A Birth day

Marcus had tried hard not to laugh when it seemed the only part of Angus that was capable of movement was one hand. He watched as Ruby soothed him back to sleep with just a couple words.

"He looked to me like he was thinking, 'It's here somewhere,' " Marcus laughed, getting up. He went over to the counter and got a couple owl treats and fed the bird. "He's got really funky looking feathers," Marcus said. "Kate really should probably see this poor buggar." Ginger got up, and Anise was quick to help her. They went over to the bird, and Ginger looked.

"He's old," Ginger said. "I don't know how I know. But he's really old. And he's tired. He worked really hard to bring those all this way." Marcus went to try to pick up the bird, and it snapped at him. Ginger stroked the bird for a moment, and then she was able to pick up the bird and hand him to Marcus. "He'll be fine with you now."

"Thank you. Ruby, I'll be straight back," Marcus said. Anise helped Ginger back to the table, and when Ruby gave them the photo albums, both girls were excited.

"A photo album?" Anise echoed, wanting to get the terms right. Wait til we can write to Mom and tell her about these."

"We have lots to tell her," Ginger smiled.

"Maybe she'll send pictures," Anise said hopefully.

"I want to learn everything there is to learn," Ginger told Ruby.

"Well, yeah, but I want to know the important things first--like that slashing and bashing thing Angus does. Oh--and like I've seen in the muggle movies--how to go fight in a pub and break furniture and things..."

"When did you ever see a muggle movie?" Ginger frowned.

"Never mind," Anise said. "But those pub fights look fun. Oh, and I want to climb a mountain right up to the top. I want to do the important things like that first, and then maybe i'll have time for other things, like cooking and stuff." Ginger shook her head.

"Your priorities. They're just all screwed up," Ginger replied.

Ruby chuckled to Marcus's words then listened to the girls and chuckled "Wow slow down there Anise, those things will come in time but first try being just a girl, and these are a book to place the photos in. "She accioed one she knew had her photos in and opened to show them " see?" she said and showed Anise a black and white photo of Jessie as a baby in a brown leather photo album that was worn on its courners. "Thats Jessie, he was a chubby baby," she said and chuckled as she turned the page to show a young girl holding Jessie " That's me and Jessie before the boys were born."

She smiled and kept flipping the pages to show her the different pictures of Jessie and her playing then ones of the twins in their buggy out in the sun with a small dog under the pram."That's scruff, he went missing not long after that photo was taken." she looked to Finn and smiled "so your not my first dog but you are loved just as much" she turned a page and showed them a small ticket stub " this I got on my first train ride to the ministry, after I left home" she said " so you see they can be used to keep things you want to keep and remember later." she placed her's down on the table infront of her. " and yes I have one for Caprice too" she accioed a small pink ablum with a pink ribbon and a picture of Caprice on inside she showed them a photo of Caprice new born wrapped and held in Angus's hands ." I don't think he knows I took that." she smiled rembering that day.

The girls got a laugh from seeing Jessie's baby picture, and they sat and eagerly looked at pictures with her from the large album and from Caprice's baby album.

"Have you seen a picture of his grandmother?" Anise asked Ruby. "Edward showed me where Angus keeps his pictures." She went to the bookcase and got out a book and opened it. It was a book that he had hollowed out and had put his pictures in. The hollowed out book was one he had made when he was a kid, and he had just kept it. Anise brought the book and looked through the photos until she found the photo of the stunningly beautiful young blonde woman with the translucent skin, blue eyes, and dazzling smile. She laid it out on the table so Ruby could see it.

"That's the original Caprice. I think there are parts of you that look like her, and I think the baby looks like her too. Oh, and here she is with Edward on their wedding day." She laid out another photo with the first one. "She looks so happy with Edward." Marcus came back without the bird.

"He is in Kate's very capable hands," Marcus said. He glanced over and saw Angus starting to stir. He wasn't settled. He heard Angus call for him, and Marcus went over. "What can I do for you?" Marcus asked.

"Water?" Angus asked.

"Sure," Marcus replied. "There's a supper plate for you..." Angus started to shake his head no. "I think you should try just a bite or two. I know you'll like it." Knowing Nigel had wanted Angus to try some food, he looked at Ruby and nodded as a bit of silent encouragement to bring his plate and maybe something to drink.

