LONDON CALLING

Ruby woke with a start falling from the couch to the floor " ouch" she said and rubbed her butt thay she'd landed on. glancing at the clock she ehaded to their room and showered ready to go to St Mungos to work out. befroe heading down stair. Moving to Roberts library she found book two of the besturie and began to read threw it carfully.

" Morning Angus " she said and kissed his cheek " something smells wonderful" she said placing a peice of paper inbetween the pages as a book mark. She glanced over his shoulder watching how he cooked and dipped a spoon in the holidaze sauce " yum." she chuckled

Angus had gotten up at 4 am, and he had gone downstairs and put the casseroles in the oven, started the coffee and the tea and then had mixed up the two dozen cherry scones with a sanding sugar crust and had put them in the oven. When Ruby came downstairs, he was just taking the casseroles out of the oven.

"Morning," he smiled. "You're just in time to have a hot breakfast before you go. Its a new casserole. Eggs Benedict casserole--all the same things as in Eggs Benedict but infinitely easier to do for a large group. Cheesy hashbrown potatoes, and the scones will be ready in time to take one or two with you. Coffee and tea should both be finished brewing, and there's a fresh fruit salad in the fridge chilling. Can I fix you a plate?"

He floated the casseroles to the sideboard in the dining room. Then he got out the fruit salad and the orange juice and put them out as well. Then he got out an insulated mug in case she wanted to take some coffee or tea with her.

"Oh, hey, before I forget, I made a deal with the executive chef at St. Mungos for some top notch jumbo lump crab. He's getting it from his supplier early this morning. He should have six or seven pounds of it for you. Would you mind stopping in at the hospital cafeteria and picking it up for me, please? His name is Dan Thomas. I think you'll be able to recognize him easily because he's the only one in the kitchen that has a beard and a mustache. He's also got a very thick Irish brogue. I think you'll like him--he's a good sort. Don't be surprised if you get more than 6 or 7 pounds. I ask him for 6 or 7, and he throws in a few more. So i think its very likely you'll get closer to ten. If he does, tell him I'll send him some cinnamon rolls. Watch how he reacts."

Angus knew that Dan believed Angus's cinnamon rolls didn't compare with anyone else's And Dan was a sucker for the fact that they were so enormous. Dan believed Angus had some secrets to his technique for them, so when Angus offered Dan cinnamon rolls, Dan's face always lit up like a Christmas tree.

He plated up some eggs benedict casserole, some hashbrown casserole and some fruit salad for Ruby.

"Tea or coffee this morning?" he asked her.

Ruby chuckled and nodded " that would be wonderful dear" she said . she listened to him talk and nodded " I'll do that and Dan Thomas you say" she said " and tea please , never coffee in the morning, but I will take one to co for later. " she said with a smile as she took a grape from the salad and popped it in her mouth " you sleep okay" she asked knowing she'd fallen asleep on the couch " and sorry for falling asleep on you last night , guess I was super tired." she told him as she pored her tea and sat down " those crabs should taste delishious, what you going to use them for?" she was curious as all she knew what to do with crab was boil them but she ahd heard of gumbo with crab.

"oh I got to chapter two in the beasturie, Did you know that the Alizor of Westacottus was a Humanoid,Magical creature with a rotund body, long, spindly limbs, large feet, large, round ears and a long, pointed nose, I did not know that." she said "included in the third-year Care of magical beasts curriculum at Hogwarts under Hagrid, no wonder I missed it." she said poppong some food in her mouth.

"Not to worry," he told her. "You were tired. You're not accustomed to the hours I keep, and I don't expect you to have to. Now that you're not going to Paris, you really don't have to get up quite so early. I'm usually up an hour or two before everyone else. You should sleep an extra hour or two if you can get up when the others do and go run with them and come back for breakfast." He set a plate in front of her and got her a cup of tea.

"If his crab is as good as he says it is, and it really is jumbo, then there's nothing better than crab cakes with a really beautiful remoulade sauce. And that can be the start of a truly wonderful supper. I dearly love a good crab cake. Got spoiled on them on trip that Brian and I made to Florida shortly after we graduated. Done correctly, they're hard to beat."

