A Birth day

"There better not be more things than jars. Suppose we could put more than one in a jar? I mean, after all, they're snot. How would they know where one stops and the other one begins?"

"Let's not," one of the crew said. "I saw a muggle movie once about blobs of snot that grew bigger and bigger and ate people and cars and stuff. Let's not let them get any bigger than they already are. I'll be seeing that dumb muggle movie in my sleep."

"Muggles are so weird," Ginger laughed. "Who thinks of such stupid stuff?"

"A muggle, of course," he replied, laughing.

"I'm sure whatever you want to make will be fine," Anise said to Ruby. "I'm not picky. I guess I'll go read or something." She went down to her room, not wanting to really show that she was feeling disappointed and sad and not wanting to discuss it. It was really none of her business anyway. Just last night, Evan had told them they were going to stay for a few days, and now, because of whatever relationship issues Ruby and Angus were having, Evan and Tara had felt awkward and had gone home and had taken Evie and Faith with them.

Jack chuckled and nodded " I agree with the jars " he said accioing another but when he tried a fourth time nothing happened and he breathed out " okay that has to be th last of them" he said opening a small hatch to the crawl space. Slipping in he reoild at the smell and set the cleaning charm in motion before he climbed back out " okay lets leave that to do its work any damage we cn fix once its clean" he said " but as Robert said good catch, lets get these into a safe place" he said picking up two of the jars and walking out of the barn to the main house and own to Roberts lab where he placed them on a high shelf out of reach and whre they would do no damage.

Ruby looked at Anise and sighed , she took out some meat and began to make burgers by mixing seasonings and then molding them into burger shapes. Once done she made a sauce to go on top of it before making more bread rolls this time big enough to hold the burger in.

"Okay," Ginger said. She decided to get back to feeding the rest of the animals.

Edward came out to the deck and he closed the patio door to have a moment alone with Angus.

"Are you and Ruby better?" Edward asked.

"Well, I didn't know we had that big of an issue, but apparently we must. I wasn't happy with her, but it certainly didn't merit whatever the hell this behavior was. Every couple has issues to work through, but apparently I'm not allowed to get pissed. I didn't get to work out anything with her because it didn't seem like she was comprehending what I was angry about."

"Sometimes, Lad, the easiest thing you can do is to forget you even had an effing viewpoint and just agree to eat crow about it."

"Bullshit. I'm alright working for compromise of some sort, but we never got to do that. The last I knew was when she and Marcus helped me inside from that fight last night. they helped me to my chair, and that's all I knew. We didn't have a chance to discuss anything."

"You spent all you had defending your family and you just didn't have any more to give," Edward said.

"I didn't have a choice!" Angus said, frustrated.

"I know it felt like it in the moment," Edward said. "You do have to change something, though. Marcus found the baby unsupervised downstairs, and the living room was completely empty except you and the baby. You were in a dead-to-the-world sleep, and Ruby was nowhere in sight. Everyone else was gone, so Marcus locked up and put the baby to bed, and was the same one who tended her this morning because the baby woke him up with her crying and fussing. He tended her because Ruby just didn't show up."

"Well, maybe she had a reason, but clearly I'm not going to be able to sleep like that ever again," Angus sighed. "I can't chance that nobody is going to be alert and able to respond, so I'm going to have to make a better plan. I realize accidents happen, and I don't know why she just simply wasn't asking someone to look after of the baby but I will make sure it doesn't happen again. The other kids do have the wherewithal to be able to take care of themselves for a time without us, so I'm not as concerned about them, but I have to make a change of some short. That's my job--to take care of my kids."

"You fell asleep before she left. I'm not a fool. You didn't fall asleep on purpose. You were too exhausted..." Edward began.

"Then I'll have to make sure I have someone who I can depend on to be available to take care of the kids," Angus said angrily. "I didn't know she was just simply going to disappear and stop parenting. I'd have somehow take care of it if I'd known, but I didn't get a chance."

"Did you ever work out with her whatever she knew or didn't know about her parents?""

