A Birth day

Marcus shook his head. She was still stuck on wanting to think Angus was upset about stupid, freaking Greco. Angus didn't give a damn about Greco. Ruby was hearing what she wanted to hear.

"I give up," Marcus sighed. He wasn't going to talk to her about it anymore. He looked at Robert. "Permission to go for a run while Angus sleeps?"

"Absolutely," Robert said. "Be my guest. He's too knackered to wake up for awhile."

"Thank you," Marcus said, transfiguring his clothes to running clothes. He whistled for Finn to come with him because the dog hadn't been getting much attention lately, and he and Finn went for a run. Ginger got up from the sofa and she made her way over to Edward's side to go find Faith and Evie.

It was a bit before Edward and Simone returned from Tuscany. They didn't come over straight away. They took time for themselves to shower and change and get comfortable, and then Simone made a huge bowl of hot kettle style popcorn, and she topped it with finely minced fresh herbs, salt, a little fresh olive oil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

"What on earth do I smell?" Evan asked, his stomach growling.

"Smells like popcorn to me," Robert said.

"I didn't think I was hungry til I smelled that," Evan replied. He got up and went over towards Edward's. "Who's making popcorn?"

"Simone," Edward called back. "She's made enough for an army. Come get a bowl of it and take it over there." Evan went over and brought back a huge, 30 quart mixing bowl that was heaping with hot, fresh popcorn.

"I'm not shy," Robert said, reaching into the bowl. "This is decadent. She's going to have to give us the recipe for it."

"Hot, salty, cheesy, it's perfect," Evan said. "I know my girls. They won't miss popcorn. They'll track it down and tie into it."

"And wherever Faith and Evie go, Ginger is sure to follow," Robert laughed.

Ruby sat where she was when she heard Marcus and saw him leave for a run. She knew she had not lied to Angus but to her, it felt as if they didn't believe her one bit." she looked to Robert then headed up to their room sat on the bed and she sighed.

Jessie followed Anise with Jack close by "How much longer till day break?" he asked Jack shook his head and looked up at the starry sky above him.

"don't know the trees make it hard to see." he then glanced at his watch "a couple of hours " he finally said making Jessie chuckle as they sat on a log near Anise in were form.

When Robert saw Ruby go upstairs, he clearly saw that guests weren't wanted, so he excused himself and left and went back to the main building. Evan and Tara cast a cleaning up spell, and then they left too. The girls all decided to eat the rest of the popcorn, and, rather than to go back to the boys' bedroom, they borrowed one of Edward's extra guest rooms where they ate the rest of the popcorn that Simone had made, and laughed and giggled and eventually went to sleep there together.

When Marcus got back from his run, he locked the house, picked up the baby and put her in her crib, and then he went to bed as well.

At daybreak, when the moon gave way to the approaching sun, Anise was able to transform back to herself. She saw Jessie and Jack there, and she walked up to them.

"Thanks for staying with me," she told them. "I appreciate it, but I'm starving. The lights are all still out at home, so I hope there's no problem with me going into the main house and getting some breakfast with the rest of you lot. I'm always hungry for some reason when I've been in my other form all night."

Jack chuckled as he saw Anise walk over to them "its what we do" he said as Jessie nodded. When she said she was hungry Jessie had an idea " come back to mine, yu always cooks " he said motioning to their cabin not far from them. As they drew close he could smell coking and hear humming from Yu as he cooked. Opening the door Yu turned and smiled to them all.

"welcome, please leave shoes by the door and sit " he said motioning to a low table on bamboo mats with cushions. " I have made Miso steak, Tonkatsu pork and Yakitori chicken." he said and placed each dish down on the table infront of them. Jessie picked up a set of chopsticks as Jack took a fork and dished out a plate for Anise " please eat" Yu said smiling at them as he too sat beside Jessie and took some food.

"Thanks," she smiled. She followed them to Jessie's cabin. She didn't have an issue with not wearing her shoes inside because somehow, when she transfigured back, her shoes didn't get back with her. It wasn't until she heard Yulong tell them to leave their shoes outside til she noticed her shoes were missing.

"Hm," she frowned. "Gonna have to go for a walk when I get back and see if I can find what the heck happened to my shoes. And those were brand new too. We just got those from Clive a couple days ago, darn it. I had 'em before I transformed, and now, of course, they're somewhere else. Figures. My memory is always a bit swiss cheesed about where I go and what I do when I'm not human. Fenrir said it happens sometimes, but I'd prefer it didn't."

She sat down and watched how Jessie and Yulong handled their chopsticks, and she simply copied them. It didn't take her more than a try or two to get the hang of it.

"Ah, so this is the advantage of sticky rice," she said. "Makes it easier to pick up with the chopsticks. Cool. This is good, Yulong. Thank you. I could have probably gone home and tried to cook something, but the last time I tried to cook by myself, I burned our family's tent to complete ash. Angus might get miffed if I burned the duplex down to ash."

