A Birth day

"Thank you," he said to Ruby, glad to be rid of the suit. He looked at Marcus. "Don't you let him think this is an ordinary short and jeans, now, will you. He has a habit of cutting off any garment that gets in his way. Don't you let him get scissor happy with my good suit, will you?"

"If he does, I'll repair it," Marcus said, laughing.

"I was going to take our skateboards but they were too big to pack so I guess I'll just leave them," Ginger said.

"That's not a problem," Marcus said. "Run up and fetch them, and we'll shrink them and pack them. If you want them, we'll take them." She went back upstairs and brought down the skateboards, and Marcus shrank them and tucked them in her bag.

"That's so cool," she said. "Is that hard to learn?"

"Not really," Angus told her. "You'll learn. You're both smart, so it isn't going to take you long to catch up. I think we've got all we need to take back. If we missed something, we can send a note to Rosaria and she'll forward whatever we're missing.

"I can think of one thing we ought to take with us," Marcus laughed.

"What's that?" Angus frowned.

"The baby," Marcus said, still laughing.

"Oh. That," Angus said. "I presume one of you will go get her?"

Ruby chuckle and nodded " oh, we can't forget her" she said and headed to fetch Caprice. Now washed, changed and dressed in a romper suit ready for the cold weather of england she ehaded down to the living room." she was taking a nap, now we have everything." she said and smiled at Caprice who giggled and reatched for Marcus with her small hands.

Hearing Ginger mention the skate boards she was about to sugest shrinking them but Marcu said it fist and she smiled " it is handy how do you think I got all our things in one bag" she chuckled as she sat next to Angus with Caprice.

"I think we should go," Angus said. "I'm ready to be back at home." He got up and, Ginger took hold of Marcus on one side, and Angus took hold of Ginger's other hand to let Ruby to get a good grip on Marcus's other hand. He wanted to be sure that Ruby and Caprice were latched tightly to Marcus.

Marcus ported them home, and in a moment, they were standing on the front porch of the duplex. Angus couldn't remember being more glad to be home. Marcus went to open the door and saw it was ajar.

"Looks like Robert beat us here," Marcus said. He opened the door and saw Robert was there. The hospital bed was gone, and Angus's faithful recliner was back where it belonged.

"Someone brought my chair back," Angus said.

"Yes, we did that a couple days ago, but now I'm wondering if that wasn't perhaps a bit premature. Oh, and Zoe and Nicky refreshed the refrigerators on both sides, so you should be abundantly supplied. The last I heard, they were discussing ways to repack your fridge to get it all in there,' Robert laughed.

"Oh, lord. If we open it, and it all rolls out at us..." Angus went over to the fridge and opened it. It was jam packed with groceries, and most of them were already shrunken to half size. "We've got enough to feed an army now." He closed the fridge, knowing that surely the pantry was the same way.

"Come sit so I can see the damage," Robert told him. "So how was the rest of your trip?"

"Largely uneventful, except that after I killed Basil," Angus said, sitting down. "I ended up killing his wife the next night. And then my uncle Jonathan told me some codswallop about being cursed by a dark arts woman before I was even born, and he said that's why nobody likes me. Said I am supposed to bring doom, despair, ruin and death or some such equivalent, on the entire Donohue family."

"Oh for the love of...," Robert frowned. "What's Edward say?" He helped Angus remove his shirt and then he gently removed the brace from Angus's shoulder.

"He doesn't remember any such thing, but he's going to look into it," Angus replied.

"Well, she definitely hit you with a blast. You've got the burn mark right over where the incision was. She is either a good shot and was aiming for your wound deliberately, or she's a terrible shot and she meant to kill you. One or the other." He checked the area carefully. "Well, Edward's right. The fractures aren't aligned anymore. Let's go next door, and I'll reset them properly." He looked at Ruby. "We'll be gone perhaps a couple hours, and then I'll either bring him back myself or I'll have Andrew bring him back...."