"No, and its a mute point now. It doesn't bloody matter. Regardless of what she knew or didn't know, the fact remains that I have five kids now with her that I'm responsible for. If she wants to take it out on me, that's one thing. That's fine. She can take it out on me if she needs to, but she does not have the right to just simply walk away from the baby and leave her to whoever happens to be in the room. That's the one piece I have to change."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Do? I can't do it by myself one handed. It's not that I don't want to. How am I supposed to provide 24 hour care for a baby with one hand? I dont see a choice but to hire on a nanny for Caprice. If I hire a nanny for Caprice, then Ruby can do whatever she wants to do. I'll add an addition to the house because I'll have to. I'll be out of bedrooms. With a nanny, that frees up Ruby to participate if she feels like it or to go do other things when she wants to do that."


"Do you know what she plans to do? Is she planning on returning to work or what is it that she wants?"

"I have no damned clue. She sort of comes and goes as she pleases and doesn't really talk to me about longer term plans, so I never really know. If I provide for that either way, then maybe she'll be happy. I don't know."

"You know we'll help whenever you need us. You know she doesn't normally just not show up for the baby."

"Well, that's rather the point, isn't it? I didn't know the baby wasn't being tended nor did I have any reason to think that was even going to happen or I'd have somehow been awake to take care of her. So I don't know when I'm going to need help and when I'm not. At this point, Evan and Tara left and took Evie and Faith with them because they felt like they were intruding in my problems with Ruby. They didn't feel welcome here anymore, so they went home. And, again, I didn't know that it was going badly because I wasn't awake. Regardless of how this all came about, the bottom line is that this was the first and last time the baby will ever be left unattended again. If I can't take care her myself, then I have to do my part and make sure the kids are all taken care of--every one of them."

Ruby finished making the burgers and set them in the fridge to rest. As she finished cleaning she saw Robert outside talking with Angus. Moving to the door she stepped out hearing some of their conversation but said nothing waiting for them to finish talking. Not knowing what to say she looked at Robert and then at Angus. " I did not leave the room until I knew Marcus was headed up, she was safe, and I would never put our daughter in harm's way...EVER" She said her tone calm, " Marcus told me you think I lied to you about not knowing what my family were up to, I did not know what they were into and when you told me, that was the first time I knew, and I am never leaving our daughter in the hands of a nanny." she said frowning at him then walking back inside to pick up Caprice in her arms.

Moving to find Angus's sling she slipped it on and placed Caprice inside it as she went back to making bread rolls and a dessert for dinner of Peach Melba pie and homemade ice cream.

Angus was outraged she would intrude on a few moments of conversation with Edward. He got up and went inside, furious with her.

"I have every right to have a moment of man-to-man conversation with Edward, damnit," he tried hard not to shout at her. "Don't you ever think you can stop me from that. You don't need to jump to conclusions about one fragment of a conversation I had with my grandfather! You are not the only one that gets to make choices about the baby, so knock it off. You do not have sole custody of her, and I'm really getting sick of you talking and acting like she belongs to you and you alone.

"There are two completely separate issues here. First, I don't know what to believe about what you did or didn't know about your parents and their associates. You might need to give me a damned minute. Yes, I was pissed about that last night. He's right. I was. If you had heard the whole effing conversation, which I really didn't want you to be a part of, you'd have heard me say that all of it is a mute point today.

"Now, back to the first issue, I did not accuse you of putting her in harm's way. What the hell is the matter with you? I did say she was unattended because Marcus found her down here, with no one else but me, and I was out like a light. I did also say that if I'd known I'd have either tried my best to be awake or to get someone to help out. I also said I didn't know what had happened to you and that it wasn't like you. But, oh, no. You didn't hear that. I said I was frustrated, and I am. I'm allowed to be frustrated. And if I want to hire on a nanny, then I'll hire on a nanny. Once in awhile, you might need to let me have a conversation without you so that when I do get things straight about my own thoughts and feelings, we don't have an issue like this! I'm not always ready to talk to you straight away because I don't want to go through one of these things. Jesus!"

Ruby listened as Angus went on his rant at her she stood quiet and kneeded the dough for the bread rolls Caprice sat infront of her giggling as she heard him then looked up at Angus " you done?" she asked placing the dough down on the sheet to rise. Washing her hands she calmly walked out around the island to stand in front of him " firstly saying I left her alone does imply I put her in danger in its self, but as you can see shes fine, second you do what you want but no nanny will look after our child, that is a mothers job, and by god I am going to do my job, third Evan and his family left to sort out things in Tuscany not becuse of anything you or I did." she told him her voice never raised once as he had done but stayed calm. " now if your done with your temper tantrum." she accioed a cup of coffee and set it down in front of him before turning to the stairs, pausing she looked back at him " Caprice needs a change, so excuse me."

