A Birth day

Ruby saw Brian enter the house and smiled then calmed a fussy Caprice in her arms with a light gentle pat on her back. She heard Brian and nodded "caprice and I will be inItaly helping hunt no no's" she said chukaling as she felt Caprice fill her diper " what again?" she said and chuckled as she excused her sefl to change the dirty diper this time.

Jack finished at theboarder finsing everything quiet and this un nerved him some what. Walking back he passed Jesie and Yu who were on their way up to the camp with the bundle of food for them. " you rembered exra right?" he asked and Jessie laughed and nodded " goos" he replyed and carried on walking to the main house. Pusing he decided on a detur to Edwrads house seeing the herb garden abit of a mess. Knocking he gently pushed open the dor " hey guys, Edward you know your gardens in a bit of a mess, I can send some guys to clean it up if you want?" he asked looking to Brian " um..everything okay?" he asked seing the seriousness on both his and Angus's face .

"Yeah, we know," Simone said to Jack. "We're going to have to get more plants. If you could have the men tear out what can't be saved and put the dirt and the rocks back where they go, that would save us a lot of time and energy. Edward and Ruby and I are going to Edward's in Tuscany to get some replacement plants from his garden there, and we're taking Molly and Abbey along. We promised them some genuine Italian spaghetti. They seem to think they're going to get different spaghetti than what Angus can make. I don't think they realize he grew up in Italy."

"Check this out," Brian handed the note to Jack. "He's never requested a face to face meeting. Angus and I are going to go, and I'm going to sit at a different table. I am not going to hide. He's going to know I'm there. Care to go and sit with me and enjoy a cup of Italian coffee and just provide Angus a bit of insurance? Then he's going to go on to join his family in Tuscany to get plants."

There was another knock on the door, and Simone answered it. It as Kate, bringing Molly over. Molly was wearing jeans with a simple pink tee shirt. She had a spring jacket that was lavender with unicorns on it. Her mother had Molly's biracial hair in a very clever half pulled back style that let her be comfortable but kept the hair off her face.

"Molly is all ready to go. Nicky was going to send some money with her, but I told him she didn't need any," Kate said.

"Heavens, no. It's our treat," Edward said.

Jack looked at Simone and nodded " I'll get them on it asap" he said and was about to leave when Brian gave him the letter and told him what they were going to do " oh not without me " he said and looked to Brian " The men will know what needs doing regards the garden so I can leave them for a few hours" he said and looked at Angus " he so twitches wrong and Im tearing him limb from limb, at your order of course " he directed the last part to Brian with a chuckle.

Ruby returned with a clean Caprice who now wanted her bottle, she made one and made sure it was warm before sitting down and feeding her as Molly arrived " hey Molly looking forward to seeing Italy?" she asked then smiled as Simone said it was their treat "there are more than enough people willing to cover anything she needs while there. " she said with a smile

"Yes, Ma'am," Molly said. "Daddy says the ice cream is good there too."

"It is indeed," Angus said to Molly. "It has a different name. They call it gelato there. You'll like it. We'll try to get some, if you two aren't too full after lunch."

"Too full for ice cream?" she frowned.

"Well, you're right. There is no such thing, is there?" he laughed.

"Remember it's a muggle neighborhood, so no ripping off random limbs, Jack, alright? It's bloody difficult to have to obliviate an entire neighborhood, especially now that muggles have cameras everywhere. We'd have to obliviate the entire planet, and I really, really don't want to have to figure out how to do that," Brian laughed.

"Well, I'll leave you lot to it. Oh, if you can find some good basil, can you please bring some? I don't think I'm going to be able to save the basil in the kitchen garden."

"No problem," Edward smiled. Kate left and went to the main house, and Edward and Simone got Abbey ready to go and put away the scones while David shut off the coffee pots and tea pots and made sure the house was locked. Angus took the baby bag and went over to their side. He shrank a dozen clean baby bottles and put them, more formula powder, and two fresh bottles of water in the bag so that Ruby had enough with her to last for a long time. He changed out the dirty baby clothes for fresh ones, and added more diapers, and a fresh blanket. Then he took the bag back to Ruby.

