LONDON CALLING

Ruby listened to Angus and wrote down what he needed her to do " okay , im on it" she said then looked to his office and nodded she saw the sticky note " breakfast first then herbs, then message to dan to send over the crabs " she moved around the kitchen making as little noise as possible readying the rest of breakfast that Angus had alredy prepared. Once that was done she wrote the note and sent it via floo to Dan and got a responce when a large bag of crabs dropped onto the floor . Grabbing it she quickly put them into the freezer. " okat jyst the herbs left." she said smiling as she looked at Angus " you need anything?" she asked noting it had been several hours since Brian had brought her down.



Once she ahd made sure Angus had everything he eeded Ruby garbbed the basket and headed to the garden where she saw all the fruit and veg they would need. walking down the rows she began taking the best off the plants knowing they would not last long, then she tossed the bad veg into the compost heap making sure it would be ether used for the pigs or to bed the flowers come winter.

Abbey had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he was not about to wake her. If he moved, she started to cry in her sleep, and it tore at his heart. So he just sat and rocked her.

"Maybe some fresh coffee if you get a chance?" he asked her when she asked if he needed anything. Angus was getting concerned because of how hot Abbey's skin felt next to his own. He had actually gotten the better part of half a can of soda into her before she had fallen asleep. Marcus had fixed a couple mugs of coffee for himself and Khaat and had taken them upstairs. That ritual never got old. She liked her first cup of coffee in her room while she woke and dressed, and Marcus was simply taking it to her today. The fact that the coffee had gone upstairs likely meant that Khaat would be down within the next hour. She had indeed slept in.

Brian had checked on Abbey, but he agreed with Angus in letting her sleep for now. He was keeping an eye to make sure her fever didn't get entirely out of hand.

It was a few minutes after eleven when Robert and Kate came back. They looked refreshed, and Robert was clearly in better spirits. They saw Angus sitting with Abbey and rocking her, and that alerted them something wasn't right.

"What have you got, Angus?" Robert asked.

"She's not feeling well," Angus said. "She's running a fever. She really is hot. Brian says he's seen similar symptoms in some older children but nothing like it for someone her age." Robert came over and felt Abbey's forehead.

"Well, he's right. It is the same darned thing. The reason he hasn't seen it in kids her age is because this affects the magical system, and we don't see that many kids who have active magical systems this young. We're also starting to see it in adults, so if you start with any symptoms, you tell me straight away. Why don't you let me take her up to her room?"

"You can try," Angus said, knowing Abbey wasn't going to go easily. Robert tried to move her, and she clung to Angus and started to cry again.

"I see," Robert sighed.

"I don't mind," Angus said. "She's alright with me."

"For awhile. Alright. I'm going to go mix up a potion for her, and I'll be back."

"And then you need to check on Marcus."

"Marcus? What's wrong with Marcus?"

"Get Abbey's potion, and then I'll catch you up. It's been a busy night."

"Oh, fabulous," Robert sighed. "I'll be back." He went upstairs.

Ruby nodded and fixed him a cup of coffee placing it on a small low stool next to the chair "here," she said softly " poor mite" she said softly then lightly kissed Abby on her forhead and sighing " maybe I could make some fresh ice cream for when she wakes again, might help her cool down" Ruby heard Robert aperate in and then talk to Angus while she was busy in the kitchen cleaning the herbs Angus had asked for. 

Ruby busied her self prepping the dinner Angus had told her and making double sure everything was followed as per his recipies. She glanced at Robert " um Robert if you have time later could I ak you something, should take a moment." she said as she continued making the dinner " can't stop right now but when your free and dinners done, that be okay?" she asked wiping sweat from her brow from the heat of the oven.

"That would work. Or maybe some homemade ice lollies. There are some ice lolly molds I got years ago as a free gift when I bought some cake pans. The lolly molds should be in the pantry. Look on the bottom shelf on the left, all the way to the back. There's a plastic tote in there with little oddball things in it. Check there. But you could order some different fruit juices from our supplier and make up some ice lollies for her. Or you could use some of our berries. I'm sure I've probably got some recipes in some of my cookbooks. She would enjoy that and the fruit would be good for her."

"That's fine," Robert said. He made a bit of a potion for her and he did flavor it a bit with some berry flavoring. He brought the potion back down and checked her for the telltale rash. "There it is," he sighed. "On her leg and her back. See?"

"Its blue," Angus frowned.

