A Birth day

Ruby chuckled and smiled seeing Angus play with Abby with the icing she looked down at Caprice sleeping next to her and knew and hoped he would be the same with her. Seeing Edward enter she smiled " hey Edward." she said softly and motioned to the bassinette. " she's finally sleeping, and I think we felt it too, jack was on a mission on his way to the barrier earlier," she said laying a baby blanket over Caprice then moved to Abby " those smell divine," she said " and your icing is perfect, both of you," she said and chuckled as Abby said Caprice would like purple " why whould she like purple she might like pink like you do, her favirate blankets pink."

"No, not the baby," Abbey said. "Molly--my friend. She like purple more than pink. I no know what the baby like. She little."

"If you like, we can let them finish icing the cookies and you could help me with supper," Simone suggested to Ruby. "We can let Edward babysit. He's got nothing better to do. I have a written recipe for the meatballs and a nice sesame sauce or a different recipe for the udon noodles and the peanut sauce. And maybe, they'll let us have a cookie after supper."

"We be fast," Abbey told them. "Aggie and I be fast in the kitchen."

"We certainly are," Angus smiled.

"I can wash dishes and eat cookies. That's about the extent of what I can do, unless you want eggs. I can fry eggs."

"Not for supper," Abbey looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Well, he could have told us that he could fry dishes and wash eggs," Angus teased her. She giggled as if it was the silliest thing she'd ever heard of.

"That all mixed up, Aggie," she said.

Ruby heard Abby and chuckled " I know , I was teasing you." she said smiling at her then she heard Edward say what was going to me made for supper and her stomach rumbled " oops, guess Im hungry but that all does sound super tasty." she said and chuckled again. She listened to the banter and could not help laugh as Angus dilibratly messed up the frying and washing parts.

Jack walked down the path that skirted the barrier moving branches and rocks that could form holes as he went.

Ruby sat and listened to Edwrad and Angus with Abby , she realy didn't have much to say but enjoyed the warm ffeeling she got seeing the two men with a sassy little girl that was Abby and she smiled. She moved to help place the cookies in the fridge to help set the icing quicker on the ones they had already done.

Simone went to her kitchen and got the pork and the udon noodles and brought it back and made herself at home in Angus's and Ruby's kitchen. It didn't take long to mix up the asian meatballs and the delightful asian sesame ginger sauce that went on them. The udon noodles were just as easy. The peanut sauce used peanut butter as a base. She made the meatballs in a small size, just about an inch in diameter so they would be bite sized for Abbey, and she put them in Angus's largest cast iron skillet to cook.

"I smell food," Abbey told Angus.

"Me too. It smells good. I bet you're getting hungry, aren't you?" he asked. She nodded. "I think I am too." Abbey was almost done with the pink icing, so Angus took the small piping bag and piped on threadlike white icing lines on each cookie for whiskers and made sure each cookie had a white nose and white whiskers and two candy eyes. "Do you remember what we do with the cookies when we finish icing them?" he asked Abbey.

"Eat them," David said.

"Nooo. They gots to dry," Abbey told him as Caprice woke and started fussing. "What she want this time?" Abbey asked.

"It sounds like she's hungry," Edward said. "In my experience, babies make slightly different sounds between being hungry or tired or wet. I think she might be hungry." He went to the counter and made a bottle to feed Caprice.

"Babies be noisy," Abbey said.

"Well, you're right," Angus laughed. "They certainly are."

"My books say they tiny and cute. They lie. They noisy," Abbey said. Angus and Edward laughed out loud.

"She's learning early," Edward agreed.

"You were pretty noisy when you were that little too," Angus told her.

"Me?" she asked.

"Yeah, you," he said.

"I no remember," she said. "I look like that?"

"Yeah, you looked a lot like that. I'll show you some pictures sometime."

"Gam Cece? When supper?" she asked, unable to say Simone correctly.

"Very soon, Sweet Pea. As soon as the meatballs are done," she told Abbey.

"How many gams and papas do you have, Abbey?" David asked. Abbey stretched out all ten fingers and both arms.

"This many!" Abbey said.

"That many? That sure looks like a lot." Abbey nodded.