"That should last you a three day weekend, not just several hours, but I see no reason to not have some extra in the bag," Angus told her. "We'll go take care of things in Paris, and I'll meet you all at the house. You all have a good time, and I'll be there before you go for lunch."  He looked at Jack and Brian.

"Abbey, you be good for Papa Ed and Gam Cece," Brian said.

"She's always good for us," Simone said. "We'll go as soon as Ruby is done feeding the baby." Simone was a little hesitant about wanting to port to Italy with a baby who had a full stomach. That was just asking for all of them to be covered in vomit. She had silently hoped Ruby would have waited to feed her for a moment or two so they could port, but the best they could do now is to port with the baby swaddled and a flap of the blanket laid lightly over the baby's face so that not everyone was covered in puke. Simone did understand, though, that it was a first time mother's reaction to feed the baby when she asked for it and not giving any thought to what was happening next.

Jack laughed and nodded " okay, no ripping apart" he said as if sulking but truly he was teasing. Ruby saw Angus move to their side of the duplex and after a moment returned with the baby bag.

"Thank you and I agree, with how she's filling these diapers having extra is a good idea," she said smiling as Caprice finished her bottle. She looked at Simone " I'll carry her, if she's sick after we operate I'll clean her and cope with the mess." she said chuckling knowing she might be after her feed. Ruby burped her and set her comfortably in the sling against her chest . " okay we're ready. She looked at Angus and lightly touched his cheek " see you when we get back, and basil, fresh basil both for the garden and the kitchen" she said smiling as she then moved to Simone's side.

Angus and Brian took Jack and ported to Paris, to an alley a few doors away from the cafe. They were a bit early, but that was good because the cafe tended to get busy at lunch time, so by being a bit early, they would miss the rush. Angus saw two empty tables, and they had two empty tables between them. At a crowded sidewalk cafe, that really wasn't much space.

"Let's sit over here," Brian told Jack. "He'll sit over there, and we'll still be able to see." He bought two newspapers on his way to the table and handed one to Jack. "I doubt if we'll need these, but i've found that even the muggle cameras can miss a tiny wandless magic spell if the spellcasting hand happens to be behind a newspaper. He looked around to look for any muggle cameras and only saw one that would be able to spot their table enough to see a newspaper. Brian used a tiny slight of hand spell that he had learned from Michael to cause the camera to lose power completely. "Now, we're safe. Now, if you want a real treat, get an omelet. No one makes them better than this cafe--except perhaps Angus and Michael. Still, it's well worth it if you're hungry. Their coffee choices here are Viennese coffee, cappucino, Irish coffee, espresso or regular coffee. I actually like them all. But today, I probably will get a Viennese coffee and a slice of Opera cake. What about you? I'm buying."

Angus took the empty table and sat down and when the waiter got to the table, he ordered an Irish coffee and a slice of tart tatin and settled in to watch the people passing by and wait while he enjoyed the coffee and the slice of tart.

Edward picked up Abbey, and David picked up Molly. They all joined together, and Edward used his portkey to his estate and ported them to the place Edward had, for so many years, called home. It still was his main home, but he had had no thoughts of returning here since the moment he and Simone had taken a room at the Leaky and had gone upstairs for something neither of them had ever done or even considered--an impetuous afternoon hookup. And here they were, ridiculously happy and married and living in England. Neither of them had seen it coming.

They landed in stunningly gorgeous weather. Even from standing outside the front door, the large estate was meticulously landscaped and covered with flower and trees that were in full, abundant bloom. On three sides, of the estate, the glistening Mediterranean sparkled in the sunlight. This, Edward had always believed, was Tuscany at its absolute best.