"Technically, teal," Robert said. "Muggles do not get teal colored rashes, I promise you. This is a magic thing. This is because this little buggar got her magic early. I'm going to have to stay on top of it because she is so young. I don't know how risky it is for someone this tiny. Let's see if we can get her to take this potion to bring down her fever a bit."

"Give it here," Angus said. He managed to give it to her without her really even fully waking. She just took it for him and cuddled back into him and went back to sleep.

"Do you know how many times I saw her do that with you when she was a baby?"

"More times than not," Angus smiled.

"Yeah. Still, the longer she's with you, the more your chance goes up of catching it."

"Meh. If she needs me, I'll be here."

"So, what happened with Marcus?"

"Pull up a chair. This might take a minute."

Ruby watched Angus and smiled " I'll use teh fresh fruit I just picked" she said before remembering the lolly molds. Moving to the back of the pantry she found the tote he mentioned and pulled it out knocking a few spiders out the way at the same time. Taking it to Angus's office she looked inside it and chuckled at a few of the items she found befoer finding teh lolly molds " ah ha" she said triumphantly as she now stood with mellon shaped molds. Placing everything abck she put the bag back in the pantry and washed the mold clean.

Now with fruit juice in a jug she half filled the molds and placed the tops on before slipping them into the freezer to set. " thats done, I made a strawberry one and two banana ones" she said softly " begining to sound like the magical form of muggle meezles." she said looking at the teal rash on Abby.

"Yeah, it does seem to work just about the same way. I think I'll send a floo message to Nigel. If anyone can formulate some sort of vaccine, it will be Nigel. I'll try to work on some medicines for some relief of the symptoms," Robert said.

Angus told Robert about the incident with James last night, and Robert was not happy that James had moved against Khaat again. He was grateful that everyone had managed to step in and get her and Marcus out safely. He wanted to go see Marcus and to check on Marcus's injuries. Angus described the severe bruising he had seen on Marcus's back and on his neck and the base of his skull. That did concern Robert immensely because of the possibility of underlying damage.

Angus told him that as long as Abbey was comfortable, he wasn't going anywhere. So Robert decided to take a moment and go find Marcus and check on him. Robert found him upstairs in Khaat's room while she sat on the bed with paperwork spread out all over the bed and worked on catching up on things for St Mungo's. Robert noticed immediately that Marcus hadn't even tried to dress in his suit today. He was wearing a pair of khaki drawstring linen pants, and an ivory colored linen tunic. Robert could see immediately that Marcus was having some significant pain. He was very uncomfortable.

"Let me see," Robert said quietly. Marcus had some difficulty getting the shirt off because of pain. Robert had to help him.

"Oh boy," Robert said, not liking it at all. "You're a right mess, aren't you? Sit still. Let me check this. Have you seen this, Khaat?'

"No. I haven't," Khaat said. "I offered."

"I turned her down. I'm fine," Marcus said.

"No you're not. Idjit. Come see this, Khaat."  She got up off the bed and went over to see.

"You didn't tell me it looked like this," she snapped at Marcus.

"Well, when I get eyes in the back of my head so I can see what my back looks like, I'll let you know," Marcus said dryly.

"Son, you're bruised, basically, from the back of your head, all the way down your back. Is it below your waistline too?"

"Dunno," Marcus said. Khaat tugged on the tail of the drawstring on Marcus's linen trousers to untie it, and Robert checked Marcus's lower back. Marcus rolled his eyes at Khaat to show her his minor irritation with her taking liberties with his clothes. She glared right back at him because he took liberties with her clothes all the time.

"Bruised down your lower back but stops before it gets much lower. Your back took the brunt of it all." He took a long time checking all the vertebrae in Marcus's back, checking his ribs, his shoulder bones, all of it. He wanted to be meticulous and didn't want to miss a thing. "Marcus, if you had hit one ounce harder, it absolutely would have killed you. No doubt about it."

"But it didn't," Marcus said.

"I have found some cracked vertebrae and cracked ribs. No wonder you hurt," Robert said.

"And? There's nothing that can be done for any of that anyway except to give it time," Marcus said.

"And when did you get your medical degree? That's muggle medicine. Muggles can't do anything about certain broken bones but give them time. Wizard, remember? I'm not nearly so limited. I can set spells in place to reduce that massive pain you have, and I can put spells in place to heal the bones and to reduce inflammation and swelling and to start to reduce the bruising."

