A Birth day

jack listened and then smiled as he agreed with him that losing Suzzane would not be a bad thing " oh I know trust me and you got me if you want to lean on me, Jess bounced back pretty quickly, her..baby brain only lasted about a week then she was normal again" Jack said but could not help laughing as Angus told him about how Robert had laughed at the article he'd read "he's right, muggle women can have it for years but our women are different, stronger and they bounce back relatively fast, trust me. and yes we may have several healers but there is only one person a woman wants when shes having a baby and that's the dad, trust me Jess almost broke my hand during delivery" he placed his hand on Angus's shoulder and smiled "but once you hold that baby you forget it all." he chuckled " now shouldn't you get back in case?" he added downing his double shot of whiskey and placing down the glass " besides once she's born we have to wet the babys head." he grinned " not before."

As he turned to leave the fire in the fireplace burst to life and Jess spoke. " Angus, get your to butt back here...and fast" Jack looked at him " um.. did she sound worried." it was now Jack's eyes went wide " oh boy, must be the baby," he said

"That's good to know because I really don't think I could do two more years of baby brain," he told Jack. "And thanks for the offer, but I never doubted for a moment that you'd have my back. I've always known that. Thank you." He listened to Jack talk about moms wanting dads present at the delivery. He didn't doubt that either.

"Get her head?" Angus frowned. "I presumed we would leave that attached." At that moment, Jess interrupted, summoning them home. "Alright. Give me a moment, and I'll be on my way." He took a long, last drag on his cigarette before crushing the rest of his cigarette in the ashtray. Then he added another finger of whiskey to his glass and drank it all in one go. "One moment. I need to tell Michael I'm leaving. He and Owens can handle anything else that really needs to happen here." He left the office and went to the kitchen where Owens was robbing a hot waffle the growing platter of waffles on the counter.

"Ooh. Hot, hot, hot," Owens said, waving the waffle in the air to cool it.

"So you know, I have to go. I think Ralph is on her way," Angus said.

"Ralph? Who's Ralph?" Owens asked. Michael looked up from the griddle.

"Really? Congratulations, Mate. And well done here, by the way. An impressive showing for your first command back," Michael said. "We'll take it from here."

"Thanks," Angus said. He hastened his steps back down the hallway and took a moment to stop into the bathroom to brush his teeth and swish and swallow a sip of spearmint mouthwash and cast a quick spell to clean himself up. It would have to do. Then he went back to the office. "I don't have any more Gelding grime on me, do I?" he asked Jack, drawing his portkey. "Are we ready to go back?"

Jack shook his head " Wet the baby's head, means drink to her" he said and chuckled but nodded to him " yep, good luck" he said and patted his back.

Jess entered the living room to Ruby pacing back and forth she then stopped and lent on the back of the couch " Ruby?" Jess asked but saw her look worried at her " okay warm bath.." she didn't get any further as a small puddle appeared by Ruby's feet " okay hold on to me we need to get you up to your room." she said taking hold of her and leading her up to the bedroom, once she had Ruby settled she send a message to Angus then Robert.

"Robert you're needed." she simply sent to him and Khaat. " okay just relax." Ruby looked at Jess as she felt her tummy tighten to a painful point.

"wheres Angus?" she asked as she turned on the bed to get cumfortable or try.

Robert was just finally finishing his potion for Michael, and he was bottling it and labeling it when Jess's summons came. Even if Ruby's water had broken, she wasn't going to give birth in the next two minutes. They had some time. Even wizarding women didn't deliver that fast. He set the potion aside, cast a quick clean up spell on the equipment on his worktable, and put a bottle of calming potion in his pocket. Then he went down to the basement and into the wine cellar to the shelves that held the firewhiskey. He selected the very best bottle of firewhiskey in the cellar and took it with him and walked over to the duplex.

When he got there, Edward and Simone were already there. And sitting on the counter was a new, unopened bottle of firewhiskey. He glanced at Edward and the two of them laughed. Edward went over to Robert, and Robert handed him the bottle that he had just brought over. Edward looked at the label and the year on the bottle.

"Oh, you brought the good stuff," Edward laughed. "I brought what I had."

"I'm sure we'll drink it all," Robert laughed. "Are you ready to be a grandfather again?"

"Always," Edward said. "This one is special, though." Robert understood. It was because Angus was special to Edward.

"Understood," Robert said. "Simone, do you mind making a pot of almond tea, please? Let's keep some ready."

