A Birth day

Jess saw Robert enter the room and she smiled taking his hand then reatching out for Angus's " please" she asked holding his as well . she felt the pushing and pulling as Robert moved the baby into a comfortable position to be born then she nodded.

Jess had stepped back to let Robert do what he had to and watched how he moved the baby " intresting how you did that" she said watching as Ruby began to push and cry out each time. " would you like to deliver?" she asked Robert placing her hand in Rubys shoulder to control the pain she felt.

Ruby on the other hand was just focused on birthing their child , pushing when she felt she needed to and pausing to gather her strength. soon beads of sweat appeared on her brow and she felt exausted " I can't push any more" She said in a tired tone her mouth now dry and all she wanted was to rest and sleep.

Angus took her hand when she asked.

"A simple thing, really," Robert smiled at Jess. When Jess offered to let him deliver, Robert nodded. "I think I will, yes," Robert said. When he saw Ruby giving into her fatigue, He motioned to Angus to step outside the room for just one moment.

"Just keep an eye for a moment, Jess. We won't be one minute," Robert said. He stepped out into the hallway and closed the bedroom door.

"She can't get tired now," Angus said.

"Yes, well, she might well have overdone it yesterday and spent those energies she should have saved for today," Robert said. "I have an idea, with your permission."

"Like what?" Angus asked.

"I expect her to take your hand again, and I can make use of that," Robert said. "By all means, take her hand. And, with your permission, I will use some of my abilities to draw some of your energies and transfer them temporarily to her. All she might notice is that she has a bit of a burst of energy, enough to finish this. You will notice an energy drain but..."

"I don't care about that," Angus said. "You're telling me she couldn't have done a long labor and delivery."

"Not this time. I hear your questions. I do. You and I can talk about that later. Don't give in to fear now. This isn't the time for it. Let's finish what we started. Try giving her a little water. She sounds dry. A couple sips of cold water might help."

"Take whatever you need from me," Angus said.

"Understood," Robert said, nodding. The two of them went back inside, and Angus sat back down with Ruby and took her hand. Robert checked the position of the baby and while he was checking the baby, he very subtly cast a kind of energy spell to draw quite a bit of Angus's energy from him and transfer it to Ruby. "Now, Ruby, you can't sleep quite yet. I know you're tired, but she's almost here. It won't be long now, but you have to try. Angus, give her just a little water so she's not so dry. Jess, try sponging her face and neck with a cool washcloth. That might help her feel better. When the next contractions start, try again and push."

Jess looked at Robert and Angus and nodded she moved to Ruby's side and smiled "your doing great" she said and smiled at Ruby who glanced at the door. Seeing them both return she took Angus's hand again this time she felt better and looekd at Robert with a nod . Soon she felt the need to push again and did a large push feeing now that something was hapening . " okay Ruby shes almost here" Jess said holding a clean towel across her arms.

Ruby could not stop pushing, Jess looked over at Angus " you okay?" she asked moving a chair behind him to sit on. " here this will help" she said returning to Roberts side " looks like shes crowning" Jess said with a smile.

"Yep. I'm fine," Angus said. Jess brought him a chair, and he did choose to sit.

"Good work, Ruby. I see her," Robert told her. He continued to drain Angus, keeping a watchful eye on both of them. He glanced at Jess. This wasn't going to be long at all. He silently cast just a slight touch of a hastening spell now to speed up the rest of the delivery. "Get ready to receive and cut the cord, Jess," Robert said. "She's going to be here any minute." He wasn't going to offer Angus the opportunity to cut the cord because he did not want Angus to let go of Ruby's hand straight away. Nor did he want Angus to try to stand up until he knew what he was capable of.

Jess heard Robert and nodded picking up a pair of sterile sizzors ready to cut the cord. Ruby kept pushing untill she gave a large strong push then fell back onto the bed as a cry came and she smiled at Angus " she's here" she said breathing hard with a smile. Jess moved to hand Robert the sizzors for ether himself of Angus to cut the cord she stood by with the towel to wrap Caprice in it.

Once done Jess wrapped Caprice in the twol then took her to clean her up. A few minets later she returned and handed her to Ruby " she's perfect" Jess said then looked at Robert " no issues , just hungry and a full head of hair too"

Ruby chuckled " well that explains the hartburn and wird foods" she said loking down at the small bundle she now held.