She headed up to the nursary and lay Caprice on the changing table. Soon she was done and Caprice wore a light flowery dress and white socks with matching soft shoes along with a flower head band. slipping her into the sling again she walked down back to the kitchen to place the now risen rolls into the oven ready for dinner.

"No, I'm not done," he said, when she came back down. "You weren't there to hear what I did or didn't say to Edward. I never ever said you left her alone. I never used those words. So stop putting words in my mouth. What I said was that when you went upstairs, it seems clear that you didn't specifically ask anyone to look after her. I did also say that sometimes things happen. And again, you don't get to decide by yourself if I hire a nanny or not and whether a nanny will ever help care for OUR child--not just yours. You have some really messed up ideas.

"Where the flying fig did you get the idea that taking care of a child is strictly a mother's job? That's completely messed up. That's really how you think? That I'm just supposed to get you pregnant so that you can have a baby to look after, and I'm supposed to stand back and let you do whatever the hell you want with her because then I'm not supposed to be an equal part of the process? Why didn't you tell me that's all you wanted me for?

"And, so you know, Evan did not go back to Tuscany to sort out things for Cora. I don't know where you got that notion, but Edward took care of that last night. Evan told me, to my face, that he and Tara and the kids were leaving because they felt they were in the way of the problems you and I were having. Cora had nothing to do with it."

At the moment, he was seeing a side of Ruby he did not like at all. He had seen glimmers of it all through the pregnancy when she had talked about 'her baby' and taking care of 'her child.' He remembered at the time asking her if that was how she felt, and she had tried to correct herself. But now, the truth was coming out. She did feel it was hers. She didn't think he had a part of raising it. She didn't think he had a right to make decisions. Clearly, he had been blind all along when she had said this was hers. Now he didn't know what to believe about her at all.

Ruby heard him as he spoke to her again she sat down and let him talk. " I love you and I love our daughter, but I can't fight at your side and protect Caprice at the same time, you want to hire a nanny then fine, we'll hire a nanny, then I can fight when shit happens, but she is our child, not just yours nor just mine alone, so decisions should be made together, not by one person alone." She paused and looked at him dead in his eyes " try talking to me like a person and not shouting, as for Evan and Tara they told me it was to sort stuff out, so don't get mad at me for misinformation."

Hearing her timmer go off she moved to the oven removing a tray with several bread buns on it. Placing them on a cooling wire she let them cool and put the next load into brown. Rolling out sweet pastry she added a filling she had made and topped it with more pastry before brushing it with egg wash and placing it in the oven to cook while she looked at Angus.

"No one said you can be two places at once," Angus said. "I'm not bloody shouting, so I don't know where you're getting that either. I can be angry and not shout. I'm saying that after the fight was over, when we were all safely back inside, you apparently had words with Marcus and then went upstairs. That was fine. Whatever but that was when apparently, nobody was asked to watch the baby. I do know things happen. I get it. It's not finger pointing or blaming. The baby was taken care of while the fight happened. Simone had her but she had no reason to think she couldn't accompany Edward to take Cora home. There were a lot of people here after the fight, or at least I think there , and any of them would have stepped in if they had known what you wanted. I'd have done my best to stay awake if I'd known you were going to go go into a different room for the night."

He didn't even know what to say to her anymore. He was achy and tired now.

"I need to get out of here for a bit and get some air," he finally said. "I'll take Marcus with me because I'm supposed to."

"You sure you want to do that?" Marcus asked.

"Positive," Angus said. Marcus went over and Angus drew his keychain out instead of his wand, as Marcus took hold of Angus, and they ported out. From the deck, Edward had seen the fight, and he had seen Angus leave. Perhaps letting Angus have some space wasn't a bad idea.

Ruby listened to Angus and said no more as she watched him leave with Marcus , shaking her head she continued to get dinner ready " Ginger Anise you can come up now" she said continuing to bake to stock the fridge and pantry, Jessie walked up from the basement and looekd around the room.

"The tornado over?" he asked dusting off some dry wall from his hands as he walked over to Ruby " hes right you know" he said but seing the look Ruby gave him he backed away " any way the bathrooms nearly done I wanted Angus to give his aproval but I guess I'll find Robert or Edward." he said and headed out onto the Deck " Edward could you come check the bathroom for the girls." he asked