A Birth day

Ginger listened to Jack, and she followed his directions and Kate's, and she soon had the foot wrapped.

"Oh, well done," Kate smiled. "And we didn't need Robert after all. You did a fine job." Pip nuzzled Ginger's hand. "Ah. Poor boy. He says he's sorry. He didn't mean to nip you. He was just hurting."

"It's okay,' Ginger petted Pip. "I'd have nipped me too." Kate gave her an owl treat to feed Pip, and she fed him the treat and he chirped at her.

"I think you're still friends," Kate laughed. "You know, we could use some help with the animals. We don't always have enough people to help with just some of the lighter things. The cuddling and the feeding and the brushing. All the little touches that make them feel loved and wanted. Jack and I could use your help if you're interested. Just do come down here on the good weather days and to do a lot of what you just did. Brushing, petting, giving treats, comforting. Helping to take care of them. And I'd want you to get to know the thestrals enough that if we did get into a fight, you could use one in combat."

"Really? I could do that? Really?"

"Yes. I think you'd be perfect for the job. It might not be the highest paying but..."

"I don't care. Yes. I'll do it. That would be great!"

"So when would you want her to start, Jack?" Kate asked.

Jack smiled as Kate complimented Ginger on how she took care of Pip. Once she was done he took her hand took of the gloves and cleaned her cut thoroly then placed some antibactirial gel on before putting on a plaster as Kate spoek to her " well how about first thing tomorrow, helps always needed " he said smiling to her " well unless anything happens tonight that is." he added having a feeling something was about to happen but he could not put his finger on it.

"I'll show you where everything is when you come back , for now , I agree with Kate you did a wonderful job with pip and should be proud of yourself. " he added " you'll get to know the Cockatrice, the Doxy and the Wampus cat, hes kinda selective on who he likes." Jack said

"Thank you," Ginger told Jack, glad he helped her with her finger. "I'll be here. First thing. Oh. is that big cream colored cat the wampus cat? I met him a couple days ago. I had some a leftover fish from the hippogriff, SO I gave it to that big cat. He seemed to think it was pretty great."

"He would," Kate laughed. "If you feed him fish a few times, you'll be best mates in no time."

"Providing I keep bringing the fish," Ginger laughed.

In the meantime, Angus had decoded his Italian words, and Marcus and Michael had finished decoding theirs. The news was as grim as Michael had predicted. Angus, though, had found a name in his. Greco. The name rang a bell for him, and he wasn't sure why.

"Marcus," Angus called. "Downstairs in the basement, there's a box full of photo albums and loose photos. It's just sitting with some stuff that belongs to the boys over in the back corner. Could you bring it, please?"

"Certainly," Marcus said. He went downstairs and only found one box that was full of photos and photo albums. He brought it upstairs and put it on the overbed table.

"Thank you," Angus said.

"What are you looking for?" Marcus asked.

"These are a bunch of old pictures that I found all over the Tyler house. I put them all in one box, thinking that maybe some day Ruby or Jessie or the boys would want to go through them. I know I saw some pictures with the name Greco written on the backs of them. I need to find them."

"I'll help you look." The two of them looked through the pictures, and Marcus found the photo. He was tall, like Benjamin had been. He was stocky, bald, and he looked like a very rough character. In every photo they found, he was with Reginald and some of Reginald's rough looking associates.

"Wait. What's that name you said?" Michael asked, looking up.

"Greco," Angus repeated.

"That's what I thought."

"Why?"

"I know that name," Michael said.

"And I know the face," Marcus said. He took one of the pictures and showed it to Michael.

"Luca Greco," Michael nodded. "That's the one. Except now, he has a long scar down his face from up near his ear, above his cheekbone, clear down to his jaw."

"Yes. He does. That was maybe five or six years ago that he got that. I remember hearing about that. It was a fight that went wrong for him," Marcus said.

"Yes. With a goblin blade, wasn't it?" Michael recalled, and Marcus nodded. They were both sure now. Greco was the same man that Tyler was referring to. The pictures of Greco in Angus's box were numerous, and they went way back to the boys' baby years. And then Angus came across a photo Reginald and Suzanne and the boys as babies--at a muggle looking christening. And Greco was standing with them. Greco, and an unknown woman. Then it all registered with Angus, Michael and Marcus. The picture proved that Greco was, in fact, the godfather to the boys. Marcus did the math in his head quickly. The reason that Jessie and Ruby weren't there was because they would have been teenagers. They would have been in Hogwarts when the pictures was taken.

