A Birth day

Jessie laughed and nodded " yeah thats true" he said " okay I'll cook yuo can just watch and then eat" he said opening the fridge to take out three large steaks and began coking them on the grill. Yu smiled and chuckled at her talk of Finn. " that sounds like Finn, and the pleasure is all mine" he said moving to sit on a stool close to Jessie. He heard her talk of the track and Jessie looked up smiling at ehr " oh yes , I ran it once , slipped on mud and well imbarassed myself infront of Jack, he undersood though, Yu and I go in the evening since Jack and the others run in the morning." Jessie explained " we could go for a run after we eat?" he asked " Im dying to let lose a little, the wolfbane takes away the anger but nothing beats a good run."

Jess lookd down at Jack who lay on the bed she glanced at Kate and shook her ehad " shame he didn't get hit on his head , wouldn't have been so much damage" she said and Jack chuckled or tried to " hey lay still" she said brushing her hand over his head removing some of the pain he felt. " Im sure Robert will be here soon , I have started some of the smaller peices healing but the larger ones ned Roberts delecate touch" she said glancing over at Kate.

"God, yes. I'm aching for a run," she said. "I used to run with the younger guys in the pack. The older guys wouldn't go with me, so i ran with the younger ones. The older ones don't train as hard as the younger ones do--not unless Fenrir is with them. Then they think they have something to prove. Those steaks smell amazing."

Robert got the message that there had been trouble and that Jack had some broken ribs. He went to Khaat's office, and when they heard what had happened, they figured that David had taken Ruby to a safehouse. A further clarification with Kate said that the skirmish was over and it was safe for Ruby to go home. Marcus sent David an all clear signal through the floo, and David went to find Ruby.

"Looks like it didn't last long," David said. "I just got a signal from Marcus that it's safe to go home. I don't know anything more than that but if there had been serious trouble, we'd have heard that somehow. Do you have anything else you want to do or anywhere you need to go before we go home?"

Robert and Khaat and Marcus all came home and Marcus went outside on the grounds to find Michael to make sure that all was well with the protection grid. Robert went downstairs to check Jack's ribs. It didn't take him long to check them, and with a proper numbing spell, he was able to do some fine adjustments. He was more worried about some of the more complicated breaks because of bone fragments. He soon had them set, though.

"The pain spell should hold for several hours," Robert said, getting out a newer advanced pain medication he had recently formulated with Nigel. "This is very concentrated, Jack, Just a half dose every twelve hours, even for someone of your size. You may find that after two or three days, we can step back to the old pain potion that isn't as powerful. And by four or five days, you might well be healed. We'll have to see. Jess, do not let yourself get so protective that you want him to stay laying down and resting. With broken ribs, the more he lays down, the more pain and difficulty breathing he will have. He may even find he does better with a somewhat sitting position in a recliner. Laying will put pressure and compression on the ribs, and it will cause him trouble. Let him figure it out for himself what works. And if the distress gets overwhelming, you check with me. Understand, Jack?"

"You might want to see if that little one is alright, Robert," Kate said. "She went straight after James on her own."

"Dear God," Robert sighed. "I'm surprised you didn't have to sweep what was left of her into a matchbox."

"No, she really did alright, but you should check in with her all the same," Kate said.

"She really did alright, Jack?" Robert asked. "Angus insists she has the makings of a fighter. I saw her fight at the last skirmish. How'd she do with James from what you saw? Do you think she has the makings to be one of our fighters?"

Jack was greatful when the bed was elevated to have him sat up after Robert had set his ribs " thanks Robert and yes shes a scrapper , she'll be one hell of a fighter once shes old enough, she followed Anguss orders to the letter." he tld him " and yeah , no runs for me for a while" he said makinf Jess smile as he took his hand in her own " I'm good" he told her and she nodded leaning down to hug him gently.

Ruby heard David and breathed out as she gathered all the things for Caprice and put them back into the bag. Gently she picked up a sleeping Caprice and hel her against her chest as she moved to him " nope theres nothing I need to do" she said as she waited for him to port her home.

Jessie laughed and looked at Anise " then more fool them , we'll go after we eat" he said " yu and I will see how you go" he added smiling as he turned the steaks over to cook the other side sprinkling some salt and pepper on it before placing them on plates and dishing them out." here eat up, you earned it, more than earned it."

"Good to know, Jack. I'll keep my eye on her. Might start her training early. I'll try to go see her this afternoon. Thanks. You should go home and rest up," Robert told him.