"I'd like to stay with him, if that's alright," Marcus said.

"If you'd like," Robert said. "Certainly. So, you and Ginger and Caprice can handle things here for a couple hours til we get back, then, yes? Or you're welcome, of course to come over to the main building if you like. When I left, Nicky was baking cookies, and Abbey was all labrador having a playdate of sorts with Finn. Other than that, it's a typical lazy Saturday afternoon."

Ruby smiled at Angus and took hold of Marcus glad when they reapeare back at the Duplex . With Marcus going ahesd she entered the house and was gladd to se Robert already there " I'll change Caprice out of the snowsuit and into something comfortable" she said taking the bags up to their room . returning she heard Robert and Angus talking. " his relatives gave us a glacial welcome" she added then nodded when he mentioned being about an hour while he reset Angus's shoulder.

"I'll stay here with the girls, you have the best body guard already going with you." she said smiling at Marcus as she placed Caprice down on her play mat with some soft toys to play with. Moving to the kitchen she flicked on the coffee and tea pot to make some home made coffee. Ruby was glad to be home.

Robert and Marcus took Angus over next door and down to the sickbay. Robert didn't want to have to open his shoulder again, but he was detecting small pieces again caused surely by the blasting spell. The last thing Angus knew was Robert casting a spell to render him unconscious so he could repair the damage.

When Angus woke, he wasn't surprised that Marcus was with him. He wasn't expecting to see Nigel there because Nigel hadn't been there when he'd gone to sleep.

"Welcome back," Nigel said, checking the incision and the dressing.

"I didn't know you were still here," Angus said sleepily.

"I wasn't still here. I'm here again," Nigel said.

"Why?"

"Because it was messier than Robert anticipated. Your Aunt Cora is a bitch, flat out," he replied.

"Yes, I know that, but what happened?"

"Robert presumed the tissue damage he felt was from before, but that's not the case. When he opened your incision, you had a fierce amount of bleeding because of how badly she damaged all that soft tissue. He needed an extra hand to get the bleeding under control. I'm sure that was part of the pain you felt. You were a mess in there. I think we have it as repaired as we can get it for now. You may well need some additional repairs on it to regain full function, but we need to see how well this much heals."

"Are you telling me I'm going to have permanent damage because of her?"

"I'm telling you that you may need some additional surgeries if you don't want it to be permanent, but for now, let's keep a brace on it and let it heal and, when you're ready, we'll see how much physical therapy you can do with Andrew. Then we'll know more. I suggest you not let someone blast it again."

"I didn't let her blast it this time," Angus frowned.

"Well, yes, I know, but if you intend to keep fighting or cooking, either one, you're going to have to work at it," Nigel said.

"That doesn't bother me," Angus said.

"Alright, well, I'll get Marcus and we'll get you home. Robert will be over later. He's cleaning up the equipment and cleaning himself up. You'll catch up with him later." Angus looked at the clock. It had been just under three hours since he had left the duplex to come over here. It was about an hour longer than Robert had anticipated, and Angus hoped that Ruby wasn't overly anxious about it.

Marcus and Nigel came in, helped him carefully to his feet, and Marcus apparated them back to the duplex, where they helped him to his recliner. Marcus transfigured Angus's trousers to pajama trousers so he would be comfortable.

"You need to give yourself a couple hours at least before you try to be on your feet," Nigel told him.

"I'll go put the kettle on for some tea," Marcus said, heading to the kitchen.

Ruby had seen after an hour they had not returned and persumbed that it was worse than they expected and she wished she could show that auntie just how it felt to be blasted. Seeing Caprice rubbing her eyes she picked her up and took her for a warm bath and settle her down for her second nap. returning she found Marcus in the kitchen " pots ar fresh if thats what your looking for" she told him and took down three cups . Poring two he handed them to Marcus " how'd it go?" she asked looking at him. " and I want the truth , how much longer thanks to that woman?"