Yu chuckled and nodded " thank you and it was no trouble, Jessie always eats after his patrol and he eats alot" Jessie fained shock but then they both laughed. Jack looked at Anise and chuckled " we can get Clive to send you a replacment those will not be in any fit state to wear again, I'll send a message once were done eating" he told her " and don't worry about them, we all have acounts with him" Jessie nodded at Jacks wrds to Anise.

"true that, he said " I have gone threw shirts like no body and shoes , don't get me started" he chuckled as he picked up a stick of Yakitori chicken. Yu stood up and moved to get sodas for them all then sat abck down.

"I've heard about their appetites," she told Yulong, laughing about the jokes people had told about Jacks' and Jessie's appetites. "You're probably right about the shoes. I hadn't considered that, but, yeah, clothes get messed up pretty easy when I transfigure. You'd figure someone could figure out how to make werewolf clothes that would resize when we transform, but for some reason, nobody's done that. It would be nice to not wake up naked, especially in the snow."

Marcus was rudely awakened the baby having a meltdown about something or another. It was getting light outside, Marcus got up, sighing, and still in his own pajama bottoms, he went to the nursery, got the baby, changed her and took her downstairs. He fixed a cereal bottle for her because it would hold her better than a plain formula bottle, and he fed her while he waited on coffee to finish brewing.

Angus woke while Marcus was feeding the baby, and Marcus floated him over a cup of coffee. While Angus was trying to get his eyes open, Marcus took the baby over to Edward and Simone for awhile so he could get Angus up and showered and shaved and dressed for the day. Edward and Simone were always happy to have the baby for a little. With the baby provided for, it was easier for Marcus to get Angus's needs taken care of.

Within about thirty minutes, they were both clean and dressed for the day, and they were working on their second cups of coffee.

"Where is everybody?" Angus asked.

"Well, Ruby went upstairs pretty late last night, so I presume she's still in her room," Marcus said. "Simone made popcorn last night, and the girls took it and went upstairs to one of the guest rooms at Edward's so they could inhale the rest of the popcorn. Evan and Tara left when Ruby went upstairs."

"They would," Angus acknowledged. "If I was asleep, and Ruby left, they'd have felt that they'd overstayed their welcome here, and they'd have gone back to Edward's. That's alright. They'll be back today, I'm sure. Has Anise come back yet?"

"No, but I'm sure she's alright. Jessie and Jack stayed with her last night," Marcus said.

"I'm going to have to go to Tuscany today," Angus sighed.

"Because of Cora? Maybe not," Marcus said. "Edward took Cora home last night, and he came straight back. He thinks Patrick is going to handle things with Cora's family. You might want to talk to him before you make plans to go back there today. It might not be necessary."

"God, that would be nice," Angus said.

Jessie and Jack laughed " yeah they would make a fortune " Jessie said as he finihed his food " well, we should get you home now" he said Jack finished his food as Yu cleared away the empty plates and bowls. Jessie opened the door and stepped out side he could now see a light on in teh duplex " seems some one's awake" he said as they walked over . He paused by the door and knocked then opened it to see Marcus and Angus " morning I bring you Anise, safe and sound" he said smiling as he stepped to one side so she could enter.

"Come in," Angus called. Anise went in, and she was glad to see Angus awake and in one piece. He motioned to her and she went over and hugged him. "You alright?" he asked her quietly. She nodded.

"I lost my shoes," she told him. That made him laugh.

"That's all you lost were your shoes? You did well then. Jack and Jessie usually lose their knickers."

"Well, I found mine," she said.

"Then you're still better off than they usually do," Angus teased. He looked at Jack and Jessie. "Thank you for making sure she got back safe and sound. I appreciate it." As Angus was speaking, Marcus heard the door at Edward's shut a bit noisier than usual. He looked out, and Ginger was running, trying to put on a flannel shirt over her tee shirt, as she made a dash to the barn. She had a cloth sack she was trying to carry while she was putting her shirt on, and she clearly had quite a load of something or other in the sack.

"Ah, your new barn hand didn't see you over here, Jack. She's on a mad dash to the barn to get to work on time," Marcus smiled. "I thought perhaps she'd forget, after the incident last night, but clearly not."

"I'll go shower," Anise told Angus quietly, not wanting to be in the way. Angus looked up at Jack and Jessie. "If this happens again, do you think I could trust her to be out all night by herself on the grounds? I don't know how much control a young werewolf at that age is really supposed to have. Robert always doubted Remus's ability to have much of any control in his werewolf form, so not having ever been a werewolf myself, I don't know how to parent one."

Jessie and Jack entered and chuckled at Angus's words Jack saw Ginger run across the yard towards the barn and chuckled again " okay well I'd better head to the barn" he said and left leaving Jessie with Angus alone as Anise headed up stairs to shower. Jack walked over to the barn and pushed open the door " wow saw you run here , you won't be docked if your late you know" he said handing her a bucket with feed in.

Jessie chuckled as Jack left and he heard Angus as about if Anise would be alright when she trasphormed being alone on the grounds " I would say yes since there are several guards walking around to watch her, I'll let them know about her so they don't acidently shot her." Jessie said " oh and I'll also order threw Clive sevral new pairs of trainers and shoes for her too" he aded remembering she ahd lost hers " so don't be suprised if a large box of shoes appears.