A Birth day

The girls thanked her, and they went to the next shop where Anise picked out a pair of white shoes with kitten heels. Ginger found a little gold necklace with a tiny mint green kyanite stone. Anise's dress didn't work well with tiny piece. She did try. She ended up choosing a pendant with a teardrop shaped piece of peach colored coral. Both girls decided they were wearing the tiny diamond stud earrings that Ruby and Angus had bought them.

While they were gone, Kate had had a vision of something that had happened in the past. She wasn't connecting at first that she was seeing one of Anise's memories, a powerful one. What she did see, though, was more than a little disturbing, so much so that she went to Robert and asked him about it. Robert didn't know anything about it, but he was immediately drawn to go talk to Angus.

Angus was just starting to wake when Robert arrived over at the duplex. He had a habit of knocking and going in, which was what he did today. He knocked, went in and greeted Jack, Simone, and Marcus. Going over to  Angus, Robert looked at him.

"Did I wake you?" Robert asked.

"No," Angus replied. "What's up?"

"Come talk with me a moment," Robert said. Angus got up and went with Robert without question. Robert walked out to the tea garden and found a seat and motioned Angus to sit. "Kate just saw a vision," Robert said, "and it was about you."

"Uh oh. That's never good," Angus said.

"Well, this vision appears to be someone's memory flash, and I don't know who's it is. I'm thinking it actually might be something of Anise's, since she has some seer's abilities."

"Possible," Angus acknowledged.

"Well, here's the thing," Robert said. "There is something you should have told me about but apparently you didn't. And I know my team. If you had told any of them, they'd have told me."

"Okay, so what is this?"

"Remember when Suzanne took you to the tunnels beneath the Tyler house? Jessie and Anise and I followed to try to get you back. It took a little for us to find you, and when we got there, what we saw was that you were taking on eight of her goons. Remember that?"

"Yeah. It was the day we found Ginger locked in that cell."

"Right. Well, apparently Anise somehow saw what happened to you there before the rest of us got to you. I presume it might have been her seer's powers, or she ran faster. I don't know. That's not clear. But she knows what happened to you down there. And so does Ginger."

"I see," Angus said quietly, as this became intensely uncomfortable for him. "Good to know. Well, its in the past now, so we don't need to discuss this."

"Oh yes we do," Robert said with an iron firm tone. "You honestly haven't told anyone, have you?"

"There's nothing to tell!" Angus spit back at him.

"Have you lost your mind!" Robert was angry now too. "You shouldn't be alive to tell the tale..."

"Well, clearly that's wrong, because here I am, and I'm doing just fine..."

"We counted 9 people at least. Suzanne and eight of her goons. Were there more than that?"

"I wasn't counting."

"She tried to kill you..."

"And I fought. End of story."

"No, it's not the end of the story until I say it's the end of the story. Anise and Ginger saw you suffer. Suzanne order her goons to fire their...."

"Stop," Angus told him sharply, but Robert just kept talking.

"...wands at you, simultaneously casting a cruciatus at you. All nine of them at one time. That absolutely should have killed you right then and there....Why didn't you tell me...."

"Because I was alright. I survived. It's fine..." Angus was abrupt, wanting the conversation to end.

"No! It's bloody well not fine! And it's absolutely not fine that you didn't tell me! That's not okay with me at all! Do I look happy with you? I expect better from you than that! I've seen people die from just one spell! She ordered nine to be fired at you at the same time. We should have been carting your corpse home, and you didn't think I needed to know that? What were you thinking!"

"Why? For what end? What would you have done? Kept someone around me to hover to make sure I didn't crack up?..."

"I'd have started by making sure you're truly alright. No wonder you've needed Marcus as some additional insulation between you and Suzanne. That makes infinitely more sense now. You're never going to be alone with her again if I have any say about it, and I think I actually do. Have you forgotten that I have Neville Longbottom's parents still on the fourth floor of St. Mungo's where they've been for decades, and they will both be there for the rest of their lives because of a cruciatus. Two lives stopped forever because of one. Just one cruciatus. There is no reason under heaven why you're still alive, and you don't bloody want to talk about it? Explain it to me. When we found you, you were going after all eight of her goons. How?"

"Because I knew that if I didn't fight them to make them stop, I was going to die," Angus looked at him squarely. "Now, what would you have had me do?"

"Exactly what you did, except you needed to tell me."

"Again--for what end? All I wanted was to go home to my family. I went home, we moved forward, end of story. It's a damned ugly memory that I don't like remembering, much less talking about. Why are you asking now?"

"Because I just found out now," Robert replied. "What Kate told me she was was effing horrendous. Does Ruby have even the slightest clue?"

"No. Of course not. She's just too fragile for that."

"Does Marcus know?"