"And she has even more aunts and uncles," Angus said, taking two finished trays of cookies to the counter to dry. "Just one more tray to finish. Almost all done."

Ruby heard Caprice and picked her up moving to get the bottle from Edward but smiled at him " would you like to feed her this time?" she asked placing her in his arms. "Its only fare Granpa feeds her too" she said watching Angus and Abby finish the cookies and placed them to one ide to set.

Ruby chuckled as Abby said babies were noisy and how Angus said she had been like caprice when she ahd been born. " was she as fussy as a baby ?" Ruby asked smiling at Caprice who now suckled on her bottle hungrly.

"She really wasn't," Angus said, picking up the mess from the table and putting it into the sink. "It took a bit to get her on a schedule but once I did, she didn't really fuss very much, at least not when I had her. Khaat and Brian took a bit longer to get on the routine, so she was a bit noisier with them, but she really was a remarkably good baby. I had her during the day, and at first Brian had her at night. When Khaat moved in with Abbey, she and Brian were not in any sort of romantic relationship. He had given her the master suite, and he had the room that Robert and Kate use now.

"Abbey was perhaps six months old, and Brian and Khaat went on a trip to Venice for a few days. And when they came back, everything had changed. They were sharing the same bed and tail over teakettle for each other, and its been that way ever since. The only thing Brian ever really said to me about it was that he told her if they crossed that bridge to go from platonic to intimate, that she could not ever expect him to be able to go back. I had the feeling he had loved her from a distance for a long time. After that, Abbey was in their room with them at night until she was old enough to stay in the nursery."

"Angus, would you set the table please?" Simone asked. "Well be ready in a few minutes."

"Certainly," Angus said. Angus got out plates and silverware and glasses, and some spring placemats. Angus got a warm washcloth and handed it to Ruby. "Do you mind helping my sous chef clean up, please? She's got icing all over her face and hands."

Ruby listened to Angus talk about Brian and Khaat and smiled " is that why you asked me what you did before we became serious?" she asked thn looked at Caprice " and your right I am positive Caprice will settle into a routine quick enough" she spoke softly and with a smile then chuckled as she saw Abby and heard Angus mention about the sticky hands and face.

"of course, I don't mind " she said and took the cloth from him pausing as she smiled at him then moved to Abby who was still in the kitchen. " all right shall we get you clean and ready for cookie eating" she said holding out her hand for Abbys hands to wipe them clean. She then gently wiped Abbuys face clean " there we go, all clean again" she dried Abbys hands and face before placing the cloths in the basket for washing

"Well, not really," Angus said. "I've always thought that sex and love were two different things. It's certainly possible for a roll in the hay without love being any part of it, and I have absolutely no objection to that. I also believe you can love someone without sex having to be a part of it. However, I had just had a pretty painful breakup, and I wasn't real excited about diving into another serious relationship. I was not ready at all to make the same mistake twice in that short of a time period. Once burned, twice shy, you know."

"Don't you dare go eating cookies before supper," Simone told Abbey. She set a large serving bowl of udon peanut noodles on the table and an even larger bowl of asian meatballs beside it as Angus finished setting the table. "Come and eat, All," she called, as Edward finished feeing the baby. Angus lifted Abbey back into her chair and then he came over and took Caprice, knowing he could well manage her and his own plate. Simone put some milk in the straw cup that Kate had sent in Abbey's bag, and she put it at Abbey's place. Then she served Abbey some meatballs and noodles.

"If you want more, you can have more," Simone told her. " Should I cut your noodles for you?"

"No. I can do it," Abbey said.

"She's fine with it. A little messy, but if she gets too messy, we'll just take her clothes off and hose her off with the garden hose," Angus teased.

"Aggie! I be nakey nakey?" Abbey asked, wide eyed.

"No?" Angus asked.

"No!" she said. Edward laughed. Angus sat down beside Abbey in case he needed to help her, and he balanced Caprice on the other shoulder. He managed to serve himself without much trouble.

"It smells great, Simone," Angus told her. "I can't wait."

"You need help?" David asked Angus.

"Nope. I got it," Angus said.

