A Birth day

Ruby smiled hearing Claire talk to Marcus when she said they were proud of him Ruby nodded " as we all are" she said then let her continue to talk to him then to Angus as she looekd at her she chucked and nodded "I will even though there just big boys, I see Marcus like my brother and don't worry I will." she said with a smile as she took Angus's hand in her own. Watching her leave she sighed and smiled " she cares about you a lot " she said to Angus as Clair gave them the fudge for Michael.

When they were told to go home and rest Ruby looked to Marcus and Angus " I second that idea" she said as Jack moved to stand next to them. Ruby took Angus hand in her own. " I'll take Angus Jack you take Marcus" she said and Jack placed his hand on Marcus shoulder .

"come on mate time to go home" he said and aperated them both out. Ruby chuckled and looked at Angus .

"you ready to head home?" she asked as she then stepped cloer to him and gently kissed him as she aperated them to the main room of the duplex seemlessly.

"Absolutely," Angus told her, wanting to just get home far more than she probably knew. When they arrived in the living room, Angus was relieved to have this day pretty much over. He didn't see the kids at all, and he heard heard the clock chime once. He looked and saw it was half past ten. Marcus arrived at the same time, and he seemed as glad to get back as Angus was.

"Thanks, Jack," Marcus said. "And thanks for all the help. I appreciate it. it isn't everyone who would put up with a nutbag like Evelyn. She wasn't always ill, but she has gotten more extreme over the years. Truth be told, I only loved her for a couple of years, and her bizarre behavior was such a turn off that, I just couldn't deal with her. Early on, I told myself I had to stay with her because we had the twins by then, but it just got worse. Then, years later, when she left the kids alone for a couple of days, that was my breaking point. It should have happened before that, but I believed all kids should have two parents. Clearly, I was wrong about a lot of things in my situation. Anyway, the kids want her gone, and I think they've been more insightful about it than I've been. I'll talk to Robert tomorrow."

"Edward and Simone have Caprice,' Angus told Ruby. "I'm sure they've got her in bed over on their side by now. You can bring her back if you like, or you can let her sleep. Whatever you..."

"Oh, you're back," Edward said, coming in from his side, and he had Evan with him. When Edward and Evan said Angus and Marcus's clothes covered in blood, they both frowned.

"What the hell happened?" Evan asked, coming over to Angus. Edward inspected Marcus's face, saw that someone had tended it, and came over to Angus. "Who the hell split open your face, Bro?"

"My wife," Marcus said to Evan.

"In all fairness, she had two switchblades,' Angus said.

"And what did you take to a knife fight?"

"My impeccable style of dressing and my dazzling smile," Angus teased. "Ruby rescued me, though. She clocked her with a steel planter."

"Oh, well done, Ruby," Edward said. "That's gonna leave a huge scar, Son."

"Robert said he'd get rid of it," Angus said.

"Who the hell goes unarmed into a fight with someone with two switchblades?" Evan scowled disapprovingly.

"Your brother, clearly," Edward said. "Trust me, he's had far, far worse. This is nothing for these two."

"Well, obviously, it was good for you both that Ruby was able to come to your rescue," Evan said. I might need to buy him a knife."

"Oh, he's got all kinds of them," Edward said. "Doesn't do him any good if he doesn't take them along, though."

"Idiot," Evan frowned at Angus

Ruby smiled as she looked around the duplex finding it none the worse for her time away. she watched as Marcus and Jack apeared too Jack chuckled and placed his hand on Marcus shoulder " hey its what good freinds do for each other, don't sweat it" he sid then chukled again " hey you did and are doing the right thing mate" he said Ruby turned to see Edwrad and Evan walk in to their side of the duplex.

leave caprice with them for tonight , don't want to disterb her" she whispered to Angus. Hearing Angus speack of her clocking Evelyn she chuckled out loud "who'd have guessed she had such a hard nut, no lasting damage more the pity, but shes where she should be" Ruby said the chuckled " well, now you know what angus would take to a knife fight, his impeccable style of dressing and his dazzling smile." she said making even Jack chuckle.