David apparated Ruby home, and he saw Michael and Kate working on checking the protection grid. That was pretty standard after a breech. That didn't concern him. He noticed straight off though that he saw Simone next door but did not see Edward or Angus. He wasn't alarmed, but it did surprise him a little. He expected them here. He made sure the house was safe and then went over to see Simone.

"Hey, Simone. How's it going?"

"It's alright," she told him. "Edward and Angus went out after the breech. I think they went just to blow off a little steam. James is pretty mouthy, and he throws out a lot of threads. I think some of them got under Angus's skin just a little. I'm sure they'll be back sooner or later--depending on how sober they are when they get back. I think, so far as I know, the only injury was Jack. He might have broken a rib or something. I wasn't close enough to know. Anise might know, but I think she's over at Jessies. Somebody's grilling steaks over there. You and Ruby and caprice okay?"

"We're fine. Thanks."

"I'm making a large chef salad for lunch. There will be plenty for all three of us if you and Ruby are hungry."

"I'll tell her," David said. "Thanks." He went back to the other side and told Ruby what Simone had said.

Anise tucked into her steak hungrily. "These are awesome," she said. "It's so much better when its cooked. Ruby made chicken last night, and it was good too. Cooking it makes all the difference in the world. Thanks for asking me to eat with you. I'm learning so much already."

Jack nodded " good becuse I realy think shes got somthing" he said smiling at him. Ruby found her self back home and let David go first , seeing him return she entered and put the kettle on and relit the fire to heat the place before taking of Caprices jacket so she coud lay and play. She saw David return from simones side and nodded " we can go over" she said and picked up Caprice moving over to Simones side. She was wrried not seing Angus but didn't show it as she knew he nd Edwrad would work it out but she did still care for him that she didn't want anything bad happen to him. "is Angus okay, I don't see him" she said placing Caprice down on the mat she ahd brought for her to pay on.

Jessie chuckled as he ate his steak " yeah, everything tastes better cooked." he said and heard her thank him for cooking for her " its find besides your good company." he said and Yu rolled his eyes .

"he means that he can talk about were things with you but not me" he said and smirked " I tend to keep him human." Jessie lent against Yu and chuckled.

" yeah but you love me though" he teased making Yu smile and nod his head.

"wont be saying that when your flat out after your run" he said lightly pushing Jessie off his shoulder.

"Well, that's the gist of what I'm hearing too," Robert said. "Ginger says Anise has had an irrepressible drive to leave the pack--far more than Ginger's drive. Ginger right now knows that it was Fenrir who chose that Ginger had to leave, and so she is determined to adjust. She is definitely more passive than Anise. If I'm right, Ginger is going to be far more about hearth and home than her sister. I expect her to be hanging at the duplex, fiddling about in the garden and the kitchen, and Anise is going to be, until she's old enough to be on her own, she's going to be a little shadow with Angus or anyone else who's doing something exciting. "

Anise listened to Yulong say Jessie was perhaps glad to have someone he could talk to about werewolf things. That made sense to her.

"I'm glad to have someone to talk to, too. Its a big change going from a pack who were pretty sworn to live as much like animals as they could manage, having a mom who was trying to trying to make sure that her girls knew both worlds, and now living indoors with a family who doesn't know how to be werewolves," she said. "I heard one of the guys who work here talking when they were up in our camp area, and they were saying something about some sort of a wilderness survival training that you people do. I'm betting I don't have much trouble with that."

She listened to Jessie and Yulong banter about their relationship. She wasn't against people being gay, but it was different for her because it wasn't something Fenrir tolerated in the pack. Gays were sometimes asked to leave because Fenrir needs people to procreate. Phoebe, to her credit, was big on educating the girls to understand it and was working on teaching the girls acceptance.

"So you know, I'm not against gays," she said, "but our pack allowed it very rarely, mainly because Fenrir thought it was a threat against pack survival. He believed we needed members to procreate, and gays were seen as a thread. Mom was the one who was doing her best to teach us how things are with humans, but she had to do it on the sly so Fenrir didn't know. Regardless, though, it doesn't matter. I'm still going to try to beat your ass on that run." She grinned at them, determined on besting Jessie and David and probably Marcus, whoever he was. She had always loved beating the big boys at anything they tried. "Do I win anything besides bragging rights if I beat you all?"

Edward had had to go to four or five places before he found Angus this time. Even he had started to worry a little when he had not been at the most usual places. This, of all the places he had ever run off to as a boy, was the loneliest of all, and it was the one that Edward detested the most. It was just the shell of a house that had been abandoned to the elements long ago in a little poor village in Tuscany.

