LONDON CALLING

"Go, Lads," Angus shooed them upstairs, and Sam and Victor left, taking Finn with them. The dog seemed only too glad to have some company tonight, and he went easily with them. "Thanks for all your help tonight, Jessie. I'll see you tomorrow, I'm sure. Goodnight."

He went upstairs and simply washed up and got ready for bed and got in, glad to finally be able to consider this day done. All in all, it had been a decent day. All the team had come back alive, and as near as they knew, they hadn't left a child behind. The grandchildren of France's Deputy were recovered safely and were probably home by now. Gelding was back behind bars and so were a lot of his thugs. That, he was sure, was temporary. He expected Suzanne would have Gelding back out before daylight, but at least it sent a message to Gelding that the organization would still be looking to stop him, and for the organization, it sent a strong message that they could and would be successful.

Angus cracked the balcony door to let just a little of the crisp October night air in. Sometimes it all felt consuming, and a little fresh air reassuring that all was well. He heard the boys get into bed and he heard them giggling, presumably about Finn's attempts to get used to a new home and in his desire to find someplace to sleep. Then he heard things get quiet from their room.

With all the animals and magical creatures that were here, surely a dog wasn't any large deal. And these boys had been told no almost their entire lives and about everything. If he and Ruby could tell them yes, about a lot of things, then surely that was better than what the boys had had before. Besides, Angus liked animals, all sorts of them. He got into bed and pulled up the covers and looked up at the skylight. He felt for this new girl, Fiona, and the emotional journey she was just starting out on, and how Finn might be a welcome companion for her, but his boys wanted Finn now. Maybe they could let Fiona visit Finn or they could exchange letters and pictures. He yawned. Tomorrow would be another day. There would be time for that, but he wanted to talk to Ruby before they went to sleep tonight. His mind was not settled about Jessie, not at all.

Ruby smiled to the boys as she watched them head up to their rooms. She finished cleaning up and headed up to their room seeing Angus by the balcony she walked over to him. " lost in thought?" she asked wrapping her arms around him as she held him against her. Looking at him she could see something bothering him. Moving around to stand beside him she looked over at him " so whats bothering you?" she asked gently knowing what ever it was he could talk to her about it.


Moving to change into her Pajamas she let her hair down and brushed it before taking off her little makeup she had on before moving to sit back with him.

"We need to talk for just a moment about Jessie," he told her. "We were joined by a unit from Hong Kong. They haven't been on a mission with us for a long time, so there were some new faces, one of which is a man named Yulong. He seemed to be a fairly capable fighter, and he asked Jessie to accompany their unit so that one of our first stringers were with them. And that was fine. That made sense.

"What didn't make sense at all to me was that when this skirmish was over, Yulong told me--without Jessie present--that he thinks Jessie is his soulmate and he wants to come work for us here so he can get to know Jessie. I'm sorry but to me, that's just ludicrous. Nobody in their right mind meets somebody and then, two hours later, without even a conversation, thinks they've met their soulmate. That's just crap. He doesn't want Jessie to know how he feels at this point, and that makes me question him all the more. I did agree to give him a job as a floater, on a probationary basis, but I really don't like being caught in between this guy's odd ideas about a relationship and his request not to say anything to jessie. I don't think he realizes he's asking me to start keeping secrets from a future brother in law, and it really is just bad business for him to even ask me to do that. Plus, I think I owe more to Jessie than that. Yulong doesn't start for 2 days, and I'm not putting him up in the main house. We don't know him from Adam, so I feel no particular obligation to put a stranger up in the main house. I just don't like any part of this. I realize I do take longer than some people with a relationship, but, I mean, come on. They haven't had a single conversation together. It's just all whackadoodle."

Ruby listened to Angus and sighed " yeah, does sound off, but since you allowed him to work here with us, I agree we should let Jessie know and let him make up his mind, he has after all just out of a relationship." she said then thought for a moment " but at the same time, should't we wait and see how things play out?" she said " also you can do a bacground check and see if he has anything bad in his history."

Turning to face him more " after all Jessie didn't come between us, this Yulong should tell Jessie face to face and let Jessie make the desishion, if he dosn't want to do anything, let Yulong work out his time and then he can go home, they don't have to see each other but if it works and they do want to at least get to know each other, well maybe it would be nice for him to be happy again."

"I don't have any intention of messing with Jessie's life. That's not my point. My point was that I don't like withholding information from him, despite Yulong's preference that I not tell Jessie that Yulong has the hots for him. Jessie's a grown man, and he has the right to decide if he even wants to give it a chance or not. But I don't owe Yulong any particular loyalty to keep information from someone that is going to be family. If I tell Jessie, then after that, whatever happens is up to them. I have no reason to interfere, and hopefully Jessie is wise enough not to get into a rebound relationship but that's not my choice. Hopefully he learned from his relationship with Kaden that diving into anything too deep, too fast gives no foundation at all to build anything on. I want to see Jessie happy too, of course, but wasn't his breakup with Kaden just a day or two ago? He needs time to grieve before he goes on to the next. That's his. So, we're in agreement that I tell Jessie, yes?"

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled she knew what he was saying and nodded " yes, we agree to let Jessie know about Yulong." she said "and I don't think Jessie will jump into his arms quickly ether, if he has sense he'll just take his time this time." roling to face him she moved and kissed Angus's cheek " now , stop thinking about it and sleep" she said to him " Jessie can wait till morning Im sure" she said yawning. " he is a grown ass man after all" she chuckled " or I hope he is" she said chukaling as she looked at him. 

