LONDON CALLING

"Edward is going to be completely in love with her. I know he has a lot of grandkids and great grandkids, but this one, for him, is going to feel very different. He's going to be able to be part of her every day life here, and nobody's going to try to discourage him from it. Just understand, he's probably going to shower her with all sorts of things. She's not going to ever be without anything she needs. Not a single thing."

He sat with her for a long moment in the quiet, and then he started to feel raindrops. Sprinkles at first, but it was only a few minutes before it seemed like the heavens were opening.

"Go. Hurry up and get inside. I'm coming," he told her. He set the garden trug out of his way so he could work on getting up, and it only took him a couple minutes to figure out that getting up out of a chair was one thing, but getting up off the ground was something else. He wasn't having any luck in getting up on his own. A moment later, Sam dashed out of the house and ran up to him.

"Dad!" Sam said. "Come on, you gotta get up..."

"I can't. I can't do it," Angus said. "I got down here, and now..."

"I've got you. Come on. I'll help," Sam said. He put his hands under Angus's shoulders and started to try to help him up when Andrew came out.

"Good, Sam. Good job, I'll get the other side," Andrew said. Together they helped him up. "Get his chair." Andrew helped him walk a couple steps while Sam brought the chair, and then Andrew helped him sit. They brought him inside, and Angus sighed, feeling exceptionally discouraged. "Get him a towel, please, Sam," Andrew said. While Sam was gone, Andrew made a very quick check to make sure Angus was okay.

"Don't read into it," Andrew told him firmly. "You've been in that chair for weeks because of a lack of strength. Getting up off the floor isn't on your rehab schedule for quite awhile yet. That's about one of the last tasks of all. Getting down there is not a problem. Getting up is going to be an entirely different matter. That will come when you've been on your feet for awhile and your muscles are rebuilt. Gardening is a lovely idea, but you're going to need help if you think you're going to do it again. So for now, let's get you dried off and into dry clothes and maybe brew a pot of tea. I found an airtight container of Robert's almond tea, and that seems to make just about anything right again." Sam brought a towel and a pair of Angus's sweats that were fresh from the dryer and were still warm. "Thanks, Sam," Andrew said.

"I could help weed but I don't know what's a plant and what's a weed," Sam said. "I'm gonna have to leave that up to Ruby because I'm basically clueless about plants."

Ruby didn't want to leave him but at his insitance she ran inside "Sam can you help Angus , its poring with rain and hes stuck in the garden" she called out but she heard Sam as he ran out to help Angus followed by Andrew. Moving to the kitchen she grabbed some towels to dry him off as Sam brought one and some clothes to change him onto.

She smiled as Sam said he knew nothing about Gardening , " well maybe one day we could show you." she said smiling at him "although you two might be some what ocupied with your sister." she said smiling as she used one of the towels to dry her hair as she sat close to Angus. " well I knew we wanted a shower but not in the middle of the garden" she chuckled.

"If it has a vegetable or a fruit on it, it isn't a weed. Don't pull it," Angus said.

"So helpful. Gee, thanks," Victor said, shaking his head at the stupid gardening advice.

"Did you guys just decide that it was just outnumbered with Angus and Victor and me, so you'd even it out with another girl?" Sam teased.

"Just so you know, I'm not playing with dolls," Victor teased. "I might do a diaper if I have to, but I'm not playing with dolls. No way, not happening."

"Wimp," Sam glanced at Victor. Andrew helped Angus dry off and then helped him change his shirt. He temporarily dried Angus's sweat pants with a drying spell. "Go get dry, Sam," Andrew said. "There are some of your clothes in the basket of clean laundry. I'll put the almond tea on to brew in a moment."

Ruby chuckled at Sam and Victor " well that went well" she said smiling at Angus then she laughed at the notion of Victor playing with dolls " oh there are a few years before that " she said " but the diper changes would be helpful" she said smiling " and hey you guys out number me Im the only girl here." she said " theres five guys and two women, if you incluse Edward and Simone" she said placing teh towel she'd used to dry her hair and put it in the basket in the kitchen for wash.

" Im just happy you guys are okay with us having a girl." she said smiling at them both. She wondered how bad the nursary had been damaged " was the nursary realy bad?" she asked softly hoping that it had not been afected at all.

"I haven't been upstairs yet, but they tell me that they redid what they could with the basic structure of the room itself and the wallpaper and such, but a lot of the stuff that was in the room will have to be replaced," Angus said. "I don't care about that. It's just stuff, and stuff can certainly be replaced. We've got time. Besides, I have a couple ideas that I wish I'd have thought of before. Really--sometimes you pick the strangest things to stress about."

"Yeah," Victor agreed with Angus, "why would you worry about whether it bothered us what gender its going to be? It might be different if we were closer in age to it, but, meh--it had to be one or the other, right? So what's the point in stressing about it? Even if we did care, there wouldn't be much any of us could do about it anyway. As I see it, there's no point in stressing about what you can fix. Just fix it and move on. And, no point in stressing about what you can't fix. Just do your best to suck it up and move on."

