LONDON CALLING

Angus was studying the modern yacht, and thought it looked similar to some of the ones his family owned. As they approached, he saw the captain and the first mate, dressed in their white uniforms, standing on deck, and they appeared to be going over a list of some sort.

"Ahoy!" Angus called. "Permission to come aboard?"

"Ahoy! You must be the Skipper Donohue," the captain called, "and your own First Mate."

"I am," Angus replied. "And she is indeed my first mate."

"Well met, then. Come aboard," the captain motioned them. Angus went up the gangplank after Ruby to make sure she didn't fall, and the first mate offered to lend her a hand. The captain was a man a little older than Robert, by Angus's estimation, and he had salt and pepper hair and a well trimmed beard and mustache to match.

"So, you're one of Edward's boy, are you?" the captain asked with his thick Irish brogue, shaking hands Angus and Ruby. "Joe Brennan, captain of this fine ship, and this is my first mate, Rhys Kelly. Edward tells me you passed your Yachtmaster coastal test. Well done, Lad."

"Well, that's true, but I've also passed the Yachmaster offshore and the Yachtmaster ocean test." The captain looked thunderstruck.

"You're pulling my leg," Captain Brennan said.

"No, I'm serious," Angus said, taking out his wallet to show Brennan his licensure card.

"Well, your pap was holding out on me, then." Brennan said. "Well, it's my honor to serve Edward's grandson and a a fine captain at that. Mr. Kelly, take our honored guests and get them a bite of breakfast, and then we'll put out."

"Aye, Sir," Kelly replied. Kelly to them to where breakfast was set up for them on deck. There was a selection of croissants, muffins, crumpets, jams, clotted cream, butter, fresh fruit salad, juice, tea, and coffee, set out on a large coffee table in front of a large, deep sofa. The sofa had a wonderful panoramic view of the Mediterranean, and, when Angus sat down, he realized the sofa was exceptionally comfortable.

"Is there some sort of activity the two of you had in mind for your day aboard?" Kelly asked.

"Nothing specific for me, I don't think. I'd be happy with just sailing along the coastline so we can do a little sightseeing. Ruby? Anything you'd like to do? Any stops you want to make?" Angus asked.

"Well, there are some beaches that have swimming. I don't know of any lagoons--not the kind I think you're talking about--that are accessible by this ship, but I can ask Captain Brennan," Kelly said. "Also some very fine dive sites, if you're into snorkeling and scuba diving. Some of the finest dive sites in the Mediterranean."

"A lot of lagoons lay closer to land, like along a coastline, but I think checking with Captain Brennan is a good thing," Angus told Ruby. "Lord, I haven't been diving in years. There are still some things I realize I don't know about you, Ruby. I know you swim but have you ever been snorkeling or scuba diving?"

"Well, I sort of fell into the whole water thing," he told her. "As I understand it, my uncles and my father got the idea that we should be into the yacht charter business because it was crazy lucrative. And it really is, but then they decided that we needed to keep as much profit as we could, so they decided that some of us needed to learn to sail, not just how to run the business. My father said I was going to learn it, and so I guess I did. Not sure how I didn't grow up hating it, but part of the redeeming factor in it was that it was something my father couldn't do, so he was never around. It got him out of my hair.

"And, after a point, it put me in touch with some of Edward's friends, and they always accepted me. They taught me how to be a big help on their fishing boats and, well, I learned a little bit of everything. And what kid doesn't dream of pirates and adventure and finding treasure? Maybe, between the boats and Edward, maybe that's where the adventure bug caught me. I don't know.

"But I get out here, and it feels safe, feels like an old friend," he said, stretching his legs on the sofa. "When my shoulder is healed, I'd like to maybe take a sailboat for a weekend sometime. There is something that is completely magical about raising the sails on a schooner and sailing with the wind rather than just with an engine. Haven't done that in ages. Have you ever been sailing on an actual sailboat?"

"Sailing can be work but i think its energizing," he said. "It certainly can be something we can consider. Some sailboats are large enough that they had quarters and salons and galleys below deck. It's certainly possible that, if the weather would hold, that it might be a good way to spend a weekend."

