A Birth day

"I'm positive," Angus said. "Unless she's stuffing pillows under her skirt these days. And yes, I thought of the same thing you did, but this child is not a Tyler. This child is a Gelding. Suzanne might hatch it, but Tom Gelding never lets go of a potential heir. That much I'm sure of. This child will be a half sibling to you all, but I doubt you will meet him or her until they're adult age because Tom will be busy making sure his or her brain has all the appropriate dark arts twisty bits in it. I am far more concerned that some day I will be standing toe to toe with him or her in a faceoff."

"And if that happens, you will do what you need to do," Edward said. "You will protect your family from whatever threat you're faced with, regardless of what direction it comes from. No point stewing in what is decades off."

"That child is cursed before it even gets here," Simone said quietly. "Poor thing doesn't stand a chance."

"Well, again, a lot could happen before he or she would be adult age. We have no choice but to let it play out,' Edward told them. "For now, you all need to focus on healing yourselves. It does none of you any good to be concerned about the sorts of wounds this child might cause you twenty years from now when you're still emotionally bleeding for what's already been done. Take care of that first and let tomorrow take care of itself."

Angus nodded, glad some of them had some means of self soothing. He sat quietly, devoting himself to his salad.

"This is a great salad, Simone," Angus said. "Is this Sparks?"

"No, actually, it's a little bistro off the beaten track close to my house in the Cotswolds where I lived before I met Edward. I was hungry for it, so I thought perhaps you lot might enjoy it too," she replied.

"I do. It's very nice," he said, as both of the newborns started to cry and scream. Angus got up and looked in the basket. "Little doofuses," Angus said, laughing. "Their reflex grasps are making them yank each other's hair. Little idjits." Edward came over, touched the back of each one's hand and cast a tiny relaxation spell to force their fists to relax and open.

"Did I ever yank my own hair?" Angus asked Edward.

"No, but Evan used to yank his own hair all the bloody time," Edward laughed. "His nannies had a hell of a time with him."

"Maybe that's why you're the only Donohue with curly hair, Evan," Angus laughed. "You traumatized yourself."

"Well, you're just jealous," Evan teased him straight back.

"Jealous of what?"

"Curly hair is a chick magnet," Evan said. "Explains why you've never been a chick magnet."

"He would have had to honestly give it a try, but he just never did," Edward laughed.

"It's a thing with little babies," Edward said. "Evan wasn't the only one to do that. They're using just a reflex grip, and because of that, they don't have any idea that they're yanking on their own hair. Used to frustrate the snot out of Caprice when she saw them doing that. She had such a warm and loving heart that she didn't want them doing it, of course, and sometimes they had just no desire to let go. She was always afraid she was going to break their little fingers when she tried to bend them to get them to give it up. One of Angus's sister's used to give herself a wedgie of sorts with her diaper by grabbing hold of it and yanking the daylights out of it and then getting angry because it hurt."

"You know, there ought to be some good defensive spell in a thing like that," Angus said thoughtfully. Anise burst into hysterical laughter.

"You mean like casting a spell to make someone give themselves a wedgie?" she asked.

"No, but maybe next time James comes, I ought to give James one and then hoist him up in the air by that same wedgie," Angus said, grinning boyishly.

"Not sure that would do much except stop him from procreating for awhile," Edward laughed.

"And I'd be okay with that too," Angus said.

"Well, remember, this is the same lad that said he and Jack needed to shave James of all his fur," Edward said.

"And we proved he was ugly either way," Angus replied.

"No. You didn't," Evan frowned. "You managed to shave a fully transformed werewolf?"

"We did," Angus laughed. "Trust me. They look better with fur."

"Something like that," Angus laughed. When Ruby said it was good to hear him laugh again, Angus smiled. "Well, its good to have laughter again in this house. It was never meant to be an unhappy place."

"I don't think anyone actually sees it as an unhappy place," Edward replied. "I think it is a sanctuary for family and friends from any sort of storm, and that, my boy, is a very valuable thing."

"I agree," Simone said. "Houses are common things, but a home that is as young as this one really is and yet opens its doors wide for, and provides so much shelter and love and hope, that really is a rare thing."

"I'm sure you all know there is no shortage of nay saying from family members that think I should be living in Tuscany," Edward said, "but I wouldn't have missed living here for anything in the world."

"And I understand now why you love it so much," Evan said. "I get it now. As lovely as the Tuscan house is, it's empty in more ways than one compared to this place. Now, just get Robert to add me to your list of fighters."

"I'll talk to him," Angus said. Angus knew that, technically, he could have added Evan himself without Robert's approval, but while Evan had a huge heart, he wasn't the strongest fighter. Angus planned on talking to Robert before just blindly saying yes.

He listened to her announce her decision about not working. And in its own way, that was disappointing to Angus. He had enjoyed having Ruby with him last night when James showed up, but she didn't want to be part of his world. Not in the way he hoped she might. It also added a sense of increased pressure back to him. He was again, the sole provider and protector, and that made him a bit anxious that nothing was going to change. It had been that unbalanced division, with him being the only protector and the only breadwinner that had resulted in all the secrets that had torn them apart. It was not something Angus wanted to do again, and it felt like they were just set right back on the road they'd just been on. By the same token, though, he he wanted her happy. He was not going to ask her to do anything she didn't want to do.

"How'd your snapdragons work out?" he deliberately shifted the conversation by asking the girls about the flowers.

"They look good, I think,' Anise said. "Wanna see?"

"I do. Come show me," he said, getting up and leaving his half eaten salad on the overbed table. Anise and Ginger got up and went with him outside to the tea garden. He saw their efforts, and it made him smile. "This is amazing," he said. "I think you should bring your dad sometime and show him. I think he'd approve. I want to go see him either this afternoon or tonight and make sure I tell him about the funeral and specifically invite him and then I also want to talk to Fenrir so that the pack knows they are absolutely all included if they want to be."

"They may not come, but that's not about you," Ginger said. "Leaving England, even for a few hours, and being with humans? It's probably going to be way too far out of their comfort zone. Anise and I know not to take that personally. Mom was in a weird situation anyway, being the only human in a pack of werewolves. She knew that, so we know they might not feel they need to attend a human style funeral. And if that's what they choose, that's okay. It's just them."