LONDON CALLING

"I believe it was black," Marcus said. "It looked like a newer suit, so it might have been one you hadn't seen. Had a Saville Row tailor's label, and I think we chose a burgundy colored tie with it, from the same tailor. So now, Angus is just taking a bit of a short snooze."

"Hi, Marky!" Abbey piped up in a chipper mood.

"Hi," Marcus laughed. "Having a good time?" She nodded. "Good. Are you helping?"

"Yeah, but we need pink. More pink."

"Let's wait and see if the baby likes pink," Marcus said. She looked at him as if he were crazy. She couldn't imagine a baby not wanting all kinds of pink. "Alright, you ladies keep working. I just wanted you to know we were back." He excused himself and went back downstairs.

Angus only slept maybe an hour and then he woke up. Seeing it was nearing 1 pm, he knew Abbey was going to want lunch soon since she didn't have a big breakfast.

"I can fix something, if you like," Andrew said.

"She wanted pancakes," Angus said. "I have to figure out how to make them even with my circumstances.

"Come to the table. I'll get out the ingredients, and you can make up the batter and then coach me through cooking them. We'll get them as close to how you do it as we can," Andrew said. So that was what they did. Angus knew the batter recipe by heart, so Andrew got out the ingredients, Angus made the batter, and Andrew fried up a large stack of pancakes with a batch of eggs and a few strips of bacon. Angus wasn't necessarily one that needed bacon with his pancakes. He preferred an egg, and that was what Abbey had gotten used to because of having Angus prepare most of the pancakes she had eaten, but Angus knew there were some folks that, for some unknown reason, wanted bacon. Andrew didn't eat and egg or bacon with his pancakes. He just ate pancakes.

"Hey, Abs! You hungry?" Angus called.

"Aggie!" she called out, excited that he apparently was back. She dashed out of the bedroom and down the stairs and saw a plate for her with a pancake on it. "Pancakes! Aggie, pancakes!" she was as excited as if it had been Christmas morning.

"Do you mind having pancakes for lunch?" he asked.

"Tanks!" she said. She sat down on the floor, with her little plate with the pancake sitting on the coffee table. It was a good height for her.

"There's lunch down here, if you're all hungry up there," Angus called. "Better come before Abbey eats it."

"From me?" he frowned. "Okay. Come eat, while it's hot," Angus said. "Kate, Simone? Grab a plate."

"Pancakes for lunch," Kate laughed. "I think that's a splendid idea. But I don't know anyone here who likes pancakes, do you?"

"Me! Me!" Abbey said, bouncing up and down.

"Are we allowed to have pancakes with you?" Simone asked. Abbey nodded, and Simone and Kate fixed plates for themselves.

"Alright, Angus, what's the secret?" Simone asked. "Your pancakes are so light and fluffy. I can see why Abbey loves them so. What's your trick?"

"I add a little seltzer water to the batter," Angus smiled. "Just a little. The carbonation increases the bubbles in the batter and makes them fluffier."

"Seltzer--oh my goodness. I'll have to remember that," Simone said. "You're right, Abbey, they're very good. Wait, where's your pancake?"

"I eated it," she said, patting her tummy.

"I bet you're full now."

"Noooo. Aggie, can i has more?" Abbey asked.

"You want an egg?" Angus asked, teasing.

"Noooo," she scowled, as if he'd suddenly lost his mind.

"I'll get one for you," Andrew said to her, taking her plate and putting another pancake on it, cutting it into little pieces and adding butter and syrup for her. "How's that?"

"Tanks!" she said, stabbing one of the pieces of pancake.

"That child is going to turn into a pancake,"" Kate laughed.

"Pancakes and berries," Angus said, having had enough of his pancakes and his egg. He pushed his half eaten lunch plate aside. He was full. "That's her speed."

"You're welcome," he said. "Those were things I didn't want you to have to do, so I was glad to do it. Jessie isn't able, and the boys are too young. It wasn't their place. Taking care of it is the least I could do. I don't mind--really. I did sleep for a bit when we got him, so I'm better than I was."

