A Birth day

Ruby took Caprice from Angus and laughed as he tickled Sam smiling at their antics. Jack nodded as he watched them head back to the duplex. Ruby opened the door and watched the boys head up to the stairs and into their room to shower and change for bed. She turned and saw Angus sit down then tell her the bedroom was too far away " rest hun" she said softly as she took a blanket and palced it over Angus " you deserve rest I'll put Caprice in her bassanet and check the boys." she said smiling a she kissed his cheek and moved to place her in the bassenette.

Jess walked to Jessie and Yu's cabin and knocked Yu opened the door looking a little relaxed " hes stopped thrashing but is still not awake yet" he told her Jess smiled and walked in and over to Jessies bed .

"Robert working on that he knows the cure, but wants to make absolute sure its right" she smiled at Yu " he'll be up and pestering you again son I promise." she placed her hand on Jessies head and checked his vitals " hum there steady so thats good."

He knew she would wake him if she needed anything, but he trusted that she had this well in hand. When she found him a blanket, he simply kicked back the recliner and a moment later he was in a sound, exhausted sleep. He had thought that he would be upstairs with Ruby and Caprice on her first night, but that hadn't worked that way. Caprice's first night, and Ruby was on her own with her.

Edward and Simone walked over just a few minutes later. Simone's leg was sore, but it had been tended, and Robert had supplied her with a potion that would reduce pain and help her to have some peaceful sleep tonight. They had stopped over at the house long enough for Edward to gather some fresh pajamas for both of them since hers were bloodstained, and also a change of clothes for morning.

When they got there, Edward saw that Angus was already in a sound sleep in his chair, Edward made sure the doors were locked and he closed and locked the door between Angus's side and their side so that no one would get in to disturb them for a few hours. He helped Simone upstairs and made sure that she was settled into bed and finally sleeping.

He saw the boys' bedroom door open a crack, and he opened it to see that they were safely in bed for the night. Finn found his way upstairs and pushed open the master bedroom door to go in and settle on the bed so that he would be next to Ruby for the night.

"I've double checked the locks, and we're secure for the night," Edward told her. "I think you and I are the last ones awake. If we can help you with the baby during the night, don't be afraid to wake us," he told her. "Otherwise, we'll see you in the morning."

Ruby smiled as she saw Edward and Simone walk in "Im glad your okay simone" she said softly as she moved to hug her gently. Looking at Angus then at Edward she smiled " he fell asleep as soon as he sat down" she said smiling lovingly at Angus. " the spare rooms all made up for you and the boys are sleeping" she told them " Im going to stay up a bit longer, she'll need feeding again soon and I don't want to disterb Angus , not tonight."  

In Jessie and Yu Cottage Yu lay his head on the bed next to Jessie his hand holding Jessies in his own as he drifted off to sleep hoping that when he woke he would see Jessie smiling face. Jess sighed and moved out the door leaving the two men alone.

Hearing Edward and Simones offer Ruby nodded to them " thank you, for the offer and locking the doors, and yes we are" she said "you both sleep well" she told them watching as they went to the spare room. Moving to sit on the couch she saw Caprice start to fuss and smiled picking her up to gently rock her as she made a bottle to feed her before she lay down on the couch Caprice laid on her chest.

While Robert worked overnight on making the burning dust in his workshop at the main house and while the crew worked upstairs to clean up and repair Edward's house, Angus's side of the duplex grew quiet, and they slept. The boys, beyond grateful to be home, slept fitfully, secure that they now had a family that would always, always look out for them. They could both feel Angus's iron strong commitment to always protect them from harm.

In the guest room, Edward was wrapped around Simone, who had gone to sleep hiding in Edward's chest, grateful to still be alive. She would bear the scars on her thigh of the claw marks, but Edward pointed out to her that they were the badge of survival. He had a few werewolf scars of his own, and there were others here, like Khaat for example, had her share of them too from James. Still, she was glad to feel Edward's strength and protection tonight. Edward was determined to lay on still another layer of protection spells over the house in the morning. Tonight, everyone was tired. Every one of them had had a long, long day.

It was just 4:15 am, when a pair of red howler envelopes whisked in through the living room floo, and they snapped open and began a loud, shrill screaming. One of them was screaming something about Sam, and the other was screaming something about Victor and school suspensions for going awol from school grounds. Angus, who had been in a deep, dead sleep, bolted awake and was on his feet, and, still far more asleep than awake began firing wandless lightning bolts at the envelopes.

