A Birth day

Ruby smiled at Abby and nodded " I can see, its fun" she said to Abby as she was still smiling. she watched the two of them baking and enjoyed seeing them together " I do hope Caprice likes baking too" she added knowing with two bakers in the family she would pick up a liking for baking or animals. She chuckled as she listened to Angus talk of penuins and of Abby's respon see to his suggestion of making purple pengins.

Ruby chuckled at David and nodded " oh she realy is." she said then heard angus mention sparkle cake " oh its quite beautiful, and tasted divine too" she said looking and watching as Abby said birthday cakes wern't riht if they didn't sparkle. " do you think we could have a sparkle cake for Caprices First birthday come the time?" she asked .

"Abbey learned to like it because she was around it all the time, and she figured out that when she was helping, I was able to pay a lot more attention to her."

"Well, I have noticed that you do not use baby talk around her," David said. "And you don't do it with your own either

"We have never done that with Abbey," Angus said. "And I think she's better for it. She understand a lot more than she's supposed to at her age. In fact, if someone tries it now, it really irks her."

"I not a baby. I all growed up," Abbey told Angus.

"And that's what we hear if someone tries that," Angus said. "Caprice will like what we like because thats what she'll see us doing. This family, whether its here or at the big house, tends to center in the kitchen when they're indoors. I hope she gets a good balance of cooking, and sports and fine arts. We have enough cooks and athletes that she should probably get that naturally. But I hope she spends enough time with Kate and Robert that she learns to appreciate fine arts--painting and music and literature."

"Well, and if I know you, she will have to learn to protect herself."

"Absolutely. Either that, or she won't be ever leaving the house without me," Angus told David. "And quite honestly, I don't want to have to be bodyguarding my own kid when I'm 85. Can't you just see me doing that?"

"Actually, yes. I can," David laughed. The oven timer went off and Abbey bounced up and down.

"Aggie! The cookies ding dong'ed," she said.

"Okay," Angus said. "I probably should take them out, shouldn't I?" She nodded at him. He went over and she followed. "Now, stand back from the oven door, Sweetie. It's going to be really hot." She stepped off to the side away from the oven door. He took out the trays of cookies and set them to cool.

"They look yummy, Aggie," she said, trying to peer over the top of the counter to see them. He lifted her up so she could see.

"You think? Did we do a good job?" he asked.

"They not done yet," she told him.

"I know. We'll wait til they cool to ice them," he said. 'Do you want to draw? I think Sam and Victor have colored pencils you can use."

"Gam sent my magic crayons. She always packs crayons."

"Of course she'd pack crayons. Can we use them just on paper today, though, please?"

"Awww," she sounded disappointed.

"Please? For me?" he asked.

"Okay," she sighed. He accio'd her crayons and gave her pieces of paper to draw and color, and she started immediately drawing Suzanne and Reginald. Not everyone would recognize the handiwork of a child her age, but Angus knew. He knew exactly what she was drawing.

Ruby smiled at how Abby acted grown up when in the kitchen and around Angus she smiled as Abby stepped back so as not to get hurt by the heat of the oven. When Abby started drawing she frowned a little and then looekd at Angus " are they?" she asked but said no more letting him ask Abby if they were who she thought they were in the drawing. " well Im sure the boys will give Caprice plenty of sport-related things to do." she said knowing they would make sure she had some sport knowledge as she grew up.

Hearing Caprice behind her grumble she moved to pick her up and pat her back knowing from the lack of smell she didn't need a change but was just grizzly for being ignored for as long as he was.

"Why does the noisy lady have weird hair?" Angus asked her.

"It not her hair. She gots ugly hair. Looks like Gam's big yellow mop," she said, scribbling the hair on with her yellow crayon. Angus couldnt help laughing out loud.

"Its a wig?" he asked. She nodded, now starting to draw a man that looked a lot more like a snowman than a man. "And that's the stinky man?" he asked. She nodded.

"That noisy lady doesn't have blue skin, does she?" Angus asked.

"Nooo. She gots a blue doggie," Abbey said.