"Actually, I think he has perhaps the gist of it," Angus said. "Though, perhaps not exactly."

"So, no. You ever keep something like this again from me, and my foot will be so far up your backside, you're going to need surgery to extricate it. Am I clear enough for you?"

Ruby smiled at the girls and followed them to get shoes and jewelry she knew she had enough to wear back at the duplex thanks to Angus getting her a set she would use. She watched them pick their shoes and smiled "They will go well with the dress" she said to Anise about the shoes she had chosen seeing the necklace she nodded to Ginger "that's perfect," she moved to touch the teardrop-shaped piece of peach colored coral pendant and smiled. She looked at the time and smiled " why don't we go eat and use those slips Simone gave us" she said seeing not far down was the cafe they were to eat at. " and don't worry about what you need to pick." she said "I'm not" she chuckled.

Jack sat watching the babies as he heard a knock, seeing Robert he nodded he'd heard him then the watched as he went to Angus. He stayed quiet as it seem they were having a heated discussion. Hering Robert talking he stood up " Nine!" he said "Nine cruciatus, they cast that many on you, and you still here?" he said walking over to both men "Some was looking after you that that's sure, you should be dead my freind, but I'm glad your not." he gently placed his hand on Angus's shoulder " I don't have that many friends that I can afford to lose one" he added.

"Sure. I'm hungry," Anise said.

"You're always hungry," Ginger laughed, "but I agree. Let's go find this cafe."

Angus saw Jack come over, and he listened when Jack said he was glad Angus had survived. Edward looked up from his work, tending the garden. He hadn't said a word all this time. Now he walked over to them.

"I may have an answer as to why he survived," Edward said.

"Well, do tell, because I don't have one," Robert said.

"Anise and I were along, if you recall," Edward said. "If you recall, we found our way through the tunnels because Reginald appeared to Anise and led her through. She believed he was fed up with Suzanne and her shennigans, and he wanted her stopped."

"I remember," Robert said.

"Anise told me later that his ghost was there pretty much the whole time we were there, but that isn't what I saw. I thought there was maybe of some sort in the room."

"There wasn't any smoke," Angus said. "Not unless you were smoking something."

"I'm convinced I was seeing something else. Something that wasn't registering with me at the time. Anise told me she was sure Reginald was standing between Angus and Suzanne. But that isn't where I saw the smoke. I saw the smoke on the other side of him. I think Reginald had Angus somewhat protected on one side, and some other spirit had him protected on the other. Anise later told me she smelled perfume. She couldn't describe it but Suzanne doesn't wear perfume--or at least not decent perfume. Hers, when she does wear it, is nasty. Anise said this was quite lovely. I think there was the spirit a woman there reducing some of the damage to him."

"A woman?" Angus frowned. "Who?"

"Do you not know?" Edward said. "I bet you that if I show Anise a bottle of Chanel No. 5, that will be the fragrance she smelled."

"And is that important?"

"It sure is," Edward said. "That was your grandmother's favorite. She used to get so angry with me that I went off working and that I took you along. She used to swear to me that if she died and I didn't have Angus protected, she was going to have to come back and do it herself. I used to laugh, thinking she was joking, but I honestly think that's perhaps exactly what happened. And if they hadn't stepped in, you might well not have lived to tell it. I certainly didn't know that had happened to you because you didn't see fit to even tell me but that would certainly explain for Anise and me what we saw and why."

Ruby smiled and lead them over to the cafe taking a seat in the open air she smiled as she handed them the menu " chose what you wish." she said " Im going to have the Club sandwich, Rykiel." she said " and a Nestea Peach to drink" she looked at the girls as she placed down her menu and looked to Anise.

Jack listened to Edward and chuckled "It makes sense" he said " if she was that protective of you, she would do everything to cross the veil to save you." he said then looked to Edward "Jess has spoken to me about the veil and things she sees so I kinda understand." he admited " but I will say this , she truly loved you and I for one am thankful for her keeping you safe." he added with a smile.

"I think I will have the mixed greens salad, the welsh rarebit, and a cola," Ginger said.

"There are so many good things to pick from," Anise said. "Um...I think I'll have the French bean salad and the duck shepherd's pie, with, um...a sparkling water. So hard deciding. I want one of everything." Ginger laughed.

"I bet their desserts are divine," Ginger said.

"They'd have to be, wouldn't they?"

"Well, you're right about that Jack. Caprice loved all her grandchildren, but Angus was the first, and she loved him fiercely, with everything she had. He brought her so much joy," Edward smiled. "There was something very special between Angus and Caprice that just didn't happen between Caprice and the other grandkids. If she could come back to protect anyone, there is no doubt in my mind, it would be him," Edward said.

"If she was there, I wish I'd have seen her," Angus said quietly.