Edward had remembered it had been quite the bike ride for little Angus when at age 6, his father had come home drunk and had backhanded Angus for nothing in particular. Benjamin had locked the garage hoping to keep Angus "contained." Angus was having none of it, and he had swiped a crowbar and snapped the hasp off the garage door to get his bike. Actually, Edward had been rather pleased at the boy's wherewithal at that age to get his bike, but the lad had been so livid that he had ridden for miles up into the hills and had found a rather remote village and an abandoned house and had determined he was going to hold up there, rather than to go home. Benjamin was caught between being glad to "get rid of the rubbish" and swearing to make him black and blue when the boy turned up.

Back then, Edward had only finally found Angus because he had spotted a new chocolate bar wrapper in the street. He had gone inside and found Angus there sitting on the floor with a little sack of snacks and a couple bottles of soda, and with a blazing handprint across his cheek. He wasn't going to get the bottles open because they had old school bottle caps on them and Angus had no bottle opener. Edward had simply sat down beside him, and opened one of the sodas and handed it to him. Edward remembered when he had finally gotten the lad to talk, it had begun with a flourish of rage and tears and then had given away to heartbreak as the little boy had found all the feelings of brokenness that his father had made him feel. It had been the turning point for Edward when he had decided that, under no circumstances was Angus ever, ever going home to Benjamin and Eileen, and it was what had made him seek permanent legal custody of Angus and his siblings once and for all.

Edward walked up to the house now, and he smelled the cigarette smoke coming from within. He walked in and found Angus sitting on the floor in the same old spot, this time with a bottle of firewhiskey on the floor beside him.

"I'd have rather found you in the bar than to come back to this horrid place," Edward sighed, sitting on the floor beside him. "God, it was easier to get down to the floor thirty years ago. You might have to pull me up, Lad." He took Angus's cigarette from him and took a couple puffs off it. "Jesus--these are shitty cigarettes. I hope you got them for free because they aren't worth paying for. Remind me to get you better. These taste like dog kennel."

"Smoked a dog kennel, have you?" Angus asked quietly.

"I have now," Edward quipped.

"They're muggle."

"That explains bloody everything. Why are we here? What's on your mind?" Edward asked. Angus didn't respond. Edward put his arm around Angus's shoulder, and Angus laid his head on Edward's shoulder. Edward knew. Whatever this was, it was going to take some time. Something had resurrected some of the painful ghosts from the past, and they hurt. They really hurt this time. The part of Angus that was a warrior who had gone after James and Suzanne had been shelved, and this was now the part of Angus that was a little boy that might always ache and keep him from entirely bonding with much of anyone.

Aside from Edward, there were a couple that had some chance to know the deeper parts. Robert and Kate had tapped into some of it some years ago, and, they had built a rather paternal relationship with Angus. Ruby had a chance--if she gave him the time to get past feeling that it wasn't all so fragile. Edward didn't think it was Ruby that made the relationship feel fragile. Angus didn't work that way, but usually some other event had always occurred that had always blown up any other chance for happiness that Angus had ever had outside of Edward. If, though, they could weather it out, Edward believed Angus had a chance to have more stability than he had had in a long time.

Jessie chukled and looked at Yu " there realy great here , it is like a family but one that protects its own I guess like a pack but modern in its thinking" he added when he heard her ask what she would win he thought for a moment " how about me cooking your lunch for a week?" he said "and its good your mom is so diverse in those type of things around here theyre fine with what ever you are." he said making Yu smile too.

Jack shifted on the bed as he listened to Robert talk about Anise and nodded his head " yeah shes good , Im guessing it will be Angus or myself depending what she wants to lear." he said as Jess looked to him.

"he should rest, I'll take him up to our room , by the way you'll feel it in the morning more than now" she said talking to Jack who just groaned and chuckled looking at Robert who stood close.

"well there goes my dancing days" he joked and Jess chuckled smiling at him as she helpped him slid to sit up at the end of the bed.

"I think Mom knew I was going to leave at the first opportunity I got," Anise said to them. "I don't know if Ginger really would have ever gotten nerve to go if this hadn't happened. She has goals and all, but she really is not a fighter. She has some skills but she hates confrontation. I honestly don't know where she expects to go that she won't run into danger in the wizarding world, but my mom made sure I knew that, as much as I love her, just because she's my sister doesn't mean I need to protect her my whole life."

