A Birth day

Ruby smiled and watched Caprice and Robert's head to Edward's side of the duplex. Moving to sit next to Angus she watched as Bill made swift work of removing the curse from Angus. Once it was gone she smiled and took Angus's good hand in her own " thank you" she said in relief as she now saw the dark tendrils had disappeared from his hand. "now we both can relax" she told him.

Hearing Robert says Simone and Edward were happy to have caprice she smiled again " thought they might," she said chuckling then looked back at Angus," thought you could use some quiet," she said " and the grand perents some baby time" she smiled at him.

"They've been giving me some nonsense about grandparents' rights," Angus said, holding her hand. "They've wanted to do tis since before she was born. You've made them very happy tonight."

"I think Bill and I will take our leave now," Robert said, seeing Bill had his things packed up. "I'll have Zoe send you all breakfast in the morning so you can have a bit of a quieter start tomorrow. I'll have her send it just a wee bit later so you all can have a bit of a lie in."

"Regular time is fine," Angus told him, stifling a yawn. "The boys will have Ruby awake at the crack of dawn, and they'll be hammering Jonathan Belby's door, wanting in early for those chocolate frogs. And since Belbys fond of them, he'll indulge them. They'll go for chocolate frogs and come home with a 2 pound bucket of candy."

"Normal time it is, then," Robert said. "If you lot need anything before then, let us know. Otherwise, we'll see you some time tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Thanks, Robert, and thank you, Bill," Angus said.

"My pleasure. That was the easiest one I've done in a long time," Bill smiled. "Get some sleep. It will cause you to feel completely done in, but that should lift by morning. If it hasn't, let me know straight away."

"I will," Angus said, as they let themselves out. The house quieted down now that it was just him and Ruby. Even Finn had gone upstairs with the boys. angus thought about checking the locks, but he didn't want to get up. He flicked his fingers at the lock instead to lock the door. "I'll check the rest of them when I get up," he told her. "Sorry, Ru. I had no way of knowing it was a dark piece, and I certainly didn't know it was a desirable, stolen piece. I am a bit confused about why Michael didn't know it was a valuable stolen piece. He doesn't miss those things. It's worth giving some thought to. Maybe I'll ask Michael about it tomorrow. Something still doesn't feel right about it, you know."

Ruby laughed at Angus saying she'd made Edward and simones day " well at least ther ehappy" she said smiling as he held her hand. When Robert said they would take there leave she nodded " again thankyou Bill, and yes I promised to take them to get the frogs." she chuckled but smiled when Angus thanked Bill himself , she nodded moving to slip her arms around Angus's waist as they stood facing Robert and Bill. When he said it would wipe him Ruby looked up at him and saw him yawn " yep it has" she said "and don't worry he'll sleep better in his own bed, but I'll make sure the boys don't disterb him too early." she added.

Once they were gone she tided up and put the things to wash. Hearing Angus and the doors lock she chuckled nodding " all right, ands don't worry, we all understood the caution but..." she paused and walked over to him wrapping her arms around his waist as she rested her head on his chest " im glad its done with now, I missed not being able to hold you like this even if it wa for just a few hours." she admited then chuckled " maybe its enchanted to not be recognised as an artifact and he didn't see it, but yeah him being a master theif should have seen it for what it was and warned everyone." She took his hand and getly moved towards the stairs.

"right now yo need to rest." she said " so stop worrying about it and come to bed" she smiled at him.

"I think you're right," Angus replied. He followed her upstairs, and as he passed the boys' door, he called to them. "Night, Guys. Don't stay up too late." Sam threw the door open and looked at Angus.

"Is it over already?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Angus said, showing them his hand that was now minus the dark marks. Sam threw himself around Angus in a big hug.

"Good," Sam said, "I missed you."

"I didn't go anywhere," Angus told him, frowning.

"Not the point," Sam said. Angus kissed the top of his head.

"I get it. Thank you. Hurry and wind it up and get to bed, won't you?" Angus said.

"We will," Victor replied, having missed the hug that Sam had given Angus because he was deeply engrossed in his paper.

"Goodnight," Angus told them. He double checked the balcony doors in the bedroom before he changed and got into bed and turned off the light on his nightstand.

He woke twice during the night, after having dreams about his family being in trouble and him not being able to get to them. He had not done much tossing or turning but when he woke, he instinctively looked in the bassinet both times and, each time he was initially rattled at finding the bassinet empty until he could remind himself that the baby was save with Edward.

The third time he went to sleep, he saw Suzanne in his sleep. She was standing outside the house, in a hazy fog, and she looked at him and while he didn't see her lips move, he clearly heard her voice. She said very distinctly to him. "I'm coming. And you wont stop me this time. I'm coming."

