A Birth day

Jessie nodded to Angus " I'll remeber and thank you Angus" he said " best get that shoulder looked at" he said as he saw Angus head to the duplex. Jessie cradled the boy in his arms as he watched Sam place the clothes on the coffee table next to him " Sam the spare room is empty its his room, I'll order a bed for him but would you mind chosing it, I'll pay for it." he asked him " he can stay with me until it arrives"

Jack smiled and looked at Jessie " I think we have one of our kids old beds in the loft, if Im right its still in good condition and...its a dino too it was Alex's bed when he was younger Im sure he dosn't care about it now." Jack said and smiled " I'll fetch it from the attic, it will do for now" he said and smiled,

"Sure," Sam said. "I'll check out some things and let you know." He noticed Cris was looking around for something.

"Cris?" Sam called.

"Baie?" Cris asked Sam. "Baie?"

"Oh," Edward said. "Baie means bathroom in Romanian. Somebody needs to show him around so he knows where things are. You should probably show him the bathroom first. I think he'll understand some charades if you just motion to him to come with you. Shall we presume that Yulong will cook supper for you all tonight? I know Yulong knows Chinese food, but this is a lad who has never had it. A little comfort food would be lovely for him. If he does not know that many dishes, I know Angus does since he and I spent a lot of summers in Romania while he was growing up. I'm sure he could fix something that a Romanian kid would find familiar. Just let us know."

Marcus arrived back at Angus's, and he explained how Khaat had provided some essential healing that had helped to save Sergio's son's life. She was in good hands now that Brian was home, and that left Mar4rcus safe to come back. Victor told Marcus how Cris had taken out his pain and anger on Angus, and that Angus's shoulder was hurting. Marcus immediately got out the magic wrap and fit it only Angus shoulder and then added some pain potion to his tea. And as he was doing that Simone came over with Caprice who was cranky--again.

"What's up with her?" Angus asked.

"Oh, she's hit a very normal stage. She's afraid she's going to miss something, so she does not want to nap. She wants to be bloody entertained all the time, and she is finding out that different foods taste good, so she is starting to be picky about what she does and doesn't feel like eating."

"Oh, lovely. I thought we had another month before the Monster stage hit."

"Yeah, not so much," Simone laughed. "She's ahead of schedule, remember?"

"What's that mean?" Victor asked.

"It means I'm not going to get any sleep until she's about five and ready to start kindergarten," Angus sighed.

Jessie looked at Sam and nodded " That would be great Im sure Yu will learn some dishes but for tonight it would be good for Cris to have foods he knows" he said " I'll get Yu to pop around and get some recipies." he said as he stood up and walked to open a door . Smiling at Cris he motioned to him it was the bathroom and smiled as he walked in then a few moments later walked out. Jessie held hot his hand for Cris to take and walked him to another door opening it he pointed to the room then to Cris who he saw looked in and smiled and pointed to himself and Jessie nodded.

"Sam," Edward said, "go see Nicky and see if he'll send over some juice boxes, some little 8 ounce bottles of water, some individually portioned packages of healthy snacks, that sort of thing. This house is not kid friendly in the least. See what Nicky can package up for us, will you?"

"Sure," Sam said, leaving and heading to the main house.

"Now, I'll go see Angus about supper," Edward said. He went over to the duplex and talked with Angus about a familiar meal for Cris. Angus couldn't argue with Edward's logic, and Simone volunteered to help if Edward took Caprice for awhile.

Angus decided to make some Romanian meatballs and make them into sandwiches, topping them with a very traditional roasted red pepper and eggplant dip that was normally used to dip bread into. Angus decided to use it as a sandwich condiment instead. He made a Romanian potato salad, and some very quick Romanian pickles, a Romanian cabbage salad, and then, for dessert, he made some apples in pajamas, knowing how much most Romanian kids he knew loved the apples in pajamas.

