LONDON CALLING

Jessie listened and could not help laugh as he said she'd have octuplets and be demon spawn he settled and listened as Brain said about teh dificulties she'd had with Abby " yes but didn't Abby had a diferent father, yours light be straight forward" he heard him say that Khaat always came first and he nodded " I agree partners should always come first." He looked down at the board and chukled " nope no idea yet, could be a puppy or a cottage who knows." he said placing another peice.

He heard Brain talk of suragacy and shook his head " na, I've heard too many stories of the mother changing her mind, besides adopting you give a child that has no home, a home and unconditional love." he said " ah there it fits" he said fitting another in." but if Angus and Ruby have kids, I'll be happy for them they will be my neices or nephews after all" he gave a chukle " thats if she'll let me near them after all this."

He sat back and took some popcorn and popped it intohis mouth and ate then drank some soda. He looked down at the puzzle and chuckled again. " now I look at it it could be two cows stood on their heas ?" he said laughing a little.

"Yeah. Her biological father is a metamorph--like she is. And he didn't bother to tell Khaat that he was one of the biggest criminals in wizarding England. He was, at the time, the biggest manufacturer and dealer of illegal potions in England. I'll tell you, though, as angry as I was, hell hath no fury like the fury Robert Lupin can unleash on the man that harms one hair on his daughter's head. I don't know if you remember of the ministry finding and busting up the biggest black market potions operation in the country at that time and finding millions of galleons worth of black market potions? That wasn't so much the Ministry as it was Robert reeking havoc on his son-in-law's illegal enterprises. Robert went in and blew them apart and destroyed the whole operation. Then, because Khaat was still in ICU, he filed on her behalf for divorce and took every single cent the man had in British accounts and properties. As I understand it, her ex romanced his way into the bed of some countess on the continent and is living the life of a trophy husband. To each his own, I guess, but the only time he saw Abbey was just for about a minute and a half after she was born. The nurse put Abbey in his hands, and the moment she did, Abbey went full on labrador puppy, and her father fainted away completely on the floor. When he came to, he left St. Mungos, and we've never seen him again.

"Well, you're probably right that any child we had together should be different. Khaat's marriage was going rather badly by the time Abbey was born, and her ex had her using one of his potions pretty heavily. She wasn't eating or sleeping either one, and she was severelly underweight. Her health was a complete wreck. That was what had caused the complications. She knows I wouldn't allow any sort of health issue either before or during any pregnancy, so, theoretically, it should be massively different."

"Well, as for Angus and Ruby, I know they both want kids, but they both have so many of the same interests that I think they have a lot they want to do together too. So they're going to have to pick what they want to do first. It's all about balance, but they'll find it."

Brian studied the puzzle picture even though they were way too soon to tell what it was going to be.

"I dunno. Maybe some sort of herd of spotted kneazles. No clue. Guess we'll have to keep working."

Jessie listened as he spoke again and nodded " yeah I heard there was a big stink, politicaly speaking over some wise guy big shot " he said placing another peice." so that was Roberts doing , ouch wouldn't want to be on his realy bad side." he listened again as Brian spoke of how Khaat was back then he listened quietly. " see shes helthy and happy now, not doing bad shit and not eating so , completly diferent." it was now he spoke of Ruby and Angus having a child and he smiled " yeah I agree" he gave a sigh " I'll leave them alone about that" he said as he placed another peice " hu, you could be right " he said turning his head to teh side to see if it made any diferance..

Angus and Michael had finished the champagne, and they were both just comfortably relaxed. Michael was midway through a murder mystery book, and Angus was reading a self improvement book. Michael thought the compartment was just a little stuffy, so he opened the window a crack to let in some night air. It was then that he saw the title of the book Angus was reading.

"'How to Be a Good Husband and Father'? Oh, do tell me you're not wasting your intelligence on that twaddle," Michael scowled. He took the book from Angus and looked at it. "You are. You are reading that twaddle. I'll give you the short version of how to be a good husband and father. Are you listening? because here it is. Be yourself. That's it. You have no idea how much I want to chuck this book out the open window."

"Maybe I should go to bed instead," Angus yawned.

"Good idea. Go to bed. I'm not giving you this bloody ridiculous book back, so just forget it," Michael said, tucking the book away in his own bag and not in Angus's.

Jess looked at Brain and yawned " oh sorry " he glanced at his watch and saw what time it ws " we realy should get some sleep " he said " this can wait till tomorrow " he added as he stood and streched out his limbs not realizing just how stiff he was and he started to twist and turn to losen himself up. Grabbing his things he headed to the bathroom where he changed into his PJs and brushed his teeth before climbing up onto his bed, this time leaving he curtains open and facing into the room as he looked down over the jigsaw puzzle below him.

" you leaving the table big so the puzzle dosn't fall to peices?" he asked wondering if the puzzle would shrink with the table when Brian turned everything back as this had been teh only second time he'd seen a resizing spell used on a room." he lay his hed down and pulled the blanket over him as he lay with his eyes closed.

"Meh, probably," Brian said. "The only disadvantage is that if, for any reason, the porter comes in during the night, we'll have to obliviate him, and I really hate doing that. I'll chance it, though." He got into bed and went to sleep, glad that tomorrow they would be home.

In the morning, Angus and Brian were up early, and they had packed all their belongings except the game box and the books they were reading. Well, Angus had had to pick a new book since Michael had taken his book last night. Angus ordered breakfast trays and morning papers for their room and then he had cleaned up and dressed. Michael had cleaned up and dressed as well.

