A Birth day

Robert went up to the lab and he got a long pair of forceps from one of his surgical kits, and he got a jar that he could magically seal the stone in so that it could not hurt anybody. He would cover it with a dark cloth so that the werewolves couldn't see it. He brought the forceps and the jar and a black cloth outside.

"Jack, you and Jessie and Anise go over to Angus's and get Ginger and take the girls down to their rooms. I don't want any chance any of the four of you will be exposed to anything about this when I remove it."

"Yes, Reginald's still here," Kate said to Ruby. "He's trying to protect Angus. Correction--'Angus and his kids'." She was listening to Reginald. "No disrespect to you intended, Ruby, but he knows you're not a target in this. Angus is because she feels he's responsible for Reginald, for taking the boys and for taking her granddaughter from her. He says he is not going to let Suzanne win, if he can do anything to help. Robert--he says there is a crack in the stone, and that's what caused it to be so dangerous. The stone is leaking. It must be contained. We don't know how to destroy it properly so the best we can do right now is to contain it. You'll have to be very careful."

He looked up at Kate who was wearing a very soft cashmere pullover sweater.

"Give me your sweater. Quickly,' Robert said. Kate frowned at him for a moment, realizing that would leave her in just her jeans and her bra, but she took off the sweater and handed it to him, and as she was taking off her sweater, Angus tossed off the brace and his tee shirt and handed the tee shirt to Kate.

"Thank you," Kate said, grateful, putting on his tee shirt. She noticed that it smelled of his after shave, and she quite liked the scent. In another day and time she would have been thinking about getting something similar for Robert. It fully put all the extensive bruising on Angus's shoulder into full view, though. His shoulder was coal black, and it went down his upper arm. down part of his back, down some of his chest and part way to his neck. His shoulder looked deformed, and it was horrendously swollen. Michael winced just seeing it, but Angus wasn't paying any attention to it."

Angus's brain was running overtime. He looked at Finn, his mind still racing, as Robert pulled the pendant out of the hole and put it in the jar and closed it and sealed the jar.

"The dog," Angus said, realizing.

"What?" Marcus asked, curious.

"The dog. I don't know how he knows, but he's only misbehaving when he finds something. Something critical. Is Reginald alerting him, Kate?"

"No," Kate said. "It's the other way around. The dog is alerting him."

"So here it is," Robert told them, showing them the jar with Kate's now shrunken sweater at the bottom to insulate the stone from sitting just on the bottom of the jar "Im going to seal it so that no one gets into it but me, unless someone has an objection."

"No one is dumb enough to object to that," Michael replied.

"I liked that sweater," Kate sighed, disappointed.

"I'll buy you another," Robert told her. "One in every color if you want."

"I just appreciate the thought, Dear," she smiled.

"I'll take it up to the workshop for you, shall I, and put some additional protections on it up in and cover it?" Michael asked.

"Thanks," Robert said. Michael took the jar and the black cloth and the forceps and took it all inside. "Well, while it's all undone, let me see that mess," Robert told Angus. "Yeah, I did rather hope for less swelling, but clearly that isn't what I got. Have you been using it?"

"No. Not really," Angus said.

"Well, if its still swollen like this tomorrow, I will have to get a good deal more aggressive with it, starting with immobilizing it entirely. No movement at all. So, I really think you should try icing it. I don't want to add any more anti-inflammatory to it because I want to be able to see how it's doing without it more temporary potion masking what's happening. Ice. Lots of ice. Elevate it, which, in this case means sitting up. Ideally, when you elevate something, you want it to be higher than your heart. so entirely horizontal til I say otherwise? Not good. Sitting up at least somewhat is better than lying down. Use your recliner or a stack of pillows or a bed wedge if you're in bed. If you don't have a bed wedge, have Andrew get you one. If you all want meals sent over, you let Nicky or Zoe know. I'm fine with that, if its easier for a few days."

"We can eat rather well," Edward smiled. "Not only can Angus cook but Simone and Ruby are good cooks."

"And Marcus sorta makes eggs," Angus teased. Marcus laughed.

"Well, shall I send over a few more dozen for you all?" Robert teased.

"Yeah, its fine, but I'd like to not yank either girl around too much physically today. I'll come over after supper and check Anise's arm. If she has too much pain, you could give her a dose of the regular pain potion."

"I have that," Edward said. "or I could use a pain relief spell."

"That's just as good," Robert nodded. "The best thing for those two is for them to get a good supper, get a chance to wash up a little, and have an early night. It's been a busy day for both of them. I will send Andrew over after supper too, and he can help the girls and Angus get showered and changed for bed. And, I say you should keep that wonderful dog with you. He's been quite a little detective for us. I'll have Jack and Jessie and the outdoor crew start again tomorrow to look for tracking charms to see if any more have been buried around the grounds. Do you care if I send Supernose over there to go along?"

"By all means," Angus said. "Finn likes going with anybody who's outside. That's fine."

As the cards were dealt and the game began, Ginger smiled when Jack asked about how Ginger liked the room.

"Well, this is the first I've see it, but it's wonderful. I can't imagine having a room without Anise. This room is bigger than our whole tent was. There's so much room here. And I love all the colors," Ginger said.

"It's really good to have you back, though," Anise said quietly. "It was really lonely in here without you."

"Well, I'm back, and you're not getting rid of me ever again," Ginger said brightly.

"Good," Anise smiled.

Marcus brought Angus back, and Angus was tired by then. He sat down in his chair, and he hastily wrote the recipe for the orange Asian sauce for the chicken, and he floated it over to Ruby.

"There's the recipe for the sauce. When your chicken is cooked,' he told her, "pour the sauce into the skillet and stir it so the chicken pieces are coated and let it heat for just a minute or two. When your rice is done, put your rice down on your plates first, then add the chicken with the sauce on top. You could garnish with a little chopped scallion if you want. That's all there is to it. Did we tell them their lockdown is over?"

"I think they're engrossed in a hot game of toothpick poker," Marcus laughed. "When I stand at the top of the basement steps, I can hear them placing their bets."

""Well, Ru, you should add more toothpicks to the order this week."

"I would love that," Ginger said. "Thank you." Anise went upstairs, smelling the chicken with every step. Her stomach was growling loudly too.

"Is that an earthquake I hear, or is that Jack's stomach," Marcus called, teasing.

"It's mine," Anise laughed.

"Well, there's more than enough for Jessie and Jack too if the want Asian Orange chicken--unless Ruby ate half of it before it got to the table. I had quite a lot of chicken to use. There's probably enough for some leftovers for Yulong too, if Jessie wants to either ask him over or take a plate to him," Angus said. "And I think Ruby baked some of my tiny little cinnamon rolls."

He knew the girls had not seen his huge cinnamon rolls, and he knew it would be a surprise when the actually saw one.