A Birth day

Jessie watched in the main bedroom as Yu placed a cup of tea beside the bed but Ruby didn't move from her spot " well we've done all we can it's up to Jeffery now" he said looking at Yu who nodded before moving to kneel by the bed facing her.

"Please drink the tea it will help, they care for you do not dought that" he told her but only saw her sigh before standing up and moving with Jessie out of the room. Walking down together they saw Edward and Jessie sigh "It's as if she shut down," he told him" maybe something happened to her to trigger this, but nothing Angus has done that's for sure," he said as Yu poured some tea for everyone and handed it out.

Hearing Jeffery was there he was relieved and looked to Yu " you best head home unless you have patrol tonight?" he said Yu nodded and smiled at Jessie.

"I do in ten minutes, its nice to meet you David, Angus you know where Jessie and I are if you need us," he said and left for their cottage again to prepare their supper. Jessie looked at Angus and shook his head.

"I have nothing to say, I don't know what or why this happened." He said just as confused as they were. " but if you're ok I will go talk to Jeffery and see if he wants to come to see her tonight or leave it till tomorrow, I'll let you know first okay" he said and moved to the door " see ya guys" he called to the boys and chuckled then looked at David " if you want to see and run the trail let me know and I'll arrange for some of us to show you it, oh and the assault course" he headed across to the main house and entered through the back door.

"oh am I glad you came Jeffery," he said smiling at him as he pored some tea and sat down facing him.

"Thank you, Yu," Angus said, watching Yu leave. Angus listened to Jessie say he didn't know what happened. Angus had no idea either, and he had been with her almost all day. Angus and Edward did not make any moves to interfere with Ruby and whatever she chose to do or not do as long as she wasn't hurting herself or anyone else. Sometimes the best thing to to was to let someone have some space.

"I would love to see whatever fitness facilities are here," David said.

Over at the main house, Shannon had taken Jeffrey's bags up to the guest room that Jess was preparing, and Jeffrey had made himself comfortable in the living room, with Abbey on his lap already. He had brought her a picture book of animals and life in Switzerland, and she was eagerly looking at it. Jeffrey had remembered she loved books.

"You don't mind Abbey is here, do you?" Jeffrey asked. "She's looking at cows right now, and she seems determined that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. Apparently, the black and white Jersey cows make ice cream. Bet you didn't know that did you?" Jeffrey cast Jessie an amused smile. " I think she's three going on about six," Jeffrey laughed.

"Noooo," Abbey said. "I almost this many!" She showed him four fingers.

"Really? You have a birthday coming up soon?" Jeffrey asked. She nodded emphatically. "Aggie makes me burfday pancakes!"

"Angus makes you special birthday pancakes?" he asked. She nodded. "I'm anxious to try those."

"But it not your burfday," she frowned at him. Jeffrey laughed out loud. Jeffrey turned the page of Abbey's book for her, wanting to get her back into her book.

"What are those, Abbey?"

"Goaty goats," she nodded, starting to try to count the goats in the picture of a whole herd of them. Jeffrey was content to let her struggle a bit with it

"So, what's going on? Why am I here?" Jeffrey asked Jessie.

Jessie looked at Jeffery and shook his head " not one bit "he said smiling as she spoke of pancakes for her birthday then counted the goats. looking at Jefery he sighed " I think Ruby had a break, shes not talking or moved from her bed since she and Angus had a heated discushion, the boys and I think is her anxiety getting the better of her, Angus hiredsomeonee to be with them when he can't becuse hes going abck on mission call soon, but I think Ruby took it the wrong way and thought he was undermining her becuse he got annoyed that she asked marcus to watch their backs while out in the alley." he said then shook his head " I don't get it myself , why'd she blow it out of proportion, he's just done what she did, but yeah it did feel like she didn't trust Angus, but hes the most trust worth and loyal of all of us" he ran his hand threw his hair and sat back down "I asked you to come to firstly find out the...frick whats going on in her mind and then get her to stop thinking that hes going to harm or hurt her or even just not trust her." he spoke softly as he explained. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he felt better sharing it with him.

Sitting back on the chair he watched and smiled as Abby turned the page again. " but yeah on a lighter note, Im still good got a partner that uunderstandsme. " he said in a lighter tone as he chuckled seeing her trying to count and holding up his hand to show the ring on his finger.

Jeffrey listened and frowned as he tried to make sense of the story.