Angus laughed a little. "Vic, that is the philosophy I try to live by most of the time. Once in awhile something gets past me to get under my skin, but I try to take things in stride."

"Well, you might as well. No point in both of you being a fussbudget," Victor shrugged.

Ruby listened to Angus and chuckled " all right I'll leave that to you." she said then heard Victor talk. She listened to him and chuckled " your right " she said with a smile " well she's coming on way or the other." she listened to Angus and relaxed knowing everything and everyone was all on the same page. It was now a note came threw the floo and landed on Rubys lap, she opened it and smield " its fom the suplier everything is on its way." she said just as several boxes of fresh produce appeared in the living room along with boxes filled with tins and packets.

"well looks like we should put these away" she said picking up a light box of fruit " oh strawberrys, nice" she said taking one and looking at it " fresh too , might need a wash." she moved to the pantry and started palcing things back in their right place not it was clean. " I realy is good to be home" she said turning to smile at Angus.

"It is," Angus agreed. He glanced out the window to see that it was still raining. He got out his sketchbook and started to sketch some ideas he had on several different things. He ahd ideas but not the expertise to actually create them. He was hoping that Kate might be the person to help those things take shape.

Andrew next put some of Angus's clothes and some of Ruby's in the wash, knowing all the clothes would need washed to get the smoke smell out. The construction crew said the upstairs bathrooms were finished, so Andrew went up and cast a couple of spells to get those rooms cleaned while he worked on throwing out the baby things that could not be repaired or restored. He tried to make a list of the things he was throwing out, if they were recognizable, and he took all the baby clothes and baby blankets downstairs to put those things in the laundry room to be washed. He decided to do those last because Angus and Ruby would need their clothes before the baby would.

With the drapes freshly washed, Andrew then set about hanging up the downstairs drapes back on the rods. It was starting to look like the place was liveable again.

"I wonder, when it stops raining, if I could get one of the outside guys to restock the firewood for the living room and master bedroom fireplaces," Andrew said.

"I bet they would," Angus said.

"Contractors are finished with the upstairs bathrooms, so I've got cleaning spells working in there. Then we can restock the towels and other supplies up there. My next priority will be the boys' room and the master bedroom when the crews are done in those rooms. The nursery really can wait a little."

"Let's get the nursery clean when we can, at least. I want to talk to Kate about some other ideas I had for in there."

"Don't tell me. You're doing pink unicorns now," Andrew teased.

"Um. no," Angus laughed. "I think we should keep the original enchanted forest theme, but I have a couple new ideas for that--if Kate can help me with it."

Ruby smiled seeing Angus sketching she knew he loved doing that. she accioed another box and began emptying it as well untill all were put away then another box came this one was white with a green ribbon a small card sat on top. Ruby moved to pick it up and took it to Angus " its from Ian" she said and opened it so they could see seven cup cakes all with different toppings. Ruby smiled as she showed Angus "It must be extras he made and sent to us" she said " the boys will love having these. "And we can keep some for Simone and Edward when they get back" she said finding something tucked in a courner of the box " oh its the topper Kate made." she said and showed him it gently in her hand.

She had heard Angis mention to Andrew about logs for the bed rooms and could not agree more about that, something about a warm open fire that said 'home.' She wrote anote to Jack and sent it out reciving one confirming he would personbaly bring the wood and light the fires for them. " Jack bringing some dry wood over from teh wood store in the barn for us." she said placing down a hot cup of tea on the side table next to him " felt you could use this." she said smiling.

"I asked Ian to send me some of the leftover cupcakes since there is no top tier for Simone and Edward for their anniversary. I thought they could use cupcakes instead of a top tier. I can always make more cake for us. Or you can. I do need to find my notebook, though. Ian borrowed it for some recipes for the last couple of days, but I do need it back. Not sure where it got to. Oh, yeah. The topper. They really did like that idea of a little sculpture that looked just liked them. I'm glad Ian sent it back." She brought over tea for him. "Thanks," he said. "Say, what about some sort of a big kettle of soup for supper here tonight, maybe with a loaf of some crusty bread and a salad of some sort? If we could find my notebook, I have a recipe for a variety of an olive oil cake that is Orange, Cardamom, Fig, and Spiced Honey. It's a nice, comforting cake for a cold fall day, especially with a scoop of ice cream. If we can't find the book, we can resort to maybe some brownies. I know that recipe off the top of my head."

Ruby smiled and nodded closing the box again " alright we'll put those in the freezer for them when they return" she said smiling as she listened to him speak of a big kettle of soup for supper with some crusty bread and a salad. She thought for a moment and nodded " I think I saw the folder behind the counter " she said and stood up to fetch it. Looking around she spotted it tucked behind several others " oh here it if , fall recipes" she read on the label as she walked back to Angus.

"What about the Potato Soup with Chicken, that sounds warming and filling?" she said showing him the page. " or Chicken Noodle Soup." she asked placing it down on his lap.