Next morning she was up early making breakfast and hot fresh coffee and tea. Standing at the counter she made a fresh pot of coffee and sent it to the table and send up a tray to Angus. Heading abck up she went to the boys room."Boys breakfast is ready" she said

The minute Ruby opened the bedroom door, Finn made a beeline to go downstairs to want to go outside to handle his business. Sam and Victor woke slowly, and then, looking for Finn, they saw he was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Sam frowned. Sam bolted out of bed, instantly concerned for where Finn had gotten off to so quickly. Just then Finn barked from downstairs. That woke Angus, who groaned and woke reluctantly. The smell of fresh brewed coffee, though, was a bit of consolation and a warm welcome to a new day. He reached over sleepily and grabbed his mug.

"Boys, go let the dog out," Angus called, "before he piddles on the floor. Get a move on." He took a sip of coffee and sighed, wondering what the hell he ever did to get before he drank coffee. Now, coffee was just a must.

"I'm goin'," Victor mumbled, heading downstairs in his pajamas. Robert was supposed to take his cast off today, and Victor was looking forward to it. He wanted to be without his crutch. Victor let Finn out and then poured coffee for him and Sam while Sam got his eyes open and headed downstairs. As Finn headed back to the house, a package floated over from the main house. Victor plucked it out of the air and saw it was addressed to Finn. He frowned and opened it and saw someone had fixed a bowl of some sort of breakfast for Finn. Victor looked farther in the package and found a little note. It simply read, "Welcome, Finn!" And it was signed simply. "K."

"Ruby, look," Victor said, bringing in the bowl. "Breakfast for Finn, from somebody named K. 'Spose that's Kate?" He handed her the note. Finn was jumping up and down, wanting the bowl, all excited that Victor had food.

"Give it to him, Knucklehead," Sam chided Victor. Victor put the bowl on the floor, and Finn dove into it as if he'd never been fed in his life. "Either he really likes it or he's crazy hungry."

"Can't be crazy hungry. We just fed him last night," Victor said. "It looks disgusting but I'm guessing he thinks its great." Sam handed him a coffee mug. "Oh, thank God," Victor said. "Coffee." They wandered over and fixed breakfasts plates and then took them to the table. Angus had heard Ruby tell the boys breakfast was ready, and he would get to his own plate, but he wanted to linger a little over his coffee first.

Ruby stepped to one side to let Finn dive out and down to the back doow she chuckled hearing Angus and smiled " hes right let him out." she said as Sam and Victor passed her heading down the stairs " oh and dogs need reguler meals too, three times a day just as we do" she said to them as she placed plates of food down on the table for them. She saw th bowl and chuckled " most likely since she is the ony oen with the initial K that we know." she said watching as they fed Finn then went to get their own. Walking up she smiled to Angus " so you telling him today?" she asked as she slipped on a tee shirt and jeans with a pair of ankle boots.

Heading back down she saw Jessie with Jack working out in the yard doing some sort of meditation tequeque that was slow and methodical.

"Just twice a day on the dog, Ru, when we get proper food for him," Angus called. "One cup of food, twice a day. We know two K's. Kate and Khaat, remember, but yes, most likely Kate. Yeah, I'll talk to Jessie today. I'm sure I'll run into him sometime or another today. I'll wait until Andrew helps me to clean up and shave and dress first."

Andrew came over, knocked on the door and came in, only to be greeted by Finn.

"Who are you?" Andrew asked, petting Finn.

"Our new dog. His name is Finn," Sam said, his mouth full of breakfast. "Smartest dog on the planet."

"I can tell," Andrew said. "When you finish breakfast, you'll have to tell me how he got here. Oh, Ruby, mail is here already. You all got a postcard from Edward and Simone. Looks like some old ruins of some sort. Tintagel--whatever that is."

"Tintagel is the place where Camelot was, where King Arthur was," Sam said. "Are they cool ruins, though?"

"I don't know what qualifies as a cool ruin, but Edward and Simone are enjoying every moment, and they'll be home sometime on Friday," Andrew said.

"Cool," Victor said. "Glad they're having a good time."

"Is your dad awake?" Andrew asked.

"Yup," Sam said. "Being pokey today."

"That's okay. He's allowed," Andrew said. "I'll go get him up and help him get dressed. Save him some breakfast, Boys." Andrew went upstairs and helped Angus shower and shave and dress. Angus picked jeans and a rugby hoodie. Andrew brought Angus downstairs and made sure he got a breakfast plate and then went back upstairs to put the bedroom to rights.

"I'll order Finn some supplies today," Angus said. "I'll have to see when the farm vet is due to come next for the maintenance of the other animals and we can get Finn on the list for a checkup, and we'll see if we can't get one of the outdoor crew to get him groomed and looking like a sharp fellow."

Angus finished his breakfast and went out and used his outdoor chair to go over to Jessie and Jack. Finn trotted along beside Angus as if he'd done it all his life.

"Good morning. When you're done, Jessie, could I have a quick word, please?" Angus asked.

Ruby smiled and nodded " ah okay" she said "then my mother spoiled hers she fed it three times " she said then chuckled " that explains why he was such a roly poly dog" she headed down and saw Andrew " morning and oh wonderful" she said and read the postcard " seems like their having a blast" she smiled as she placed it on the fridge for the boys to look at if they wanted. Turning she saw Angus walk out with Finn at his side and she smiled.

Jessie took a long slow breath in then let it out , it was then he heard Angus and turned to look at him " yeah , sure" he said and glanced to Jack who nodded he could take a break.

"Its okay I have to tend the animals" Jack said and moved to the barn.

"Okay what did you wan to talk about?" he asked Angus as he bent down and strocked Finn's head gently.