Nicky filled a basket with some small water bottles, some juice boxes, some little boxes of raisins, fruit leathers, some whole wheat savory biscuits, and some other things. He had included a small plastic water bottle that Molly didn't use, and Kate cast a very quick spell to change the color on it. Not knowing what Cris liked, she changed the water bottle to a tropical blue with images of colorful tropical fish on it. She found a rather small cup in the cabinet that held a maximum of eight ounces, which was normally entirely too small for the coffee drinkers at the estate, so she turned it red and put pictures of all sorts of friendly magical creatures on it.

Sam took the basket with all the snacks and the cups over to Jessie's, and Simone helped Angus package up supper for Jessie, Yulong, and Cris. Then, they sent Edward to deliver it. Edward took the big basket over and knocked and then let himself in and set the supper basket on the counter.

By then, the duplex was smelling phenomenal, and his own kids were getting very, very hungry.

Jessie sat with Cris as he lay against him it was now he heard a knock on the door and he gently lay Cris on the couch and walked over to it " hey Edward smells wonderful" he said and looked at the basket that Edward had unpacked he motioned to Cris that it was food and drink and it was for him as was the water bottle. He saw the smile on the boys face as he handed the bottle to him.

Jack returned with large box on his shoulder "Hello, I found it, I'll set it up in the spare room" he said " I also found some dino sheets too" he chuckled as he placed the box in the spare room and set about putting it together. Jessie chuckled and looked at Cris as he filled the bottle with juice, handed it to him, and made the drink motion. But he could tell by the look on Cris's face he recognised the food.

Jack finished the bed and made it up for Cirs with dino bedding and sheets he opened the door and motioned for him to take a look. Jessie followed behind and smiled as he saw the bed he motioned once mor ethat it was for him to use.

After Cris had eaten and had seen his room, Edward showed Cris all the new clothes. The boy's face lit up when he saw the dino pajamas and the dino tee shirt. Edward sat down with him and asked Cris some simple questions, like what sorts of toys and books he liked, what did he like to do for fun, and, was there anything he wanted or needed that he did not have.

"Broasca mea — broasca mea verde. Numele lui este Pickle," Cris said.

"Pickle?" Edward laughed.

"L-am primit anul trecut când eram încă un copil," Cris shrugged. Edward nodded.

"Unde a fost el?" Edward asked.

"In camera mea," Cris said, sniffling, his eyes filling up. Edward gave him a reassuring hug, and he reached over to the table and handed him one of the apples in pajamas. He stood up.

"I have a mission of mercy to go ask Michael about," Edward told Jessie. "He misses his friend called Pickle. I'll see if we can't go back and find him for him, but I make no promises."

Jessie watched Edward with Cris and heard him talking the become alittel upset and he gently rubbed the boys back as he looekd to Edward then nodded " all right" he said " but what or who is pckles?" he asked thinking it might be a favorate stuffed toy not that it would bother him if it was an annimal ether. It was now Yu came into the cabin and smiled to Cris.

"Bună Cris, mă numesc Yu" he said and looked to Edward " I know some but not a lot" he said " I went on a mssion there an while ago." he moved to sit facing him.

"Pickle is a frog," Edward said. "He said he's had pickle since he was a baby--last year. Anyway, I don't know if we can find him but if anyone can, Michael can. I think you lot can handle it from here. I would expect Robert to be over shortly anyway." Edward left to try to see if Michael was staying at the main house or in Hogsmeade.

"Buna," Cris said to Yulong.

Robert and Nigel arrived only a few minutes later, knocking on the door and then letting himself in, and Robert had his bag with him.

"Ah, so this is Cris," Robert said.

"He looks like he is in remarkably good shape for being on his own for so long," Nigel said.

"May I?" Robert said. "I'll try not to take long. Buna, Cris. I'm Robert, and I'm a healer. Can I see you for just a moment, please?" Cris nodded. Robert laid his hand on Cris to do a quick assessment. He pointed to Cris's leg, and Cris nodded. Robert pulled up his trouser leg and looked at Cris's calf.

"There it is," Robert told Nigel. "There's the scar. That was some bite. He's lucky he didn't lose the function in his leg. Someone treated it for him, but they didn't do the best job of it. I could perhaps work on reducing some of the scarring for him over time, but that's not the first concern. He's a little underweight, definitely dehydrated, and his nutrition is all buggared. We can add some special foods for him to perk him up."