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " I remember, after what he did to you I wanted to go and cut him..." she paused and pointed downward " off for you, so I understand, but do you still feel the same way?" she asked "I'm mean now you know I won't and will never do anything to harm you or our daughter." she finished cleaning up a little in the kitchen and chuckled at Abby trying to sneak cookies for supper. " nice try Abby." she said as they sat at the table to eat.

She watched as Abby spoke then laughed at her saying she was nakey. She loved the way she spoke and knew she would be great once she went to school. She soon smelt the food and took a deep breath in " I agree, it smells wonderful thankyou for making supper tonight" she said

Now he understood where she was going with this discussion, and it made him hugely uncomfortable to be discussing, in front of four other people, that deeper portion of their relationship and whether he would or would not return to their bed. He wasn't opposed to discussing it but he did not want to do that while David and Abbey and Edward and Simone were all here. He knew she wanted him back in the bedroom as soon as possible, and he really was going to have to stretch himself to be able to do that. He didn't blame her, but yet, the fact was that it still had happened. The words had come out of her mouth. It had still really wounded him. While he didn't blame her, he had still been wounded by that, and he couldn't erase that.

Truth be told, she did not need to know that he had really pushed himself for the first 24 hours or so after it had happened for him to even be comfortable with her having Caprice by herself. He had allowed it because he had had assurances from Robert and Jeffrey that the enchantment was gone. He understood she was anxious that he wasn't in the bedroom with her and that was why she was pushing so damned hard, but he really did not like her pushing him. She had said she was going to give him time, but it had only been a few days. That really wasn't very much damned time.

"I do not blame you for what happened while you were under the effects of an enchantment," he told her, "but can we discuss this piece later, pl..." He was cut off when Abbey tried to stab a meatball with her fork and she missed, hitting the edge of it, causing the meatball to spring off the plate and fly across the table.

"Uh oh. Runaway meatball," Angus laughed. "Here." He took her fork and stabbed a couple meatballs for her. "Here. Eat one at a time. Take your time. Stab 'em in the middle, not on the edge, and it won't dash off from you. If they give you too much trouble, you can pick them up with two fingers and just eat them with your fingers. We can wash your hands after." She nodded. "Got it?" She nodded, and ate the first meatball on her fork. Her face brightened immediately. "You like those, don't you?" She nodded. "There are plenty more. Eat what you want."

"It's my pleasure to cook," Simone said. "I spent a lot of years alone after our kids all were grown and left home and after Maurice died. I am thoroughly enjoying cooking for a family again. I promised Edward I would make some eggrolls from scratch sometime, but I haven't done it yet, and he is not letting me forget it."

Edward was becoming aware that the energy was continuing to escalate, and in the distance, he could hear some faint periodic banging sounds starting That sounded to him like every so often, someone was bouncing against the protection grid, but the grid was holding. That was precisely what it was supposed to do. He got up and glanced out the window. Robert and Kate and Michael had gone outside and Kate had taken to the air on the hippogriff. She had Archangel flying alongside her. She was obviously going to make an aerial sweep. Robert and Michael were just keeping a sharp eye. As long as the grids held, they were safe.

"Are we solid?" Angus asked Edward.

"For now, yes," Edward said. "Let's finish our supper." David got up and got the baby's diaper bag and accio'd a warm blanket sleeper sack and tucked it inside the moses basket in case they had to move quickly. He filled three or four bottles with powdered formula and added a couple of water bottles in case they had to make bottles on the go. Then he accio'd a pair of pajamas and a change of fresh clothes for Abbey and tucked them in the bag with her kitty blanket so that they were ready to pop out at a moment's notice if they had to. Angus accio'd BooBoo Kitty and Abbey's jacket and shrank them, and David put it in the bag as well. Then David put his jacket and the bag closeby.

"Accio yourself a jacket and some pajamas and a change of clothes, Ru," Angus told her, "and put the clothes all in the bag, except your jacket--just in case you need it. Better safe than sorry."

"Simone," Edward began.

"No, don't even ask me. My place is with you," she told him firmly. "I am not a shrinking violet. I will stand and fight if trouble comes."