A Birth day

Ruby watched as he placed several logs on the fire and smiled . She noded as she took the bottle from Angus. " I.ll have Yu or Jessie bring some in." she said pating the seat next to her " take a brather" she said softly to him.

Hearing him talk of helping at sparks she nodded as she listened to him talk " oh what about a loquat cheese cake or even a gelato?" she sugested then chuckled " they sund perfectly delishious." she said as she lent her head against his chest leaving room for him to place his arm over her shoulders " one day we'll take Caprice to pick some in Tuscany, fresh from the tree" she spoke as she looked up at him.

He sat beside her, glad to take a bit of a break actually. He listened to her suggestions about cheesecake and gelato.

"Those would be fantastic," he grinned. "I like that a lot. Tuscany has some different things. They have these gigantic lemons that are actually called citrons, and they're quite a bit sweeter than the normal lemons. They're not in season til a bit later in the year, but you'd like those too. Edward has all kinds of fruits and vegetables and nuts on his property, and we can help ourselves to any of that whenever we like. Nothing would make Edward happier than for us to spend some time there. He would gladly update one of the bedrooms in the main house for Caprice, and I'm sure the couple that lives in the house to take care of it will spoil Caprice completely rotten. Maybe we can go for a few days this summer. What do you think? There is a lot to like in Italy in summer, even if some of my relatives aren't so completely loveable. We can avoid them."

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled as he liked her sugestion then mentioned sweet lemons " oh, those sound perfect for a home made lemonade" she said then chuckled as he spoke of tuscany. " I would love to see it, but I agree, lets not get Caprice involved with the disagreeable side of the family just yet" she chuckled as she finished " she'll meet them and find out about them soon enough"

Snuggling closer she sighed as she watched trhe flames dance in the fire place " I think I saw some exotic fruits and veg in his garfden when we were planting them in the spring, some I recognised others not so much." She paused as she heard the first tapping of the rain on the window panes. " I think there was chomping cabages and dittiny in thre some place" she chuckled " I pitty any theif who wants his potion ingridiants." she laughed " going into that garden will result in a heavy lose and not for Edward ether." it was now Caprice woke and stared fussing.

"seems our daughter as if on cue wants food." she lifted Caprice into her arms and held her there before leaning back and resting against Angus as she placed the bottle against her tiny mouth to drink. " I think the bottle is fine, seing how we can both feed her, giving you some daddy daughter time" she said smiling at him.

"Lemonade from the citrons is fantastic, and actually, the Italians take some of the citrons and they made a wonderful lemon liqueur from them called Limoncello. And limoncello can be used in darned near everything there." He laughed when she spoke of Edward's garden. "Yeah, it isn't a place for anyone to hang out if they didn't do well in Herbology, that's for sure. You want to see some really weirdy plants, you should see his garden and the greenhouse in Tuscany. Now that's got some truly oddball things. Robert has wanted to go see Edward's more valuable plants for a long time, and he just can't seem to free himself up to go.

"You'll enjoy this story. When i was a kid, someone kept pilfering Edward's Angels' Trumpet plant, and Edward got really fed up with it. So, he bought an old Monster Book of Monsters in a secondhand store, and he took the cover off that book and put the pages from his copy of The Herbology of Rare Potions in it, and he left that book in the garden. That cranky old book chased everyone but Edward and me out of the garden for weeks. It seems Edward hexed the book into like absolutely no one but him and me. I really thought it was hysterical to watch people running through the garden, screaming and being chased by that book."

He was glad to see Caprice not giving Ruby any static about eating. Abbey could be a little testy about bottles at first, but Angus had learned how to be persistent.

"We might as well enjoy her wanting to be with us while it lasts because soon enough, she'll be 'too cool' to want to hang out with her 'old parents,'" he teased. "The boys should actually be 'too cool' to hang with us now, but they seem to savor every single moment they get. I want to see how well they deal with her this weekend when one of them finds her with a full-on diaper blowout. I want to see how brave they are then when she's covered in poo down her legs and up her back. I expect that they'll hand her off in a hurry to either you or me to take care of that one. I only chose the bottle this morning because I knew you were tired, and I wanted to let you sleep. You do what you think is best for her and for you. Simone mentioned to me that there are some moms that choose to do combination feeding and to give both breastmilk and formula, so you do what you think is best. I'll just follow along with whatever you choose. The advantage of the bottle is that she's come into a massive family that will be always at the ready to step in and look after her for a bit if we want some adult time. And the bottle would make it easy for any of her one million babysitters that are here on the estate. And, believe me, they're all going to want a turn at it."

Ruby laughed at the story about Edward chasing everyone out of the garden in Tuscany with an enchanted book " oh we should do that for this one boy friends" she said then listened as he spoke of her brothers " oh they will" she said tipping the bottle up more for Caprice as Angus spoke again about bottle feeding " I think expressing and feeding her it that way will be best of both worlds" she admitted to him " plus as you rightly said the family can be involved too."

Seeing Caprice finish her bottle Ruby moved to hand her to Angus " dads are always good at bringing up the wind" she said smiling as she then lay a cloth over his shoulder " for the spit up" she added placing her in his capable arms.

