A Birth day

Jessie laughed and got back to his feet " I might have been down but Im not out" he called and took off after them he knew he couldn't get close to them so just ran to catch up behind them. Ruby sat and listend and gasped at points as Edwrad spoke but was relived that he ws with him " oh that ..he orgot the first rule didn't he, never let your oponant get in your head " she said and shook her head she could not help but laugh at what Edward had said Angus had said he should to to Robert " oh my" she simply said " all right were safe here , I'll get Caprice ready for bed , Edward look after him won't you, I know you will but I love him so much I hate seeing him like this." she said softly hoping to convay she realy did love him to bits and would not want any harm pysical or pyscological to come to him she looked at Simone as she sighed " well sleep well and , I hope you get threw to him but take as mush time as you need were all fine for the time being." she said

"That is precisely the rule he forgot," Edward said. "One doesn't dare to listen to the enemy's trash talk. He knows far better than that. He's taught a lot of the organization's trainings, and you know that will be the first thing that Robert would nail him on. Let me tell you how this will go. He'll wake up with one of the worst hangovers of his young life, and I'll have to dose him up on hangover potion. Then, if he still isn't in a listening mood, I will bring Robert over. Rare as it is for him to try, Angus can try to blow me off because I'm his grandpa. If I call Robert over, Angus won't have nearly as easy a time blowing Robert off because Robert doesn't take being blown off from one of his fighters. It'll be alright once we can get his head properly screwed back on. Don't you worry about him. He's been through worse. This is just a little speed bump.

"Now, you do me a favor, won't you?" Edward asked Ruby. "Take Simone with you tonight and let her sleep in the boy's room so she's not over there by herself with Suzanne running amuck. You can let David look after all of you, and I'm sure we'll probably see you sometime tomorrow. If you think there is even the very slightest security risk, then, you either go over to the main house, even if you have to sleep in the living room or downstairs in the theater. Or--you call Jessie over. He can back David up."

"We'll be just fine, Edward," Simone said. "I do not need..."

"Don't make me worry about you, Pet," Edward said. "I'd rather you were together just for tonight. You can look after each other. If I know anything more, I'll let you know, but he's probably going to sleep now for quite awhile."

Marcus crossed the finish line first, and Anise was not far behind him. She was only a few paces off.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, completely out of breath.

"Training," Marcus said. "Well done. I am very impressed. With no training, you kept up with us stride for stride. if Robert sees you run like that, he's liable to start your training early..." As he was speaking, Robert walked out on the deck.

"Anise!" Robert called. Anise looked at him, and he motioned to her. Marcus went with her up to the deck. She looked at him, hoping she hadn't done anything wrong. "You just impressed me, and I don't impress easily or often. Can you be up and ready to run before daylight?"

"You just name it, and I'll be there," she said.

"Good. Five am. Meet me back at the track. Tomorrow morning, you run with me," he said. She nodded, and he turned and went back in the house. Her spirits were soaring, but she was trying not to get overly excited.

"That's a good thing, right?"

"That, my dear, is an outstanding thing," Marcus said. "You should eat a decent supper and then get up and do your stretches and be a couple minutes early. That's the time a lot of us run, so you might not be alone. Don't be nervous. Just be yourself."

"Should I slow down to run alongside him?" she asked. Marcus laughed.

"Oh, trust me," Marcus laughed. "As good as you are, he'll be slowing up for you. Ask Jessie. There's a reason he still trains us at his age. Well done. I'm proud of you, and I'm sure the rest of the gang here will be too. Good job."

Ruby sat and listened to Edward as he spoke about Angus she shook her head at the fact he'd forgot the first rule " all right , and we'll be okay just as Simone said but I agree I would feel happier if we were all in the same place. " she said and looked back to Simone " it would be like a girls sleep over" she said chukaling" well with the exception of david." she added as she heard Edwrad finish what he was saying " all right I'll leave him to you and Robert , thanks for telling me" she said smiling as she looked to Simone " well sleep over?" she asked

Jessie ran fast but saw Anise and Marcus stop at the end way before he did but he hadn't seen David ether as he slowled to a stop " well done" he praised Anise then watched her go to Robert. When she came back he smiled " oh you have no idea spitfire" he said and chuckled looking at Marcus " why do all new comers think they can out run Robert?" he asked " appearance are deceptive in Roberts case." he said leaning on his knees taking deep breaths " I am so not fit , I need to start running again." her said as Yu walked over to them.