"I need to move. I'm stiff and achy from just lying here," Angus told Marcus. Marcus looked at Jess.

"Maybe a bit of a light massage after his supper if we don't jostle him around too much? I don't know. This is your forte, not mine,' Marcus asked Jess.

Ruby smiled seeing the photo of the original Caprice " she looks absolutly beautiful" she said smiling as she looked at it more "well they were in love " she said smiling as she saw Marcus walk back in with out the owl " thats good" she said and went back to looking at the photos.

Jess looked up from her book and listened to Angus "Of course we could raise the head of the bed up a little, but I agree a little massage won't harm him." she said smiling then looked at Angus " I think first we sit him up a little bit more so he can eat, then once hes finished, he could enjoy the massage with a newspaper paper to read after, how does that sound?" she asked Angus moving to write in his notes his requests.

"Sounds fine," Angus replied to her. Marcus raised the head of Angus's bed just a bit and then fetched Angus's supper and reheated it and then settled in to give Angus a little food, very slowly, not rushing him. Angus hadn't believed he was hungry, but Marcus was exceptionally patient. He had had a difficult surgery once himself, and in his case, it was a woman that he had been seeing at that time who had coached him through. It had definitely not been Evelyn--his estranged wife. Regardless, he knew how rough the day of surgery could be, so he knew to be patient with Angus. When Angus had had about half of his supper, he was full and couldn't eat any more.  Marcus didn't push but gave him some sips of iced tea.

While Angus was eating, Andrew helped Ginger downstairs to her room and helped her change into her pajamas and into bed where she thought she would read for a bit. Anise showered and got into her pajamas and then went to read with her sister.

"What time is it?" Angus asked.

"About half past nine," Marcus replied. That meant, to Angus, that it was going to be time to try to sleep, and Angus dreaded the night because of how Suzanne disturbed him every single night. He was hoping to avoid that somehow, just for one bloody night. Now restless, he glanced around and then saw the envelopes on the bed. He picked them up and saw Sam and Victor's handwriting.

"Shall I open those for you?" Marcus offered.

"Please?" Angus asked. Marcus opened the envelopes and got out the letters and handed them back to Angus. Angus read the letters and heard the huge anxiety both boys were feeling, but especially Sam. Edward had told them about the surgery, and their need for family, their need to be close, was pulling at them, pulling them home. And they were so close, so close to finishing at Hogwarts. Angus wanted them to stay and finish. There was no emergency for them to rush home. There was actually not much they could do even if they did come home.

"I have to write to them. I have to answer them," Angus sighed. "They need to just focus on studying for their NEWTS and finish this up

"In the morning," Marcus said, taking the letters and floating them over to Ruby. "You have enough to deal with just dealing with your own recovery tonight. If you get a good night's sleep, you might feel better in the morning. I don't think it's a good idea to do that any more tonight. Ruby could answer for both of you, or I could certainly be your scribe and write whatever you want to say. Tonight, though, let's deal with all those body aches so you can sleep...."

"I am not interested in in sleeping..."

"Mate, there's something you need to know. Robert and Kate know exactly what your nightmare was that frightened you so badly. You were so defensive, especially right after your surgery, that Robert took it upon himself to take a thought stream from you about that nightmare. To say that he and Kate were outraged was a gross understatement. Kate has cast some spells and has removed Reginald from you, from this house, and from the entire property and she has placed protections to keep him from coming back. Then she and Robert and Michael and Simone went to Paris this afternoon, with the sole intent of burning down the Gelding family mansion because Gelding has violated the agreement he had with you. According to Robert, he didn't know Suzanne was doing more crap at home, and he promised to try to get her under control."

"They set the house on fire?" Angus frowned, as Marcus started to work on a massage to help Angus loosen up his achy muscles, being careful not to uproot Angus's shoulder.

"Robert takes it very personally when someone messes with one of us," Marcus told Angus. "We are the family to him that he and Remus were always stripped of because of Remus's curse. He's going to protect that with everything he has, knows, and is capable of."

"I should be furious with him, but I'm not," Angus sighed.

