LONDON CALLING

Jessie sat and listened to Robert talk abut his fathers death " Robert I grieved and moved on" he said " but for my brothers if they want to see the grave I'll gladly take them." He listened more and nodded " Im glad he was teh one to take care of that, Ruby is not one for that kind of thing" he told Robert then listened more to him talk. " explains the wheel chair I saw him in earlier" he said then heard him mention Jack was the one to talk to about patrols " I'll talk to him once hes free, I had noticed the increse in security when I arrived." he mentioned to Robert "from what you've told me it explains it."

He listened more and lowered his head befor sitting up straight " I'll talk to her, brother to sis" he said " can't have her hurting herself or others." He looked at Robert's face " she hasn't has she?" he asked seeing teh look on Roberts face he finished his tea and placed the empty cup down on the table as he ran his hands over his face " leave it with me I'll talk to her, I'll help as much as I can by keeping her level."

"I've talked with Angus, and he believes that's part of what his responsibility is in their relationship, to take care of whatever he can to make life easier for her, especially when, in so many ways, he has temporarily lost his purpose. He loves his job here, everything about it. But now, since that's gone, he has been wanting to have some purpose. You'll have to go look at the bedroom he's furnished for the boys. It's something else. And, he's bought your parents' house, he's removed all your brothers' belongings and put them into storage over there in the duplex. He's gone through the house and he's brought back anything important and anything he thought that you and Ruby and your brothers might want. He took Ruby and they went to Hogwarts, signed parental consent agreements for their studies, explained the family situation to the headmaster so the boys will be protected. He's gotten them all new clothes, books, robes, wands, even gotten them each an owl and given them plenty of spending money. And--I presume you know that Ruby's expecting. Angus bought all the baby gear already, and the nursery is entirely furnished. Ruby wants for absolutely nothing at all.

"To my knowledge, Ruby hasn't hurt anyone, but I saw the look on Angus' face after she laid into him verbally and then hurled that knife at her. He truly didn't know what she was on about, and I don't know either. I don't know her entire history, nor do I need to. But, over the years, as a healer, I've seen a lot of people with emotional wounds from their past, and that's what it looked like to me. It looked like she was going full tilt on Angus for something that had nothing at all to do with him, like she was raging about something from her past. But I think I know Angus well enough that if she ever tries to physically hurt him or their baby--weapon or no weapon--he won't stay. He'll take the baby to protect it from her hurting it, and he'll end the relationship. It will be the very last thing he wants to do, but he absolutely will be a fierce protector of your little niece or nephew, whichever it is. And I will bet you that if he hasn't said those words to her yet, they will be forthcoming. I hope you don't have to keep her balanced. I think she needs to figure out what this is all about so nobody--not her, or you or Angus--have to live on pins and needles wondering when she'll blow up next."

Jessie listened more as he spoke and he nodded " if it came to that I would take my neice or nephew from her myself" he said softly " but a child need its perents, Let me talk to her and yes it has to be something she's hidded from all of us" he said sitting back in the chair with a deep sigh " sounds like that man loves the bones of her." he said as he looked up at Robert " and we won't."  he said " so Im guessing my mother shacked up with Gelding, and not heard from since?" he said " thats her style and nice move with house, have you sold it yet, please do it will bring nothing but trouble." he said.

Seeing Jack walk in from outside he stood up Jack stopped and kooked at Robert then at Jessie " hes back?" he said then walked over and slapped him on his back " Good to have you back, could use you" he said then looked at Robert " half those nitwhits don't know alahmora from petrificus totalus." he said " I just spent half the day telling them what to do, please tell me hes back for good?" Jack asked Jessie chuckled and looked at Robert with a smile.

"thats down to the boss" he said then looked at Robert " please don't worry about Ruby, I'll also talk to Angus and seen what his thoughts are." he said.

"I agree that a child needs its parents--but with one qualification--if that parent is appropriate. If I have learned one thing in the work I've done with the organization, its that no child needs a parent that is abusive. Flat out, full stop," Robert said. "But you're right, he does his level to make sure she has the very best of everything. When you get a chance, take a look at the size of the one of a kind diamond he put on her finger."

"Bloody big stone in that," Michael said, starting to saute his onions, carrots and celery for his soup. "Had to talk him down to that stone. The diamond he was set on getting for her was ridiculous. I don't know where he thought she would have been able to wear something that large. Well, that lad's heart was in the right place. As for your mom, the intel I heard from our sources is that your mom made some money 'entertaining' Gelding's guests before your dad died, and somehow she managed to start to play house with Gelding the day after your dad died. Took out what little she wanted from the house and left most of it behind.