"you are not unfit it was becuse your body is still recovering from that hex the idiot put on you" he said " but yes you could use some excersise." he chuckled " well done for impressing Robert as Marcus said its not easy." he told Anise

"That would be lovely. Thank you," Simone said. "What if we just have Lizzie send us over some pizzas for supper tonight? My treat. She can put it on our account."

"Because he's old?" Anise answered Jessie. "Even older than you."

"Oh, nice burn," Marcus laughed. Yulong complimented her, and she smiled.

"Thanks. It was a lot of fun," she said to Yulong. Then she looked at Jessie. "You didn't say you were recovering from anything, Dummy. You should have said something. I'd have gone easy on you."

"And wound his masculine ego? Perish the thought," Marcus laughed. "You'd better go get cleaned up..."

"Wait. Is that seer here? The older woman?"

"Kate? Should be. You wanna talk to her?"

"Can I? Is it okay?"

"Of course its okay," Marcus said. "You want to come in?"

"I'm all sweaty and stinky and stuff," she said.

"That's the least of her concerns," Marcus laughed. "I'll go get her while you catch your breath." He went inside.

Jessie smiled at Anise and shook is head " I'm fine, and it was my mother, she tried to control me again but Robert broke it." he said but Yu scowled at him "all right Im coming" he said and chuckled.

"he was in a coma for about a week" Yu clarified " so hes still trying to get his body back in shape." and no becuse hes wise and has trained with the best" Yu told her. Ruby smiled and noded when Simone offered to get pizza for supper.

"That sounds perfect" she said and moved threw to their side to quickly tidy up she caught a glance out of the window and smiled " seems Anice caught Roberts eye." she said then saw Anice grin " must have ben good news."

"That barmy lady? Gads. She's not wrapped really tightly, is she?" Anise frowned. "So the old bat is your mom, and the ghost is your dad. You've got a weird family, Dude." Marcus went inside, laughing, hearing Anise's remarks.

Kate came outside and gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head as if she'd known Anise all her life. That seemed to break a lot of the ice between them right from the start.

"You showed those boys good and proper. Well done," Kate said. "Now, you can start by calling me Kate. Everyone does. What's on your mind?"

"You said I was a seer."

"And you are."

"I saw something I don't quite get. Well, I felt it. Someone was in all sorts of deep, intense pain, not a physical pain. Just pain. And then it just stopped. Did I make it all up?"

"You know you didn't make it up," Kate said. "Trust your senses. You see things, you hear things, and, yes, sometimes you can feel things. So you know, I felt it too. I'm sure it was Angus..."

"Angus! Where is he..."

"Calm," Kate steadied her. "I don't know where he is, but one thing I do know is that Edward is with him. And I can also tell you that for the moment, he must be alright. If he weren't we'd know. Those of us who can see are emotionally connected to who we love, and sometimes we just know things. I believe that if he weren't alright, we'd know. Edward is a seer too so if Angus weren't alright, Edward would be drawn to him because he's blood family to him. So, now, listen. You're smart and you're brave. I think you should go and stay with Ruby and Simone and David. Without Angus, they'll need a couple more eyes and ears tonight, and you can certainly do that til bedtime. Then, at bedtime, I really do want you to hit the sack early and be ready to take on Robert in the morning. Do not underestimate him. Prepare yourself for a good, hard run, and meet him on time. Understand?"

"Are you related to him?" Anise asked.

"Yes. He's my husband," she smiled. "Don't let his gray hair fool you because if you do, he'll leave you in the dust. And you leave Angus to Edward for tonight." Anise nodded.

"That's my good girl. And I'll see you after your run in the morning, yes?" Kate asked. Anise nodded. Then, she waved to Jessie and Yu and Kate and sprinted back home. Kate looked at Jessie and Yulong. "She's a good girl with a huge heart. Phoebe did a good job with her."

Anise came in, excited.

"I beat David and Jessie. Marcus beat me, but I got those other guys," she said.

"We saw. You were terrific," Simone said, beaming.

"And Robert wants me to run with him in the morning."

"Already? You must surely have impressed him."

