A Birth day

Jes looked at the bale string and frowned " cut" she said simply and saw Jack nod his head . She listened as Marcus spoke about how Angus was feeling " explains the feelings Anise had while he was away" she said but let him continue not likeing what she was hearing " hes a fool" she said "thats posible whay Gelding wants take out Angus will have a knock on effect that Edwrad will not be thinking right becuse of greif over Angus, I'm with Ruby trainning her best I can to control her emotions and the axiaty she feels so I could for the moment keep an eye on him too while Im there, discretly too" she added. It was now Jack spoke up " like you I'll watch him while hes at the barn , hes not doing something that stupid of a rokkie move on my watch" he said and slowly stood up, Jess moved to help him stand upright. They both heard him say he would be on him like white on rice and they both nodded " good , we can't let our mate go threw this alone." Jack said.

Ruby looked at Angus once Anise was out of ear shot and sat down " you don't think it was an acident , do you?" she spoke softly so Anise would not hear, knowing how he thinks all to well, " couldn't have been my mother, she was too busy firing off stupid spells and Gelding wasn't even here." she stopped her mind from racing and looked back at Angus " so whats your hypothosis?" she asked.

"Well, maybe she needs to get serious about her work with Jeffrey. Now that he's back home in Switzerland, if she wants to keep up on what she told him she would do, she needs to get with the program. I'm glad you can help her with some things, but you and Jack and Jessie know how much Jeffrey helped them. But I need to also keep my mouth shut about such things, I guess," Marcus sighed.

Angus looked at Ruby. "Well, Anise mentioned something about thinking the string looked funny, but Marcus took the string before I could get a look at it, so I don't know. I mean, its just string, and strings can break. At this point, I have no reason to think it wasn't just a farming accident. Even if it really had been cut, that's just stupid. It certainly wouldn't kill. And I dont' know who would have done it. I'm the one who hired every single person who works here, and I fully vetted every single one of them. So unless someone has changed loyalties after they got here, which is possible....I don't know. I've got nothing."

Jess and Jack both agreed with Marcus " she is and she's going for her second session tomorrow" Jess said holding Jack up sightly.

"Agreed he dosn't need to know the full details, not yet anyway" Jack said and held onto Jess with a smile "at least not until we have difinitive proof who and why it was done." Jack said now moving slightly away from Jess as he felt the pain potion taking the pain away as he stood.

Ruby listened to him and nodded her head in agreement " no point in worrying until we know for sure , right" she said causing his ice tea to become cold again as she ahd seen it now warm again. " there nice and cold again, if you need anything just call " she said " but I need to shower , did a run with Jess today , she says I still need to build my stammina up again but I didn't do too bad, might run with Marcus next time" she said with a smile " oh and Caprice is right over there" she motioned and smiled seeing her try and move to him.

Marcus did not agree with Jess that Angus was a fool, but she hadn't fought in as many skirmishes and Jack and Angus and he had. Jess was more of a healer than a fighter. They thought differently, Marcus believed. Marcus certainly understood Angus's feeling that sometimes one had to be ready to sacrifice to protect the ones they loved. Sooner or later a fighter who faced death on a very regular basis had to deal with the fact that while non-fighters were running away from the dragons, the fighters were running straight into the flame. They had to be ready to die at a moment's notice.

"I'll go talk to Robert before the meeting," Marcus told them, going to find him.

"Thank you," Angus told her. "Go shower. It's fine." Anise was sitting on the floor with the baby, and he knew David wasn't far. He didn't guess Edward or Simone were far either. He still hurt a bit from the new shoulder injury, so he closed his eyes and dozed off. It seemed like it had been only a moment but he saw Suzanne in his dreams.

In his dreams, she was kneeling on the floor somewhere in a darkened room with the drapes drawn. She was moaning and groaning and clawing at her head. And then Angus could hear Benjamin's voice but did not see him.

"My, Grandma, what a big empty brainspace you have," Benjamin was laughing darkly at her. "You're going to stop this."

"But he killed you! Why are you defending him..."

"He did me a favor. The better to kill you with!" Benjamin taunted her.

"You loved me..."

"No, I hated everything about you," he hissed at her.

"I'll get him. I'll get him, I swear!" Suzanne was screaming at the top of her lungs. Angus woke with a jolt.

"You okay?" Anise asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Angus said, taking a breath to calm his racing heart. "Sometimes these brand new potions can do funny things. It's fine. It'll pass. Trust me." So, he'd not told her the truth, but one more little white lie couldn't hurt, could it? So many lies. Lies to keep the truth from Ruby because she wasn't able to deal with the truth. Lies to protect Anise because she was a kid and didn't need to be in adult problems. Lies upon lies upon lies. He got up and found the carton of cigarettes that Edward had bought him when he'd tossed out the "dog kennel cigarettes," and Angus took out a fresh pack.