"Angus hasn't sold the house or any of the contents. I think he's waiting to give your mom every single chance to claim it or to step up to do the right thing for your father, but I honestly don't think we're going to see her. I think, from what Edward told me, Angus intends to liquidate whatever you and Ruby and your brothers don't want and then sell the property and divide the proceeds of it between Sam and Victor, possibly for some more education once they leave Hogwarts if they want it. That's what Angus told Edward he was thinking about. Edward thinks Angus needs to return the initial cost of the property to himself before he gives any profits to Sam and Victor because he knows Angus will continue to look out for them."

"Jessie is back to stay, Jack," Robert smiled. "We've just been catching him up on all the drama. Oh, Jessie, do keep an eye up on the treehouse. James knows he can go up there and spy on the main house, but what that bonehead doesn't realize is that Angus has a perfect view of the treehouse from his house. Angus can watch James watching us. So far, its worked well for us, not so well for James."

"While you're reorienting him, do introduce him to the new foal, and Fudge, and Pip, would you, Jack?" Robert said. "And take him over to the duplex and show him around both units and their garden area, and all of that. Make sure he's up on all the changes."

"I won't worry, Jessie," Robert smiled. "Just keep me in the loop, would you? Alright, get to work, you two. I'm going to go over and see Angus and check on him."

Jessie looked out the window at the tree house and chuckled " bonehead is right thats the last place you hide I'd have put an age spell on it so he would have been ejected out if he trie to use it." he said then looked at Robert "Thank you" he said " and as for my mother Im not suprised and yes sir" he said simply then made a note of each animal he had to meet. " what the heck is a fudge?" he asked Jack who just smiled as they walked to the back door.

"Hes a bowtruckle,used to live in the barn but got lonly so Kate brought him in and well got attached to Abby and ruby oh and Angus , I think practicaly any one who feeds him, Abby mostly, the foal is a baby unicorn, a beauty, and pip is Ruby and Angus owl." he stopped seeing the look on Jessies face " yep Kate got him for them so he could send messages back and forth with out one of them porting over."

"huh makes sense" he said as they walked out side he stopped by the tree house and scanned all sides " seems some one took a pot shot at the tree too" he said finding a small hole in its trunk.

"that might have been Angus, ask him about it" Jack said " but it ws fun" he now grinned and chuckled " Hey Angus brought a stray " he said and Jesse groand a little.

"that my nickname now?" he asked and Jack nodded grinning.

"yep" was all he said " I'll leave you with Angus and Andrew whos hiding behind the counter." Jack said as he searched the room for him. 

"Jack Im sure I'll meet him in time."Jessie said as Jack nodded and turned to leave.

"Oh, that's exactly what Angus did, and I thought it was bloody brilliant. Next time he goes up there, he'll be chucked out and that tree house is high enough, he'll break something or another," Michael laughed.

"Jessie," Angus grinned, "good to see you. So, are you back with us for good now? And how does it feel to be back? Andrew really isn't hiding. He went upstairs to see if he could find some burn ointment."

"No good," Andrew sighed. "I'll get some from the main house a little later. "Mr. My-Magic-Doesn't-Work, decided to try to throw up a magic shield to protect himself from a flying beer tankard at lunch today at the pub. But since his magic doesn't work, all he manages to do is to set himself on fire, and not a shield in sight."

"Hey. at least it does that much now," Angus laughed.

"If you keep forgetting it's all wonky and Ruby ends up as a potato, that's fully on you," Andrew said.

"Come and take a look around," Angus invited Jessie. "Basement is just concrete block for now. I'll get around to doing something with it at some point. But its good storage temporarily. We've got our bedroom, two baths and three guest rooms right now. Andrew is using one. We've got one ready as a nursery, and the third one is fixed for your brothers, but if I need to add on, I will. Edward's place is a mirror image of this one, except he's got a spiral staircase in the master suite upstairs that goes up one more level to his astronomy tower. It lets him stargaze or work on potions and such."

Jessie chuckled but winced seeing Angus's hand " better that then nothing right." he said then chuckled hearing a voice "nice to meet you andrew, Im Jessie Rubys brother."  he said and weht to shake his hand but saw the ointment " you want a hand ..parden the pun, with that." he asked before looking to Angus " yes Im back for good and if she does at least she'll be chipping in" he said and looked at Jack who groaned " oh come on that was a good one for on the fly" but he just chuckled as he listened to Angus discribe the house.

"oh by the way,thanks for all the things you did, Robert told me how you took care of arangements, seems your turning in to the best brother in law we could have asked for." he said smiling " sounds like you have it a pretty much sorted. Robert mentioned you had to go to Hogwarts, no issues I hope." he asked knowing they can be strict at times. " I'll take a look at the boys room but Im guesing its all gonna be good" he said as his eyes caught a glancing sight of one of the extra guards dotted around. " you got your own body guard in here and several new ones out side, hum that becuse of the floozy called my mother?" he asked " again Robert filled me in, no worries there ether, but before you send her into the outer atmoshphere, let me talk to her, at least once, Jefferys idea , he said it would sort things out and close eveything." Jessie stood up and moved around Angus's chair " okay I got to patrol, but first the rooms, so do you know if its a boy or a girl yet?" he asked being a guy he didn't know about dates and such.