"Well done," Robert told Ruby. He cut the cord himself, wanting Angus to just stay where he was. He finished the rest of the delivery tasks as the last stages of labor progressed. Angus never made a move to change position until Jess handed the baby to Ruby. He got up and washed his hands while Ruby visited with her baby. Then he went downstairs as Simone was taking the casserole and the rolls out of the oven.

"She's here," Robert told them. "We'll have size and weight for you shortly. I'm sure Jess has that information, but Ruby and the baby are both doing very well."

"Thank you, Robert," Edward said.

"Our pleasure," Robert smiled. Robert poured a mug of tea and added a bit of a potion to it and swirled it in the cup and then went back upstairs and quietly handed it to Angus with a very slight motion for him to drink it. "Jess, when you get caught up, would ou mind going downstairs and giving the anxious grandparents the length and weight information, please? Angus, what shall I put on her birth certificate as her name?"

"Caprice Simone Donohue," Angus told him. "Can we wait on telling them the name? I'd like to tell Edward myself."

"Absolutely," Robert smiled. "Edward is going to be surprised and honored, I think. You should be the one to tell him."

"And, Jess, the onesie and the blanket are on the dresser if you need it," Angus told her.

Jess finished cleaning and getting rid of things that needed to be thrown and making Ruby, angus and Caprice comfotable on the bed. Hearing Robert she nodded " of course" she said finishing up and heading down to the main room " she is 5 lb 8 oz and is 20 inches long, small but perfect, she has all her fingers and toes and a head of hair" she said and smiled " both mom and baby are doing well, Robert asked me to let you know." she said poring some tea for her self.

Now refreshed she walked back up and picked up the onsie and blankey " may I " she asked and Ruby handed Caprice to Jess who took her to the nursary where she placed the onsie on her and wrapped her in the blanket then taking out a pink small hat from a draw Jess slipped it over Caprice's small head and carried her back to Ruby " here she is all dressed and ready for mom and dad." Jess said Ruby motioned for her to hand Caprice to Angus " heres your daughter Dad." she said with a smile.

Angus took Caprice from Jess like an old pro. It reminded him of the very first time he had held Abbey. Caprice was smaller, though. He sat back and held her for a moment.

"Hi, Ralph," he said quietly. "It's about time you showed up." As he spoke to her, Caprice took a moment and her eyes fluttered and then opened for a moment, seemed to try to focus in, and then fluttered shit again.

"I would suggest you let the rest of us look after Ralph..." Robert began. "Caprice. You do know we're all going to call her Ralph for a bit. You should get some sleep, Ruby, and let the rest of us look after the baby. I'm sure she'll sleep too. It was hard work for her too. You have Angus and two grandparents who, between them, have taken care of a platoon of newborns, and they're chomping at the bit to take care of this one."

Ruby smiled as she saw the look in Angus's eyes for Caprice but she also felt sleep take over her and simply nodded to Robert. Jess looked down at Ruby and smiled " I think she's halfway there " she said pulling the blankets up to Ruby's neck to keep her warm.

"Thank you, Robert,love you Angus and Caprice." Ruby said softly as she quickly fell asleep where she lay. Jess chuckled and patted Rubys shoulder. " I'll stay with her while you introduce Caprice to the others down stairs.

Jessie ran up the stairs and hollerd when he saw Angus with the baby " oops sorry is she sleeping?" he asked smiling " shes cute, I have to let Yu know i have a neice." he said and started out the door " oh congrats Angus" he chuckled and dove back down stairs.

After seeing that Ruby had been well cared for and was sleeping soundly, Angus stood up, his head spinning. Robert was quick to steady him.

"Careful. You're going to need to rest too. I needed more from you than I thought I would," Robert told him quietly. "And you've been up all night, which really doesn't help."

"I'm taking her down to meet her grandparents," Angus said, determined.

"Yeah, I know. I'm coming with you, just in case." He walked right beside Angus, going downstairs. Angus took the baby over to Edward first and put her in Edward's waiting arms. Edward looked down into the face of the newborn baby and then looked up at Angus.

"She's perfect. She's going to be a heartbreaker," Edward smiled. Simone peered over Edward's arm and looked at the baby.

"She's gorgeous, Angus. Absolutely gorgeous. She's going to be a beautiful girl. You mark my words," Simone said.

"Your grandmother would be over the moon right now," Edward told him. "How much does she weigh?"

"Five pounds, 8 oz, 20 inches," he replied.

"And what's her name?" Edward asked.

