A Birth day

Ruby sat back on the sofa and sipped her coffee listening to the sounds around her. Standing up she walked onto the deak and sat down listening to the calming sounds of the birds and the wind threw the trees. She saw Jessie walk past talking to Yu and he waved to her she waved back to him and smiled she also saw Edwrad with Angus and chuckled sititng down to try some meditaion she'd seriusly been lacking practicing.

Sitting with her eyes closed she felt a hand on her shoulder and opened them to see Yu loking down at her " your posture was slightly off" he said and corrected her, she thanked him as he then returned to Jessie and continued their walk around the grounds. For amoment she wondered if Jeffery had left for swizerland yet but decided she didn't need him and continued to meditate.

Edward and Angus drank the bottle of merlot together. It always felt to Angus like if he and someone else drank a bottle that they'd had too much, but since a bottle only held 25 ounces. It meant that each of them had had two 6 oz glasses of wine. Or a cup and a half. So it really wasn't that much. And certainly not enough for either of them to be intoxicated. Angus still benefitted from Edward's experience, and Edward was a steadying force for Angus.

For Edward's part, he was truly proud of the man Angus was becoming. He had taken on Ruby's brothers, sight unseen, and he had stepped up to be a good dad to them from day one. He had become a father to a newborn, and now he was going to have to learn how to step up to two werewolf teen girls. Five kids--in less than a year. It was a lot--especially considering that Angus had done at least six of those months in a wheelchair.

Edward had agreed to go with Angus to the Tyler house to meet the demolition crew because they were getting started about two hours before the landscaping crew. Angus wanted to go early--by six am. Angus wanted one more walk-through of the house and the tunnels before they were torn down, and Edward was going along. Angus had told him that Robert was sending Marcus along with Angus to Hogwarts because Khaat was coming down with a case of the flu, and she was running a fever and was severelly congested. Robert did not want her even considering going to St. Mungos as she was. He would have sent Abbey back to Angus's but Angus wasn't going to be home most of tomorrow, and Ruby had a lot just with Caprice. As it was, Shannon and Nicky were going to look after Abbey tomorrow since they had Molly anyway. And Kate still enjoyed all the time with Abbey that she could get.

Angus came back from Edward's as it was getting dark and the stars were starting to come out. He got out his sketch pad and his tin of sketching pencils and sat down to toy with ideas about how he was going to add another bedroom to the house.

Ruby felt the day grow cooler and moved inside smiling as she saw Angus and Caprice return and smiled as she saw him sketch out ideas for the basement bedrooms for the girls. " we could split the basement in to two rooms each coloured and styled for each girl, should't be too much to add a wall." she said and moved to start their supper. She spoted a slight light red spot on Angus's shirt and chuckled " so how was the wine?" she asked moving to take out a sheet pan to make easy Creamy Chicken Skillet, she took out boneless skinless chicken breasts along with Mushrooms and bell peppers, Garlic ,Dried thyme and rosemary, fresh parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper,Cream
Parmesan cheese, Oil and butter.

She then Butterfly cut the chicken breast, mix dried herbs and spice powders in a bowl and tossed them together. Then Heat oil and butter together in a skillet over medium high heatand placed in the chicken cutlets, once golden brown on both sides she then plate them out. In the same pan she melted more butter and sauté the sliced mushrooms, bell peppers , along with the garlic, salt and pepper for a couple of minutes.Then she added in parsley, thyme and rosemary. and let it simmer for a few minets before Stirring in some cream and scraping any brown stickings left from the chicken off the bottom of the pan the sauce. She then put the chicken into the sauce and covered it placing it in the oven to slow cook ready for supper.

"Well, you do realize that the basement is actually a larger space than it might look. After all, our half is the size of our entire ground floor. It would be entirely too large to make them a bedroom that is that big. Besides, it would eliminate all our storage space if we do that," he said. "If we're honest with ourselves, those boys might stay a year with us, if that, but by then, they're going to want one of those apartments. So, we're going to have two bedrooms available. The room downstairs and their old room. I was thinking that I might make them a room downstairs that was the same size as the boys room and put bunk beds in it, and basically do it the same way we did the boys. Of course, I think we should let the girls pick the colors and styles themselves. If I make it any bigger than the boys, I would do it to allow them each to have a small desk in their room. Robert was very clear that they absolutely would be expected to have some sort of home schooling. I know that we can't send them to school, but Robert and Edward are both academic enough to take on some of that responsibility. And Kate and Michael are both very well versed in fine arts of all sorts. The girls are not completely uneducated. They do read and write and they can do basic mathematics, I guess, from what Robert said. Ginger told him that the pack bought some old school books and they teach their children from those as best they can.

