LONDON CALLING

"Thanks," Angus told her.

Kate came out of the pantry at the same time Michael came out of the fridge. Kate had several loaves of bread, and Michael had a commercial sized egg tray that had 30 eggs in it.

"Oh, good morning, Ruby. There's a whole commercial sized pot of coffee and one of tea already brewed and set up in the dining room," Kate told her. "What's wrong with Fudge?" She frowned looking at the droopy looking little bowtruckle. "He's all wilted."

Michael began cracking the eggs into a large commercial mixing bowl. "It's about time he showed up," Michael said.

"What do you mean?"

"He missed breakfast yesterday. Wasn't in his tree."

"He wasn't? That's not like him," Kate replied

"We'll have breakfast ready in maybe 30 minutes, Ruby," Michael said. "I'm making eggy bread, and Kate's going to make a fruit salad. If we have time, we'll add a couple more something or others to go with it."

Ruby looked at the two of them and smiled " he was in the wash basket, I think Abby put him there" she said " oh great thinking, thank you I'm sending up a mug for Angus since he woke me early." she said yawning a little as she pored two mugs a sent one up to Angus. " I'll send him some eggy bread, once it's done," she said sipping her coffee as she heard the others coming down. The first she saw was Jack and Jessie talking about Sam and Victor's training.

"Hey sis" Jessie said taking some coffee himself " morning Michael and Kate " he said and watched Michael cooking " eggy bread, nice" he said ad Ruby rolled he eyes " don't look like that I love eggy bread"he said and she chukled. Rowan walked in from out side and smiled.

"nice , dad's cooking " he said to Andrew who had come with him " oh hes making eggy bread" Rowan sat down and watched him cooking as Ruby went to the gym to work off some sleep she still had from being woken early.

Kate put the loaves of bread on the counter and went over to Fudge who was still eating the food cube that Ruby had given him.

"Aw," Kate reached over and petted Fudge. "I'm sorry, my little friend," she said soothingly. "You need some water. Hold on. I'll get you some. She found an eyedropper, filled it with cool water and brought it back to Fudge and gave him a long drink of water. Between the food cube and the water, he seemed to be perking up. "Now, you get your breakfast and then get a good long sleep, won't you?" she told him. He nodded at her. . "And I'll have a word again with Abbey, shall I? We'll have to do better about making sure you're not in her pocket when she takes her bath at night." Fudge seemed to be chattering to her, but Kate wasn't catching it. She didn't speak bowtruckle.

"Morning jessie" Michael said. "Morning, Rowan. It'll take us about thirty minutes to get breakfast on the sideboard. I chose eggy bread because it's easy to do for a crowd."

It was at that moment that Edward and Simone came downstairs, and Simone heard Fudge saying something.

"Can I help? Simone asked, going over to the tree. "What's the matter, Fudgy?" She was concerned for how withered he looked. The bowtruckle spoke with her. "Oh dear! I'm so sorry." She looked at Kate. "He wasn't left in the laundry last night. It was the night before that. He was in the laundry all day yesterday, trying to get out. Then he got caught in what he said was 'that smelly, dirty sock' and couldn't get it off. He pushed the sock out of the laundry and then pushed the sock out of the bathroom and down the hall until Angus rescued him. He's very grateful to Angus for that. He suggests that we consider designing some sort of pouch or carrier for him to ride in when he goes with someone so that it might make it a little harder for people to forget he's with them. I think that's an excellent idea. I should think that perhaps a hard shelled upright eyeglass case might work quite well if we can add a hanger on it so that whoever takes him could wear the case either in their pocket or on a string around their neck."

"I think that's very good," Kate said. "We can cushion the inside so its more comfortable for him, and and then I think he might be quite happy there."

"Kate, I need those bread slices soon," Michael said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Michael," she said. "Coming."