Before he could answer Jessie, there was a pounding on the door, and then the door burst open. Abbey ran in, and she was carrying a paper sack.

"Aggie!" she called. "I gots cookies! Gam buyed cookies!" She ran over to him and climbed up on his lap. She looked up at Jessie and Jack. "Hi! Gam buyed cookies." She handed the bag to Angus.

"Well, thank you," Angus smiled. He opened the bag and looked inside. He saw several sugar, cut out cookies in the bag, and they looked like things from a summer cookout. They were adorable. They were in shapes of burgers, hot dogs, slices of watermelon, blueberry pie, oven mitts, spatulas, and they looked like it had taken someone hours to paint them.

"Where on earth did you two find these?" Angus asked.

"Sparks," Abbey nodded. "New girl. She make lots of cookies!"

"There's a new girl there, hun? What's her name?"

"Grace," Abbey said. There was another knock, and Kate came in, carrying a sketch pad.

"I'm sorry," Kate said. "The minute I said we should bring you some of these cookies, she took off like a shot with the bag. Oh, hi, Jessie! Welcome back. Robert mentioned you were back. It's good to have you back on board again."

"My door is always open," Angus told Kate. "It's no problem." He opened the bag, took a cookie shaped like blueberry pie, and handed the bag to Abbey, who took a cookie shaped like a red gingham oven mitt. Angus passed the bag to Jessie. "Have a cookie."

"Robert was telling me you've been developing some interests, including painting," Kate said to Jessie. "You should come out to the studio. You could paint or do any number of things. I've got all kinds of different art things out there. You might enjoy a number of different things. I bet you'd like doing stained glass work. It involves cutting colored glass and, basically, soldering the pieces into place. There's a bit more to it than that, but I bet you'd like it. We should go out some day and I can let you try a bunch of different things.

"Gam drawed a picture." Abbey said.

"I did," she said. "Don't say anything to Edward or Simone, but I might do a painting for them for their wedding. I'd like your opinions." She opened the sketch pad and showed them a rendering in colored pencil of Edward and Simone. In the portrait, Edward was standing behind Simone, his arms around her shoulders, and they both looked like they were full of pure joy for each other. Angus was deeply moved.

"It's perfect, Kate," Angus said. "Edward has been alone and lonely for so long that I want him and Simone to always be just that full of joy for the rest of their lives. I wouldn't change a thing. Would it be that size?"

"Bigger. Edward has been looking for a piece to put over his mantel, and I'm hoping to make it just the right size for that."

"They'll love it," Angus said.

Jessie looked at the door and saw Abby who had grown since he last saw her, then he heard Kate walk in , he chuckled as he showed them the cookies Angus took one then offered the bag to him , reaching in he took one decorated like a water melon. "tThank you" he said smiling but stood as Kate walked in he smiled at her too "Hi Kate and its good to be back." he said seeing her drawing as she spoke of it and who it was for. " I think they will love it, there's such depth and contrast in it." he said " Jeffery got me into painting while I was away , um I was going to ask if it would be possible that I could use a small courner of your studio to continue that." he asked hoping she would agree as the light was so much better than his room.

He took a bite from his cookie and smiled " these are good too." he said " not as good as yours though " he said to Angus " but tasty."

"You don't need to push yourself into a corner," Kate smiled. "Just go and help yourself. Enjoy it."

"Well, thank you," Angus smiled. "I've not met Grace, but I'm sure Lizzie knew what she was doing when she hired her."

"Well, I can answer part of that," Kate said. "Khaat has decided to add a to-go counter, and it will serve coffee and tea drinks, of course, but it will also have a full bakery counter, and will take orders for soup and deli sandwiches, all packaged quickly to go. So, that does stretch Lizzie a bit thinner. Grace is a pastry chef, and she'll be doing all the baked goods. Lizzie also added a sioux chef. His name is Donovan. I haven't met him yet, though. And, Khaat is considering adding small food cart in Hogsmeade on the weekends when its busier or across the holidays. I think she's doing some additional collaborations with Jonathan Belby too. He's going to add some more confections in Sparks, and he's going to give her space outside Honeydukes for her food cart. He's working on some sort of enchanted sprinkles for Grace's bakery department."

"It sounds like it should all be a smashing success," Angus said, and as he was speaking, Abbey let out a little startled shriek.

"What?" Angus frowned.

"A crawly!" Abbey pointed under one of the chairs.

"What?" Angus frowned. Andrew looked.

"Oh, lordy, it's a lizard," Andrew sighed. "Your bird, Angus."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Angus said, and just then the little lizard dashed across the room and under the fridge.

"And there he goes," Andrew shook his head, slightly annoyed.

"It's a slimy!" Abbey said, not liking it.