He listened to her talk about the bestiary and what she was learning. "See? There is the fighting curriculum and then all the other stuff," he laughed. "And just when you think you know it all, someone will tell you one more set of mad skills that you're going to think you just have to have. Sometime you need to watch Michael crack a sophisticated safe or watch him rob a museum. I hate to say it, but he makes cat burglary look like fine art." The timer went off, and he took his cherry scones out of the oven and put them on a cooling rack.

"Got any coffee?" Marcus yawned, coming into the kitchen. He had managed to put on a pair of pajama trousers but he was barefoot and shirtless. And he looked like hell.

"Coming right up, Mate," Angus said. He got out one of Kate's mugs and poured him a cup of coffee. "Turn 'round. Let me see." Marcus turned around and parts of his back, down his spine and across his ribs, across his shoulders, up the back of his neck and the base of his head--it was all black. Cleary his back had taken the brunt of the blow. "Damn," Angus frowned. "Robert is going to need to see to you now that the bruising is setting in."

"The bastard tried to throw me through the wall," Marcus said. "He didn't intend on just getting me away from Khaat. When he picked me up, I felt it. He was full of rage. He wanted me to never come between him and Khaat again. That's the best way I can describe it."

"Well, you might be right on the mark," Angus said. "It it bruised your back, did it bruise you farther down?"

"Dunno," Marcus said, "And you're not looking either." Angus laughed.

"Fair enough. Come sit down. I'll get you a plate."

"Not very much. I'm not really hungry."

"Pain's getting to you?"

"Yeah," Marcus admitted. Angus had never heard Marcus admit that he felt any pain, much less that it was too much. That wasn't good. Angus went to the kitchen cabinets and got out the pain potion and poured him a double dose of pain potion. "You know Brian's going to put you on sick leave today, right."

"My duty to Khaat supersedes his scheduling," Marcus said. "So he can stick it."

Ruby chuckled and nodded " yeah and Michaels form of cat buglary is a fine art" she said smiling as she watched him return to the kitchen " and no if I do that Im all out or sorts for whan I go back, i''l stay getting up early, besides gives me more time with you too" she said then wowed as Marcus 's back. " James realy did that" she asked then laughed agaiun when Marcus told Angus he was not checking lower to see if he was bruised " Im sure Robert can relive some of the bruising, can't he?" she asked just bas Jess walked down dressed and ready to go.

" hoold up" she said and moved to Marcus, placing her hand on his head she nodded " alright" she then looked to Angus " not tooo much, what am I saying you know the dose" she said and took a cup of coffee. " breakfast looks great" she said taking some and sitting down at the table to eat. " I heard the others moving around so they should be sown soon." she added.

Brian came downstairs, carrying Abbey. She was curled into Brian, still in her pajamas, her head on his shoulder.

"She's got some sort of a bug today," Brian said. "She's running a temp, and she just doesn't feel well. She came and got into bed with Khaat and me last night, and she's really clingy today. Can you take her for me for a minute so I can try to get a look at her?"

"Of course," Angus said. "Come here, Abs. Let me hold you for awhile." He took her from Brian, and she started to cry just from not feeling well, and she curled into his neck. "Don't worry, Abs. We'll make it better." He could feel the heat radiating from her little body. "She's really hot, Brian."

"At St. Mungos' ER, We've been seeing some sort of a virus in some of the older children. Very similar symptoms. Fever, body aches, malaise, some develop a weird rash. I think its a wizarding thing, really because the rash seems to be an odd color that muggles don't get. Sort of a purple in some people and a weird teal in some others. I don't see a rash on her yet, but she's got all the other symptoms. Haven't seen any of it in children her age, though," Brian said.

"Can you reduce the fever for her at all?"

"Well, I certainly could but if I reduce it too far, it might mask the symptomology and make it harder for us to figure out what it is she does have."

"Alright. So let's do old school relief for now, then," Angus decided, not willing to do nothing. "Ru, can you give me a hand for a moment, please? Get a travel mug, an adult sized one, and fill it with ice. Then let's get out one of those lemon lime sodas from the pantry and put it in there. I know we don't normally give her soda, but I think the sugar might entice her to drink, and the ice will keep it cold and maybe reduce the temp a bit. I'm going to try to get her to drink some cold fluids for now. The kitchen is just going to have to wait."