When Ruby started to talk to Abbey about going home, Angus could see Abbey start to get sad immediately, and he wasn't sure what that was all about for her. Abbey listened, but she was staring down at the carpet.

"Abs," Angus called quietly. "Abbey, look at me." She didn't move. "Abs," Angus called. Whatever it was, they were going to get into it now. This was more than pancakes. Something was bothering her. "Abs, come here." He reached down to her, and the instant he touched her, she reached for him and he picked her up and put her on his lap. "What makes you so sad?"

"Mama no love me," she said very softly.

"What? Abbey, that's not true. She loves you more than anybody else in the world..." Angus said, and Abbey shook her head no. "Why do you think she doesn't love you."

"She and Daddy. They say they want another little girl. More. Lots more. They no love me, Aggie..." She started to cry.

"Aw, Abs, that's not true," he consoled her. "They are always, always going to love you. Nobody is ever going to take your place." Angus looked up at Kate. This was the first Kate had heard of Abbey feeling that Khaat didn't love her. Angus had felt this might be coming just because Khaat worked so many hours. More children were frequently discussed but Khaat and Brian hadn't seriously decided yet to do it. Angus felt this was Abbey's need for some attention from Khaat and Brian. Out of the corner of his eye, Angus saw Marcus open the front door, and a minute or two later, Robert came in. He saw Abbey crying on Angus's lap.

"Abbey," Robert called. She looked up at him, and Robert reached down and brushed away her tears. ""What's the matter, Poppet?"

"Mama no love me no more," she told him.

"Ah," Robert said, seeming to understand, "Come with me. I think I can fix this. Come on." He picked her up from Angus and gave them a smile, as if he felt this was easily resolvable. Then he carried her out.

"I had hoped she would have gotten past this by now," Kate told them. "I honestly think Abbey had a dream about being in the kitchen with Khaat making pancakes, and then she woke in the middle of the night and went into Khaat's room and woke her up, wanting pancakes. As I understand it, Khaat was pretty sleep deprived and got short with Abbey, and now Abbey thinks Khaat doesn't love her anymore. I think Robert is going to try to mediate a bit of a discussion between Abbey and her mom to try to smooth things over. And, yes, I think Abbey is pretty sleep deprived herself and could use a little nap. She'll be fine."

"Kate, I don't want to speak out of turn, but Abbey needs some time with her mother. She would really benefit from Khaat taking a little time off to be with her."

"Well, you're absolutely right," Kate said. "And I told her that myself this morning. If I know Robert, he'll be telling her the same thing. I'll let you know. But for now, you have a nursery to see."

"You guys really got it ready in that short of time?" he asked.

"Well it helped that you bought enough to furnish about twelve nurseries," Kate laughed

Andrew helped Angus from the recliner to the chair and took him upstairs and into the nursery.

"Ru, it's awesome," Angus smiled. "And it looks perfect for a nursery in a log cabin. It's great. I can't think of a better idea. This is such a great place to grow up, with the woods and all the magical creatures and all the family. I can't think of a better idea than to bring the very best of it into the nursery. It's really great. But there is one key thing missing. We need a big deep, comfortable, upholstered rocking chair. Not an uncomfortable wood one. This one needs to be a really great chair. I'll see if our furniture people can find us something."

"I think the magic fairy lights are a lot better. Besides, the fireflies will be a lot less pissed off if we don't stick a crap ton of them to our walls," he said with a bit of a smile.

Kate came upstairs and she had the little pygmy owl with her. He was now full grown--even though he was still teeny weeny.

"This is Pip," Kate said. "He's pretty well housebroken now, and he knows his basic flight commands. He is ready and eager to fly messages back and forth from here to the main house for you. Probably not packages, unless they're small, but he's strong and he's a good boy. We're still training him, but I think he might be the perfect fit for over here. He loves attention, and I have a jar of tiny owl treats in a jar for you and one for Edward's kitchen. There are two perches for him. One for upstairs, for when you're in your room, Angus, and one for downstairs. he responds to the same commands that Archangel responds to. And he loves to sit on anybody's shoulder. I think that's just about his favorite place to be. And, just so you know, he's a great little companion."