A Birth day

Ruby saw the boys and Angus finish shopping and moved closer to them she simply nodded to Angus as he said he had something to do and Marcus would take them home. She just tood and heard the boys talk of burgers then saw Angus leave them. Looking at Marcus she simple nodded as she slipped the bag over her shoulder.

Returning home she moved to change Caprice and lay her in the basentte so she could move around freely, stretching out her arms and legs to play with the feet of her onesie. She left the boys to finish their reports and tidy their rooms while she went to the kitchen which was still within eye sight of the bassinette and Caprice to make bread rolls.

Angus made a stop in at St. Mungos to see Robert briefly. He told them that this business with Suzanne had Ruby insecure and he wanted a guard for her since he was gong to be due to return to work very soon.

Robert knew of one that had actually worked with Marcus from time to time in Bulgaria, and he was very good. Robert said the man was between assignments, and Robert believed he could hire him very reasonably. Angus wanted the man to stay in the guest room at the duplex, just as Andrew had done so that he was always within eyesight and earshot of Angus's family. Robert sent a floo message, and got a reply within just a few minutes. The man had accepted, and he would be at the estate within the hour. Angus made the arrangements to pay Robert monthly for all the man's fees and needs.

Angus thanked him and went to the door to leave, and then he turned back.

"I didn't ask you. What's his name?" Angus asked. "How will I recognize him?"

"David Phelps," Robert said. "He's 47, brown hair, blue eyes, not quite as muscular as Marcus. He's from Scotland, and, not that I expect you'll see this straight off but he has a tattoo of a thistle and celtic trinity knot on his right upper arm. Wears his father's sapphire signet ring. You can trust him."

"Married?"

"Divorced. Has three children, all of them in Hogwarts now. Phelps has wanted to join us for a long time, and I've been putting him off because I didn't have anything for him. I think he'll be a good fit for us. His story is similar to Marcus's. He's a good dad but his ex actually got addicted to alcohol, and she's turned into a bit of a floozy. He has custody of the kids. If we keep him on staff, we'll have to shuffle people around and try to get him one of the cabins by summer so the kids can join him here. Oh, and he has a ferret named...oh what is that thing's name....um...give me a minute....Pete. That's his name. It's actually Sneaky Pete because he slips in an out of all sorts of places. He really is a sneaky little dickens. Phelps can speak to ferrets and rodents. Let me know how Phelps works out for you."

"I will. Thanks," Angus said.

"Not a problem, especially with Suzanne and Gelding sort of off the rails right now and you looking to go back to work," Robert said. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah. I'm sure you will." Angus apparated home, and he went inside, calling Ruby and the boys to tell them about the man that would be arriving soon.

Ruby heard him arrive and moved to pick up Caprice holding her while he spoke of the new man David Phelps. She said nothing but looked at Angus " why do we need a new man?" she asked walking around with Caprice to try and settle her down. " you planning on doing something about Suzanne and Gelding without us?" she asked not concerned about him but for the boys and Caprice. They had already shown they could get to them more than once and she didn't want that to happen again.

Seeing her bread has risen she placed Caprice back in her bassinette and moved to tip out the dough to make small rolls for everyone. Her hits became harder as she knocked back the dough and rolled them out still looking at Angus as she worked.

Angus stiffened just slightly when she asked why they needed a new man.

"One of us has to work," he told her, trying hard not to unleash his anger at her. He saw no point in losing control. "I can't be here all the time. My paternity leave ends in just a couple days. My job has always, always been in part about Gelding and anyone associated with him. I'm, first and foremost, a fighter. I thought you knew that. That's what I am hired to do. My other duties fill in, in between the missions. You chose not to be a fighter, and I completely support that. The boys are still children and they're not fighters yet. They can't be a part of it either. So its on me. I still have a job to do. Why is this news to you?