"Being practical, though, where we ought to put our efforts is in getting the duplex built. And I suppose we might want to alter the plans just a little now that Edward won't be living alone. But I don't want him feeling like he needs to go back to Tuscany any time before he truly wants to.

"And he's going to have to do something with all of the business things he had entrusted to Benjamin that, honestly, I doubt Benjamin ever really took care of. I do not want to change jobs and relocate to Tuscany. And I don't think Edward would ask that of me, but we do need to know what sort of a mess he's gotten Edward's finances in. I'm almost afraid to know."

"I really do want to pursue the duplex, rather than separate houses--simply because, as Edward ages, I want him closer. I think that's a good idea for you to check the records. I don't know if there's anything to find about Benjamin or Eileen and their dealings at the ministry, but its worth a look. And certainly its worth seeing if Roberts' connections with Salvatore at the Italian ministry to see if there's any evidence there of Benjamin's crimes. Robert may have already done that, but when we get back, I should ask him.

"My understanding was that Benjamin was the person who ran the family corporation. You see, the vineyards, the winery, and olive oil operation, and the charter business are all divisions of the same large family corporation, and, so far as I knew, Benjamin spearheaded all of that. My brothers headed up the various divisions, but Benjamin was the chairman of the larger family corporation. I don't know if my aunts and uncles and siblings and cousins all know yet that it all comes to me when Edward dies or not. So far as I know, though, it was only Benjamin and my brothers that had any interest in the family business anyway. In essence, when Edward dies, I become the owner of the very things Benjamin managed. That would have been massively awkward to have the man who hated the very air that I breathed managing my assets. I'm hoping whoever he hires to replace Benjamin is somebody that I can at least get along with--just in case.

"But that's for another day. Today, why don't we go diving?"

The diving had been like a breath of fresh air for him. He hadn't been diving in years, and he had forgotten how much he had missed it. The cruise on the yacht was what he had needed. It was like life being infused into his veins. He didn't want the nerve tonic or the sleeping potion either one. He believed that the key to it was for him to just pull himself up by his bootstraps and get on with life. When Edward and Simone resolved to return to England, Angus truly believed that it was what he and Ruby needed to do too.

So, two days after they went diving, Angus found himself back home at Brian's, and as much as he wanted to be 100%, he knew he wasn't quite yet. He talked to Brian about taking a leave from missions work, truly frightened that Brian would fire him if he didn't pick up all of his duties again. Ruby had been right, though. Brian didn't even think about firing him. In fact, just as Ruby had predicted, Brian believed it was a very wise choice. He believed Angus needed to step away from life and death things for a little and get on with the things that gave him security and stability.

And so it began again. Angus was in the kitchen a good portion of his daytime hours and when he wasn't in the kitchen or the office, he was outside or in the barn. When his nerves seemed to not be as strong as he wanted them to be, he poured himself a bit of firewhiskey, and it seemed to do the trick temporarily. And, if he wanted to at least get to sleep without the sleep potion, he figured out the key was to do enough activity that he was too tired to stay awake any more. That didn't always ward off the nightmares, though. He was giving it his best to try to be the person he thought Ruby deserved.

They hadn't been home more than a day or two when he got another letter from Tyler. And then letters came to him from his uncles and aunts and cousins and his sisters--the whole blooming bunch of Donohues were on his back. Their muggle contacts and customers had noticed that they hadn't seen Benjamin in some time. Well, that was inconvenient, wasn't it? They couldn't tell the muggles he'd been killed because he was a werewolf. That would never do. So, Angus took it upon himself to buy two plots in a muggle cemetery, buy two coffins and two markers, and then he arranged for the burial of the two empty coffins and the placements of two headstones, one for his father and one for his mother, and he released two phony obituaries through the muggle newspapers.

Edward hadn't known a thing about it, until he was suddenly hammered with condolences and sympathy cards and more flower arrangements than any twenty people should have received. The owls were now bringing endless packages and letters for him, and Edward was starting to be more than a little annoyed. Edward went downstairs in the middle of the morning after they'd been home for not quite a week to find Angus kneading a huge batch of dough for homemade bread.

"What have you done, Boy?" Edward asked him quietly and seriously.

"Shut the muggles up," Angus replied, not looking at him.

"Screw the effing bread," Edward said, trying not to be angry with him, "turn around, look at me, and tell me what you've done."