"Will do," she replied.

"Has Angus been notified?" Edward asked.

"I presume so," Robert said. "That would have been one of the first things Jess would have done. She's very efficient in those things." He set the bottle of calming potion on the counter. "Now, Simone, if I send Jess downstairs for tea for specifically Ruby, go ahead and add one dose of calming potion to it. If I send her for a new cup of tea, pour one in a fresh cup, but without the potion. Jess should already know my code. I've used it at St. Mungo's and on more than one occasion. the toughest job we may have is to keep Ruby from having a problem with anxiety."

"Understood," Simone said, as Andrew arrived. As a qualified medical assistant, Andrew knew a lot could happen in a short time. He headed straight upstairs and set in to make sure all the sheets were clean and fresh in the boy's beds and in the guest room too. He knew that with a new baby in the house, the beds could be used by anyone at any time.

"Edward, could you bring over that tin of fresh crumpets I made early this morning?" Simone asked him. "It might, at least, fend off some hunger if someone gets peckish." Edward flicked his finger at the open doorway between the two halves, and a purple tin that had once held muggle candies came floating in from Edward's kitchen. Simone looked at him and scowled. She could have done that herself. "If you drop that..." she frowned at him. He floated it gracefully over to her and she plucked it out of the air.

"Save me one. I missed breakfast," Robert said, turning and heading upstairs. "How are things?" Robert asked, going into the bedroom. Angus ported him and Jack back to the estate and they landed in the backyard. Angus saw Jessie and Yulong doing tai chi. He called once to Jessie, knowing Jessie might want to know that his first niece was on her way, and motioned for him to come over.

Jessie moved with Yulong calming himself as he moved but when he saw Jack appear with Angus he looked at Yu and smiled " I have to go." he said Yu smiled back and nodded. Jessie quickly headed over to them " so is it time, finally?" he asked looking at them both Jack simply nodded and together they walked over to the duplex. Jess covered Ruby and sat next to her as Ruby lay looking up at the skylight.

"you're doing fine," Jess told her "this is just the first stage, it could take hours before your ready to push" Ruby groaned and rolled her eyes as Jess chuckled " do you need some tea?" she asked and Ruby just shook her head. " all right I'm just going to let everyone know" with that she stood up and walked down the stairs " well, her water broke and shes comfortable for now," she said and looked to Robert. " we could be in for a long night." just as she finished Ruby cried out from upstairs "that's my cue." she said and headed back up just as Jessie and Jack with Angus entered the room.

"Maybe," Robert said to Jess. He wasn't going to make any predictions at this point, but he did know that sometimes first time wizarding moms often delivered a bit sooner than muggle moms, but even so, it was still likely to be hours yet. Jess left and went downstairs, while Robert laid his hand on Ruby's stomach.

"She's on her way, but you're both fine," he told Ruby. "You've got some time. Try to keep your mind occupied. Some women find it helpful to read or listen to music or even play cards. You won't feel like doing that later, but right now, when the contractions are lighter and further apart, keeping your mind focused on other things can be a big help that will help Ralph to not become stressed."

Angus walked with Jessie and Jack to the duplex and went inside. He wasn't a bit surprised to see that Edward and Simone and Andrew were already there. He was glad for Jess's news that Ruby was alright. Angus knew that while the water breaking was a good sign, it didn't mean that Ralph would be here any time soon. It would surely be hours yet.

"Thanks, Jess," Angus said. Edward looked at Angus. He could read as clearly as if it had been in the daily headlines that Angus was preoccupied, and it had nothing to do with the baby. He deliberately diverted Angus over to the living room on the other side of the duplex for one moment and spoke with him for just a minute or two in quiet tones. Edward knew Angus had something about the mission on his mind. Angus had told him, in a short explanation about the mission--and about Gelding and Suzanne. Edward's words had been almost verbatim the same as Jack's, but Edward hadn't been nearly so kind about Suzanne as Jack had been. He helped Angus to temporarily refocus, to get Suzanne off his thoughts, and then, wiping away a smoke smudge off Angus's forehead up near his hairline that the refreshing spell had missed, Edward sent Angus upstairs to see Ruby.

"Sorry I'm late," Angus said, knowing that his role in his relationship with Ruby was, at times, entirely about being as calm and steady as she was frequently panicky. The birth of their child was, most likely, going to be one of those times.

