LONDON CALLING

Ruby listened to Michael talking and she sat down growing quiet as he spoke. Once he'd finished she shook her hed " thats pain in the ass , Michael thank you for leting me know , and yes your right hes messing with something that has nothing to do with him , and by teh way let Angus know Im happy with things the way they are as for my prat of brother I'll deal with him when he gets here. and let ana and sergio know she's welcome in our house any time I have nothing against her, we all have our pasts." she stood up and looked at Edward and shook her head " wait till I get my hands on him, micheal " she then a frustrated huff. " now I feel like belting the heck out of bread dough." she told Edward.

"Well, I can't tell you how angry it makes Brian and me," Michael agreed. "He wants to be accepted unconditionally for his choices and how he wants to live his life and his choices to live with Kaden. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But, you and Angus decide to live together, and right away, Jessie has this notion that Angus is some sort of evil threat that is only looking to exploit you somehow because he hasn't married you and started a family.

"Brian did point out to him that you've only known each other for seven weeks and that you've built a house from the ground up together, but that apparently isn't good enough for Jessie. I don't know where Brian is in terms for respect for Jessie, but in all honesty, I don't have any left. Angus's devotion to you is completely intact and as strong as ever. That hasn't changed in the least. Frankly, I think he misses you and just wants to be home. I'll relay your message to him, Ruby. And I'll look out for him til he gets home." Michael cut the floo connection, feeling that Ruby would indeed take care of it.

"I'm going to talk to Robert and ask that he not interfere except to avoid assigning Jessie and Angus together as partners for anything for now. The rest is between you and Angus," Edward told her. "Simone and I will help you finish up all the details of the house and getting some of your things and Angus's moved out of the main house and into the duplex. I know you both need to split your things and have some in the main house and some in the duplex. Let's get it all ready so that when he gets home he doesn't need to do anything to escape the pressure of the main house except to walk over the the duplex with you. I'll handle getting duplicates of things like toiletries and some of the things that you do need to have in both places. We'll get those things and get it all stocked. We've got two days left before they're home. We'll make it count so he has a sanctuary with you to escape to. I think some distance between him and Jessie is definitely in order. What do you think?"

Ruby listened to michael and sighed "Thank you Michael and I trust Angus with my whole heart and I never had A dough for one moment and I miss him too." she said softly but then shook her head again and sighed as she heard Michael shut off the floo she then looked at Edward as he spoke to her when he was done she spoke " you do whats nessesary but if he dosn't change his attitude i'll be happy to not work with him again, just because he has hang ups dosn't mean he can put them on Angus and I." she listened more and nodded " thank you Edward, I agree, I'll get some of the larger guards to help move some of the larger equipment for him like the cooker and walk in fridge maybe even Jack could help. " standing she moved to hug Edward " I have no worries about Angus what so ever " she told him " theres bucuits in the busket jar if you want some with the fresh almond tea I just made." she said with a smile. But inside she was seething at her brother for how he was acting.

"Michael told me that Angus has quit talking to them," Edward said. "He just is doing what he needs to do for the mission. Michael believed that Angus was angry. That's not it at all. When Angus has been hurt either suddenly that it took him by surprise or by something that is just entirely too deep for him to know what to do with. And unless I talk to him myself, I'm not going to know which it is. I do know this. Michael can be fiercely protective if he sees the need to do it. If he says he is going to look out for Angus until they get home, I know exactly what that means. He is going to put himself between Jessie and Angus, and Jessie isn't going to be able to get a word in edgewise to him for the next two days. So, whatever needs to happen there, I think that's going to firmly be on you and, if you need me, whatever help I can be to you. This is your relationship, though. I am not going to put myself in the middle of it unless you have something you want me to do. I will be happy to listen any time you like though. I can be a good sounding board if you need it.

"As moving tasks, lets make a list of everything that needs doing, and we'll divide it up. I'm sure that Jess and Jack and Robert and Kate and everyone else will help. We may need to explain why there is such a push now to get the duplex completely ready, and so far as I'm concerned, I can't think of any reason not to tell them. We're a family here. We don't need secrets. And if Jessie finds he is treated a bit differently, then he might have to accept that he brought it on himself. If you want me to keep it a secret, though, tell me now."

