see'd them in my head, and they do bad things. That's why I no find them now--bad peoples no can come back. No be sad, Aggie. Papa and Gam--wuv you lots. They not bad peoples. And I wuv you too."

"Thanks. I wuv you too, Abs," he said, kissing her head.

It was only a couple minutes later when Ruby came out and said good morning and invited him on a walk.

"Sure," he told her. Stretching his legs sounded like a good idea anyway. "Abs and I were just playing fetch with Archangel. Next time, Abs, I'll show you how to play with his fish and maybe his bird too." She bounced up and down, looking forward to it.

And then Jessie came out and invited Abbey to go help in the barn with the new pygmy puffs.

"More fuzzies?" she asked Jessie. "Papa gonna say too much fuzzies."

"Are there too many?" Angus asked her.

"Yeah. They go everywhere!" she said, gesturing a big wide area with her arms. "Noowis no shut the box." Angus looked at her, now a bit wide eyed. He had wondered how the pygmy puff cage kept coming open.

"Lewis forgets to shut the box?" he asked. Abbey nodded. "How do you know?"

"I see'd him. He naughty. He no shut the box," Abbey said softly, like she was telling a secret. "And then they bounce, bounce, bounce all over! Then Papa get mad."

"Yes, they certainly do," Angus agreed. "Jessie, would you please have a word with Lewis about the pygmy puff cage and ask him to close the cage door from here on?"

Jessie heard Abby and chuckled " hum.." he said and heard Angus he nodded " yeah, I'll have words with Lewis, or make him live with teh pygmys for a while that should make him keep it closed." he said half joking. Glancing at Angus he nodded " don't worry I will talk to him."

Ruby watched as Jessie took Abby inside for some food. "You'll have to teach me how to play with Archangel too." she said chukaling then stood up and holding out her hand for him to take if he wanted. "Do you want to walk before breakfast?" she asked " Im alright with after as well."

Jess saw Jessie bring Abby inside and fixed a bowl for her " here you go, workers need food" she said " and I got to look after my best worker" she smiled at Abby placing the bowl in front of her and a plate in front of Jessie.

"It helps with magical toys," Angus said, putting the rat up on the porch and then standing up and taking her hand. "He loves to play fetch. He has the rat, a fish and a bird. All you have to do is wake up the enchantment and set the toy loose. He'll hunt it, pick it up, bring it back, and drop it in your lap for you to set it off again. He used to go hunting, bring his catch back and drop that in my lap too. I think Kate's gotten him broken of that."

He gave a whistle, and Archangel flew off.

"He'll be back. Let's walk. He'll find us," he told her. "Kate uses a whistle system with some of his commands. I just sent him off to bring me his bird toy. The bird is the best toy when I'm walking."

He let her determine where they went on the walk because it really didn't matter to him where they went. It just felt good to stretch his legs.

"Eagles aren't nocturnal, but he really can do amazingly well with hunting games pretty much in any kind of light" It wasn't more than a moment before he heard Archangel's cry. "Here he comes. He should drop the bird right to us. Catch it, then use a bit of wandless magic with just a really simple Enervate spell to wake it up, and then you should be able to just release it with a simple toss into the air. The bird will take off, and he'll go get it and bring it back. Try it. You two get to know each other, and you'll find he's a fabulous companion to take with you out on the grounds here or at Brian's, either one. If you're in trouble, he can either help fight off whatever is maybe attacking or he can go get help. Or a hundred other things, including managing outgoing and incoming mail."

Ruby walked slowly with Angus down the path to where he'd taken her to the secret glen with the berrys. She listened to him talk about how to set the toys for archangel moving and smiled. Taking the bird toy she held it in her hand then softly and low spoke "Enervate" and let it go watching it take off into the air dart around then fly off. She chuckled seeing Archangel take off after it. " wow, impresive" she said carrying on walking.

Reatching a clearing she paused and looked at him. Taking his hands in hers she looked at him "You trust me right, I want to take you some place." she said as she ported them to a clearing. there on the ground was marked out in string the outline of foundations. " I had them draw up some plans but nothing else" she said and looked at him " this side is Edwards and this...ours." she held her breath waiting for him to ether tell her she over stepped or approve.


"Edward also sugested we take a break, a vacation, just the two of us but he and simone will be close by, he has a freind who owns several villas to rent and a yacht hire business, I thought we could finish that holiday we cut short and maybe ether stay in the villa or hire a yacht for a few days?" she again paused waiting.

"Maybe you should consider talking to Kate about having her teach you his commands and what he can do. She's always adding to his skills, and he really is very social. He likes to tag along whenever he can. And you're right. He really does look magnificent, doesn't he?"

He let her port them, and he found them at Brian's, in a clearing in the woods not far from the other cabins. Close enough to not be totally cut off, but with just enough trees around to feel like it was private. He looked at her chosen location and it's position in relation to the house. It really was a very nice location. He looked at her stakes on the ground for the location of the duplex.

"I think it's a good start, and I think Edward will like it too. I think we should all take a look at the plans and see if we want to add anything or change anything. It's easier to do that at this stage than later on."

He listened to her talk about Edward's suggestion for a break. It sounded at first like a weekend for two, and then sort of like a weekend for four. And then he got the point. Edward wanted a weekend to enjoy some private time with Simone. He had been alone a long time, and he wanted to simply let nature take its course with Simone.