"I'm not going to sit and do nothing, Robert."

"I didn't ask you to. Im not going to have to tell you. You'll restrain your own activity because it's going to hurt like hell if you misstep."

"We should file another charge on James," Khaat said.

"We certainly could, but in the long run, my dear," Robert said, "Attempted murder isn't going to stack up to much in his case, not given how many counts of murder that are already leveled against him. Still, if we want to make a point, we can do that. Not to change the subject, but were you aware that Abbey is not well today?"

"Abbey? No. What's wrong?" Khaat asked, now very concerned.

"She's developed that odd rash that we've seen in the ER lately. She's running a fever."

"But we've only see that with older kids and adults," she frowned.

"But muggles don't get teal colored rashes. They just don't. This has to be involved with our bodies' magical systems, and since she has started with some magical energies at her young age, she's susceptible."  Khaat went to get up to go to Abbey and Robert looked at her. "Let her sleep. She's down in the kitchen, and Angus has her. She's curled up on his lap, and he's just rocking her while she sleeps. Let's let her rest while she can. I've given her a potion to reduce the fever, and I'll work on some potions for symptom relief of the rash and some of the other symptoms. I'm also going to see if Nigel has seen any of it yet in New York and if he can do any sort of vaccine formulation."

Ruby listened while she cooked and prepped the dinner meal. when Robert said he'd sent a note to Nigel she nodded " good idea " she said finishing dinners main course and placing it in the frisge to cook at a moments notice. She rewarmed Angus's cup for him and smiled as she placed the smallcool cloth on Abbys for head. " she's cooled alittle" she said her hand gently on Abbys for head. " I think Roberts potion is working.

Now everything was ready to just be put in the oven Ruby took the chance to talk to Robert. Walking up to Marcus room she tapped on the open door " Robert could I talk to you for a moment, please and don't worry ts nothing bad." she said with a smile.

"One moment, Ruby," Robert said. "Let me finish here first." He set some healing spells in place for Marcus, some to reduce swelling and inflammation, some to reduce bruising, some to start repairing bones and soft tissue damage. Then he made sure Marcus was sitting before he cast a powerful pain relief spell. It was harder than Marcus was used to, and he slept instantly, not really even knowing what hit him. Robert looked at Khaat. "Don't let him overdo, now, will you? And if he starts, then just hit him with another pain relief spell. He's a stubborn buggar, and he's completely miserable today, so he really is just going to need it today. He might need more ice packs too."

"I can do that," she said. "Let me know when you reach Nigel?"

"Of course," Robert said. "And keep me informed if he has any change." She nodded. He left Khaat's room, motioned to Ruby, walked across the hall and opened up the workroom, and went in and sat down. "Come sit," he told her. He looked into his cauldron, stirred it a couple times and then laid the stirring paddle aside. "What's on your mind?" he asked her.

Ruby waited until he was done with Marcus knowing and seeing he was important at that moment then she followed him to the workshop. Sitting soen he watched him for amoment then spoke " well I'd like it if you could remove the charm you put on me please." she said watching him " Angus has his in place, so I don't feel the need to have mine, and well we have spoken about having children, we know of course its not going to happen over night, gods no, but I also feel its intrupting my natrual flow ..if you know what I mean." she blushed a little meaning her monthies.

She sat and listened to him hoping he'd understand what she ment " it won't interfear or anything, with whats going on I just thought to get it out of the way so we could focus on healing Marcus and reasuring Khaat Abby will be fine" she added just as a note flew from the fire place " that might be nigel" she said picking it up and handing it to Rovbert.

"It really shouldn't have any effect on that, you know," Robert said. "There's nothing in that spell that would interfere with that, but if you want me to remove it, that's fine. Not a problem. If you're having trouble with that, then it has to be something else." He touched her forehead and removed the spell. "Done."

"Thank you," Robert said. "Can't be Nigel yet because I haven't sent him anything yet. Haven't had a chance. I swear, I leave for one evening, and when I get back, I need to open clinic hours here. Alright--now, is there anybody else that needs medical attention while I'm at it?"

"Robert," Kate stuck her head in the door. "Going into Flourish and Blotts. I'm going for some new storybooks for Abbey. Won't be gone long."

"More?" he frowned. "That child has to have 500 storybooks as it is."

"You're exaggerating by several hundred. I'll be back," she said, apparating out.

"Lord," he sighed. "If Abbey ever gets seriously ill, Kate'll be buying her a library."