Ruby listened to Edward and couldn't agree more with his words when he finished she looked at him " tell them" she said " they need to know, we can't be a family if we keep secrects." she said " and that would be great becuse I have a feeling after this I might not be talking to him myself and well, your like a father to me since my own is well a swine for use of a better word." she told him.

Jess waked in and paused " I felt something was wrong , sorry couldn't help over hear " she to Edwrd as she moved to place her hand on Rubys shoulder " Jack and I will help as much as we can so Angus has a home that is quiet, comfortable and welcoming when he returns." she looked at Edward and smiled.

"Thank you, Jess," Edward said. "I asked Michael to try to get him to a floo so I can try to talk to him later tonight, but I don't expect that to be easy. He shuts down when he's hurt, and that's obviously what he's doing. In all the years I've known Michael, I can count on one hand the times I've seen him get angry. And I've never seen him just completely livid--until now."

"What?" Robert asked as he and Kate came into the kitchen.

Kate and Robert had a story of their own to tell, and they relayed the story to the others. They had taken Abbey and had gone to Hogsmeade and had stopped in ant Honeydukes. And, of course, Jonathan Belby had been utterly delighted at seeing Abbey. He had picked her up and had taken her in the back and had shown her the candy kitchen. Abbey had told him she thought he needed to dip some pretzel rods in caramel and then dip them again in chocolate and add some sparkles. Jonathan had been impressed, and it had given him the idea of making the pretzel rods as she described and making some enchanted sprinkles that glowed and sparkled. That was when Kate said Jonathan needed to sell as sparkle wands and sell them exclusively at Sparks. Jonathan and Robert had loved the idea, and so the project was born out of one of Abbey's little whims. Jonathan said he would work on inventing the sprinkles and asked that they bring Abbey back to help him make the first candy wand.

"Now," Robert said, handing Abbey a little piece of chocolate that they'd gotten at Honeydukes, "I know I heard that Michael was raging at something. Edward is right. That is exceptionally rare. Tell us what the problem is. Is everyone alright on the missions team?"

"Physically--for now," Edward said. "You might need to do surgery on Jessie when he gets home to extract his head from a certain orifice."

"Uh oh," Robert said. "is he on about needing to run Ruby's life for her again?"

"Yes, except he's making no bones about thinking that, basically, Angus is a complete knob and only out to take advantage of Ruby," Edward said.

"And his evidence is?" Robert asked.

"No marriage and no pregnancy."

"Well, since he's not married or in process of fathering a child either, he needs to shut it. He has no room to talk. If he can't keep it together to be decent to his partners, he won't go on any overnight missions until he's figured himself out."

"Just do me a favor and don't pair him and Angus up for anything for a bit. That's all I ask for now," Edward said.

"Consider it done."

Ruby listened to Kate and Robert talk about Abbys adventure and teh sparkle sticks . " oh they sound so yummy" she said smiling then let Edwrd tell Robert of her brother " I agree, it won't be that orafice it will be finding his dangly bits if he has any left and extracting them when Im done with him." she said then looked at Robert " as for marage and children we talked about it, Im fine as we are, our jobs are important as I know how much Angus loves working for you and I won't ask him to change that." she shook her head " not in a thousand years, and Angus and I already agree kid will come when they come nothing more."

Jess chuckled and looked at Robert " sorry but I better prep the sick bay but how mad she is" Jess said " but he does need to pull his head out that orrafice." Ruby nodded and smiled at Jess who smiled back at her.

" don't get me started , he was like this as a kid even though I told him to back off more than once. " she tapped her chin as she though " seems to me the last time he did this I told him the next time I would take him out back, guess that time has come" she said with a chuckle looking at Jess. " mind if I borrow Jack for a while when they get back?" she asked Jess motioned to go ahead.