"I'll help you get those loaves all sliced," Simone told her. "We'll check back with you Fudgy. Get a little sleep, and you'll feel better." She petted him a couple of times, and he seemed to appreciate the gesture. Simone and Kate hurried back to the counter to cut the loaves of bread into generous slices so that Michael could soak them in the egg and the put them on sheet pans and stick them in the oven to roast. Michael laid out a full sheet pan of bacon in the oven. Then they would all start cutting fruit for the fruit salad.

Rowan heard Simone tlking with the bow truckle and smield " I think I have just the thing" he said and headed out the door to his room returning with what loked like a glasses case halves and with a large hook on the back that slipped into the pocket he looked at Fudge and showed him how the hook clipped to the outside of the pocket and the inside was nice and cosy for him. " there you go , its just a pocket protector I was given that I never use, hope you like it, theres room for a few cubes too." he showed him it placing it on a shelf next to the tree.

Ruby gasped as sh returned from the gym when she ehard simone said he'd been in the laundry for two days " oh now thats not good" she said " and yes Im sorry about that." she watched as simnone spoke to him then rowan came back with something to help him be seen and not forgotten and thrown into the washing. " that look a nifty idea" she said sipping her coffee

"That will work, I think," Simone said. "It should be fine."

"I'll have another talk with Abbey. We cannot allow this again," Kate said, as Robert came in the back door from his predawn run. The sun had not even come up yet, but he was glad to have his run to start off his day. He heard Kate's remark, and he looked at her.

"What are we having a talk with her about?" Robert asked.

"Abbey chucked Fudge in the laundry again--not last night, but the night before last," Kate said. "Poor Fudge got himself stuck in one of Abbey's dirty socks and he's been working on getting out of the basket since. I guess he managed to crawl into Angus's room, and it was Angus that got him unstuck from the sock. Poor Fudge. He's dehydrated and he was exhausted and quite hungry. I'm going to have to talk with Abbey again."

"Well, now, Kate, I'm all for letting her know she misstepped, but let's do remember she's only three. We need to try to supervise her a bit more with the creatures. She is really quite young to be left on her own, even with a bowtruckle."

"Oh, you're right," Kate sighed, cutting the bread.

"Watch yourself," he cautioned. "You're going to lop off a digit if you're not careful. You're not paying attention to what you're doing. I should not like to start off my morning doing surgery on you, my sweet."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Let me deal with Abbey," he said. "You're upset, and understandably so. I'll have a gentle word with her, and we'll just change how she does things."

"Fudge suggested a pouch that people could wear when he's with them so that they're forced to remember the pouch. And Rowan brought over a spare pocket protector."

"Good idea. I know I have a hard shell glasses case that opens longwise, and we could take the lid off, hang a string or a chain on it, and use that for people that don't have pockets. Or for little girls that might not always be as careful, even with a pocket protector. The hard shell might be a bit more sturdy for him. But the pocket protector will be excellent for the rest of us that don't want to wear half a glasses case."

"Thank you, Robert." She gave Michael the bread, and then she and Simone started on making a large fruit salad.

"What time do you two have to be at the farm?" Robert asked Edward.

"Nine," Edward said.

"I was planning on going along so that I can help with anything they need that we already have," Kate said.

"Good idea," Robert said. "Well, I'm going to go shower and dress. I'll be back." He headed upstairs.

Ruby sat for a moment then took two bottle tops and she glued some string to both tops sides. Walking over she hung them close to Fudge on a small branch taking some water in the droper she filled it " there now you can get wter when you need it." she said " your going to have a right litte home here" she said with a smile. Rowan listened to Robert and nodded he agreed.

"that sounds good for the ladies " he said " and Abby" he watched Michael make the eggy bread and smiled knowing it would taste delishious " so anything for me to do today or am I on training duty?"he asked knowing the boys would want to do wand training again.

"That's a good idea, Ruby," Kate said. "More water will certainly help him today. Thank you. I've been working on a little gift for him, so maybe I can get it finished today."

Andrew had helped Angus get refreshed, dressed and shaved, and he apparated him downstairs to the dining room and brought him a mug of coffee. Then Andrew went upstairs and helped Victor apparate downstairs. Today, Andrew had Victor working on getting around with his crutches, but he didn't want him to start with all the stairs from from upstairs down to the dining room. Sam had come down stairs and was pouring himself a mug of coffee.