"The boys will be safe in Hogwarts, especially now that the school knows Suzanne's propensity to try to get the boys. The school won't mess up again. This is Saturday, and the boys go back on Monday. That will leave you and Caprice. Edward and Simone and Finn are right here, but Phelps will be too. He will be within earshot and eyesight all the time. Not because I think there's going to be trouble, because I have no reason to think that. This estate is one of the safest places you could possibly be. It's unplottable. It has layers and layers of protection spells of all types. Almost every person here is armed and trained as a fighter.

"I really don't know what else I can do to make you feel safe. I hired Phelps because you don't feel safe. He'll be living here with us, and he will be instructed to have you in eyesight or earshot at all times. I'm giving him the guest room. He's hired to protect you, but he works for me. End of explanation."

Ruby said nothing to his rant and that was what it was when he said she chose to not be a fighter she paused and looked up at him fire now in her eyes at him at his choose of words " I chose to stay with our family because I was pregnant with our daughter and I chose to for her safety, I still do, given a choice I will fight, you don't just stop being a fighter." she told him in a low tone "You go on missions and risk your life, I'll stay right here and worried about if Gelding or my crazy mother is going to pay us a visit." she told him. Finishing the bread rolls she placed them in the ovem to bake.

She wasnt going to say any more about it as he spoke of the arrange ment he'd agree to with out even talking to her about it. But the more she thought about it the more she realized to apeize him she would acept it " fine I'll acept the ...extra help, but YOU.." she moved to him and poked his chest " find and deal with Gelding and my mother once and for all so we can relax in our own home and I can have a feiance who sleeps without a wand under his pillow, yes I know about that and Im not happy abut it , especialy after the howler incident" she said

"No, no, no," he said. "You had chosen to stay at the main house and to work in the house, primarily working in the kitchen and caring for Abbey before you got pregnant. I think you need to re-read your history or talk to Robert. You've forgotten, clearly, that Robert has a whole organization that he has been pouring money into in unconscionable amounts for the last forty years trying to stop the Geldings. Did someone hit you on the head or something? What do you think I've done for a living since I left Hogwarts almost 15 years ago? I am very well aware that Gelding is a bad man, and that your mother is married to him. I know exactly what that means. Look, Zoe is going to be moving out of my old room in the main house to move into one of the new apartments. i really think its best if, when its time to go to bed, I slept over there for now. I'm not going to keep arguing with you because you really don't get to tell me how to do my job. I'm done with this discussion. If this was how you really felt about things, why didn't you tell me before we built this house and started having a family? I'm sorry. I thought you trusted me a lot more than this. I need to go for a walk." He looked at Sam and Victor.

"You guys stay here and help Phelps get settled in and make him feel at home," he said. "Can you do that?"

"Yeah. Sure," Sam said quietly. Angus went to the door. He glanced at Ruby, wanting to say a thousand things and deciding better of it. He went out, and Finn tagged along with him. He shut the door and left to try to clear his head.

Ruby listened to him "I think you should, because you seem to think that working in the kitchen and looking after our children means I gave up fighting and I now have to cower and rely on you everytime theres a fight, I have a wand and I will not heasitate to use it in defence of our children." She then turned back to the kitchen as she heard him talk to the boys and leave. Looking up as he left she could see he had questions but said nothing.

Moving to the living room she sat down but imidiatly stood up angry more than anything at her mothers costanst interfearance in her life. All she wanted to do was protect her family and make desishions for them that would protect them which included Angus.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Sam asked Ruby. "All of this stirred up because we went to the freaking candy store? Damn, Ruby. Do you have any idea how you looked to him? Did you see the look on his face when you sent for Marcus? You hurt him--badly. You said you trusted him but when you decided to send for Marcus anyway, after Angus said he could take care of us for one little errand, and you didn't even discuss it with him, you really did hurt him. I saw his face. When you said you trusted him and then went behind his back, it made your words look like complete bullshit.

"When did you stop trusting him to protect the family? What did he ever do to you that was so bad that all of a sudden you seem to think its all on you? What did he ever do that let you down so badly that you've just gone off the rails entirely? You sound like you're completely done with him. And if that's the case, if you're done with him, then have the gonads to tell him so he can just hurt all at one time instead of dragging it out. But I'll tell you one thing. You can choose to break up with him if that's what you really want, but that is not ever going to stop him from being our dad. We'll still have a relationship with him even if you're done."