"So you know, you might need to alter your schedule tomorrow. Fenrir is alright with the girls leaving the pack. He wants to get the pack back to the forest as soon as he can, and Ginger won't be able to go for months probably. So, even in the wild, Ginger would have to be removed from the pack. Her parents are alright with Ginger and Anise leaving, but they have to have someone who will take guardianship. Unless Fenrir changes his mind, it would only be guardianship and not full custody. However, Phoebe and her husband only know me. They don't honestly know you. They met you very briefly but they don't know you. Robert thinks you should ask Jack or Jessie to take you to spend the day with the pack tomorrow at their camp so you can focus on getting to know Phoebe and her husband. I will take Caprice with me tomorrow. She'll be just fine. If all goes well, we can both sign the guardianship papers then if Phoebe's parents feel comfortable with you. Otherwise, I guess, it'll just be me signing them. Or that's the pack's current plan, anyway. And then, probably a day or so after that, the pack will be leaving. Edward says we can have Anise stay with him and Simone until we get a room made for her and Ginger. What do you think?"

(why is ruby making supper again? they just ate those big salads for supper.)

Ruby wrapped the sheet pan in tin foil and placed it in the fridge for the next days dinner and walked over to him nodding as she went. " okay I like that idea,it means when they are old enough we could still use the space, and I'd expect schooling, even I had to re-learn when I came here, remember all that training I did." she said smiling as she sat down letting Caprice play with her fingers.

she heard him say she would ned to clear her scedual for the next day and noded " of course " she said "I think theres not realy anything I have planed, and Im sure we'll get along" she said smiling " but would never hurt to meet so I know what the do's and don'ts are regarding Anise and Ginger, I'll catch Jess in the morning and we'll head up to the camp." she chuckled as Caprice gurglled as she sat in the chair looking up at them both.

"Edward and I are going to the old house by six because the demo crew will be there at seven. I expect we'll be back here by half past seven or eight. The landscape crew are supposed to arrive by about half past eight. We'll be back by then. Robert is sending Marcus with me tomorrow because Khaat's somehow caught the flu. He says she's got a high fever, and she's really congested. He said she's really pretty sick. So, since she won't be working, he's sending Marcus with me. That leaves both of the 'doggies, ' as Abbey calls them, with you.

"I'm sure you'll get along fine with Phoebe's parents too. I'm not concerned about that. You could see what Jack or Jessie thinks about showing them through the duplex so they can see we will really be treating them like members of the family. That's why I'm doing these sketches so that they can see that I'm not locking the girls in a cell in a tunnel like Ginger came from. I want them to see it would be a real room. I'm sure Edward would be alright with them seeing the guest room that they would be staying in over there too, but I think you should ask him. I think you should put yourself in their shoes and let that be your guide about what they would want for them and want to know."

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " of course" she said " I'll ask Jack in the morning or send word when were on our way back" she said and then thought about how the girls had lived until now " they need stability and comfort, but most of all security in knowing they are safe and that there perents know there safe too" she said "its what I would want if in their shoes." she smiled at him " I have diner all ready to go just have to cook it and I made enough for everyone including Ginger and Anise if they want to eat with us."

she looked down at Caprice and smiled " its going to be hecktic with six in the house," she said " but I know there are more than enough people to help and I think the only one who realy needs our help is caprice, the others will do just fine." she could not help but gasp alittle as she heard Khaat had the flue " ow dear , I hope she will get better , maybe I should make some soup for her?2he said and smiled " always helped with me."

"Anise seems to be pretty settled and calm," Angus said. "I haven't spent much time with Ginger, but I'm presuming that Jeffrey and Nigel and Robert are working with her to try to help her work past some of that trauma. I've heard some of that can stick with someone for years after. That witch nearly killed Ginger, nearly starved her to death. I have no idea when Robert is going to be able to let Ginger go from the sickbay, but I think its mainly to manage the dehydration and malnutrition. She's severely underweight. She looks like a ruddy skeleton, Ru. And I can't blame that on some old crazy witch. That was 100% Suzanne. If Reginald has any legitimate opportunity to kill her from the other side, I promise I will just step aside and let him have at her."