"Me too," Edward smiled, "but just so you know, if you had seen her, she'd have been telling you to do exactly what you did. She'd have absolutely wanted you to fight your way out. Not one doubt in my mind."

Ruby heard them and saw a watress walk over she placed their order and smiled " I know, but not as good as sparks though, now their food is divine, I'll have to take you one day" she said smiling hinting she would be back and she would be more active with them too. But deep inside she ahd not fully decided if she truly wanted to give up fighting as she loved being next to Angus when they fought to protect loved ones.

Jack heard Edward and smiled to Angus " well I agree with Edward, you did what you needed to survive and you came out of it alive, thats what matters, but as Edward and Robert both said , please don't keep things like this from us, were your freinds and family, we could have helped you and explained sooner." he said but heard one of the boys fussing " ah my job is never over" he said and chuckled walking abck to pick up Ty to sooth him.

They tucked into their suppers, and the girls were impressed with how good it was.

"We've heard about Sparks," Anise said. "Angus said he created the first recipes for Sparks, and that he still consults with them on most of what they have on the menu there. So if Angus is part of it, it has to be good, right?"

"Definitely," Ginger said. "He told me he's going to make some cinnamon roll pancakes some morning. I have no idea what to expect with that, but I bet it'll be yummy."

"Wait. Cinnamon roll pancakes? I can't even imagine," Anise said.

"Well," Edward said. "Now that it's out, you should tell Ruby, Angus."

"I see no benefit from that whatsoever," Angus said.

"Well, is there more benefit if she hears it from someone other than you?" Edward asked.

"I think you all should just shut it and let the whole thing die off," Angus said.

"The point is that you cannot have things like this happen and not tell us because it tells us to what extent our enemies are willing to go," Robert said. "I expect you to tell me. Period, full stop."

"Oh, fine," Angus said.

"You lot come inside for supper," Simone called from the deck door. "Soup and sandwiches are ready."

"I'm going to go back to the main house for my own supper," Robert said, getting up. "I'll see you all later." He apparated back to the house.

"Come on, Lad. Let's go eat," Edward smiled, The two of them went inside for Simone's homemade beef vegetable soup, hot shredded ham and cheese sandwiches, and her apple dumplings.

Ruby smiled as she tucked into her food and listened to the girls " he did and he does, but I agree it is wonderful there." she told them " I've only been once with Angus, it was kinda a date " she said smiling at the meory of them sat talking and laughing in sparks. She heard about the cinnamon roll pancakes and chuckled you'rer in for a treat, they are heavenly" she said as shefinished herr sandwich and drink.

Jack looked out at Edward and Angus still on the deck and sighed knowing he would not tell Ruby about what had happened to him but in a way he could not blame him , even he had not told Jess about what James had done to him until she insisted, and only then had he broken down and told her. Hearing Simone he smiled as he saw them walk into the house placing down a clean and fresh ty he chuckled " it all sounds delishious Simone" he said as he saw Jessie walking back from his patrol.

"I heard Robert created some sort of conjured something or other," Ginger said. "Michael mentioned it to me."

"Oh, Angus told me about that. Some sort of light show or something. Did it for the kids initially and now adults like it too," Anise said. She looked at Ruby. "We definitely need to go. Maybe we should go to Sparks for dessert instead of having dessert here tonight."

"No, no. if we go to Sparks, I want to go have a whole meal, not just dessert," Ginger said.

"So, we'll eat again," Anise teased. Ginger laughed.

"So we won't fit into those new dresses, huh? I see how you think," Ginger said.

"Come tuck in," Simone told them, setting generously large bowls of soup at each place on the table, along with a large platter of scrumptious looking sandwiches in the center of the table. She also had a large pitcher of iced tea set out."

"The soup smells wonderful," Edward said, as he and Angus joined the others at the table. The soup was thick and hearty and the vegetables were in large chunks, like stew, with large pieces of lean, flavorful beef that reminded Angus of a stew beef. It was delicious.

"This is marvelous," Angus told her.

"When my kids were little, I made this one night and then a couple nights later, I would serve it over noodles. That was their favorite way to have it," she said.

Ruby chuckled at their banter and smiled " we'll go theres plenty of time and yes it was actually Abbys idea, she with Angus made a specia desert that lit up and sparkled for the youngsters but it was a hit with adults too" she said smiling " and don't worry you will get to go, we could go once I back from Jefferys as a celebration of completing my treatment." she said smiing to them both then chukled as Ginger spoke of not being able to get into their dresses " oh that would not do " she said and laughed.

Jack moved over to simone and took some food " thank Simone, it smells wonderful" he said and sat down to eat close to the babies " I'll ask Jess how their mothers doinf when I head back once Jessie gets here." he said as he ate his food. Jessie entered clean and washed after his patrol and headed over to the moses basket to chek the babies breathing out as he saw they were sleeping again.