"Take this new pain med at bedtime and the probably towards lunch, I'm guessing," Robert told Jack. "That should be roughly twelve hours. Let's try it for two or three days. That should cut almost all of the pain because its formulated to be stronger than the normal stuff. However, two things. First, I don't want you on it more than through the first two or three days. Once that's done, the worst of the pain should be over and you should have more than enough relief from the normal stuff. We'll switch to that. And--just because almost all the pain will be gone, that is not at all cause for you to rush back into combat. If James comes, they'll have to take care of him without you for a week or two. It's just the way it goes."

It had taken patience and some firewhiskey for Edward to get Angus to tell him what was on his mind, and as usual, he was already thinking ahead. He wasn't thinking as clearly as Edward would have liked, but he was thinking. He listened to Angus making halfbaked plans about tearing down the wall between the two houses so Edward and Simone could look after Ruby, the boys, the girls, and Caprice, while Angus would be on his way out the door. Angus believed that the only way to protect them all was to offer himself up to Suzanne as bait, but to do it from elsewhere so that he could draw her off of his family. He intended to face her alone, once and for all.

Well, Edward knew that was just Angus. That was the protector in him. He also knew that Ruby would most likely see it as abandonment and not the way Angus would intend it. He tried to reason with him but at that moment, Angus's lingering insecurity about Ruby came forward. He really had been trying to put it away in his head that the enchantment that had caused them issues was gone. He did believe that, but he also could see in her face that on the occasions that David had taken her to safety, she saw herself as rather being left to protect Caprice on her own, and it had seemed to change her attitude. She had seemed to him that she was seeing their situation as it being her and Caprice against the world and that Caprice was the only thing in her life that mattered. Some of that he did understand. He was insulating her from seeing what went on while she was gone. He honestly believed that she wasn't seeing that he had put himself on the battle's frontlines, on the firewall itself, with David backing him up on the rear, and, hopefully, Ruby never having to stand and fight for herself or Caprice. She was as well protected as he knew how to put into place for her so she would never ever have to be alone.

And it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough for Suzanne, and it wasn't enough for James, and it wasn't enough for Ruby. Or that was how Angus felt tonight.

"My dear boy," Edward said, knowing he needed to tread gently at the moment. He passed the firewhiskey back to him, "take another snort of that." Angus didn't even think twice. He took a drink and handed the bottle back. "You're doing what you know better than to do. You actually listened to James, and you let him into your head."

"But he was right. She is coming back, and she's going to keep coming. I can't do this. It not healthy for Ruby or Caprice. This has to stop, and I'm the only one who can make it stop."

"Well, yes, she is coming back, but you knew that. The only difference right now is that you let James get to you. If you want to change strategies, then you and I and Robert need to have a conversation."

"Screw Robert. This is my war."

"Oh, screw him, huh?" Edward laughed. "You haven't had enough whiskey yet, have you? We do have a ways to go, don't we?"

Jessie listened and nodded to Anise " well I for one am glad of how your mom brought you up and Ginger could be a healer rather than a fighter, god we have tons of those around here." he said smiling " but what ever she or you chose to be were good with that." he said clearing away his and Yu's plate.

Jack heard Robert and nodded " I'll make sure he takes it first thing, but will it mix with his wolfsbane potion" Jess asked as Jack stood up and lent against her.

"we'll find out in the morning, its late and I realy need to rest" he said looking at Robert he smiled " thanks for the patch up " he said as Jess and he left the med bay so he could lay down in his own bed.

"It'll be fine," Robert reassured Jess. "Not to worry. Besides, it isn't full moon, so he should be fine either way, with it or without it. Yes, I do keep track. I do it automatically since Remus was turned when we were small. Dad insisted that I learn when that was because we didn't have wolfsbane for him at the time. That didn't happen for Remus until he was an adult, so once a month we lived in fear of the full moon."

Anise was listening to Jessie and she smiled, as Jessie said they were accepting of her and her sister, no matter what. She felt a rise of emotion as they were talking, and she realized it wasn't hers.

"There are other people like me here, right? Like that older woman?" she asked. "I'm picking up on someone's energies. Well, their emotion. They're not a seer, but sometimes if emotion is strong a seer will be deluged with it. I'm wondering if it's just my imagination or if someone really is in a lot of distress. Its...its like they've lost everything they have. It's weird. And I don't know if there's anything I can do about it. You people here are the first people, besides Fenrir, who didn't think I was crazy."

Edward kept talking with Angus and feeding him more whiskey. He was going to get through to Angus whether they did it tonight or after a good and proper binge. Angus would question why Edward wasn't drinking, so Edward pretended to drink and then he would hand the bottle back to Angus. One who was overly indulgent at a time was enough at the moment