Ruby stood up and moved to Abby " awe no." she said softly smiling she moved to get the large travel mug then half filled it with ice as she then placed the can of soda into the mug " there nice and cold." she said " let me see if I can find lucky kitty." she said and opened the drier to find him inside. Placing him in Abbys arms she smiled as she listened to Brian talk " becareful you don't get it Angus." she said as she brushed some hair off Abbys face . "I'll get a cool cloth for her forhead too, that always helpe me when I felt bad."

Looking at Brain she sighed " hows Khaat doing?" she asked " Marcus has a lovley bruiser on his back." she said " wouldn't let us see if it went lower though" she said " so we'll leave that alone for Robert to check." she said still brushing Abbys head gently now she realy didn't want leave but she wanted to stay and look after Abby.

"I'll be fine," Angus said, unafraid.

"Khaat's still sleeping," Brian said. "She was awake til probably 2:30 or so, so when she finally got to sleep, I decided to just let her sleep. She was a lot calmer, so I think she'll be her old self when she gets up. Good thought about the cold fluids, Angus."

"I just know what my gran used to do," Angus said. He pulled out a kitchen chair and flicked his fingers at it to change it into a roomy wooden rocking chair. He pulled it over towards Fudge's tree near the windows and sat down with her and accio'd one of Abbey's little blankets. He draped the blanket over her like he had done thousands of times before when she had been a baby. She nuzzled into his neck and he just sat and rocked her and fed her sips of the cold soda every couple minutes. "Someone else is going to have to take over the kitchen for me for a bit. This comes first," he said quietly.

"See what I mean?" Brian looked at Ruby. This was exactly what he had meant when he ha told her how Angus had just simply stepped up the very instant Abbey had come into their lives, and he was still just naturally stepping up. It was just who Angus was. It was what made Brian positive that Angus was going to be one great dad.

Then Brian turned his attention to Marcus. He walked over behind him and looked at how horrendously bruised Marcus was.

"Bloody hell, Marcus. If the Ministry saw this, they'd add another attempted murder charge to James' growing list of charges. That arse tried to kill you last night."

"Uh huh," Marcus said, sipping his coffee. "I'll get him next time, and when I do, I'm going to start by making sure he isn't capable of ever fathering another cub." Brian looked at Marcus, wondering if Marcus meant what Brian thought he did. Marcus just looked up at him, and that told Brian all he needed to know.

Ruby smiled at Angus " I'll take over , let me just speack to Robert a moment then I'll get right to it, Yes I see what you mean." Ruby said with a smile to Brian as she went down to the labs to see if Robert was there but didn't find him then went up to the workshop " Robert you here?" she asked " I need to talk to you for amoment?" not finding him she shruged and headed down to the kitchen " allright , didn't find Robert but will start cooking , so whats first?" she asked softly so not to disterb Abby in Angus's arms.

" walking over she smiled at him " you know one day you will make a fantastic father." she said and light kissed him before returning to the kitchen.

"Send a note, if you would, to Dan, and see if you can still get the crab. Tell him I'll send him some cinnamon rolls," Angus said. "We've got some time before lunch, so let's just keep lunch simple when we get that far. For now, just make sure everyone gets breakfast and that we get that all cleaned up.

"I have a little sticky note on my desk with a list of herbs I need to pick from the kitchen herb garden and check to see if there are any berries or vegetables that absolutely must be picked today. You probably know if something has to come off today. That's probably next.

"As for lunch, when we get that far, I have some lettuces and greens that really do have to be used today, so lets come up with some sort of a chef salad for lunch that everyone is going to like. You could maybe use some chicken and maybe add some strawberries to it. Strawberries can be great on a summer salad. Maybe some toasted almonds and some other fresh vegetables. If there are any of the cookies you and Abbey made yesterday, we could do those for dessert. That would give you four or five hours between now and when you would have to start fixing lunch. Don't start lunch yet. It's too early, but keep it in mind when you check the garden. Now, are you overloaded?"