"Tell me he uses more sense than that," Evan said to Edward.

"Well, sometimes," Edward laughed, teasing.

"Where are the kids?" Angus asked.

"Yours are in bed. They didn't go to town after all. They all stayed here and they got into a rousing game of water volleyball in the pool with some of the adults here. They played hard, all of them, and they were all completely worn out," Edward said. Tara took Evie and Faith home, and your kids went to bed. We've got Caprice, but..."

"If she's asleep, just let her sleep," Angus told Edward.

"She is. She had a snack and dozed straight off," Edward said.

"And since everyone is back home and in one relative piece, I think I should be getting back to my wife and kids too," Evan said. "Ruby, I think it's a good thing your back--especially if he is determined to go out unarmed. Give a shout if I can help with anything. Goodnight, All." He drew his wand and apparated out.

"I'm going to head over to my place. A shower and some clean clothes would make the boys look far less terrifying, though. Just my opinion," Edward said, giving them an amused smile. "Goodnight, All." He went back to his side.

"I think a shower sounds fabulous," Angus said to Ruby. "Give me five minutes to not be disgusting." He gave her a smile and went upstairs.

Ruby smiled at Edward's teasing, she looked to Angus as he said to leave Caprice where she was " I agree no need to disrupt her if shes comfortable. " she agreed with Angus then chuckled then heard Evan " Thank you Evan and I will , you sleep well " she said smiling to him a she watched him leave to had to his room.

Jack said his good night and headed to the main house as she stood and heard Edward say he was going to go shower too she smiled then head Angus " all right, you go shower and take your time, I'll make some tea for us and see what I can make for our supper" she added smiling before she kissed his cheek and walked to the kitchen.

"He's got some leftover flat iron steak, some grilled vegetables from the supper he fed the kids earlier," Marcus said to Ruby. "And for dessert he grilled some slices of pound cake, grilled some peaches and plums and spooned them over the cake, added some vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of warm honey. It really was very good. There may be some leftovers of all of it in the fridge if that suits you. I don't think there are many other leftovers because the kids have been at them--for breakfast before work, for snacks, and for packing their own lunches. You might have to resort to cooking something up. I'll go do a check on the windows and doors and then head to the shower myself."

Angus felt worlds better once he was in fresh clothes. He simply chose a pair of pajama bottoms since it was so late, and he checked on the boys, found them both in a deep sleep in their room, and then Angus came back downstairs.

"Evan and I spent some time together this afternoon, and I gave Evan his first taste of Mexican style beer. In Mexico, they serve it icy cold, with fresh lime, so that's what I did with some of Edward's Italian beer. Now he's decided he really likes it. I think I started something," he told Ruby. "Evan has some really good ideas about events for our family week--things for the kids like a frog jumping contest, a three legged race, and some other things. I think he and Tara and the girls are really looking forward to it and hoping to get some sense of a strong, big family connection where they can feel like they belong. Donohues might have a big family, but as for any sort of strong family connection? You know. It depends on who you are. Evan likes what we have here, the same way Edward likes it. We gotta figure out how we're gonna house all the people who are coming for a week. I think actually, we need to just rent some caravans for the week for everyone. You have any other ideas?"

Ruby looked up from putting on the kettle and smiled as Marcus rattled off food options " it all sounds delishious" she said, digging out the food and laying it out on the table so they could eat before settling down for the rest of the night. She listeed to him say he was headed for a shower too and she nodded "okay , go , I'll have something ready" she said with a chuckle as she found the food in the walkin and made it float to the table and place its self down.

Hearing Angus return she smiled as he spoke of mexican beer and Evan."so hes not such a light weight then?" she asked carrying some plates over to the table and setting them down as she listened " they sound great ideas for the kids, just don't expect me to do the three legged with you dear" she said and chuckled but then paused " I feel the caravans would work if they had services, and Im sure the family will aprechiate being in there own caravan" she said

"He really isn't a a lightweight. You're right," Angus laughed. "I think he could be a good fighter, but he needs a lot of training and some experience. He's determined to go to Colorado with everyone else this summer, and he says Tara and the girls are in agreement that if he really wants to learn to fight, they're gonna support him. I just honestly want him to find himself in it and to not think he has to try to imitate me. Marcus seems to think that the more experience Evan gets the more likely he is to develop his own style. I sure hope so." He saw her bring some plates to the table.