"I see," Angus said, understanding more than he wanted to. "Have you seen the doggie?

"Yeah. He's a boy. And he's blue and orange and green," she replied. "He not here right now. Stinky Man no like him either. He no like nobody."

"Well, that sure sounds like him," he said. "I am quite sure Caprice will be sick of being dragged to all sorts of sports things, Ru."

Ruby heard Angus talking to Abby and walked over with Caprice to take alook "oh I know they will, hum a boy?" she said and looked at Angus " you don't think another like ginger?" she asked now worried that Suzanne had done something realy unforgiveabul to the boy. " or could it be one of Geldings men?" she stopped her self and loked at Caprice " well Abbys right and I for one am glad their not here" she looekd at Abby " no cookies for them right" she said smiling at Abby.

Moving to the couch again she settled Caprice and picked up her book to read turning the first page and reading that page twice before placing it down beside her.

"It's hard to say," Angus said. "I think Anise was talented enough as a seer that if there were more being held there, she'd have known it. Could they, though, be held in some different place? Certainly. Or could they have returned there? Maybe. I don't know. It would make far more sense to me that if she has a 'doggie' that it is someone working for her or for Tom. He started hiring them a few years back. We've dealt with that before. If I were Tom and I was realizing what a dingleberry Suzanne was, I wouldn't be sending her out alone. I'd be sending people with her both as thugs to get the mission accomplished but also to make sure she gets home. If he's smart, he isn't going to trust that we couldn't get her if she were left to her own devices. He can't afford to have her fall into our hands. Someone like her surely knows all sorts of secrets about Gelding that Robert could get out of her with some simple truth serum. I think that's just self preservation on his part--especially since we managed to get their witch tossed into Azakban."

"That makes perfect sense," David said. "Are we just presuming that isn't a regular canine?"

"Oh, I think that's a given," Angus said. "And if he has blue and orange and green skin, then he's tried to get through our protection grid already, but clearly the grid has held. If they come here..."

"I'll get Ruby and the baby out. I have places where I can evacuate them to, and Marcus and Robert know how to reach me to tell me its safe to come back. Tom and Suzanne aren't going to get them. You have my word."

"I believe you," Angus said. "Robert wouldn't have engaged you if he had any doubt." Angus flicked a cooling spell at the cookies and check the icing to make sure that he had plenty of icing to finish the cookies with. "These will be just a minute. You two are welcome to help Abbey and me ice the cookies if you want."

"The only thing I know how to do with cookies is eat them," David laughed. "I thank you, but I'll pass."

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " definitely makes sense" she said in responce to Davids words she looked at him and smiled as he said he would get her and Caprice out. "Thank you David" she said relaxing as she watched Angus cool the cookies and chuckle as David said the only thing he could do was eat the cookies. With Caprice sleeping she moved to the counter " I can help, if thats okay with you Abby" she asked seeing Jack returning from the camp anbd crossing the yard some what quickly.

"hum Jacks in a hurry" she said only glancing out teh window as she made up some light pink icing and placed it in a piping bag ready to use. " what other colors do you want Abby?" she asked " I can make blue, green orange and yellow oh and white." she said with a smile showing her the small bottles of coloring to add to the icing.

"Pink," Abbey told Ruby. "Just pink."

Angus glanced out the window when Ruby said Jack was in a hurry. Angus guessed that Jack was checking on the protection grid. The grid was designed to alert them if someone had come up against it. And, then again, there were all sorts of seers on the estate. Any of them could have also been alerted. He decided he would keep his eyes open in case they had a need to be on the alert. Until then, he would just keep things as normal as possible.

He set out a clean cookie sheet on the table to put the iced cookies on, and put one of the sheets of cookies beside it so that they were close at hand and he set out a little dish of candy eyes so that everyone could reach the cookies and the candy eyes

He had some white icing in a tiny piping bag to put the fine lines of the whiskers on the cookies. He put some of the pink icing in a squeeze bottle for Abbey, and then he turned the squeeze bottle upside down and squeezed the icing down into the tip and tried it to make sure it would not ooze too quickly out of the bottle.