Returning to the living room she smiled seeing Angus in his recliner she took a blanket from the back of the sofa and lay it across his legs to keep him warm. " Im glad your back, I get the feeling it was worse than you thoughtthanks to that woman" she said sitting next to him on the arm of the sofa.

"I told him his Aunt Cora is a bitch," Nigel said. "She did a number on him. No wonder he hurt, and if Edward lets Aunt Cora off the hook, then I will seriously lose respect for him. There was more bleeding than we expected because not only did she cause more bone damage, but she did more soft tissue damage. We're going to let it heal and then let him try some physical therapy with Andrew, but he may very well need additional surgeries if he's going to get full functioning back. Especially if he thinks he wants to fight again or cook again."

"I have to work," Angus told Nigel as Marcus put a cup of tea next to Angus. "Thank you, Marcus."

"No, you don't. Not really. I know exactly how much you're worth," Nigel said. "Having a purpose is great, but you might need to live on your savings for a little or you're going to be doing just office work. You're not going to be able to return to fighting or to a kitchen. It just isn't going to happen, Lad, not in the next few weeks anyway."

"I'll talk to Edward when he gets back," Angus told Ruby. "I don't want him having this on his mind in Romania. I want them to be able to focus so they come back alive."

"He already may know," Marcus said. "Edward tried to contact Robert while he was still operating on your shoulder to find out what the damage was, and Robert wasn't able to talk to him then. Robert said he'd contact him after the surgery was over. He may have already done that by now."

Angus sighed. He knew Edward. Edward largely had let everyone's actions just go unanswered for, but that was almost always because Angus had not ever wanted the family to hate him more than they already did. This time, Angus was not there to pull Edward back from taking action. This time, Edward might just follow through, and he wasn't sure exactly what Edward was liable to do.

Ruby sat and listened to Nigel and what he said she nodded " yeah I wanted to blast her but what can you do when muggles are around" she said then looked to Angus " we'll get by, remember I have my savings to" she told him. " we just want you back to a hundred percent again" she told him " and if that means you being benched for a short time then we'll cope, I have the girls, Ginger is capable of helping me and Im sure Edrwad and Simone will too, as for him knowing about the surgry im sure he can cope, hes strong and level headed, its where you get it from. " she smiled to him.

Seeing Ginger enter she smiled at her as she spoke " hes fine, need to rest abit " she told her " I'll start on something for supper, I know Kate has cooked but I want to at least get a jump on breakfast tomorrow too" she chuckled and took his good hand for amoment then headed to the kitchen.

"You've never told her, have you?" Nigel frowned at Angus.

"I've never told her because I don't live off that money," Angus said. "I haven't touched it, not ever. I live off of what I earn, damnit."

"Ruby," Nigel said, "neither of you honestly need to work another day in your life, and you still wouldn't spend it all, even without Edward's inheritance. These two Donohues that live under your roof with you are worth millions. Literally. I'm not overexaggerating. You can't tell me that some of this decades old squabbling isn't because of all those millions that are at stake."

"They're not at stake. There isn't a farthing that's up for grabs," Angus said. He looked at Ruby. "He's right, though. If worse came to worse, neither of us would truly ever have to work again, but that truly would be hell. To not have any purpose for life? What would be the point?"

Ruby listened to Nigel and then loked at Angus as he spoke to her she smiled to him as she walked back from the kitchen to sit next to him again. " its okay I know what you mean, life would be boring with out a purpose" she told him " and you already know Im not with you for your money be it little or a lot, im with you for you and I want nothing but for you to do what you love, be it cooking or fighting" she told him. " but I do agree with Nigel about you resting , sooner you let the shoulder repair the sooner your back in action" she told him.

Kissing him gently she smiled again " besides you want Caprice to see her daddy in his mission wear as he gets the bad men" she said with a soft chuckle.