"Thanks," he said. "I didn't think I was hungry but I definitely was wrong." He started to tuck into his plate as Marcus came back downstairs and tucked into his plate as well.

"What a good idea, Ruby," Marcus said. "Thanks."

"I'll try to take a count of people coming," Angus said, "and see how many caravans we would need. I don't think the services would be an issue. We could certainly always enchant them, like wizarding tents, to bring the cost down on them and give them a little more room inside if they need it. We could do wizarding tents I suppose, but if we get any strong storms, the tents won't hold so well.

"Well, if you did tents and it stormed, the big house has enough room that they could sack out on cots and in sleeping bags in the basement or wherever they could find a space. It's a big house, so it could hold a lot of people if it had to," Marcus said.

"Well, that's true," Angus said. "And this house has bed space for sixteen. There are four bedrooms on Edward's side, five on ours--but one is a nursery, and each of the bedrooms except the nursery have either twin beds or a double bed. I'm sure Jessie and Yulong would let someone sleep on their floor, if we had to, so, I suppose we could make it work. I guess maybe I'll see who wants a wizarding tent and who wants a caravan. Evan thought we could have them somewhat set up in a big circle with a bonfire area at the center, and that we could keep a lot of the cooking and eating and events in the circle. I think its a good idea."

"Sounds like Evan's been watching American western movies where they circle the wagons," Marcus laughed. That made Angus laugh too.

"I hadn't considered that, but maybe you're right," Angus laughed. Then a new thought occurred to him. "Oh, before I forget, Ruby, Simone went through the nursery and rooted out all the clothes that Caprice can't wear anymore. You probably aren't going to recognize more than about five outfits in the whole lot. She's a little between sizes. She needs either generous 60's or small 70's right now. And Simone has been shopping her heart out. If there is some outfit she's outgrown that you really liked, I suppose we could resize it. I am very serious that we could open our own baby boutique. Just wait till you see it all. I wouldn't have the heart to tell her to stop. She's enjoying every moment of it."

Ruby listened to Angus and Marcus talk of Evan and his willingness to go to collorado. " if he wants to go I'd let him., they do say imitation is the best form of flattersy" she said and chuckled as she sat down with them and started to eat with them as they talked about tents and caravans " I still think caravans would be better than tents , they would keep out the weather better so no need for them to have to go to the main house except for dinner and supper, and yes we culd enchant the caravans so they have their own power and water." she added eating a fork of food.

When Angus spoke of Simone and how she'd sorted out all Caprices cothes for larger ones she chuckled " well it is grand mothers perogative" she said then smiled " shes grown that much?" she asked and chukled softly " I can't wait to see her in the morning" she said smiling.

"She's growing like a little weed," Marcus laughed. "The last Robert weighed her a day or so ago, she was at just almost exactly 15 1/2 lbs. He said she's almost at the 75th percentile, and she's at least a month to 6 weeks developmentally ahead for her chronological age, doing almost 6 month developmental tasks."

"She's also sleeping a bit later in the mornings. She rarely wakes now much before seven, so that has given us a bit of time in the morning to get up, get coffee and some breakfast and get the kids off to work before she wakes up," Angus said. "If she's sleeping soundly, I see no rush in waking her up. It's nice not to have her screeching at 4:30."

"And she hasn't had any diaper blowouts for a long time now," Marcus said.

"Don't say that too loudly or they'll come back," Angus laughed. "And, you may find that you have a little dark haired urchin at our door at the crack of moonlight. That would be Cris. He does not speak a syllable of English yet, but he comes over pretty much every morning because I'm at least someone he can talk to. He's a good kid, and he's doing well with Jessie and Yulong. Oh, and he's a real art prodigy. Kate's taking his art skills underwing and is working with him on some sketching skills. I think you'll like him."