"It sounds like Ruby has the sort of personality that she likes to be in control. She wants things to be her way and she wants people to agree with her, and if she's confronted about it, she feels persecuted. There are people that if they get along with someone, then they feel like that person is their best friend. But heaven help them if they have even a small falling out with them, they feel like their world has gone to hell in a handbasket. It's very black and white thinking. They think things are either great or they're awful, So, their emotions sort of go from one extreme to another. Is that what's going on with her, do you think?"

He sat back and listened to Jessie talk about his partner and show his ring.

"Well, congratulations. I'm glad its working out for you. Sounds like you're happy."

"Hey!" Abbey tugged on Jeffrey's arm. "Wazzit?" He looked to see the picture of Swiss men standing in a row, and each of them had long, 13 foot long alphorns.

"Oh. Those are big horns,"

"They big," she said. "Too big. They bigger than Unca Jack, even! They sound like moo cows?"

"Yes, they certainly are big," Jeffrey laughed. "I suppose someone could make it sound like a moo cow, but they really do make nice music."

Jessie nodded to Jeffery " I guess she always thought that way" he said then chuckled as Abby got his attention again. " really, well that's something big" he said to Abby then looked at Jefery " how'd she know they sound like cows, shes not heard any" he said puzzled " but she's right about the alpine horns " he added than just shrugged " shes full of suprises , aren't you Abby" he said and smiled at her.

"well I for one can't work her out, I am glad to have some one who cares to want to protect me." he said then shook his head alittle " so where do we go from here, Yu gave ehr some oriental tea thats ment to calm axiety so if you want to wait till morning thats find with me, but if you want to go and talk to her your self Im sure Angus will be okay with that too, he just wants her to sort her self out, as do I" he said seeing Jess walk back down from up stairs.

"your rooms ready Jeffery" she said and looked to Jessie " don't worry she'll be okay" Jess placed her hand on his shoulder and calmbed him a little " your handleing it well" Jessie smiled at her and shrugged.

"thanks to Yu's suport, oh he says thanks for the soup you brought when I was ill." he chuckled and looked back to Jeffery hoping he'd talk to Ruby in the morning but that desishion was his to make.

"Well, I'd like to see her, and I'd like to talk to Angus too," Jeffrey said. "If it is what I think it is, then the anxiety is what happens for her when she can't get things to go her way. She starts to think that everyone is against her, and then she starts to envision all sorts of negative things happening and the anxiety runs away with her. If it happens to a muggle and it goes untreated, it can wreck relationships and cause that person to have a lot of misery in their lives. Fortunately, we have far better treatment for it. But--I don't know for certain that its what we're looking at.

"If I'm on the right track, I'd want to treat her temporarily to get her out of this mood she's in so I can talk to her. Then I'm going to need a few days with her to help her stop falling back into this pattern over and over and over."

When Abbey saw Jess, she called to her.

"Aun' Jess! Looky! Jeffy got me a book on moo cows. It gots chockate milk cows and ice cream cows and goaty goats. Sebenty ninety goats...." Abbey was telling her. "But they gots no cookies. We need cookies."

"Seventy ninety goats, huh?" Jeffrey laughed. "She's right, Jess. She counted them herself. There are no cookies in this book." He knew Jess would know a three year old couldn't begin to count that high, so she certainly had her numbers entirely wrong, but she had made a valient effort at it.

Jessie nodded to his assessment of Ruby "all right, and I agree, she need to snap out of it and if I can she can, even with my mother casting a dark curse on me." he said he paused when Abby spoke to Jess who chuckled and listened to her talk.

"Well that is a lot and does deserve a cookie," she said and moved to the kitchen to make up some chocolate milk in her cup and put some cookies on a plate only two so as not to spoil her supper" here you go I brought some chocolate milk for you to wash down those well-earned cookies" she said and chuckled placing them on the table next to her.

"Well, yes. Your mother's curse definitely complicated your situation. Alright, so I guess I'll walk over to Angus's and see what I can get from her," Jeffrey said.

"Sanks!" Abbey said to Jess, picking up a cookie.

"Do you mind staying here and helping Abbey finish her book while I try to see Ruby?" Jeffrey asked Jessie. He got up and sat Abbey back on the sofa. "Enjoy your snack, Abbey, and I'll see you in a bit." Jeffrey made the short walk over to the duplex, and Angus answered the door, with Caprice on his arms.