He listened to Ruby talk about having six in the house and things being hectic.

"When Ginger gets here, there will be seven. Eight if you count David too," he told her. "And I know Caprice will need help but let's be real. There will be five adults and two teens, with two more adults next door. Caprice will not need anything. She'll be just fine. And with that many, they can pretty much all lend a hand with laundry, cooking and cleaning. We'll be just fine.

"As for Khaat, the soup is a good idea. She likes just about any sort of soup. The only thing she's really asked for is for me to make her some of the crackers I made her right after Abbey was born. I have a bread recipe that I brought back from Hawaii for Hawaiian Sweet Bread. It uses mashed potatoes in the dough and so much sugar that the crust caramelizes. It's quite lovely. Over there, they use it to make the most fabulous eggy bread. Don't ask for eggy bread though. The Americans won't have any idea what you're talking about. They call eggy bread French Toast. It's eggy bread, though. Same thing, different name.

Anyway, after Khaat had Abbey, to get her to eat, I took some of that sweet bread dough and rolled it very, very thin and made it into crispy savoury biscuits. She absolutely loves them. She asked Robert to ask me if I would make some. But that means I have to make the dough, let it rise and then get up by about 3:30 or four to roll out the dough til its very, very thin, cut it, and bake the crackers for her. As I see it, I think tomorrow is going to be a ridiculously long day for me."

The baby started to get cranky, and he already knew why. It was past her bedtime. She needed her bottle, and she needed to be put to bed. He got up, picked her up, made a bottle, fed her, and then he took her upstairs, put her in a sleeper and put her into her crib in her room for the first time. He lit all the little fairy lights in her tree, and it gave her room a warm, friendly glow. He didn't need to stay with her for more than a moment because she dozed straight off.

He changed into some lounge trousers and a tee shirt and came back downstairs.

"She's in her own room for the night, in her crib, and she's already sound asleep," he smiled. "Watch, someone will leave us another baby to take care of next, and it'll be a complete hellion."

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled " well if I make the soup you make the buscits and I'll take them to her, might make her feel human again and not a germ factory." she said and chuckled she watched as Angus tok Caprice up to her own room and she smiled to herself.

Seeing him return she saw his change of clothes and heard him say she was sleeping in her cot " lets hope not what we have is enough for the time being" she said standing and moving to the kitvhen to start making the broth ready for the next day when she could take it over in a covered bowl to Khaat. " and besides , I like having you and the boys here, makes the place feel homey, complete, if that makes sense" she said looking at him from the kitchen as she cut the veg to go into the soup.

Soon she had the basis of the soup ready and she covered it to head up the next day. " well thats ready to be heated ." she said and moved to sit down on the couch. " its going to be strange not having Caprice in the same room tonight" she said smiling not that she was hinting at anything she just knew it would be strange to wake and not see her in teh moses basket next to her.

"Deal," Angus said. He made the bread dough and set it to rise. His favorite place to let bread rise was on the dryer. He would put a load of towels in the dryer, turn the dryer on low and set it to tumble dry the towels for as long as the dryer would run. The heat from a low dryer was just about right to cause the dough to rise. He covered the dough bowl with a clean kitchen towel and left it to rise.

"That'll be fine until the dryer turns off. Then I'll have to get up and switch it back on," he told her. "I know it'll be strange not having her there, but she's already growing quick enough that she's going to be a lot more comfortable in her crib because she'll have a lot more room." Then he decided to tease her. "Besides, since she's a Donohue. she'll be 7'4" by the time she's 13." That would check her to see if she was honestly paying attention. He opened the baby bag to check it and restocked it, including with bottles and a couple water bottles to make baby bottles from. There were enough supplies in the bag to keep her for a few days, not just a few hours.

"You should get some sleep. You want to make a good impression on the parents. I'll get up with her during the night. I'll have to be up with the biscuits anyway," he told her. "I'll nap or something when I get back from Hogwarts tomorrow.

"Oh--when you go up, would you be kind enough to cast a freshening spell on my light brown linen suit? I should wear a suit tomorrow, but I don't think I need to wear black. I think I'll wear the light brown linen because its far more comfortable and it isn't so formal. What do you think--white shirt, and maybe the chocolate brown silk tie? And maybe instead of dress shoes I'll wear the tan leather boat shoes. Respectable but casual. Should work, shouldn't it? I'm sure Marcus will wear black. Marcus always wears black when he's working."