"Bad form, Ruby," Victor said. "I know your anxiety can make you sometimes overreact, but dang. You need to chill and think for a minute. He's tossed all that he is and all that he has into making us a family and in doing all he can to keep us safe and then you just threw him under the bus. Not cool. Really not cool. I don't know where you think he's effed up, but he's the best guy you ever dated. Patch it up before you lose him. It shouldn't be about winning. It should be about communication and compromise and working things out, shouldn't it? I really thought you were better than this."

Ruby listened to Sam and Victor then spoke " and what about him communicating with us about bringing in a strange man into the house, he did that with out talking to me, I just asked Marcus to watch our backs so we could have fun for one losy day and what about him sleeping with his wand under his pilow becuse of the nightmares hes having, after how he woke when the howlers appeared and he almost set the hpuse on fire" she moved to the stairs after she picked up Caprice then headed to the master bed room.

Jessie and Yu sat in the cottage eating and enjoying their time together when he saw Angus walk out of the duplex and over to the nain house. " I got to check this out" he said and stood up. Yu moved with him and saw Angus.

"all right but don't stay too long" he told Jessie kissing his cheek. Jessie smiled and moved towards the huse from inside he heard loud taking and saw Ruby head upstairs. Now some what angry at her he stepped inside and looked at the boys "I heard " he told them " let me tak to her and Angus and see what I can do." he offered moving up the stairs he knocked on the main door.

He heard her call out from inside and walked in seeing her with Caprice. Ruby sat on the bed Crying. Walking over he took his necise and held her " okay talk" he said letting her get everything off her chest. " first move opologise to Angus and the boys, in the morning." he said " second get help talk to Jeffrey Burnstein, this anciaty of yours is out of control." he finally told her " it might be the baby but you realy need to calm it down as Sam rightfuly said.

Standing Jessie took a peice of paper and wrote Jefferys name on it then tosted it in the floo " Jeffrey Burnstein, its Jessie Tyler , can we talk?" he says into it hopeing he would respond.

"What he heard was that you don't trust him!" Sam bellowed at her. "He hired you your own bodyguard after you made it abundantly clear that you don't feel safe and you don't trust him to keep you safe! Stop being a jerk! He hired you your own personal bodyguard because of your actions. He wouldn't have felt he needed to do it if you had not overreacted in the first place.  His reaction to the howlers was after he'd been up three damn nights in a row. How clearly would you be thinking if you had gone 96 hours without any sleep? He was up all night the night before that coming to rescue us. You're going to judge him for that? Is that why you feel unsafe with him

"Honest to God. You've lost your mind!" Sam continued shouting, and he didn't care. "Suzanne was saying something to him in his sleep, and he hasn't told us what that is, but I'm sure she was far more vicious with him than she was with us. He didn't fire his wand at anybody. You don't have any idea what he's seen in his time and what still frightens him. We all have things that scare us. If he sleeps with his wand because he wants to be able to be ready at a second's notice, what's your bloody problem?"

"You better find a way to get your shit together, Ruby. I mean it," Victor said. "This isn't about him. This is entirely about you. And don't you dare blame it on the baby. He's completely involved in learning how to be a good dad, and you know it. Unless you've been lying to everyone all this time, then you haven't had any question about what he would do and how far he would go to protect us all. Whatever this is, its about Suzanne. It's not about him, and you know it. "

When Jessie came in, Sam was beyond angry with her.

"You'd better talk to her because she's lost her bloody mind," Sam said angrily to Jessie. "I am not going to lose my dad and my family because she's being stupid."

"Chill, Dude," Victor said. "Give Jessie a minute. He'll figure it out. If she listens to anybody right now, I bet its Jessie."

When Jeffrey got the page to open the floo to talk with Jessie, he had been doing paperwork outside in the sunshine while Sara was playing with their baby outside. When the message came, Jeffrey excused himself and went to his home office and opened the floo.

"Hey, Jessie," Jeffrey said. "What's up?"