A Birth day

Ruby smiled and moved to take him from Sam and place her in the bassinet beside him " great work" she said softly with a smile " oh a beer sounds heavy right now" Ruby said " and I do not want to know what HE gave you ever" she told Sam " but Angus is right" she said placing down several hot pizzas right from the oven on the table in front of them " and right now I don't mind you having a drink under control" she sat down "besides we need to get the babys head so to speak" she chuckled now relaxed seeing her brothers as men rather than boys.

Jack looked at Ruth and grinned " oh how" he said as Jess stood up and shook her head.

"give him half a chance he'd eat everything," she told her " he's part werwolf," she said and chuckled "don't worry we all watch his food intake."

"yeah its how I stay so trim" he joked and patted his stomach while chuckling.

"Oh, you're right," Edward said to Ruby. "We haven't done that yet, have we? Well, that's as good a reason as any other to have a beer." He went over to his place and got a few Scotch ales and some pale ales and brought them back and put them on the table. Victor picked up two of the Scotch ales and took one to Sam. Angus got out a big, professional pizza cutter and made very quick work of cutting all the pizzas. Then he fixed a plate for Sam and took it to him.

"Great pizzas," Victor said, tying into his plate that was piled with several slices on it. "Where'd you get the sauce? It's the best."

"Now, Victor, have you ever seen me use sauce from a jar?" Angus asked him. "Where do you think I got it?"

"I mean, its a new sauce, right? You haven't used this one before."

"This sauce was your great grandma Donohue's pizza sauce," Angus said.

"Well, don't make anything else. Just use this one," Victor said.

"My thoughts exactly," Edward said. "Your Grandma Caprice would be thrilled to know you liked her sauce."

"I think we should play cards after supper," Sam said.

"We can do that," Angus said. "What do you guys know how to play?"

"Poker," Sam said.

"Don't you know any other games?"

"Well, blackjack," he shrugged.

"We do have to broaden your horizons, Lad," Edward said.

Ruby chuckled and took an ale to drink she listened to Sam mention the sauce and smiled " I have to agree this is the best sauce, not too sweet or spicy." she said taking a bite of her slice of pizza. On hearing the mention of cards she chuckled " all right but matchsticks not money okay" she said " by the way I played Blackjack before" she admitted and looked at the boys " hey my youth was not easy and I had to do things I didn't like as we all did at one time or another " she smirked " mostly taking gallons from unsavoury men in gambling dens" she looked at Angus and shrugged her shoulders.

Jack sat at the table and started to eat Once done he placed his plate in the washer to wash. " okay I got evening patrol so Im out, Jess don't wait up I'll join you once Im sure all well" he said kissing her cheek as he looked to Robert and nodded before he left. Jess and Yu ate in the cottage mostly Yu placing food on his plate to get him to eat as he was still tired from the days air but he did eat then fell asleep Yu chuckled and cleaned up around him.

Now finished Ruby looked at Caprice smiling " I feel we chose the right name, she'll take after her grand mother I have a feling" she said and looekd to Edward and Angus " but any way whose got the cards?" she asked as the table was cleared.

"Cards are in the desk drawer," Angus told her. Simone and Edward packaged up the pizza leftover, although there weren't many, and put them in the fridge when everyone was done eating. Then, while they did that, Angus got Victor to help him, and they made some dessert pizzas. They made one with chocolate hazelnut spread, some mini marshmallows, some chocolate chips and some chopped hazelnuts. They made another one that tasted like his signature cinnamon rolls, and one that had slices of fresh apples fried with butter and brown sugar and then drizzled with white icing and hot salted caramel. Angus showed Victor how to make them, bake them and slice them. Angus sliced one pizza and let Victor slice the other two and then he had Victor decide how to set them out on the counter for people choose. While he did that, Angus made fresh coffee and tea. and he set out a large box of matchsticks for the card game.

"Victor made dessert," Angus said, "with a little help from me, but it's ready whenever you all want it. Coffee and tea are both fresh and hot." He poured himself some coffee and got a slice of the chocolate hazelnut dessert pizza. Sam carefully got up from the sofa and poured himself some coffee and took a piece of the caramel apple pizza.

"Are we gonna play?" Sam asked.

"Are we about ready, Ru?" Angus asked.

Ruby stood up and moved to the draw with the cards in it returning she glanced at Angus and victor making the desert pizzas and smiled " they look delish" she said placing the cards down next to the matchsticks. Sitting down she smiled " coffee please, now that I can have some" she said grinning s a mug of coffee came over to her. "I think so unless theres anything we've forgotten, so whose dealing ?" she asked looking at them all as she sipped her coffee as she settled in for a night of games and laughter.