He woke from that dream, uncertain if it was his overworked mind or if Suzanne was really at work taunting him. He didn't want to wake Ruby, but, just for safe keeping, he tucked his wand under his pillow, just in case she meant it.

Ruby smiled as Sam came from his room and hugged Angus she brushed her hand over his head as he said he missed Angus " I think thats a unanimous feeling sam " she said and smiled to him as he went back to his room and they went to the bed room. As she changed into her PJ's she watched him check the balcony doors then she lay down.

Each time he woke she woke too but didn't move knowing he'd not want to know she ahd woken with him by his movments. Feeling him move his pillow she sighed and moved closer to him to fall asleep again.

Waking again the sun was bearly up and she slipped from the bed and headed down to start breakfast. Making a breakfast burrito for every oe she pored some coffee for herself and chuckled hearing Caprice on the other side of the duplex. Heading to the door she opened it and followed the sound. Finding her with Edward she smiled " well want me to take her back?" she asked and chuckled " I made brekfast burittos for every one if you want some." she offered to him

The boys were up, and they dressed and came down the stairs and saw Ruby had made burritos. They were each going to get one when there was a knock on the door. Victor opened it and saw a large basket on the porch. It was some of the breakfast fixings from the main house. Eavesdropping a little last night, he had heard Robert say he was going to have Zoe send over some breakfast. Victor brought the basket in, and in the basket he found Zoe had made burritos too. It made him laugh. Beside the burritos, there was some fruit salad and some homemade cake donuts with frosting and sprinkles.

"Guess what they're having for breakfast, Ruby. Burritos!" he told her laughing and showing her the inside of the basket.

"No, no," Edward said when Ruby went over to get Caprice, "she's fine. her grandma has bathed her and gotten her dressed, and I gave her her breakfast. She just is not in the mood to be burped at the moment. She has no patience for that this morning, but she's fine. You're welcome to take her back if you truly want to, but we've loved every minute of it. How's everyone at your house this morning? I thought perhaps Angus would be up already. The day that Caprice was born, he scheduled the landscapers to come out today to work on that little tea garden project. I would expect them to be here in the next hour or so."

Ruby heard Sam and Victor and chuckled " you know what they say, great minds think alike" she called back to them then looked at Edward " oh, okay and whenever you want to bring her back is fine and I think hes still sleeping, he...well he didn't sleep too well last night, kept waking up and I think I didn't know." she admitted looking worried at Edward " he slept with his wand under his pillow" she told him in a low voice so the boys would not hear and get worried. " have you ever known him to do that?" she asked as she moved back to there side of the duplex and take out the food from the basket along with some fresh juice that had been sent over to them.

Hearing about the landscapers she smiled " tea garden?" she said smiling " sounds a beautiful project" she admitted. Then looked out the window to see several men and Jack walking over. " looks like ther here" she said and glanced over at Edward.

"Well, maybe he was still wound up about last night," Edward said. He frowned slightly when she told him he had slept with his wand under his pillow. That was definitely not something Angus did very often. "I've seen him do that a couple times," Edward said truthfully.

"The first time was while he was on summer holiday from Hogwarts. He had come home to spend the summer in Tuscany with me, and he'd had a really violent row with his father. Angus had apparently accidentally witnessed some of Benjamin's foul dealings, and he had threatened to go to the authorities. Benjamin responded with violence and beat him up pretty badly. Angus got in a fair number of blows in return, but Benjamin threatened to kill him. When Angus came back to my house, he slept with his wand under his pillow for several days because he wanted to have a weapon if Benjamin got past me to get to him. The second time was once when he went on one of his first werewolf hunts with me, and the werewolf heard him before he got wind of me, and he went straight after Angus. Frightened the daylights out of him. He slept with his wand for weeks after that before he was able to relax at night. Sounds like he has something either on his mind or in his dreams. Want me to talk to him when he wakes up?"

When the landscapers arrived, Edward smiled. "When Caprice was born, Angus wanted to take the back corner of his garden and plant a weeping cherry tree a couple of bamboo trees and some other things to make a place in his garden that honored his children. The landscapers are here to make that happen. I'll go out and handle it. I know what he said he wanted. I suppose you'd better take this one after all." He handed Caprice back to Ruby.

Victor came over with a burrito in one hand and half a donut in the other, and his mouth full of donut.

"When are we going to Hogsmeade?" he asked Ruby.

Ruby listened to Edward and sighed " so not uncommon for him then" she said relived a little. She listened more to him talk and hummed at certain parts " No its fine if what your teling me he's probably feling it after the dark curse incident and its just playing on his mind I supose" she said then took Caprice back from Edward " thank you and yep" she said laying Caprice against her as she saw Victor walk over his mouth full " don't talk with your mouth ful and when your dad gets up we'll head there , okay" she told him as she saw finn at the back door " why don't you take finn on a walk" she sugested as she placed Caprice into her slig she ahd slipped around herself so she could finish tiding up.