Coming across the lawn in his swim trunks was Angus's younger brother Evan. Evan was well toned and slightly muscular but not nearly as well muscular as Angus had trained to be. Evan was much more tanned, having more time in the sun these days than Angus did.

"Grandad," Evan smiled, running up to see them, his beach towel draped around his neck. "I was hoping I'd see you today. Hi, Simone." He gave Simone a peck on the cheek. "And who did you bring with you?"

"This is Abbey, Robert's granddaughter, and she brought her best friend Molly with her. And this is Angus's daughter Caprice and her mother, Ruby."

"Caprice? That's what they named her? Awesome!" Evan said. "Hi, Ruby. I think we met briefly before at Granddad's wedding, didn't we? Good to see you again. So this is my newest niece. She's beautiful."

Jack loked at the tables and nodded "Nice, easy to get to him if needed but far enough away not to arise suspishion" he said and followed Brian to the table he watched him take out the camera and then order his food " oh I'll have the omlet and an irish coffee" he said smiling as he cought glimpses of people passing by the table.

Ruby felt them arrive and smiled as she looked down at a now sleeping caprice in her sling. She smiled seeing Evan again " hey yes we did , nice to meet you again, and yep she is " she said moving the side of the sling so he could see her " she slept trow the aperating, truly her fathers daughter." she said and chuckled as she looekd to Simone " well we now now shes all right with aperating" Ruby said then took in the view in front of her " its beautiful here." she said and took a deep breath of the clean fresh air around her.

Brian ordered for them both, and he opened the paper but only half, wanting to not obstruct his own view.

Angus had chosen to sit facing Brian and Jack, and he saw Gelding approaching from behind Brian and Jack. Angus looked around and he caught sight of two men on the rooftops nearby. In a hotel window He saw another man of Gelding's that he was positive he had seen at auctions. There was yet another man standing at the newsstand across the street. And there were four more approaching from behind Jack and Brian, escorting Gelding. Gelding clearly saw Brian and Jack and then saw Angus. They were looking around to find more men, and they saw none. Gelding waved his guards off, and they went to take strategic positions nearby to guard him at a distance. Then Gelding came up to Angus's table alone. Gelding did not ask to sit down. He simply sat down across from Angus, and he ordered espresso.

"I didn't think you'd meet me," Gelding said.

"You peaked my curiosity," Angus replied, sipping on his Irish coffee.

"Your boys passed their apparition class last evening," Gelding said. That was information Angus had not had. Gelding was doing his best to put Angus offguard, but Angus wasn't that flappable. He knew well how to stay calm.

"Good," Angus replied, holding steady. "So what's this about?"

"Two things. First, you need to bear off my wife. She's not related to you or your boys anymore or that girl of yours," Gelding said.

"What's the second thing?" Angus asked, wanting him to lay all his cards on the table first.

"She wants to see her sons and her granddaughter."

"Oh, she does, does she?" Angus said, knowing Gelding would not arrange a meeting for that. He still hadn't laid down all his cards.

In Tuscany, Evan smiled when Ruby said Caprice took after Angus.

"Well, if she slept through the porting, then maybe she did get his calm personality. he doesn't get rattled by anything i don't think," Evan replied, laughing. "So, what brings you lot here?

"Our garden was clobbered last night in a bit of a battle with Tom Gelding's men and a pack of werewolves," Edward said. "We need plants for the garden to replace them with."

"Jeez! Is everyone alright?"

"Fine," Edward said.

"Well, I'll go change, and I'll meet you there," Evan said. He turned and left in a hurry to go to his house and change.

"Come. The garden is this way," Edward said. "We do have some extensive crops we can pull from too if we need to, but I do have my own garden that takes care of anything I need for the main house and also for my potions making. We'll check there first." Edward's garden for the main house covered an entire acre, and it was as meticulously kept as all the rest of the property. Edward noticed that it looked particularly abundant and lush this year. That would certainly help. Edward went to a small garden shed, opened it and got out several large trugs and some trowels to help with getting the plants. "Anybody want anything different than a trug and a trowel?" he asked.