'No, no, we've got plenty of time," Robert said. "It's fine."

Ruby saw Robert walk in and relaxed she let him touch her stomach and smiled " thank you " she said " and I'll try to do that" she paused feeling another contraction and taking slow breaths as she shifted to get comfortable again. Now she saw Angus and smiled widely at him " I guess she couldn't wait any longer" she said as she hugged him tight " Im so glad your here." she said softly to him as she looked over at Robert.

Jess walkd over and made a fresh pot of tea to take up to the bedroom for both Angus and Ruby. Pausing she looked at Simmone and smiled " you looking forward to being a grand mother again?" she asked as they kettle boiled next to her as she placed two cups on the tray.

"Well, she's right on schedule," Angus told her. "Looks pretty much like it's all as it should be. And, just so you know, the team came back without a single injury, and we got more kids than we ever had--and, as a first, we even got all the others that he was holding that he was holding back. For the first time in our 40 year history, I think Ralph brought us some luck. We got every single child he had. Owens is going to send them to Colorado so they're well hidden. Last night, we truly left no child behind.

"You got all of them?" Robert responded with raised eyebrows. If Angus was correct, then that was truly worthy of a celebration. And with a new baby arriving? This family had tremendous reason to celebrate.

"We did," Angus said. "And we took out that new warehouse he just build. It's nothing but twisted metal and rubble now. It's a complete loss to him."

"Oh, well done, Lad!" Robert was pleased. "How many kids did we get tonight?"

"Sixty three," Angus said. "We had 45 from the event, and we got the other 18 from the warehouse and then eliminated the warehouse. When I left, they were about to tuck into eggs and bacon and maple pecan waffles." Robert laughed.

"There is just no keeping Michael Tremaine out of a kitchen, is there?" Robert said, amused. "Well done on your first command back."

Downstairs, Simone listened to Jess ask her if she was ready to be a grandmother again. Simone smiled.

"That never, ever gets old," she smiled. "And this one is especially joyful since I have been in the same house almost the entire pregnancy. Oh, Jess, Robert asked me to make almond tea, so the other pot here is the almond tea I made a few minutes ago. He left a bottle of calming potion down here and said you would understand his code? Just want to make sure I'm on the same page, that's all. I presume you might want to add any potions to her tea yourself, yes?"

Ruby listened and smiled "I know and that's wonderful."she said then listened to Robert taking and nodded " maybe she is," she said laying back on the pillow to rest a little but no sooner she did she felt as if she'd been punched in the stomach and she winced.

Jess looked at Simone and smiled nodding as she spoke of Roberts's potions " yes I do, specifically Ruby, add one dose of the calming potion, If a new cup of tea, pour one in a fresh cup, but without the potion." she recited with a smile to her. "she's calm right now so she's okay, but I know she'll need it later, excuse me I think Im going to be needed." Jess said as she felt a surge of pain and headed up to check on Ruby.

"Well, since you have this..." Robert began.

He wasn't allowed to finish, though, because at that moment a howler flew in from the floo in the living room fireplace downstairs, and the little red envelope opened and began shouting in Suzanne's nagging, angry tone.

"Angus Donohue!" the voice echoed loudly enough to echo through both sides of the house and out into the yard as well. "How dare you set my hair on fire, you gormless tosser! Who does that! I'll get you for this you little..."

"Sorry," Angus said quickly, getting up and dashing downstairs at a full racing bound.

"Oh shut it," Edward rolled his eyes, firing wandless magic at the howler, and the red letter burst into flames and died with one last shrill shriek.

"Thank you," Simone said. "What a muppet."

"What the hell was that?" Angus demanded, upset.

"That old cow actually sent you a howler," Edward said. "It's gone now." He gestured to the smoldering ashes on the rug.

"I'll do worse than set her hair on fire for this," Angus said, seething with rage at Suzanne now. So far as he was concerned, it was game on now, and he would make sure she regretted crossing him.

"Focus, my boy," Edward told him with a calm, steady tone. "What are you going to do now that Ruby has undoubtedly heard that?"

"Well, I'll admit that much. I set her hair on fire. That's pretty harmless for now, probably," Angus said. "She doesn't need to know the rest of it. After all, what was Suzanne doing there in the first place? if she was there, she clearly condones it, and that shows what an evil woman she truly is."

"Stay steady and calm. Its the best you can do right now," Edward told him. Angus nodded, and then he turned and went back upstairs.