The shrill screaming woke the boys, Simone, and Edward. Edward dashed out of his bedroom and down the stairs to see Angus firing lighting at a couple of howlers that were flitting around in the living room. It was actually taking a lot more to try to actually hit the howlers because of their erratic fluttering around. Angus had, though, caught the edges of the two howlers that were now starting to catch fire.

"Angus, stop. Stop," Edward burst into laughter. "Stand down, Boy, before you catch the house on fire. You're not even awake. Down, boy. Hold your fire." The boys had run out of their bedroom, and, seeing Angus firing lightning at the howlers, they were now laughing hysterically. Simone was standing beside them, wide eyed, having been in a sound sleep herself because of Robert's potion. Finn was standing between the boys, growling at the offending, screeching red envelopes.

"Now, why didn't I think of doing something like that?" Sam asked Victor, watching Angus firing lightning at the howlers, and Sam was doubled over with laughter.

"I don't know, but he's on it, isn't he?" Victor was just as amused.

"Bet his aim would be better if he was actually more awake," Sam laughed.

"No doubt. At this rate, he's going to set the sofa on fire."

The howlers, now both on fire, fell to the ground, still flapping around on the rug like grounded birds. Edward went over and stomped on them to stop the fluttering and to put out the flames. Then he went over to Angus who was trying to wrap his knackered brain around what had just happened while Sam and Victor hurried downstairs to beat out the flames that had caught some small things in the house from Angus' lightning spells.

"We're alright," Edward reassured Angus. "You got 'em--they're dead now. Rude awakening, wasn't it? Clearly the school has figured out that Sam and Victor are here, and they're not happy about it because they sent a couple howlers to the boys to let them know their displeasure."

"I'm going to send a stack of howlers to that bloody school," Angus muttered, infuriated. "Who does that, and in the middle of the night?"

"Calm down," Edward snickered. "You did the only thing you could do last night when you brought the boys home. We'll straighten it all out with the school a little later this morning."

"I'm going to straighten them out, alright," Angus said. Edward looked around at everyone.

"Everyone alright?" he asked. "The howlers are dead. You can all go back to bed now. It's all over." Victor finished swatting the last of the flames on a stack of mail on the desk, and the boys looked around to make sure they'd gotten all the little fires out.

"Well, since we're suspended," Sam said. "I guess we get a little longer break at home."

"You won't be suspended," Edward reassured them. "Angus and I will visit the school in the morning and straighten it out. Sounds like they have no idea that you did not leave of your own volition. Once they know the facts, they'll revoke the suspension."

"Dang," Sam sighed. "I was just liking the idea of a little longer weekend."

Ruby woke with a start her first thought was to check Caprice , wrapping her in a balnket she walked to the top of the stairs and saw Angus taking down several howlers and Sam with Victor putting out the resulting fires. " oh my loard" she said cradling Caprice aganst her a she walked into the living room listening to Edward talking to Angus. " I agree they will understand in the morning" she said as the now hungery Caprice started to cry. Ruby accioed a warm bottle and sat down to feed her.

Listening and watching she was glad thats all it was. She heard the boys tlk of staying home longer and smiled " well unless you want to help change Caprice." she said gently patting Caprices back as she had finished the bottle. " I would think school would seem like heaven right now" she had just finished when Caprice let out a howl of a cry " oh boy" she said moving to Angus " would you mind, I think its colic." she said passing her over to him.

"You think we're afraid of a nasty diaper?" Sam asked Ruby. "We're men now. We're not afraid of anything." Edward snickered at Sam's remark.

"School is not heavenly," Victor told her. "I'm so bloody bored there. Our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher doesn't believe we need to actually practice any of the spells, so all we get is lecture work. Sam fell asleep twice in there yesterday."

"So that's why your spell casting isn't where it should be for your age," Edward said. "Don't worry. We'll catch you up, even if we have to wait til summer to do it." Angus took Caprice from Ruby when she handed her to him. Angus thought perhaps Caprice was a bit too young for colic but he wasn't a healer either.

"What's the deal, Ralph?" he asked. "Let's go for a walk." He put her on his shoulder and simply started to walk with her in the house. The baby just screamed louder, her little face red and rage filled. "Ralph, you're screaming in my ear," he said. A moment later, the baby gave a huge sized belch for her tiny size and spat up down his back. "Lovely," he sighed sarcastically. "Thanks, Ralph." but with that, she quieted.

