LONDON CALLING

Sam and Victor looked at Jessie. "That was Robert who did that? But he was the Minister. And he always looks so serious. I didn't think he had it in him."

"Just tell Jess that the two of you have a new nightlight for your bedroom," Angus teased. Robert laughed out loud

"Always glad to help, Jack," Robert replied.

"Angus, the stuff is all washed up," Sam said. "We're ready whenever you are."

"Well, then, let's get to it," Angus said. He rolled his chair into the office, and saw how they had changed it. "Oh my gosh, Guys! This is amazing! What in the world did I ever do before you came? Thanks, Guys--all of you. I think we're going to have an amazing cake--if we can keep Edward and Simone out of here."

"We'll find a way," Victor said. "Jessie, wanna play in the icing with us?" They settled in at the worktable and Angus pulled us his chair. They opened the fondant and they all started in again, making bugs and flowers and mushrooms.

Kate came back in from the studio, washing the paint thinner off her hands.

"Ruby, if you haven't started yet on supper prep, I'll start on something or another. If I do Toad in the Hole, can you do a couple sides? Maybe when we get that underway, we'll think of a dessert," Kate asked.

"I can't remember the last time we had Toad in the Hole," Robert said.

"Valentine's Day," Kate replied. "Brian asked me to make it for Khaat and Abbey for a Valentine's Day surprise."

"Well, maybe we're overdue then," Robert replied. "I think you should do either some chocolate chip biscuits or brownies."

Jack laughed and nodded " yeah would be bright enough" he said and chukled Jessie settled down on the stool " your worth it Angus" he said and smiled " um..Im not that good with fondant but I'll give it a go" he said glad to be spending time with Sam and Victor. Ruby watched and smiled as Angus left to go to his office she sw Simone walk in and looked at her " sure, oh when are we going dress shopping?" she asked moving to the kitchen to start on a few sides for the toad in the hole.

Jessie tried several times to make flowers and failed his lady bug turned into a dung bettle and he stopped " Im obviouly not as creative as you guys." he joked.

(it was kate that walked in, not simone, but I'll improvise)

"You're fine," Sam said, looking at Jessie's lady bug. "Look. The body is half a red ball. Like this. And the head is half a black ball. A line down the back for wings and then little black dots with edible paint, and painted eyes with white and black paint. That's it. Don't give up. Try again."

"Simone mentioned she hoped that perhaps the two of you could go as soon as the shops opened in the morning. I think they don't open til 9, so that still gives you plenty of time to get up and get a bite to eat before you go," Kate said. "Oh, and I have a dress for you to borrow, by the way." Kate had not forgotten that Ruby wanted to see the antique Irish lace wedding dress that Kate had worn to her own wedding. "Khaat said I could leave it for you in her closet, so I got my old dressmaker's mannequin and put it on the mannequin in her closet. No hurry. I don't think I'm going to need it in the near future. You certainly don't have to use it if it isn't really what you want. And there are still women around who can make them, so if you want a completely different design, you can pick out your own. Get what you want."

Angus was taking the flower petals that Victor was turning out, and he was shaping them and combining them to make some beautiful flowers. Victor was watching and was trying his hand at shaping some of the petals. It didn't seem to take him long to get the hang of it. The boys seemed to be thriving on the positive, individualized attention they were getting, and Angus was glad they were happy. He hadn't expected they would like to do this, but they were right that it was a lot like working with modeling clay.

Jessie tried again and smiled seeing it become a ladybug ." I did it" he said happily and continued making more. Ruby looked at Kate and smiled as she mentioend the lace dress " can we go see it now please " she said and stood up. Ruby waited for Kate and moevd to Khaats room opening the closet she smiled " its perfect" she said running her hand gently over the fine lace on the dress. "please could you keep it here, I would show Angus but its suposed to be bad luck" she said with a chuckle." but I love it Kate , I realy do its perfect"

Jessie finished and tried his hand at flowers making some alittle too big but thining the fondant he finally made the perfect rose " ha got it" he said smiling as he showed Angus " hows this one?" hea sked laying it down.

"I brought some of our wedding pictures. I thought you might like to see it. God, we looked so different." She opened the photo album and showed Ruby her wedding photo with Robert. She had the lace dress, and Robert was wearing an Edwardian morning suit. "I'm glad you like it. Rumor has it that this dress was passed through the women in our family through several generations. Maybe someday I'll be fortunate enough to see Abbey wear it. I'm sure Khaat would be fine with it staying here, and no, we aren't going to let Angus see it. He's seen the pictures of it, but we aren't going to tell him that you're going to wear it. I think the white satin chemise for under it is in really good shape but I'll double check it all and have it all cleaned, of course."

"Nice!" Sam said, looking at the ladybug. "That's it. Told you you could do it." They kept working at the bugs and flowers, and when Jessie had made a rose, Angus smiled.

"That's perfect. Nice job," Angus said. "Now, watch this." He got out some edible paint and some brushes and showed them how to add color to the centers of the flowers and some shading on the petals to make them look even more realistic. "Wanna try?" Angus asked them. "There are plenty of brushes and plenty of paint."

"So, are you and Ruby really gonna get married?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, at some point," Angus said.

"What's your cake gonna look like?"

