A Birth day

"Well," Tara said. "we're glad to be here too. I'm sure you can guess that things haven't been so smooth in Tuscany for a long time. They're always trying to mooch more money out of Edward, which is part of the reason he likes he here so much. It isn't in his face every bloody day. Can't say I blame him a bit.

"Evan misses Angus terribly when he doesn't get to see him often," Tara continued. "He has always looked up to him. He would love to be the strong, courageous fighter that Angus is, but Evan is more gentle than that. He sees it as a fault in himself. He wants to be able to stand strong like Angus does, but that's just not him. Evan is more about hearth and home, and he's a wonderful father to our girls. A fighter, though, he is not. I think he sometimes hopes that if he can be around Angus more that some of Angus will rub off on him. I am rather surprised to see the courage that he can find in himself when anyone goes after Angus. That seems to bring out quite a bit more nerve than usual." She sipped the tea. "It's quite a lovely tea blend. Simone said Robert blends teas? I could like this one quite a lot."

Evan caught the first fish at the pond--a nice sized perch.

"Well, we might have fish tonight," Angus said.

"If we catch about a dozen more of them," Evan laughed. "Oh, look. Heads up, Brother. You've got a bite." Angus had to have Evan's help to pull the fish in because it was hard to do one handed. Still, he landed the fish. "It's a bream. The last one of those I had was one Rosaria fixed. Quite tasty too. Good job."

"Well, we landed him between the two of us," Angus smiled.

"Then let's get back on it and see how many more we can reel in," Evan grinned."

Ruby smiled and nodded to Tara " yeah I heard all of the madness from Angus and Edward." she chuckled at the mention of calming " yeah I love being here , our room has a sky light that lets us see the milkyway, its something we saw when we first met" she said smiling as she sipped her tea " oh he has lots more I can ask him to give you a selection box that has several diferent teas that hes developed and you can try them" she stood up and moved to the kitchen pantry walking back out she held a box similer to a cygar box but on the top sat a lable telling every one it was a tea selection " here take these." she said placing them down on the table befor looking to Simone " I belive you have a box in your pantry, I saw one there while I was taking invintory." she chuckled.

Seeing Angus and Evan return with their catches she chuckled " wow those are great catches, we can make a good meal from those, you want me to put them in the freezer?" she asked

"Thank you," Tara said. "I look forward to trying these. Every single one."

"No, don't freeze them yet," Evan said. "Someone has to clean them."

"That's usually my job," Angus said.

"I can manage," Evan said. "They might not be as picture perfect as you might get them, but I daresay I think I can get all the pin bones out."

"It doesn't matter what they look like as long as they're edible," Angus said.

"Who taught you how to clean fish, then?" Evan frowned. "Edward taught me to be bloody particular about them."

"Me too," Angus said. "I'm old enough now that I know that breading can hide a multitude of unsightly things." That made Evan laugh out loud, and he took the fish outside to clean them.

"How should we fix, these, Angus?" Simone said.

"We have supper already in the works," Angus said, "so we'll refrigerate these and we'll have them tomorrow. Can you and Tara perhaps come up with a nice dessert for supper?"

"I bet we could. I've got just enough strawberries to do a lovely strawberry cake with strawberry icing," Simone said.

"There's more strawberries in our fridge here too," Angus said.

"Then I can make a quick fresh strawberry jam to put between the layers," Tara said. "It'll be delicious. Might as well use them while they're fresh."

"Well, let's go get after it, then," Simone said. Tara got the strawberries out of the fridge here and took them next door to Simone's to start working on the cake, and as they were going next door, Ginger ran upstairs, and she was pale white and panicky and upset, and she ran over and whispered frantically in Angus's ear.

"Calm," Angus told her steadily. "It'll be alright. These things happen. Jessie and Jack have both had it happen to them. Trust me. Robert has more. It'll be fine." He picked up a piece of paper, wrote a note, changed it to a paper bird and sent it over to the main house. Then he looked up at Ruby. "She dropped her bottle and broke it, and it's a full moon tonight. I sent a bird to Robert for a replacement. He always has more. He knows how Jack and Jessie are with their bottles so he can't afford not to have more in stock," Angus told Ruby. "I'm sure both Jack and Jessie would be telling her not to panic."

Ruby looked at Evan and smiled " I can help too" she said " I've gutted enough fish when I was camping out." she told him and reatched to take Angus's fish. " come on" she said chukaling as she moved to the kitchen and got everything ready. Seeing Ginger run in she paused and looked worried at Angus as she spoke softly to him. Ruby smiled to Ginger " hes right, acidents happen, I belive Jessie did the exact same once" she said moving to comfort her as Angus sent the note.

She hugged her as she spoke again " Robert will bring another vial, and your not in trouble ether so take deep breaths and calm." she said n a soft calm tone to her so she could control herself before Robert came with the new vial.

Ginger took a deep breath and exhaled so she could calm herself. It wasn't more than about ten minutes and Archangel came over with a new bottle of potion. Marcus went outside and whistled for the bird, and the huge eagle landed on Marcus's shoulder. Marcus took the bottle from the bird and then petted the great bird.