Ruby had a feling something wasn't wright but she was wiling to let it be for now knowing if it was important Angus would talk to her about it. But she could not shake the bad feeling she had from waking that morning like a dark cloud hung over her a she anticipated something bad hapening to her family but she didn't show it on her facea only smiled at Sam and Victor.

"Yeah, okay," Victor said. He whistled for Finn, and he walked off, going with Finn while he finished his breakfast.

Edward listened to Ruby as she started to feel less concerned about Angus having nightmares. Edward smiled and picked up the baby bag and the Moses basket and volunteered to carry it back home for her and then excused himself to go talk to the landscapers.

Angus was finally in a restful sleep, and then here she came again. This time she was laughing, and it wasn't a friendly sound. It was a dark and menacing cackle.

"As long as you have my sons, you will never, ever have one night of peaceful sleep again, you baby snatcher," she said. "I am going to make your life a living hell, and I'm going to come and take my family back and destroy you piece by piece..."  He pulled himself out of this dream, feeling frustrated. He got up, made the bed, and showered and shaved. By then, he was starting to feel like Suzanne, for the moment, was driven back while he was awake. He was beginning to believe that perhaps the witch, prior to being caught and jailed, had provided Suzanne with some sort of spell or magical artifact that was allowing her to intrude into his dreams. He did not believe for one moment that he was just conjuring her up himself in his sleep. She was not the sort of woman he would willingly dream about, and she certainly did not pose enough of a threat to him for him to worry about her. He believed this really was her doing somehow.

He came downstairs finally and saw that the landscapers were busy at work in the back yard. He groaned at seeing them because he had completely forgotten about them coming today. Still, they appeared to be on task with what he wanted done, so he decided to leave them alone for now. Instead, he headed for the coffeepot for a bit of a caffeine lift. Sometimes that first cup of coffee just had to come first.

"I completely forgot the landscapers were coming today," he yawned, pouring himself a cup.

"Morning, Dad," Sam said. "You look like you need a couple more hours sleep."

"That would be lovely, but I had some weird dreams last night," Angus said.

"Us too. Vic and I both had some dreams about Suzanne, and she was really creepy. Not only that, but we both had the same dream, that Suzanne was telling us that she was gonna buy our old house and she was coming to get us to take us home."

"She was gonna buy your old house?" Angus frowned.

"Yeah. Vic and I are not ever going back there. That's just not going to happen," Sam said firmly.

"You don't have to," he reassured Sam. "Regardless of whatever she tells you, she has no right to either of you anymore. Ruby and I took care of that when we adopted you. At this point, she's just blowing smoke, but if you have any more dreams about her, you tell me straight away."

"You don't believe they're just dreams, do you?"

"No. I don't," he said. "I don't know how she's doing it, but I think she's communicating somehow with us when we're asleep and vulnerable. If she tells either of you anything, I want to know about it."

"Can she really buy back our old house?"

"I can fix her good and proper with that. I still own that house," he said. "I can stop that crap right now. That's easy--I'll just take it off the market so she can't to buy it."

"You really think it wasn't just our imagination?"

"No. I don't. I dreamed about her too, but my dreams were different.'

"That's just really creepy," Sam scowled.

"It is, indeed," Angus agreed. He went to the desk, wrote a note and sent it through the floo to the real estate agent, telling him to take the house off the market immediately and to not sell it under any circumstances. He got an immediate response questioning his decision. The agent said that a woman had made an appointment for later this afternoon to put in an offer on the house. Angus responded quickly and again was firm that he was absolutely not selling the house.

"Thanks," Sam said, relieved.

"Neither one of you ever have to go with her," Angus reassured him. "She does not have any sort of rights to you anymore. If you run into her again, you and Vic have my full permission to defend yourself. You do whatever you have to do."

"She's pissing me off," Sam told him.

"Me too, Mate, me too," Angus nodded. "I'm right with you on that."

"Why isn't she going after Ruby?" Sam asked.

"I don't know for sure, but she's not going after Jessie either. I think its probably because they're adults, and she has no right to try to control them."

"Maybe she'll leave us alone when we turn eighteen."

"Maybe. In the meantime, I have to stop her from some of her shenanigans. I just haven't figured out how yet. I will try to talk to Robert or Michael and see if they know of a way to block her."

"Do we need to be afraid?"

"Absolutely not," he told Sam firmly. "Don't you cower to her, not either of you. I don't care how old you get, you have a strong family, and we will always be here for you, no matter what, because that's just what families do.