Jack walked the perimiter and stopped by a fence that had been knocked down , he made a note to get it repaired in the morning then headed to a sentry tower to get their report. Finding everything quiet he walked back to the main house and slipped inside locking the door behind him but finding Jess still up and waiting for him.

While Angus served coffee, Edward took the cards, made a quick check to make sure the full deck was there, shuffled the cards and dealt them.

"Where'd you learn to shuffle that fast?" Victor asked him.

"Years of experience," he smiled.

"So how much have you played?"

"A time or two," Edward said, not intending to talk about much experience he did or didn't have.

"Watch out," Victor told Sam. Sam nodded. Victor passed everyone a supply of matches to use, and they all ante'd into the pot.

"Do you know how to play?" Edward asked Simone.

"I'll figure it out," Simone said. Sam looked at Victor. He had a feeling she had perhaps played before too, though.

"Do we have to watch out for you?" Sam looked at Angus.

"Nah. I'm rusty," Angus said, lying to them just for the fun of it.

"I don't trust you any farther than I can see you," Victor scowled at Angus.

"You two suspect everybody," Edward laughed.

"Ruby knows how to play," Sam said, "and I think the rest of you do too. that's fine. I'll have everyone's matchsticks before the night ends."

"Trash talking already," Angus laughed. "You'd better bring your A game if you're going to beat Edward. Just sayin'."

Ruby laughed and shook her head " well Im like Angus its been years since I did anything like this so you got a fair chance." she told them watching as the matchsticks and cards were dealt. " so what's it to be poker or blackjack?" she asked " I vote blackjack as I know that game...sort of" she said with a chuckle as she watched them closely.

Now with cards in her hand she moved them from left to right hoping she would not be caught out too soon. Her eyes watched each person and then went to Simone with a smile as she placed the cards face down on the table.

"I dealt for poker," Edward said, "but I can re-deal if we want to do blackjack. If we do blackjack, we would re-deal and everyone only gets two cards."

"Let's re-deal for a few informal hands of blackjack first," Angus said. Edward collected the cards and re-dealt for blackjack, giving everyone just two cards, the first cards were all face up, and the second cards were all face down.

"So, as a quick refresher," Edward said. "We're not being so formal here. You can peek at your own face down card. The idea is that you want to come as close to 21 without going over. If you want me to deal you another card, I'll donate you another card. If you go over, you're out of that hand. I will keep adding cards until you tell me you're going to 'stand' with the hand you have. At that point, I will stop adding cards to your hand. When everyone has decided to stand, we will see who has come the closest to 21 without going over. The one that comes as close to 21 without going over wins the hand."

As the hand was dealt, Angus took one card. Sam took 2, Victor took three. Simone didn't take any.

"Your turn, Ruby," Edward said.

Ruby looked at her hand and shook her head " I'll stay " she said taking asip of her lukewarm coffee. Waving her hand she reheated it and watched the others taking cards. she knew what she had and was happy to keep the ones she had. "So how do you play poker?" she asked "I'm used to blackjack, but if you guys want to play poker Im good letting you guys do so" she added looking over into the bassinett at the still sleeping Caprice.

After several hands she placed down her cards " Im out" she said. "you play what you want im beat" she admited and stood up to take her cup to the kitchen. Returning she sat down on the couch and took out a book to rad smiling at the guys interaction.

They played several hands of blackjack, and when Ruby tired, they changed the game to poker. They played five or six hands, but Angus noticed Sam was starting to not look very well.

"Alright," Angus said. "Enough cards for tonight. Come on, Sam. I'll help you upstairs. You need some pain potion, and it's probably going to make you sleepy. I think you've had enough for one day." Sam didn't even protest. He just got up, and Angus helped him upstairs. Victor looked at Edward.

"He's fine," Edward told him. "Robert's pain relief spell is wearing off, that's all. Sam will feel a lot better in the morning."

"I think I'll go upstairs and read for a bit," Victor said.

"Goodnight, Son," Edward said, as Victor excused himself and went up to shower and to head to his room. Edward and Simone cleaned up the cards and the desserts and the mugs and let Finn out one more time before bed. Then they gracefully excused themselves to go to their room to go to bed.

Angus came downstairs and looked in the basket and saw the baby starting to kick and get restless. He made a bottle for her, knowing it was time for a feeding.

"Sam was out like a light the moment he took Robert's potion," Angus told Ruby as he warmed the bottle. "I think he was really tired, and then when he quit hurting, he was out. Victor's trying to read, but his eyes are more shut than open. He isn't going to be awake another ten minutes, I bet. And Number Three here looks like she wants to party all night. You want to feed her?" He asked, testing the bottle to make sure it wasn't too hot.