"He said I did. Jessie and Kate said I shouldn't think I should slow down for him."

"Well, you shouldn't. That would be extraordinarily bad. He will definitely outrun you if you do that. I'm ordering pizza for supper. What do you like?"

"None of those little briny fish, please?" she asked.

"Fine by me. i don't like them either," Simone laughed. "Anything else?"

"Oh, none of those ridiculously hot peppers, please. I like pretty much anything else."

"That's good. Go clean up, and we'll get them ordered. Ruby, what do you like?"

Jessie watched Anise go to Kate and smiled as he lent on Yu for a moment. He looked at Marcus and chuckled " yep, not by choice I tell you" he chuckled and Yu walked back to the cabin. Ruby heard Anise as she came back in and chuckled " good for you Anise" she said then shook her head " nope you shouldn't slow down for him" she said and checked Caprice finding her still sleeping " I really shouldn't hover around her, and just cheese for me " she said smiling as she stood with Anise " um little briny fish? " she asked not sure if she meant sardines or sprats that go on pizza.

"Anchovies," Simone clarified. "I don't think I know anyone who lists an anchovy as their favorite topping. Alright. I'll order the pizzas."

"Could I have a soda with it?" Anise asked, starting towards the bathroom and then stopping.

"I don't know. Are you over age eight?" Simone teased. Anise gave her a smile and then went upstairs. Simone looked at Ruby. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that girl was walking on air. She is so happy. It takes so little to make her happy. She just wants to belong with humans." Simone wrote the order for the pizza down and then sent it through the floo. "And she wants to learn absolutely everything. She watches every single little thing everyone does so she can learn. I saw her watch how Angus made a bottle for the baby. She watched little thing. I bet if you asked her, she'd show you she could make a bottle absolutely correctly just by watching him once. Oh, and I saw she has one of Angus's daggers. She told me Angus gave it to her when James showed up. Just so you know. Angus gave it to her himself."

Ruby chuckled then pulled a face as Simone said anchovies " yuck, can't stand those things myself and yes, I think she is" she said smiling then she chuckled " good to know she can do that, might show her more things she can do" she said then heard Simone mention about the dagger " again good to know one of us is armed other than a wand" she said she raised her eye brow when Simone said Angus had given it to her himself " she must be good if he did that" she said and smiled.

Taking Caprice she took her upstairs to bathe her ready for bed, once done and dressed in her little onsie she headed down to make her a botle so she would settle for the night. Now with Caprice sukling on the bottle she sat back and hummed a lullaby to her hoping she'd be asleep before their food came.

"Well, I don't know, but his judgments are usually good with how far to trust people," Simone said. "He must have seen something that made him decide to give her a blade. I honestly don't know what his reasoning was for choosing a knife, but there had to be a specific reason."

"There is," Anise said, coming downstairs. "I've fired a few spells but I've never had a wand of my own. I've used my mom's a few times. Fenrir wanted us to not rely a lot on magic, but he did show all the women how to use a blade. And in the woods, a knife is really useful for gathering herbs and roots and all sorts of things. So we all knew how to use one. I asked Angus for a weapon when James came, and he loaned me that one. I'll be happy to give it back if you like."

"No," Simone said. "We trust you. I think its a fine choice. I heard you handled yourself and the knife well. You've earned it."

"Thanks," she said.

"Now, I'll get some sodas. Ice or no ice?"

"We can have ice too?" Anise asked.

"Absolutely," Simone smiled.

"Yes please!" she said. Simone got glasses, ice and bottles of soda for everyone and it wasn't long before the pizzas arrived.

"Oh gosh, and they're hot!" Anise said. "We had pizzas on special occasions, but by the time they got back to our camp they were always cold. These are hot."

"They are so much better when they're hot. Watch out, though. The cheese gets stringy when its hot," Simone said. Anise picked up a piece of pizza and watched the cheese string.

"Look! Look, it does make strings!" Anise was as excited as a kid with Christmas present. She took the cheese string and ate it. "Okay, cheese strings are the best part." Simone laughed.

"What did I tell you? It takes so little," Simone said to Ruby as Anise bit into her pizza.

"Oh, this is just the best." Simone had noticed that everything to Anise was fresh and new, and she thought every new experience was the best. Simone saw it was going to be very easy to get really attached to this girl.