"Mate," Marcus sat down with Angus, knowing somebody had to tell him, "we have the message fully translated now. Tyler is sending us word that Cora has hired a hit man that has a connection to Suzanne."

"Greco," Angus pointed to the man in the photo. "Its him, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It is," Marcus said. "And he has a fierce reputation."

"He's on the most wanted list in the Unspeakable department," Michael told him. "He's a damned slippery bastard. He's never stayed in a cell more than a few hours at best. Sometimes not even minutes."

"And these photos connects him repeatedly, over years and years, to Reginald and Suzanne," Angus said, understanding from seeing the photos. "He's the one who's coming. We just don't know if he's coming alone, or bringing more with him, or if Suzanne has hooked up with him again."

"Well, that was Tyler's message. He says he has heard that the man works for some wealthy family named Gelding," Michael said. "Robert's already gearing everyone up for whatever comes this way. Regardless of whether Greco comes alone or with friends he's going to be outnumbered and outgunned."

"Fabulous," Angus sighed. He looked up at Ruby. "And, there's more, Ru. There's a photo of him at a christening with the boys. It's very clear. Luca Greco is Sam and Victor's godfather."

Jack smiled and shook his head " my pleasure and yes thats him" he said looking at where the cat now lounged in a courner. He heard her mention fish and saw the cats ear twitch " he loves fish, its hi favorate snack." Jack informed her with a chuckle.

Ruby watched the men then heard Angus call her over , walking over she saw the photo he held in his hands taking it gently she looked at it then looked to Angus and Marcus "I know and hes dangerous, I heard Suzanne and Reg talking about himwhen I was home or the holidays once, they seem smug about what he did." she gave back the photo and sat down. " so what do we do now?" she asked

Angus was almost angry with Ruby for a moment. She knew? She had known that her parents had been gangsters? She had known that her baby brothers' godfather was a murderer, and it had taken until Angus had had the wherewithal to remove the boys and pursue legal guardianship for them to be safe? And now, her mother and her parents' friends were after him because he had had the gonads to take the boys out of that sort of life that she herself hadn't taken them out of. He didn't pretend to understand her for a fraction of a moment.

"WE don't do anything," Angus told her. "This isn't your fight. It's mine."

"Angus," Marcus began.

"No. They're not coming for her. They're coming for me," Angus said. "She needs to take Caprice and get her safe. That's what she needs to do. I'll handle whoever comes. That's the way this goes. That's the plan. Full stop."

"You have a right to be angry that they're coming one more time," Marcus said, "but you should go with her this time."

"The hell I will," Angus retorted angrily. "Send her to keep the baby safe and then bring them right to her? No. That's not happening." He stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"To dress. I refuse to meet Greco in my pajamas," Angus said, apparating upstairs to get a change of clothes and to dress.

Ruby stood up and looked at him " it is my fault too, I should have got them out sooner, I tried but what could I do , I was just their sister, even Jessie tried but he was told to leave " she told Angus but hearing him being angry " I did what I had to to keep those boys alive , yes I knew what he was but not what my father and mother were , they kept that from me but not his busness, they lied to me , told me they wern't in that business, I found out they were in deep when you found out, Greco was always only ever there a few hours then he would leave if Jessie and I were around, and always acted as if he didn't want us to know he was there, I know the name because I heard them call him by it, I haven't seen him or hard his name in over twenty years." She picked up Caprice and looked at Marcus as Angus aperated up stairs " Im not argung with him." she said " but for Caprice I will leave when or if he comes" she told him.

Jack finished in the barn and headed back to the duplex with Ginger hearing shouting he paused " oh boy" he said softly as he knocked on the door. " is it safe?" he asked and saw Ruby nod her head.

Angus ignored Ruby's shouting. He hadn't accused Ruby of anything. He wasn't sure what she was on about. He hadn't mentioned a word to her about what he was thinking. All he had said was that he would take care of Greco. It did irk him that he hadn't said a word to her about her knowing Greco before. He was irked about it, but he hadn't brought it up to her. He wasn't sure how she always believed she knew what the hell he was thinking. He dressed, armed himself heavily, and apparated back downstairs.