Jack looked at his paper but glanced with his eyes to a roof top and the news stand " I found three so far, two on the roof tops, you?" he said not even moving his head as the waitress brought their coffees. Smiling at her he spoted another behind them "to your left" he said as he added his suger as if nothing was wrong. He saw Gelding and as much as his instinct told him to rip him apart he stayed put smiing as if nothing was wrong, but his eyes flicked around the area.

Ruby smiled and nodded as Evan said she probably did get her disposition fron Angus " thats good , nobod should have mine" she said chukaling " all right " she said as he let for the house and followed Edward around to the shed. " those will be find for me too" she said and looked around the garden " this place is a gardners dream everything is so healthy and luch" she said running her fingers over some minty she saw and took a smel " humm, this would be wonderful in mint julip." she said then spotted the basil " theres the basil Angus asked for." she said

"Yeah, there's another in an upper floor window in the hotel," Brian said quietly. "And he won't come alone. He'll bring at least two. Probably more, if I know him at all. Oh. Here he comes. And he wants us to think he's alone." Brian laughed quietly. "Angus is already on top of it. So far, so good."

"Let's get a few facts straight," Angus said to Gelding. "First of all, I haven't acted first in any encounter with Suzanne. She's come after me. She's made no bones about the fact that she blames me for taking her sons and her daughter, killing Reginald and keeping her from her granddaughter, her daughter and her eldest son."

"And she'd be right," Gelding said.

"No. She wouldn't. Ruby and Jessie were adults living on their own long before I knew either of them. They'd both rather have her guts for garters as to look at her, but you already know that, don't you? She deliberately set her eldest son up to be attacked and turned into a werewolf. Now, why she would do that, I can't fathom, but I'm sure it has something to do with some promise she made some man make her while she was taking his clothes off...."

"Now, look here, you..." Gelding began angrily.

"Oh, stop," Angus said, bored. "Don't set yourself up to fight for her dignity. She hasn't had any for decades. We know exactly what she is. Fighting for her honor only makes you look pitiful. She set the twins up to be werewolves too, but I got to them in time, no thanks to her. That's part of why they're mine now and not hers. As for 'her' grandchild, she's my daughter, and there's no way Suzanne is going anywhere near her. She swiped photos from my house and that's as much as she's getting. Now, you wanna know about her late night hours she's been keeping? She's had some little blue glass pendant she's been using to get into my sleep, night after night. I haven't been pursuing her. She's been coming after me. Well, ask her where that pendant is now, Tom."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's shattered. She's gonna nee a new one of those. I don't know which one of her suitors supplied her with that, but you can bet, she's going to go back to him for another. Why exactly did you come last night and bring James with you?"

"That was her doing, I assure you. I took some losses last night because of her," Tom said, and for the first time, Angus saw that Gelding had not been happy with Suzanne's escapades last night.

"You're going to have to keep a tighter leash on her, Mate," Angus said, sipping on his coffee.

"I can't even tell you how many hours I've spent out here," Edward laughed. "Caprice used to say I married the garden, not her."

"It's wonderfully healthy," Simone said. "If we only take one of each plant, we'll have bushels of things."

"Well, take what you want,' Edward told them.

Edward and Simone took trugs and trowels, and they headed to the garden. Evan showed up, got his own trug and trowel and followed. Abbey followed Edward and Simone, and when Abbey went to yank up a plant by the stem, Edward stopped her.

"Not like that, Poppet," he said gently. "We don't want to damage it. We have to dig it up with this little shovel and then gently put the plant in the basket. Like this."

"Can I try?" Molly asked.

"Come over here, and you can try with this plant," Simone said. She handed Molly the trowel and showed her carefully how to dig up a plant to put in the trug. Abbey watched every move they made.