Brian was up early, and he had cleaned up, dressed, packed, and then he had levitated the puzzle and the puzzle pieces, floated them over to the bunk side of the compartment and then simply levitated them above his bunk. He pulled the curtains so that the porter wouldn't see the floating puzzle. That allowed him to return the room to normal size and then order breakfast and morning papers. He checked his watch. In twelve hours, they would be home.

At Brian's place, Kate had gotten up early and she had fixed a mammoth stack of pancakes, some eggs, and she had made a fresh blackberry syrup to put on the pancakes. She made coffee and tea as well. She figured if she made a rather hearty breakfast, it might hold them til supper. If not, she could make a light lunch. Edward and Simone were up, and they had showered and dressed, and they were anxious to finish the very last of what needed done at Angus and Ruby's new place. Everyone else seemed to be up and moving too and they were coming downstairs, fixing their plates with pancakes and syrup, eggs and a mug of coffee or tea.

"You suppose our travelers are contented on the train, or do they want to get home?" Robert asked Kate, coming into the kitchen and giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Angus is about fit to be tied," Kate told him softly. "He wants to be home now. I can hear him for some reason this morning. He's been awake most of the night, debating on whether he can apparate off the train. He has not forgotten they will get off in Calais and take a bus to London, and he wants to skip that part."

"Well, he could, I'm sure," Robert said. "That would allow him to get here by 4 or so this afternoon rather than 7:30. I suppose whether they do or not depends on how punchy the rest of them get on the way today."

Jessie woke early but stayed in his bunk hearing Brian moving around he'd alrasy double checked that he had everything and waitied for Brian to be ready before they had breakfast which he knew was coming to teh cabin. As it was he could not blame them for keeping the seperate he had after all inovertly treat and called Angus an ass and a cheater. He sat on his bunk reading the guide still with his miniture tux tucked inside it like book marks. " so when do we get to the station?" he asked turning another page.

Ruby stured and felt woon underneath her she smiled knowing her and Abby had fallen asleep in the tree house. " okay Abby I think we should head indoors to wash up for breakfast" she said folding teh blanket and setting it to one side. " I hoped you loved watching the stars as much as I do, though its diferent without Angus." she said picking up Abby and heading to the main house " morning Kate, those pancakes smell devine" she said placing Abby on a stool for a moment as she took a cube and fed Fudge. " morning Fudge" she said with a smile.

Abbey was delighted to wake up in the treehouse, and she had had a great time looking at the stars. Now she was hungry, though, and she didn't object to Ruby taking her into the house for breakfast. And then she saw what her gram had made

"Pancakes!" Abbey squealed with delight. "Tanks, Gam!"

"You are so very welcome," Kate said, putting Abbey at the table and giving her a pancake with some blackberry syrup and an egg. When Ruby fed Fudge, he chattered at her in bowtruckle speak, apparently grateful for breakfast too.

"Papa, we swim today?" she asked Robert.

"I suppose," Robert said. "Since it's Saturday. If you want to swim, I guess we could do that. It should be warm enough."

"I saw that pool," Jeffrey remarked. "It's pretty large for a private pool."

"Well," Robert said. "We're always either training someone or keeping up on our own fitness, so a little pool just wasn't going to do the job. Come along."

"I would, but I didn't bring any trunks," Jeffrey said.

"That isn't a problem. What size do you wear?"

"Depends on the style. Either medium or large," Jeffrey said.

"I'll get you a pair and you can come along."

"Sounds like fun."

"And the rest of you? Are you coming?" Robert asked.

"Nope," Kate said, "finishing our top secret projects at Angus's and Ruby's. I still think we might want to expect one or two of them to skip extra hop from Calais to London and to simply apparate home."

"Wouldn't surprise me a bit," Robert said.

"Then I should plan on an early supper tonight?" Simone asked.

"No, I would plan on supper at the normal time," Robert said. "Even if they turn up at home early, it would give them a bit of time to unwind before we eat."

Ruby smiled seeing Abbys face when she saw the pancakes sat infront of her and hearing Fudge talkign to her happily as he took the cube. " I was hoping to freshen up a bit berfore they get here" she said " all my clothes are in the duplex" she said taking a few pamakes and adding maple syrup to it. As she bit into one she smiled " so light and fluffy" she said she listened to Kate talk and chuckled " be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight with Angus, I miss that big teddy bear." she said with a chuckle " my little teddy bear was okay but I still want my big teddy bear." hoping they would catch on to her talking about Angus.

"Well, you need to get into the habit of leaving some here in this house too," Robert said. "Remember, Angus's job sometimes requires him to sleep here, so unless you're sleeping over there on the nights he sleeps over here, you need to plan on either dividing your wardrobe or having the Venice folks add some more clothes to your wardrobe."

"You won't get them to budge on letting you into the duplex early," Marcus told her. "So, I suggest you either borrow something from Khaat or let Kate or Simone get you a change of clothes from the duplex."

"I'm sure misses you too," Kate told Ruby. Kate knew this mission had had a number of negatives and disappointments in it for Angus, and she couldn't blame him for wanting to get home. He had a lot of reasons to want to be done with this task. Ruby was one reason, and it was an important one but he had a lot of other reasons too. She also knew that Robert intended to have a conversation with him when he got home because he wanted to be certain Angus was alright physically as well as emotionally after the mistreatment he had taken from Jessie.