"Well, I have some ideas sketched and colored with colored pencil. She thinks I'm going to have one of my chef buddies make it, but I hope to do it myself. Wanna see the sketches? Just don't tell."

"We won't tell," Sam said. Angus opened his sketch book to some of the milky way cake designs.

"The milky way means something special to us. Stargazing has always been something special to us, so i thought maybe I'd make a cake that has the night sky and the stars and the milky way galaxy on it."

"Don't know that I've ever really paid attention to the night sky," Victor said. "Maybe some night you could take us to see it."

"Any clear night you like," Angus said. "I'm sure that's something Ruby would love to do too. She's really gotten to like stargazing. Can you identify any constellations."

"Big dipper. That's about it," Sam said. "And I can find the north star."

"Well, that's a good start. We'll teach you more. It can be useful as a fighter to know some basics about the night sky."

"Do you know much about that, Jessie?" Victor asked, curious.

"

Ruby looked at Kate and then back to the dress " I'm sure if it's not we can find one to use" she said smiling at it. She looked at the pictures as Kate showed her " you and Robert made a beautiful pair" she said " still do" she smiled at Kate " and thank you for letting me borrow it, hey it works , something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue." she said chukaling " the dress is borrowed and , dare I say it old, all thats left is blue and new." she could not help look at the dress on the manaquin again. " but I am willing to wait till he says hes ready, yes I know that could be ages from now but hes going nowhere and ether am I." she said 

Jessie smiled at Angus aproval of the rose and he continued to make more . Hearing him say about painting them he smiled " now that I can do" he picked up the paint brush and using the food coloring adde shading to the rose to give it some depth and mak it look like a miniture rose. " hows this?" he asked when they asked if he astrology he smiled " a little , not as much as Ruby though, I know the north star like you Sam but also where cassopia and orions belt are."

"He's more ready than he knows," Kate smiled. "I think he's only held back now because he's not on his feet. I think, if he were to be able to meet you on his feet, he'd be ready to whisk you off to the registrar's office today, get it done and then have a much splashier wedding a few days later. I think he just doesn't want to disappoint you in some way by not being on his feet."

"I'm going to leave you the flowers to do, and work on some dragonflies. the way I want to do them is pretty tricky. I want to do painted fondant bodies and spun sugar wings. They're going to be immensely complicated but they will look good, I think. Now, while I'm working with this hot, hot sugar, keep well back from where I'm working. I'm going to go over to the other table to do this," he told them.

"Can I watch?" Sam asked.

"Sure. When I get ready to pour, I'll let you know," Angus said, going to heat up some sugar

Ruby listened to Kate and smiled " he never disapoints me Kate." she said smiling "I love him that much, it dosn't bother me to wait" she looked at the pictures of Robert and Kate in the album and smiled .

Jessie watched Angus create and smiled " that looks beautiful and delecate." he said moving Vincent so he could see as well. " remember guys when hes ready we move back and away okay, that stuff will burn if you get it on your skin" Jessie said now stood watching with vincent and Sam,

"Robert and I say the same thing about each other, and I know for a fact that Khaat and Brian are still completely twitterpated about each other. I see the way they look at each other. It's funny, don't you think, how even amongst the strongest love relationships, the love is different from couple to couple? Khaat and Brian were really good, close childhood friends, and after Abbey was born, they took a trip to Venice and came back with this absolutely fiery passionate relationship, and it hasn't cooled down one particle.

"Robert and I have been in love for so long, that we've reached a much more transcendent place. Maybe my seers' skills has something to do with that, but we both know that the positions we've chosen as fighters means that one of us could die at any time, but we love each other enough to want what makes the other happy. And, we both know that if one of us crossed over the veil, it wouldn't mean the end of our relationship. It would not be goodbye. It would only be a 'see-you-later.' We've gotten so strong and calm and steady that there is nothing that one of us could do that would truly damage the relationship.

"Jack and Jess balance each other. Jack brings life and fun and protection. Jess brings maturity and healing and calm to Jack. For them, it works. For every couple we have here, it's all very different, but it works."

Angus heated some sugar and when it reached the right temperature, he called them over and he spun several sets of dragonfly wings, more than he really needed because he knew there was a possibility of some of them breaking.

"There," he said, "Now as they cool, I'll mold some dragonfly bodies to go with the scale of the wings. Once everything cools I can paint them and assemble them. What do you think?"

Ruby sat and listened to Kate knowing she was right " yeah I have seen that" she said " but what do I bring, other than chaos and disaster" she said thinking of the problems with her father and now her mother." I see in Angus strength and a grounding, guess thats why I love him he keeps me focused and grounded, so Im not flighty or absent minded ...well not as much as I was before I met him" she sid and smiled as she looekd up at Kate. then she pleaced her hand on her tummy " I hope this little one takes after him though" she said with a chukle.

Jesie watched in awe of Angus's suger skills." wow, they look delecate for sure" he said and moved ith him to watch him make teh bodys, so how long before they set?" he asked sitting back down once Vincent was back at the table. He went back to making flowers. He flattened out some brown fondant and used one ofthe tools to make it look like a basket placing the flowers ontop and he smiled " what do you think?" he asked " be gentel its my first peice."