"Now," he said to Abbey, "you remember how it goes, right?" Abbey nodded. "You take your time and you squeeze the bottle slowly and put the icing right where you want it to go. If you need me to help you spread it, you ask me. You put on the pink icing and the eyes, and I'll add the whiskers. Ruby is going to help. It looks like she'd rather use a piping bag. That's fine. It works just like your squeeze bottle. We'll have these finished in no time at all."

"Then we eats them all!" she said, excited.

"If you eat them all, you will have a really big tummy ache," he laughed. "I made a triple batch so that there would be some for over at your house too. And besides, that would spoil your supper."

"You make supper tonight?"

"I can. What would you like for supper?"

"Cookies," she teased. He laughed.

"I'll surprise you," Angus said. She nodded. She took the squeeze bottle and was a little nervous about it. So Angus put a cookie in front of her and put his hand around hers and helped her do the first cookie so she could remember how to do it. That was all the refreshing she needed. "Got it?" he asked. She nodded, and she went at it by herself then.

Ruby chuckled as Abby said just pink " all right, I guess pink is her favorate colour" she said with a chuckle as she made up several shades of pink placing them down next to her and then putting the other colours away in the pantry where they had come from. She looked back and saw Angus making up the icing and smiled as she watched him help Abby ice the cookies again. She could only love how he was with her and Caprice.

Jack moved up to the barrier and looked it over a frown sat on his face as he had seen movement behind the barrier but nothing towards it he couldn't smell anything or anyone either and hoped it was just some game that got too close. Jessie walked down from the opposite side "I saw it too." he said Jack nodded.

"keep a close watch something is telling me we have trouble on the way," he said and Jessie nodded walking back the way he'd come as Jack walked away from him down the opposite side of the barrier making sure there were no breaks or holes someone could slip threw

"Pink is definitely her favorite color," Angus agreed. "Always has been. Abbey, is pink Molly's favorite color too?"

"Nah, she likes purple," Abbey said, squirting a big blob of pink icing on her cookie. "Oops. Aggie? Help?"

"Oh. Here. You're okay. We'll fix it," he told her. He got a little palette knife and scraped off the extra icing and then took a little blob of it and put it right on the end of her nose. She laughed uncontrollably.

"Aggie, I not a cookie," she giggled. She used her finger to brush the icing off her nose and then she ate the icing. "Yummy! Tastes pink."

"Good," Angus said.

"Aggie? What flavor is purple?"

"We could make that any flavor we want, but when I think if purple I think of grape."

"Ewww," she scrunched up her nose. "I no want grape cookies."

"There are some grape cookies that are really good, but I think I like pink cookies better too. Will Molly be okay with a pink cookie or do we need to change her cookie to purple."

"Nah. She gonna get a pink cookie," Abbey decided.

"Okay. We'll take the cookies over after supper," he said. She nodded. As they were frosting cookies, Simone and Edward came over.

"We smelled something good, so we thought we'd intrude," Edward said.

"We make pink cookies, Papa Ed," Abbey said.

"Well, there's my girl," Edward said, acting excited to see her there. He kissed her on the top of her head.

"You wanna cookie?" she asked.

"Can we have one?" he asked. She nodded, and Edward took one for him and one for Simone.

"Just came over to tell you to keep your guard up, Boy," Edward said. "The energy outside isn't good. Something's clearly brewing."

"Yes, I know," Angus said, looking deliberately at Abbey to indicate to Edward how he was forewarned. He picked up the drawings she'd done and handed them to Edward.

"The child's not wrong," Edward told him. "She's on the money with it."

"Well that old broad can come, but she's not going to touch them. If she comes, she's mine. I will deal with her."

"You will know which fight is yours when the fight comes," Edward said.

"I was about to make some supper, if you lot would like to eat with us," Simone said. "I have some ground pork, and I thought I would make some asian meatballs and maybe some Asian vegetables and soba noodles with a peanut sauce, if that would suit."

"I think that sound fabulous," Angus said. "And I know a little one here who has not ever met a noodle she doesn't like."