"He's got a nighttime pain potion for you that probably has a dreamless sleep component in it, so I think you'll probably be alright tonight. Besides, he's insisting there will be an awake healer with you tonight."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because the surgery you had was a complete shoulder reconstruction. I've seen guys that have had this done, and I've never, ever seen anyone be discharged the same day--until you. By rights, you should still be at St. Mungos' for another three to five days. So you might have to put up with people hovering for a bit."

"He brought me home because of Reginald, didn't he?"

"Well, yes. That and Suzanne. He did not believe you were safe to be there. The security here is vastly better here than there, so he believed that, given the resources we already have here, that it was worth the risk to bring you home. So Jess is staying the night shift, and either Nigel or Robert will likely relieve her in the morning."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You need to sleep too."

"Don't you worry one moment about me. I have David's room for now, and when I get tired, I'll use it."

Ruby watched as Marcus fed Angus then began some massage she saw the leters float over to her and nodded to Marcus " I will reply to them imidiatly" she said and placed down the photos to go to Angus's office beside the kitchen. Sitting down she wrote two leters telling both boys that he was fine, home and safe and that they should stay and finish school, she aslso reasured them if anything bad happened they would be first to know. Finishing the letters she place them into their envalopes and walked back to the living room hearing Angus ask about Marcus . " he also has the sofabed if he wants to stay closer ." she said placing her hand lightly on Marcus's shoulder showing she trusted him too and smiled " I have the letters for the boys" she said and showed him two envalopes. " I told them to stay in schol and I would let them know how your doing, you think Pip could take them to Hogwarts?"

Jess watched and smiled standing she moved to Angus and touched his hand gently then smiled " looking good" she said picking up his notes again and writing everything down that she had found which was little since he was to her stabalised and slowly improving.

"Thanks for taking care of that, Ru. That's exactly what they need to do. There's no point in them coming home now. I wouldn't send Pip for that. I'd send Archangel instead," Angus told her. "I think Pip is just too small to make that distance, but he's great for quick courier jobs around here and maybe from the estate to Robert's farm. For long distances, though, you need a bigger, stronger flyer, and that would be either Archangel or that snarky old owl of mine, Luigi. The Gryffindor headmaster knows Archangel because Khaat and Professor Wilson have been close friends for years. My thought is that by using Archangel, you add some validity to the letters that they really are from us. He'll fly to Wilson's window and drop the letters off there."

"I hadn't thought of the sofabed, but that's a good thought too, Ruby. Oh, and speaking of Pip," Marcus said. "There was a bit of conversation between the girls that I heard earlier. it seems Ginger is able to hear and understand owlsong. She seemed like she had some basic understanding of Pip too. I'm wondering if Anise has seers abilities and Ginger has some ability to understand birds of prey like Kate. It might be something to mention to Kate and see what she thinks."

"That's a good thought," Angus said. "Ru, just a thought, but I wonder if we ought to send the girls to Colorado to train when we send the boys. I mean, I'm glad they have some training with Fenrir under their belt, but I want them to have more than that. Anise actually has far better skills already than the boys, and I don't want Ginger to not be ale to defend herself. So, maybe we should send them all together. It might be worth considering and maybe asking Robert about."

Angus noticed the aching was considerably less now because of Marcus's efforts.

"That is world's better. Thank you," Angus said. "Can't be much excitement in this for you, Jess. Paid to just sit and eyeball me all night."

"She deserves an easy night once in awhile. I'm sure she doesn't get many of those," Marcus smiled. "Since you're in good hands, I'm going to take a moment to shower, if you'll be alright for that long?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks," Angus said. Marcus went upstairs to shower, and Angus leaned back, closing his eyes. This was not how this day was supposed to go. He had had other plans for this week, and being laid up in bed for the better part of a week had not been any part of it. He actually did have some pressing estate financial matters he had to attend to, things that weren't going to wait for a week or two. He made a mental note to talk to Robert. Robert just had to get him on his feet--by tomorrow. "Why don't you go get comfortable, Ru, while the baby's quiet? You're going to need to turn in soon if you're going to Paris in the morning anyway."