"Come in," Angus said. "The boys are upstairs, and so is the new bodyguard I hired. They'll be alright. I'll take the baby and go into the next room--my grandfather's living room. If you need me, just give a shout or something."

"That's fine," Jeffrey said. He had already seen the somewhat disconnected look in Ruby's face. He couldn't talk to her like that. As he crossed the room and went past her, he laid his hand on her, casting a temporary spell to try to stop the state she was in so he could talk to her and find out what exactly was going on. If she responded, then she had a much better chance of getting back to her family quicker. If she didn't, if she chose to stay this way, then he would most likely have to take her back to Switzerland and maybe for a prolonged period. And nobody wanted that.

"Ruby," Jeffrey said. "Jessie sent for me, but I think you know that. If I'm to be any help to you, you need to talk to me. What's going on?"

Jessie chuckled and nodded as he looked over at Abby " as long as Abby doesn't mind, sure I'll stay" he said "we could read some more of the book Jeffery brought." he said moving to sit her on his lap and look at the book with her. Jess smiled as she worked in the kitchen quietly.

Ruby had heard Jeffery enter the room and felt the anxiety lesson at his touch she breathed out and sat up to look at him but still didn't say anything just yet trying to put how she felt into words. " he doesn't think I'm capable of looking after our children, he hired someone with out talking to me about it and got annoyed that I didn't talk to him about asking Marcus to just watch our backs for one afternoon" she told him" fine I should have spoken to him about Marcus but he should have spoken to me about hiring the bodyguard" she paused and shook her head to clear it of her mother's voice that she is less than a nobody and didn't deserve the kids or Angus. "I'm working hard to look after our children, I had caprice only a few days ago and she's happy," she said now pacing then out of nowhere she shouts for an unseen person to shut up and buiet so she can think before sitting back down on the bed.

"What makes you think Angus doesn't believe you're capable of looking after the children? Did he say that to you?" Jeffrey asked. "Are we still talking about him hiring Mr. Phelps? You do know Mr. Phelps is not here to mind your children, right? That was not at all any part of why Angus hired him." He watched her get up and shout at someone who wasn't there. 'Who were you talking to?" he asked her.

Over at Edwards, Angus was walking with Caprice, not because she needed it but because he needed it.

"So what happened?" Edward asked. Angus repeated it all to him quietly while Edward just listened. "Sounds like it was rather ugly for both of you. What will you do?"

"I don't have any choices left until Jeffrey has finished his evaluation of her," Angus sighed. "If we can help her, we do that first, I suppose. If she's better, then we'll see. If she's not..." He stopped speaking.

"Finish your thought," Edward said.

"As much as I care about her, I have to think of what's best for Caprice. The boys will soon be adults, and they can make their own choices. But if she's not going to snap out of this, then I'll have no choice. I'll have to take Caprice, and I don't know. I guess I'll have to move someplace else. Brian can sell this place or tear it down, I suppose, much as we all love it. I don't know where I'd go, but I couldn't stay here."

"Don't give up so quick," Edward said. "You're hurting right now. It sounds to me like she got all hot and bothered when you hired Phelps. You dealt her in return exactly what she dealt to you, and she can't handle it. Sounds like that's what started her being upset with you. Maybe she should have thought about how you might feel before she acted. However, you can't make a relationship work if you toss in the towel."

"She does this every single stinking time she gets anxious, and she's anxious about everything. The minute she gets nervous, she just kneejerks and does whatever she wants, regardless of how anybody else feels and then apologizes later for it. I'm sick of that shit. When she did it today, it was a hit below the belt. It was a hurt strikes right at the core of who I am. She accused me of all sorts of incompetence as a provider and a protector. She went entirely too far, and I'm going to have a hard time forgiving her for that. A simple 'Sorry' isn't going to cut it this time. I want to be with the Ruby I know but this woman? I don't know who the hell she is, and I don't like this one at all. I cannot live with her if she's going to be like this. That's exactly the last relationship I was in before her. The woman that turned out to be a man and an evil shapeshifter at that? No, no. I need to be with someone who is going to be straight up with me. And I will not let Caprice be with a woman that behaves like Jekyll and Hyde. I can stand by her if she pulls out of this, but if she can't pull herself together, I can't expose Caprice to that."

"Give it time," Edward said quietly. "Give her time. Tonight, you're both upset and hurting. Don't do anything right now."

"I won't. I said i'd give her some time and I will," he said.