"I'm just gonna get a breath of fresh air," he told Anise, who just nodded at him, content to stay with the baby. He took his iced tea and the cigarettes and went out and lit one up. These were much better, he had to admit. Fragrant plants and the smell of warm, roasting pecans, and fine brandy. Edward had fine taste, Angus had to admit. He could get to like these. It was like comparing that toilet water swill the muggles sold as wine for a pound a bottle against a fine chardonnay at two hundred pounds a bottle. No comparison needed.

His dream explained a lot Benjamin had found a way to not be unhappy about being dead because it gave him complete freedom to torture Suzanne, and he certainly seemed to have a lot of unbridled hatred for her. So that was Benjamin's plan. And Angus figured it didn't really matter what side of the veil she was on. Benjamin planned on finding her either way.

Jess looked at Marcus and nodded when he said he would talk to Robert at the meeting " good idea" she said then let Jack stand on his own as she went to shwoer and change after her run with Ruby. Jack waited until Jess was gone before he spoke again " hes gonna do it" Jack said now with his arms folded across his chest " hes actualy thinking of doing it." he looked at Marcus and sighed as his mind spun with thoughts of what he could do but came up with nothing " okay so we go with your plan, watch him closly but non evasivly and in the mean time find out why and who cut that bale wire" he said.

Ruby smiled and nodded " all right" she said then headed to the stairs smiling as she saw him sit with Caprice who lay next to himgirggling softly as if in her own way talking to him. Ruby quickly showered and changed into some jeans and a tee shirt with a pair of slippon shoes before heading down to the livingroom she saw Anise and smiled " he, how was your day other than Angus" she asked seing him outside smoking she gave a quick frown knowing he only smoked when stressed as Edward had told her. She wanted to go and talk to him but also knew he needed space to sort out what ever it was going on in his mind and so turned to Anise again.

"The run was great," Anise said. "it was a lot of fun. I think I could like Robert, even though I think he maybe isn't so easy to get to know. He said he'd like to do it again. He's working on a schedule. He said he'd like me to be studying during the hours that school is in session, and he said there would maybe be homework, whatever that is. He just said it was maybe a project or something I would be told to do on my own. I don't know whether it's all school stuff or training or what he's thinking. He didn't say. But he said he would talk to you and Angus before he started it."

She saw her looking at Angus.

"I think he had a bad dream. He dozed off and it wasn't long before he woke up with a start. That's when he got those cigarettes out. Said he was going out for some fresh air. So, yeah. He goes out for fresh air and lights up a cigarette--which is not fresh air. So, he's clearly got stuff on his mind. I'm not stupid. Our males get like that when they're wrestling with a problem they don't know a solution for. I don't know if humans are the same way or not, but that's sure what our guys look like.

"Robert said something to me that I have to figure out what to do with in my own thoughts. I was talking to him about the differences between our pack and your pack here. And he said, that it really isn't two different species. He said that my pack are honestly just humans too with a magical illness of sorts. A curse. He thinks someday we're not going to need to live separately. Fenrir has always said we're animals--just animals. So I'm not sure who's right. Am I a human or am I an animal? Robert says I'm human. Fenrir says I'm an animal and I should stop pretending I'm anything else except an animal. Its so confusing."

Ruby smiled as Anise spoke to her about her day "it's work you do at home and yes it could be any of those things" she said then heard her talk about Angus " I was told he does get like this when he is stressed and the best thing is to let him work it out in his mind." she said glancing back to where he stood.

She turned back to Anise as she continued talking about what Robert had told her . She listened quietly and smiled " you are human, as human as I am, Roberts right , look at Jessie and Jack they are both like you and are in control, fenrir is wrong, you are not an animal not one bit, you are Anise and lovley human who has a loving family and can think for herself about things, and can by what I was told kick butt too" she said trying to lighten the mood some what "what ever you do don't lose that spark inside and don't let any one tell you your an animal becuse your not, to me your my daughter, for the moment" she said an chuckled as she put her arm around her and gave her a gentel hug.