"Is there any doubt in your mind about whether he's been turned or not?" Nigel asked.

"Oh, none whatsoever. I can feel it. It's relatively recent too, within the last two or three months, I'd wager," Robert said. He spoke with Cris about being a werewolf, and, since he had had some experience in explaining it to children, Cris seemed to absorb it and understand it well. Robert had a knack for telling children in a way that was not so frightening. Cris did talk with him openly about how his family had acted so afraid of him recently, and Robert reassured him that was not necessary. He tried to explain that not everyone was educated enough about being a werewolf, so they just didn't understand. Cris seemed to understand that. He explained to Cris that Jessie was a werewolf too, just like Cris. Cris looked at Jessie, wide eyed for a moment, and then he asked Robert if Yu was a werewolf, and Robert said no, but that there were a couple other werewolves living here that he could meet. Then he poured a dose of wolfsbane into a cup and managed to get Cris through it. It was always so traumatizing for a child to drink it the first time because it tasted so bad, but Robert was able to get him through it by putting Cris on his lap and just being quiet, calm and steady about it. When it was gone, Robert praised him and gave him a hug. Then he opened his bag and got out a jar and a spoon and explained he had brought a treat for him. He opened the jar and handed it to Cris with the spoon. Cris took a spoonful out and ate it, and he was suddenly all smiles.

"That should help him not hate it so much," Robert laughed.

"What is it?"

"It is a puree of fresh strawberries with some vitamins mixed in to give him a little boost of nutrition. I'm also going to leave a little dreamless sleep potion for him, Jessie. He might very well need it tonight. It's been a bloody awful day for him. This fruit I gave him won't hurt him a bit, and I could have the kitchen make some up in some different fruit flavors for him. You could give him some perhaps midmorning and mid afternoon as a snack, and that would boost him both nutritionally and would boost his fluids. He seems to think its a dessert anyway. He doesnt need to know its actually good for him."

Jessie and Yu watched as Nigel and Robert checked over Cris and listened to them talking. Jessie nodded to Cris as did Yu who smiled at him. Both watched as Cris too the wolfsbane , it even made Jessie pull aface as he remebered his firt time tasting it. " thats a flavour you never forget ony get use to it" he said and shivered but smiled seeing the spoon of jam like food he gave Cris " thats a good thing for him to think of it." Jessie said as Yu moved to the kitchen taking a peice of paper he enlarged it and pinned it to the fridge writing what Robert had instructed on it.

"if I don't do it now he'll forget" he said as Jessie sat looking stunned " don't deny it" Yu said softly to him and he chuckled nodding.

" yeah, need to fix that habit" he said and smiled to Cris . " Jack brought a bed for him and we cleaned out the spare room for him." Jessie said as Yu opened the door to show them the dino bed and bedding.

"I forgot to tell you that the puree is frozen so that it's slushy and a little crunchy," Robert said. "He seems to think of it like an ice cream or a sorbet, and he's not all that far off. It could be done with any fruit, really. Here's the sleeping potion. Best to tuck him actually into bed with a cup of warm milk or something. He might like what my gran used to fix us. It was a cup of warm milk with some honey, a wee drop of vanilla and just a pinch of cinnamon. It was quite lovely, really. Remus used to make it for Khaat when she was small. When she was little, she was afraid of thunderstorms, and it was just the ticket to help her go to sleep." Cris tugged on Robert's sleeve, and Robert looked at him.

"Ești bunic?" Cris asked. Robert laughed and tossled the boy's hair fondly.

"De fapt, da, sunt. Cum ai știut?" Robert asked.

"Arăți ca unul. Cum te numesc copiii?

"Papa," Robert smiled.

"Atunci o să-ți spun și eu tată."

"Okay," Robert nodded, and Cris smiled. He looked at Jessie and pointed to Robert.

"Papa," he said to Jessie, nodding.

"He's decided to call me Papa because I'm a grandfather," Robert laughed.