"Look at you," Kate smiled at Victor. "On crutches. How does it feel?"

"Fabulous," Victor grinned. "I'm so sick of that chair."

"Can't blame you a bit," she said. "Just don't overdo it."

"I won't," he promised.

"You want coffee?" Sam asked Victor.

"God, yes," Victor said. That made Angus laugh.

"That's how most of us feel every morning," Angus laughed. "Welcome to the early riser club."

"We don't mind getting up early. We have to do that anyway for school," Sam said, pouring a second mug and taking it to Victor, who was taking a seat in the dining room.

"I love these mugs," Victor said. "I like the bright red color, and I like how the mugs hold the heat in."

"Kate made them," Angus said.

"Really?" Sam was fascinated. "You do pottery, Kate?"

"I do," she smiled. "You're welcome to come out to the studio any time, and I'll teach you how to use the wheel."

"Nice!" Sam was excited.

"Rowan," Michael said. "Robert would like you to go with Ruby and Angus this morning. They're going to Robert's farm, and then they 're going to London to run some errands. He's sending Marcus along as well. One of you will stay with Ruby at all times, and the other will stay with Angus. Get them back in one relative piece, would you?"

Ruby nodded to Kate " its a teperery solution but it works " she said and chuckled "we'll find something more perminant Fudge" she said then saw Robert enter and talk to Rown " oow nice." she said smiling. Rowan looked at Ruby and chuckled then looked at Robert.

"Yes sir" he said " one body guard for each person good call" he said " and we'll bring them home safe." he looked at Ruby and nodded " your stuck with me of marcus for the day" he said as Jack walked down from upstairs .

"Jess is getting breakfast at the hospital an emergancy just cropped up something to do with wrong insurance or something like that" he said as he pored coffee for himself , he smiled seeing Victor on crutches " wow your taller than I expected" he said teasingly " good to se you on your feet buddy" he said lightly patting Victor's shoulder.

Robert came down dressed for the day. and he heard Jack say Jess had gone in early for some insurance debacle.

"Oh, that really does not qualify as an emergency. If they're calling her out for that, I'll choke every one of them. They used to try that crap with me until I threatened them within an inch of their lives, and if they're doing it now with her, they'll wish they hadn't. That's a simple trap on their parts that they try to set on a new administrator to try to get them to do jobs they don't want to do. I'll go shortly and sort it out with her. If they're calling her out, they'd better have a patient that is at death's door, or believe me, we will have an employee at deaths door when I get done with them."

Simone took the fruit salad to the dining room, and Kate set out syrup and butter for the eggy bread, some jam for those who were a bit more adventurous with it, and a platter of bacon. Michael finished making the large platter of rich, thick slices of cinnamon eggy bread on the sideboard.

"Alright, tuck in, you lot, or wait til lunch," Michael said. He took a couple slices of eggy bread, sandwiched a couple slices of bacon in between, like a sandwich, added a spoonful of jam to the top, a pat of butter, and a light drizzle of syrup.

"Now that looks adventurous," Angus said.

"Shall I fix you one like that," Andrew offered.

"No, thanks, just a single slice for me with syrup and some fruit salad on the side," Angus said.

"Coming right up," Andrew said, as Sam went to fix a plate for Victor and himself.

Jak listened to Robert and shok his hed " I hope not , a mad Jess is not to be recond with" he said just as she returned cursing up a storm.

"those incompatants couldn't put together a single form." she said "then they had me fill it out, I told them where to go and said it was not my job to do there for them" she said and smelt the eggy bread " oow that smells wonderful" Jess walked over and looked at Michael " your doing Im guessing?" she said and smiled as she took some. Jack looked at Robert and chuckled.

"told you, " he said and smiled as Rowan watched Michael make the eggy bread " wow, Daad can I have one like that?" he asked putting on a little boy voice" and making doe eyes at Michael in hopes he would make it the same and it would taste divine.