"Well, wait til that day comes," Angus laughed. "Edward will come to the door, polishing his slayer's axe for a little subtle intimidation. Any kid in his right mind will run away screaming. I figure I'll wear all my black leather mission clothes. Between the two of us, she won't have a date til she's about 65." He took Caprice and looked at her.

"Gas, Ralph. That's what I'm good for. Gas," he told her. She just looked at him blankly and blinked. He laid her on his shoulder, and it didn't take long for him to burp her. Then he changed her diaper and swaddled her and then passed her back to Ruby. "Here. Do the honors of cuddling with her and rocking her to sleep for the night. If you put her in the basket, I won't have any trouble moving her to the bassinet when we get upstairs."

Ruby chuckled when Angus spoke to Capric using the nick name they had used before she was born " well some one has to be good at it" she said smiling " since shes probably going to be a daddys girl." she said smiling seeing the pair of them together. Accioing her camera she snapped a photo of the two of them together and smiled " one fore the album" she said softly placing the camera back down on the side table before taking Caprice back from Angus.

As she held her she softly hummed a lullaby to her as she rocked her gently back and forth. " one of the good things my mother did was teach me some lullabys." she said and gave a contented sigh, just as the outside lit up with a flash of lightling making Caprice jolt but not fully awake , Ruby continued humming untill she felt Caprice was sound asleep then placed her back in the bassinett and sat next to Angus.

"I just want her to be healthy and happy, honestly, and to feel free to be whoever she is. If I had to make a wager on it, I think she's going to be probably pretty well rounded. Think about it. She's going to be surrounded by a really diverse group of people. Cooks, artists, fighters, werewolves, and all the rest. Abbey has constantly been around people that have always been willing to teach and to include her, so in a lot of days, she's developmentally ahead of a lot of kids her age, and Caprice will have every opportunity to grow in the same way, if we want to let her have those sorts of opportunities. I think Abbey and Caprice will be pretty darned fearless when they get to Hogwarts, and they probably will have a jump on all their classes because of their experiences. I mean, how many other kids can honestly say they have a pegasus and a pair of unicorns at their houses?..."

As he spoke, a sudden loud clap of thunder sounded, and it was so close that it was deafening. It woke Caprice who started to shriek in alarm, and before Angus even gave it any conscious thought, he jumped up and picked her up and laid her on his shoulder. Then he stopped and looked at Ruby.

"Sorry. It was automatic. I wasn't thinking that maybe you'd like to do this. Would you like to hold her and calm her? It would be good bonding time," he said, offering to hand Caprice to her.

Ruby smiled and nodded as Angus spoke about Abby and Caprice and how they would do great at Hogwarts because of all the diverse things and people around them. When thunderstruck Ruby even jumped, quickly looked at the bassinet where Caprice was laid and then glanced at Angus glad he had her " nope you're good, I need to stop shaking first, that was a loud one, did the earth move or was that just me?" she asked smirking watching him with her.

"Angus you do know I have no problem with you holding her as much as you want sh is after all half yours too," she said with a smirk. " I'll get mine in later, don't you worry, I'm sure she has plenty of hugs and love for both of us." she chuckled " especialy when daddys being mean" she chuckled sitting back down again " and looks like you could be right about this being a bad one." she glanced out the window to see Yu and Jessie closing the big barn doors behind them as they got soaked by the rain.

"It really was a loud one, wasn't it?" he said. "These are the sorts of storms that I am glad to be on dry land for and not out at sea. These sorts of storms can put a ship in a lot of danger, not at all the sort of situation that you want a novice to be at the helm for."

Edward's knock came on the dividing door, and then Edward just went ahead and opened the door, not something he usually did.

"You guys okay?" he asked. "We just had one of our big windows upstairs blow out. Are you all intact over here?"

"I didn't even think about checking," Angus said. "It shook up the baby, so I haven't even thought about going up and looking."

"I'll go," Edward said. "You just take care of her." Edward made a dash upstairs, skipping some steps on the way. Angus looked at Ruby.

"I know you don't mind me holding her," he said to Ruby. "I'm just sort of feeling my way, I guess. And you're right. You're going to get all kinds of time with her because I'll go back to work a lot sooner than you do." He listened to the rain now starting to fall in blinding sheets that were being blown by fierce winds that were kicking up. "I hope all the crew is inside. I really don't want anyone out in this, and I know Brian would absolutely forbid it if he were here, but I remember he was supposed to be pulling some sort of night shift in Paris tonight."

Edward came downstairs, hearing Caprice still upset and frightened and angry by the storm noises. He reached over and touched the baby's forehead with one finger and cast the smallest of calming spells to soothe her. Her crying slowed and stopped quickly.

"Thanks," Angus said.

"No point in letting her continue to be so rattled if we can stop it for her and make her feel better," Edward said. "Your windows are all intact for now. If it gets any worse and we can be of any help, just let us know. It's why we're here."

"I know. Thanks," Angus smiled.

"How's she doing?"

"Eating well, gave us her first messy diaper, and ate again," Angus smiled.

"She's doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing, then," Edward said. "Good job, Mom and Dad. Make sure you both get some sleep tonight. Don't hover. She's not going anywhere."