"Seems like that was the problem, maybe," he told Ruby. It wasn't more than about ten minutes and the baby was asleep on his shoulder. "I'd change her stinky diaper, but she's finally quiet, so I vote that we let it go just for a little bit, and then we'll root her up to do that."

"Oh, give her to her grandpa," Edward said. "Let me show you how its done." He took her from Angus and managed to change her with a minimum of movement, and she only fussed very little and then slipped right back to sleep.

"I watched you do that, and I'm still not sure how you managed it," Angus laughed.

"Lots and lots of experience," he said. "Just don't wrestle her around very much, and she'll settle right down. Now, shall I put her back upstairs in her bassinet or do one of you want her for a bit?"

Ruby listened to Caprice a little sad she could not help her but when she belched her eyes went wide in suprise. " wow a big belch from a small child" she said chuckling. When Edward too Caprice smiled and watched as he skillfully changed her leaving her still sleeping, when he asked where to put her she looked at Angus "Are you sleeping on the recliner again or coming to bed this time?" she asked with a smirk.

"I'l run the shower so you can wash off the spit up" she said chukaling a she headed up the stairs to their room and the adjoining bathroom. Turning on the shower she made sure there were clean towels and headed back to the bed room moving back the blanket in the bassenette ready for Caprice.

Edward took Caprice upstairs and put her back in her bassinet as everyone headed back to bed, with the howlers now in ashes on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Angus told Ruby. He was grateful for a hot shower. It really did make him feel a lot better. He actually was accustomed to getting up at 4:30 in the morning, but there was no pressure to be up that early today. So he decided there was no harm in getting a couple more hours of sleep.

He woke in the morning to hear little cooing noises from the bassinet, and he found Caprice was wide awake. He did not want to wake Ruby, so he got the baby. He took her downstairs and gave her a light sponge bath, knowing better than to give a newborn a full bath, and he put her in a lightweight pink gingham knit onesie that had bunny appliques on it. He got out his baby sling, the same one he had used with Abbey, and tucked her in it so he could make coffee and tea and some breakfast.

He improvised a breakfast pastry of sorts with puff pastry from the freezer, some ricotta cheese that he sweetened with sugar and almond extract, and then he spread it on the puff pastry, with a layer apricot jam and some slivered almonds before making a pretty braid pattern with another piece of puff pastry. He used and egg wash and some turbinado sugar on top for some sparkle and then put the pastry in the oven to bake. While that was baking, he made a large breakfast scramble skillet with diced potatoes, onions, garlic, sausage, some diced up crispy bacon, and some shredded swiss cheese and then added 1 1/2 dozen scrambled eggs and salt and pepper, and scrambled it all together in one large skillet. By then, the tea and coffee were done, and the baby bottle was just the right temperature for her. He poured himself some coffee and sat down at the desk and dictated a note to Hogwarts using a quick quotes quill while he was feeding the baby. Then he put it in a red howler envelope and duplicated the spell and deliberately sent 500 copies of the same howler to not just the headmaster but another 500 to the head of Sam's house and another 500 to the head of Victor's house.

Just then the clock chimed half past seven. Not a bad morning's work before the rest of the house was up.

Ruby woke to quiet she felt the other side of the bed was empty and smiled looking in the basement and found it empty and assumed Angus had Caprice she dressed and headed down to the living room smelling the food as she went . " morning " she said and walked over to kiss him then Caprice on her tiny cheek. "did you sleep well?" she asked sitting next to him as she let Caprice take her finger in her own.

It was now she saw the outfit Caprice wore and smiled "cute , very cute" she said smiling then looked down at Caprice " daddys got good taste" she chuckled " did you respond to the school?" she asked knowing and having afeeling he would have in his own unique way.

Angus heard Ruby come downstairs, and she kissed him.

"Good morning. I did sleep well. Did you?" He flicked a finger at the teapot, and it poured her a cup of tea. "Breakfast will be ready in a moment. Have some tea while the eggs and the pastry finish cooking. Are the boys up yet, do you know? I expect Edward and Simone down any time. They're usually very early risers." He looked at the baby when Ruby mentioned the onesie. "Hear that, Ralph? She likes your fashion sense." he looked back at Ruby. "She's been bathed, fed, burped and changed, and she helped me write a letter back to the school. I just might have sent them a howler of my own." He looked at her mischeviously. "And then I duplicated it. 1500 times. I sent 500 copies to the headmaster, 500 t Sam's head of house and 500 to Victor's head of house. I have every intention of not being ignored. What do you think? You think it will get a little attention?"