Looking back at Angus she smiled " he'll work out what ever is bothering him soon, I hope" she said "ether that or Robert will talk him out of it" she looked over at Caprice and chuckled " okay little one we'll come and play with you" she said moving to the mat and making some of the toys dance in front of Caprice. Looking up at Anise she smiled " you want to help? " she asked

"Okay, so I guess I'll have to wait and see about this homework thing," she said. Then she listened to Ruby's explanation, and it agreed with Robert. Ruby a point. Jack and Jessie were like the men in Fenrir's pack but they lived like humans. They thought like Robert. They believed they were humans who had gotten this illness when they were bit. That was the same that had happened to her and to Ginger. They weren't born animals, then. Maybe Fenrir was wrong after all. Maybe they really were as human as they had started out. Truth be told, being a werewolf only had a few advantages but she felt that there were lots more advantages to being human.

"I guess I have a few things to think about too," she said. "Jack and Jessie said they started out human. They think they're human, and they live like they're human. And Ginger and I started out the same way. We were deliberately turned, just like they were. We weren't born werewolves. Someone else made us that way. What if Ginger and I have lived Fenrir's lie our whole lives. Mom didn't sway us one way or another, but she said we learned a lot about living and survival with the pack, and that much is probably true. Maybe some of it with the pack was alright. If I want to be human, though I have a whole life to catch up on, I guess."

She was glad for Ruby's affection. She had a good life here, and she believed Ginger would like it too when she got here. She saw Ruby with the baby who was on the mat on the floor, and she sat down with Ruby. She looked up and saw Edward joining Angus on the deck, and he saw Edward motioning to the brace and the sling.

"Edward's with him. Is that a good thing? It looks like Edward is asking him what he did to his shoulder," Anise said.

Ruby smiled "Well Jessie didn't start as a werewolf, he was turned by our mother, I think Jack was the same he was in his teens when he was bit by his brother, so they were human at first, so yeah it would be like a disease, but one thats given not caught and one that can't be cured but only controled if the patiants willing." she said making a bunny dance that made Caprice giggle, "I guess it's like everything in life you have to adapt and learn ways around what you can't and can do, if you want to look at it another way, its a severe form of anger issue, I guess."

When Anise joined her then she looked to the window and saw Edward and nodded to her " yeah, Edwards the best one for getting Angus out of what ever is bothering him." she said "someday he'll let me into that brain of his" she said then looked at Anise "one day" she chuckled as Caprice reached for the bunny then sucked on its long floppy ear. It was now she saw food appear and she stood up " mind her for me one second" she said moving to the kitchen " oh its from Nicky, I'll dish up if you could tell Angus and Edward dinners here." she said with a warm smile.

"Well, that makes sense. That's pretty much how Robert explained it too."

She listened to Ruby talk about Angus being closed at times.

"Yeah, Robert asked me about how things were going here, and I asked about Angus and how he sometimes seems to just really not talk about what's really going on. Robert said he thinks it comes from when Angus was little. He says Angus has this ginormous family but nobody wanted him but Edward. That's awful. I told him if we ever get to go see his family, I'm just gonna leave my wolfsbane at home so I can just eat 'em. I thought he'd be all pissy about it, but he just laughed and told me the indigestion they'd give me wouldn't be worth it."

When supper arrived, Anise got up and went to the deck door and opened it. Edward looked back at her as Angus snuffed out his little stub of a cigarette.

"Supper's here," Anise told them quietly.

"Thank you," Edward said. "We'll be straight in." They came in, and Angus put the cigarettes on the end table by his chair and went to wash his hands. Edward put Angus' iced tea glass on the kitchen counter and went to call Simone and David, who were playing gin at Simone's kitchen table. They washed up and came to the table.

Just as Angus was washing his hands the baby started to cry.

"I'll get her bottle when I'm done washing my hands," Angus said. Anise stepped up, got a clean bottle and then, remembering exactly how she had seen Angus measure the powder and add water and mix, she repeated the steps precisely, but she didn't know how to magically warm the bottle. She sighed frustrated.

"Good job," Angus said quietly, watching every step. He flicked his fingers at the bottle to heat it. She tested it and handed it to him. "Do you think its right?" he asked her, testing it himself.

"I think?" she said, uncertain.

"It's perfect. Well done," he said. "You'll learn that little warming spell in time. You did all the hard parts, though. Good job." She took the bottle and sat down with the baby and started to feed her. Angus didn't interfere. He just let her feed her and burp her. He was going to tell her to simply hand the baby to him, but Anise motioned to his shoulder. He couldn't eat and hold the baby like he usually did. She came to the table with the baby and looked at him.

"Is it like this?" She put the baby on her shoulder with one arm holding her, leaving her other arm free to eat with--exactly as she had seen him do it.

"Well, now you're just showing off," Angus smiled at her, proud of her.

"That's it exactly," Edward said. "Very good. You did it right the first time. Let us know if you need help."