"Well, the others already have this figured out, but I don't put up with anyone who can't treat the rest of the team members well," Robert said. "And if it made Michael this angry, it had to be bad. I will try to talk to either Brian or Michael to see if there is anything I need to do, but Brian has the ability to take disciplinary action if he thinks its necessary." He listened to Ruby talk about how she had repeatedly asked Jessie to stop and he hadn't done it.

"I have to be honest, Ruby," Edward said. "I've heard you ask him more than once to stop just since I've been here. And it sounds like it has reached a point where we can't ignore it anymore."

"Sounds like I need to talk to Brian and Michael and Angus myself," Robert said.

"Good luck with that. Angus is all done talking," Edward said.

"That's not good," Robert said, knowing what that meant.

"He's shut himself down so he can protect himself from Jessie," Kate sighed. "And you and I are so far away, Robert."

"Michael will look after him, Kate. We'll let Michael deal with it for another couple days."

"And I'll try to talk to him tonight if Michael can get him to a floo."

In Romania, Ana set the table for what would be their last meal with Angus, Jessie, Michael and Brian. Michael had made a luscious peach cobbler for dessert, and Angus had made an elegant spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, some elegant risotto with wild mushrooms, and for the main entree--the thing he had been working on--a simply flawless steak au poive with a cognac cream sauce. Michael poured the wine and called everyone to the table as Angus set the huge platter steaks on the table. Then he deliberately set himself at the head of the table with Angus on his right and Sergio right across from Angus, with Sergio's eldest daughter on Angus's right so Angus would not be right across from or next to Jessie.


"Steak au Poivre?" Sergio was stunned. "You cooked this yourself? In our little kitchen?"

"He did," Michael said. "And I haven't seen finer anywhere."

"If we could eat like this all the time, we'd give the waystation to your brothers and move to England, Ana," Sergio said.

"Come along. The more, the merrier," Michael said.

Ruby nodded " I would apreciate that Robert, I wish I was there to help him myself but he's got a lot of people around him, and Im talking about Angus not Jessie." she said listening to edward talk more. now her mind was made up she would leave Jessie to them to deal with, she knew she had to make things as calming for Angus, he was her priority not Jessie any more. she heard Robert say he would talk to him over the floo and she nodded " and please tell him thats not my way of thinking, only my prat of a brothers, im so mad at him right now." Jess placed her hand on Ruby and calmed her down a little. " thank you Jess"

Jessie moved from the step back inside as he sat at the table away from Angus knowing it would be best nether were too close to each other but he could also tell the others were not happy with him. He stayed quiet as he ate knowing they would be home in two days.

"This is divine," Michael told Angus. "Promise me you'll fix this again when we get home, Angus."

"Only if you make the peach cobbler again," Angus said. "I want to come up with a way to do a creme brulee ice cream. A really nice buttery french vanilla ice cream with pieces of the torched sugar mixed in."

"God, that sounds amazing," Michael said. "We'll have to work on that."

"And how soon are we going to England?" Ana laughed.

"Michael can be a very loyal and fierce protector when he needs to be. Remember, he was the one who hauled me to New York to Nigel when I got ridiculously sick. I believed I had it all under control, and Michael knew better. Michael, as it turned out, was right, and I had talked myself into believing I didn't have an issue. If I know Michael at all, here's what's going to happen. They're going to get to the train, and Michael is going to insist on sharing his compartment with Angus. Jessie will have to deal with Brian all the way back to London. And I'm betting that Michael will either have the meals delivered to the compartment or will pick a different dining time than eating with Jessie. He will keep them separated, and it might be for the best."

"But if Angus still has medical needs..."

"Michael will manage, Kate. It isn't as if Brian won't be right next door. Angus will not suffer, believe me. Angus could not be in better hands."

"Ruby, how about Jess and I take over putting together a very simple supper tonight, if you would do me a favor and give Abbey her bath. She's been talking about you since she helped you plant those mint plants yesterday. Remember that storybook about the bunnies that had a slumber party? Well, she has it in her head now that she wants to go to your new house and sleep with you, so the two of you can have your own slumber party. Maybe if you just spent a little time with her, we could get that out of her head."