"Does he let other people pet him?" Faith asked from behind Marcus. Marcus turned and saw Ginger, Faith and Evie all standing behind him, and they were watching him with Archangel

"We flew him when we toured the grounds, but we didn't get to pet him," Ginger said. "And he's just magnificent."

"He is indeed," Marcus smiled. Marcus gave Archangel a command to stay, and he sat down on the porch step and coached the girls so they all got a chance to pet the huge eagle.

"What's that big stone he wears around his neck?"

"It's an emerald," Marcus said. "it's a companion stone to the one that his owner wears. They were both cut from the same raw stone."

"He seems like he could fly for miles and miles," Faith said.

"And he can. Ginger, make sure you take that potion now that you have it," Marcus told her. She nodded, embarrassed. She took a dose and put the bottle in her pocket. "I'll talk to Angus, and we'll see about getting you an unbreakable bottle, alright?"

"I'd like that," she told Marcus. "Thanks."

"Now, go do something fun and get this off your mind," Marcus smiled at the girls. They decided to go downstairs and play cards. Marcus sent Archangel back to the main house, and he went back inside. "The crisis is over," Marcus told Ruby and Angus. "She has her potion, and she's taken a dose already. So she's good for tonight."

Ruby saw Ginger calm and smiled "thats it" she said then returned to working on the fish Angus had caught with Evan. She looked up to see them by Archangel. " yeah, but hes cantakeruos according to Khaat" she said and chuckled but smiled seeing Ginger take her potion as she began deboning the fish and filleting it down ready to cook the next day, placing it on a tray she placed her fish into the fridge.

Returning to her seat she sipped her tea again with Tara and Simone. " that fish would go well with a white wine and parsly sauce and maybe some sute potatoes?" she sugested to him " but you need rest right now and your pain potion."

"I got him to take half before he went out," Marcus told Ruby, "but he really needs to take the other half. You're right that a bit of a rest would do him worlds of good."

Angus was thinking of Anise. She was hunting werewolves during a full moon. Ginger had brought it to his thinking. He wanted more than anything to be there with her, to make sure she was covered.

"You couldn't protect her even if you were there," Marcus told him. He had seen Angus's hesitance, and he had been able to see exactly what had been on his mind. "She's as covered as she can be. If you went there now, you'd only hinder them, and not taking the other half of your potion wouldn't help anyone, least of all you. Come on. Stop your own suffering and take the rest of it, Mate. If they need help, they'll page us. Jessie has a medallion. They're not without means. If they page us, Robert will send who he thinks is best. Until then, you still need to do the right thing." He handed Angus the rest of his potion, and Angus reluctantly took it. It wasn't more than a few more minutes, and the pain potion made him sleep for a bit.

Marcus went over and poured himself a mug of tea.

"He won't sleep long, I'll wager, but every little bit will help," Marcus told Ruby. "He's stressing about Anise, knowing she's hunting on a full moon. I hope to hell they get him tonight so they can come home tomorrow."

Ruby watched as Marcus perswaded Angus to take the last of his potion and relaxed when he did then fell asleep , she handed Marcus a mug for his tea and nodded " That would be idea, but as you and I know things don't alwats go to plan , besides Edward is with them both." she said then sighed " but that dosn't stop Angus from worrying about them, I know Anise is very capable of fighting and she showed she can use her wand too" she said to Marcus.

Loking at Evan she chuckled "Hows your fish coming?" she asked hoping he was done. She moved to the pot roast and checked it adding a little more liquer to it so it didn't catch on the bottom.

"If Edward did not believe she would be an asset, he wouldn't have taken her," Marcus said. "I trust him to know who will make a good team, but as a father, I do understand Angus' inability to stop being concerned until they get home."

"My fish is beautiful," Evan told Ruby, showing her the platter of freshly cleaned fish. "Not quite enough for a fish dinner for all of us, but we've got beautiful fish, all the same. Yours look terrific. And now Marcus puts him to sleep when he could tell us how we get fish and chips for a crowd when we only have enough fish for maybe four."

"You know what he's going to tell you, right?" Marcus laughed. "He's going to tell you that the only man who can stretch four little fish to feed twelve is in the New Testament." Evan laughed.

"Sounds like we need to go fishing again," Evan smiled. "Either I smell strawberry fish or someone is making cake."

"Yuck. I can be brave about a good many things but strawberry fish is not one of them," Marcus scowled. "I'm not doing it, and you can't make me."

Ruby chuckled and nodded to Marcus " oh I know " she said then looekd at Evans fish " not bad" she said and chuckled at the banter between Marcus and Evan " Hum, Im with Marcus with that, it dosn't sound too apertising." she said " but who could be making a cake at this time of day?" she asked looking to Tara then glancing at Caprice still sleeping peacfully just like her father. " oh it might be Simone's making desert for after the pot roast" she remebered and chuckled " it does smell divine though" she chuckled as she placed Evans in the fridge next to her own " well tomorrow if you want we can fish while Caprice spends time with her grand mother Simone" she said smiling " as long as nothing happens that temps fate." she quickly added.

Returning to her seat she moved the bottle from Caprice and finished her own tea sitting back she smiled admiring Angus as he slept in his recliner.