"I see. He wants a rather earthy sort of holiday with Simone, much like what we started to have on the island, and he believes we need to pick up the rest of the holiday we started and didn't get to finish." He could think of several of Edward's friends that would meet that description that Ruby described. He wanted to ask her why Edward would want a private weekend for two and still have his grandson and his girlfriend within arms' reach. That really didn't make sense. "So, we're supposed to go together and yet not see each other? I don't see why it wouldn't work, but how long would we be gone? You and I both have responsibilities. I wouldn't want it to be a long holiday, not while James and Gelding have been so strong and frequent with their attacks." Angus knew that James and Tom were behind bars, but that left whoever their seconds in command to lead both factions. And those men were relatively untried. Things would either get worse. "I'm not saying I'm not interested. That's not my point at all. I'm concerned about what our enemies will do while we're gone."

Rubby was pleased he liked the placement " of course" she said then heard him talk of the vacation " I think he wants time with Simone but felt being so far from you right now wasn't good for you or him, and it would only be for a few days Three tops." she said " James is in Askaban and Gelding is running from Ferir but I understand about being away too long, thats why just three days tops." she said " if anything happens we have our medallions and they can summon us, Roberts agreed as has Edward, they both feel getting away even for a few days would be good."

She moved them both to a tree trunk that had fallen like a bench and sat down with him. "Angus talk to me?" she said softly to him patting the place next to her " please." she wanted him to open up to her. She knew about what had happened to his perents and wished she could understand how he felt she'd lost her perents but they were also alive.

"Ah. Three days. Yeah, that's more workable," he agreed. "I'm more comfortable with that, just because this has been such a dangerous chain of events. I guess I just didn't want to be away days and days right now but outside of that, I don't really have any strong objections. I can't argue with Edward's logic. It makes complete sense. And I know his tastes in getaways. If he thinks its nice, then I'm sure it is."

He sat down next to her and heard her ask to talk to her.

"Ru," he said, "I'm not trying to be avoidant. I'm not sure what I'm thinking or feeling. My thoughts are somewhere between being all buggared up and not having any thoughts at all. And I know that doesn't make sense. And as for how I feel? Right now, I don't really feel anything. It's just empty and numb and silent in my head, like my brains drained out and left an empty space in between my ears. I think it does help to be outside. I'm not trying not to talk to you. I just don't have enough thoughts to have something to say."

He fell silent for a long moment.

"I need to go change your parents back," he said, finding it bothered him now that they were still probably pigs. "They've been pigs about long enough. And its going to be a completely different sort of lesson for them to have to clean up all the pig poop in the house. I don't think you should be a part of my going to change them back. I want them to know that I make my own choices, and that you didn't put me up to it."

Ruby listened and just let him talk but when he spoke of her perents she shook her head."Nope,I say let them stay that way a bit longer, their not important right now, besides I know it won't make a diference to them" but if you want to go undo my perents, I won't stop you." she smiled at him. She knew it might have been wrong of her but she felt they needed longer to learn their lesson well. " and what your feeling makes perfect sense." she said taking his hand in her own." I think thats why Edward sugested a few days away, so you can put that hansome brain back in that head of yours and in order." she told him.

Moving to face him she moved to hug him "You want to look at the new house and animal barn before going back?" she asked " I think they did a great job." she lent down and kissed him gently " I think your head is clear for the first time, and it feels strange becuse you've never had the freedom to think about anything else, now you do." She glanced up at the sky and pulled him up to slwoly walk towards Brians new house and animal barn.

"I'll take your word for it," he told her when she weighed in about her parents. "If you think they haven't learned anything, then it's a waste of good magic to change them back prematurely. How about we look at it again when we get back? I just don't want to leave them like that forever. If we do that, we're no better than they are." He listened to her tell him that she thought he was making perfect sense.

"It doesn't make any sense to me at all, but, I'll take your word for that too," he said. "I suppose you could be right. Benjamin and Eileen hung over me my entire life. The rest of the family is going to have a hard time when they find out what happened to my parents. I'm somewhat braced for some fallout from them, but hopefully I won't have to deal with them straight away. I've never known Edward to back away from a fight, so if I know him, he's already trying to redirect any blowback to him rather than at me, and I couldn't stop him if i tried. That's just him. Just so you know, though. I won't be welcomed at any Donohue family reunions any time soon."

She mentioned going to see the remodel on Brian's house and barn.

"Yeah, I've been wanting to see that." They walked into the house, and he saw no workers anywhere. It looked even better than before. He had loved this house before, but it was even better now. The art pieces that could be restored had been, and for the ones that were a complete loss, Brian had replaced them with some magnificent pieces. He could see himself managing this house, cooking in this kitchen. He walked upstairs and checked out the bedrooms, and then he came to his own room.

It was bigger and brighter and full of leather and new furniture, and the southwestern decor was perfect. It had art pieces he immediately loved. He had forgotten how much he loved this room and how much he had missed it. It was in his head how long he felt he'd been gone from it. He flicked his fingers at the door to close it and to lock the door.

"No more lost time, Ru. I don't want to waste another minute," he told her, kissing her deeply, and starting to unzip her jeans.

Ruby nodded at his sugestion to leave them until they returned from the trip "Agreed, I wish we could leave them but your right we would be as bad as they are, and thats not us." she smiled at him as they walked towards the house. Entering she glanced at the kitchen seeing the new door that had been added and smiled. She followed him around the house liking how it had been decorated. Soon they came to their room and she smiled seeing the change in his eyes. She heard the door close and watched as he drew closer to her his lips touched hers, she also felt her zip lower. Her hands cupped his face as she returned his kiss.

" Then lets not waste one second more" she whispered softly to him...

(Fade to black)

Ruby lay in the bed looking at Angus's as he lay next to her. " wow " was all she said smiling " still great with your second wand." she chuckled staying laid skin to skin with him and loving every thing about him, every scar, mole and wrinkle not that he had any.