"We gave it a lot of thought," Angus told him, looking at Edward and Simone. "I hope you don't mind, but her name is..." he hesitated a moment and then spoke. "Caprice Simone Donohue."

"Caprice?" Edward repeated, looking at Angus. "Really? Caprice Simone?" Angus nodded. Edward leaned over and kissed Angus's cheek.

"I don't know what to say--except thank you.," Edward said, deeply touched.

"Caprice Simone? Are you sure?" Simone asked. "I'm honored. Thank you so much."

"Its certainly better than Ralph," Edward teased her. They laughed. Angus's head spun viciously, and it alarmed Edward and Simone both.

"Sit," Robert told Angus, lowering him to his recliner.

"What on earth..." Edward began.

"My apologies," Robert said. "I did that. Not to worry. Ruby got overtired, and I took some extra measures to help her finish labor and delivery. I transferred a lot of Angus's energies to her so she could deliver the baby. Everyone's alright, but Angus is feeling pretty drained because I took quite a lot from him, and after he was out all night on a mission. They're going to need some help for a day or so til their energies come back."

"I tried to tell Ruby yesterday not to spend herself so freely," Simone sighed, "but she really couldn't settle."

"An energy transfer? I've never heard of such a thing. I didn't know you could do that," Edward said.

"I don't do it very often," Robert said. "It's somewhat similar to the life support spell. He'll be fine."

"Here. Would you like to hold your granddaughter?" Edward handed the baby to Simone. Simone was overjoyed.

"Well, you know we'll be happy to help with anything they need," Simone told Robert.

"I didn't have a doubt in my mind," Robert said. "We're going to bottle feed because Mom is just too tired. Are you up to it?"  

"Of course," Angus said. Robert went over to the counter and found the little mini baby bottles and the formula for newborns, and he made up a bottle. Simone had gone ahead and boiled some water and set it aside to cool and had sterilized a batch of bottles, and Robert was glad everything was ready to go. He made up the first bottle, and after making sure it was well mixed and was at the proper temperature, he handed the bottle to Angus, and Simone handed Caprice back to Angus. It didn't take more than a moment for him to get Caprice to take her bottle. Abbey had given him lots of experience.

Angus started out just fine with Caprice but in his own fatigue, it wasn't more than a moment that he had slipped quite accidently into sleep.

"I should have seen that coming," Robert said, "but I admit, I didn't."

"I've got it," Edward said, carefully taking Caprice from Angus to finish feeding her.

"I'll have Andrew bring down her bassinet so Mom and Dad can get a little shut eye," Robert said.

"Angus evidently bought a Moses basket that we could bring down. That will leave the big bassinet upstairs in case they want that upstairs," Simone said. "I'll go up and supervise that and then I'll serve some lunch." She turned and went upstairs.

"Spoken like the voice of experience," Robert laughed. "You know Kate isn't going to wait to come and see the baby."

"And she shouldn't. You do know that you and Kate will certainly be grandparent figures too, right?"

"I certainly hope so," Robert laughed. He scribbled a note to Kate and sent a paper bird over to the main house. "I give her about thirty seconds and she'll be here."

"Or less," Edward laughed. "She was hungry. She made quick work of this bottle." Edward put the baby on his shoulder to burp her.

"She's a true Donohue, then. Donohues are not food shy. I should get you a cloth," Robert said.

"Not unless I need it. Trust me, I've had far worse on my clothes than that," Edward said. "No point being food shy when her dad is a chef."  A moment later, Simone came downstairs with a Moses basket. "Ah, he did not buy that basket. That basket has held all of my children and most of my grandchildren at one point or another, and some of my great grandchildren. Caprice bought that when she was pregnant with Angus's father. It seemed fitting to pass it down to Angus and Ruby."

"It doesn't look like it is an old basket," Simone said, surprised.

"Probably because it has a new mattress and a new liner," Edward said.

"I should have brought some diapers and things," Simone said.

"Open the pantry door. Take a look on the back of the door," Edward said. "They have it covered." Simone opened the pantry door and saw a three tier basket system hanging inside the pantry on the back of the door. One tier held diapers and wipes, another held blankets and onesies, and another held burp clothes, lotions, a changing pad, and other miscellaneous essentials.

"Oh, now, that's clever. Right at hand and yet out of the way," she said. "I'll get lunch plated up if you're both hungry."

"Starving," Edward said. "I've been smelling that casserole all morning."