Ruby handed the letters to Marcus and nodded " good idea, hes way stronger" she said then looked at Angus as he spoke about Anise and Ginger " well if Ginger is up for it and on her feet properly I don't have any objections to it" she said " but we should set rules while there both here" she said remebering that Anise had a thing for Sam " not that I think they would do anything wrong" she said then nodded when he spoke about talking to Robert " if I see him in the morning I'll bring it up, I think hes runnng with Anise again tomorrow so I'll run with them to." Ruby sat back down next to Caprice and nodded and looked to Jess who just nodded hers and Ruby smiled , kissing Angus she moved to the stairs " I won't be long" she said heading up to shower and change.

Jess chuckled at Angus's words " Its fine , for tonight hes my patient so its all good but yes your right , one night being here is a peice of cake compared to St Mungos magical acident department." she said and chuckled " and Angus I do not mind one bit, your like a brother to me and Jack so , all's good" she said then watched as Angus settled " by the way stop worrying I'll mention to Robert about those finachial matters and I'll mention to Kate about talking to Ginger, she could test her and see if she is a seer" Jess told him hoping to relive some of the axiety she felt coming from him.

"Don't underestimate the fact that, regardless that we think they're all good kids, the fact remains the girls were raised to think they were animals and that werewolves are superior to humans," Angus pointed out. "I'm not fool enough to believe that they have the same morals that we do about certain things. Animals start to mate as soon as they reach biological maturity, not chronological age. I wouldn't be surprised at what they might have already experienced before we got them. Nor am I fool enough to believe that men the boys' age can keep the testosterone under control without some sort of parental guidance. The fact is that we can set all the rules we want but we still need to try to guide them to make wise choices."

He listened to Jess, and he was glad that she wasn't having an issue with staying the night.

"My concern about the finances is that they're due three days, from now--at the end of the week, and it takes 2 days of solid paperwork to do them because the holdings are so extensive, between here, Colorado, the farm, and the Paris base. I had intended to start this month's bookwork today, and, well, that obviously didn't happen, so now I'm behind. I know Michael did the kitchen bookwork while i was out on medical leave last year, but I think Robert and Brian and Kieran did the rest of the estate work. I hate to ask them to pick up the slack for me again, especially if I'm capable of it. I know Robert entirely too well, though. I'm going to try to go over to the office, and he and Nigel are going to blow a gasket about it. I suppose I could accio the books over here, but I dont' think that will make them any happier."

"What are we accio'ing?" Marcus asked, coming back downstairs.

"The account books so I can do the monthly finances for the estate, the farm, Colorado, and Paris," Angus replied. Marcus laughed out loud.

"You don't seriously think that's on your agenda, do you?" he asked. "You are barely twelve hours out of a massive, major surgery. He's not going to let you do anything of the kind. Do you want him shaking the walls of every building on this estate again?"

"What?" Angus frowned. He hadn't been awake for the temper tantrum Robert had had earlier.

"Never mind," Marcus said. "Jess is entirely right. Robert will find someone else, I'm quite certain. You need to just wind down a little, my friend. Everything really will be quite alright. And, Jess, ask Kate to assess her to see if she has the ability to talk to birds of prey. I don't think she's a seer, but I think she might be able to talk to owls and such." As Marcus was speaking, Angus tried to shift his position a little but his shoulder wasn't having it. The pain ripped through his shoulder, up his neck and down his arm, his back and his chest. "You might not want to do that again," Marcus said, going to him. "What are you trying to do?"

"I just need to shift a wee bit."

"Fine, but let someone else do the work, would you?" Marcus said. "I see his issue. He's a bit slumped on his bad side, and I think he'd like the pressure off that surgery site. Could you give me a hand, and we'll gently straighten him up? Have you had your sleeping potion yet?"

"Not yet," Angus said.

"You waiting on Christmas? We'll get it so you can take it," Marcus said. "Jess, doesn't want to hear you blabbering at her on her nice quiet shift all night." He flashed an amused grin at Angus to show he was teasing.

Jess listened to Angus then looked to Marcus " thats nothing some one else couldn't do" she said " besides you've had magor surgery " she told him after he finished talking about the girls " that might be true but they also want to know what it is to be a normal human too, like Jack and Jessie" she told him but it was now she heard him wince and stood up just as Marcus went to check him. " of course " she said moving to stand to one side so she could hold him up or move the pillows so to more suport his shoulder.

Ruby returned now in a pait of light beige slacks and a white button down on her feet were slipp on slippers and her hair was up in a pnytail. She saw them move Angus and moved to watch so she could grab anything they needed.