"I never opened my mouth to you about a damned thing," Angus told her in quiet anger, "except that I would take care of it. If you'd rather someone else take Caprice out and to a safe place, I certainly wouldn't want you to feel like a martyr about it. You just bloody say the word, and I'll find someone else to take her."

"Angus," Marcus said, seeing Angus was having trouble letting this issue go with her, and Marcus needed to divert him from this for now, "come with me. Let's go out onto the deck and decide on a strategy, shall we? You're more limited than usual. We have to fight smarter and not harder this time. Come on. Let's go outside for a minute." He took Angus's good arm and took him out onto the deck, accio'ing Angus's cigarettes. He shut the patio door so they would have some privacy.

Ruby calmed down and nodded " sorry , its just when I think of him then and now it angers me still" she said in a calmer voice " I'll ask Simone to take her , I want to fight with you" she said to him but stepped back when Marcus spoke and then lead him out to the deck. Turning she looked to Simone " if all goes to heck grab Caprice and that bag and take this key, it will take you and Evan, tara and the girls to Roberts farm, but only if things go bad , okay" she asked " please?" she asked her,

Jack watched then followed Angus out side not saying anything as he stood closr to see but not hear what was said between the two men.

Marcus helped him out to the deck and lowered him onto a chaise, lit a cigarette for him and handed it to him.

"Here. Sometimes it helps," Marcus told him quietly. "Breathe."

"She knew. All this time, she knew. So did Jessie. They weren't children," Angus said. "They were adults. They're the same age I am. and neither of them had the gonads to stand up to Reginald and Suzanne. It took me to do it. They had to have known what Reginald and Suzanne were. Hell, Reginald and Suzanne bragged about it. The boys both knew exactly what they and their friends were. They openly told us about it. Yet, I'm the one that took them on, not her, not Jessie."

"But we're here now," Marcus said gently. "The boys are safe now, thank God. And we're still dealing with Suzanne's need for revenge. In the long run, it doesn't really matter if Ruby knew or she didn't because with the anxiety issues she has, she would not have had the strength or the training either one to take them on alone anyway."

"Ginger needs to go with Caprice. Ginger isn't strong enough for a fight..." Angus began.

"She's not going to leave you any sooner than Anise would, Mate. She didn't bond as quickly to you as Anise did, but she is bonded now and isn't going to back down from a fight that's directed at you...."

"I can't bloody protect them all at the same time, not single handedly--literallyl!" Angus exploded.

"Exactly" Marcus said, clearly seeing Angus's stress and anger. "You're not supposed to. The last I knew, even though the motivation is about you, Robert is still in command. He has no intention of letting you take this on by yourself. You're not going to be able to get more than a couple good shots off, and the last thing you need is to take even one more hit. Wherever you go, I'm going to be right beside you. We need to cover you with a good strong shield. My own thought is that if we do anything, we need to use you as bait and then the rest of them need to take on Greco or whoever comes. When the real fire starts, I'll get you out before you either get hit or wear yourself out. I think that's the strategy that makes the most sense to me. Robert may have a different idea, but we need to play to your advantages. And your advantage is that they want you badly. Badly enough to perhaps buggar things up if we play it right."

Angus didn't say a word. He was listening to Marcus and smoking.

Jack stood and listened to them talking only catching snippits of the conversation inside he could see Ruby pacing back and forth worried she would be sent away and not see Angus again becuse she had known about the name Greco. He crossed his arms as he looked out over the yard keeping watch for trouble if it should appear. " hes right " Jack said and turned to look at them both. " Ruby was a mess when you met her , over eacting, pnicing , putting her foot in her mouth all the time , you made the woman thats inside there and who told you about her past and this man, what could she have done, she talks to him she dies so she kept quiet, until she felt safe to talk." Jack told him " besides if this Greco comes here we have all the guards , thestrals and every first stringers here that can keep him busy or take him down, I say hes a fool to show." Jack turned his body to face Jack "I might not know who this Greco is, but but hes nothing but a hired thug like all of them , a little more dangerous , yes, but thats the risk we take, all of us" he finished and turned back to look out over the yard again.