A Birth day

Ruby sat abd ate as she listened to them talk about Caprice and smiled " well she does take after her dad" she said and chuckled " but I agree she should let us know what and when she need things rather than we pushing her" she said then heard about Cris and smiled " awe he sounds cute" she said with a chuckle " Im glad Jessie had found some one that he can care for, maybe it was what he was missing in his life" she said " and what langage does he speack?" she asked finishing her food and taking her plate to teh kitchen as she pored a cup of tea and sent the pot to the table " help your self guys I belive its one of Roberts , its very nice it has a fruity flavour." she said sitting back down as she listened to them talk again.

" Im glad Caprice it doing well and sleeping longer , also eating nornal baby foods so soon, it will make things easier for us since all we 'll have to do it mush up her food, I take it Simone has already started her on soft food?" she asked smiling knowing full well she would have and was totaly greatful for her ability to sense what Caprice needed.

"She'll be forced into alarm clocks and school schedules soon enough," Angus said. "Let her enjoy being small while it lasts." When Ruby asked about Cris, Angus smiled. "He's Romanian. It's not a very common language, but since Edward and I have been there often, and since meeting Sergio and Ana and their family, I learned to speak it from an early age. Edward speaks it, of course, and Kate and Robert speak it a bit. I never know all the languages Michael speaks because he does rather keep some of his skills rather hidden, and its probably for our safety as well as his, but I did get the impression that he can speak at least a little. I think Yulong speaks a little too, so that helps. I did get them some books in Romania for kids to start to learn English as a second language, and they've figured out how to use some charades to help. it also helps that Cris draw3s so well. He can draw what he is trying to say."

Marcus poured tea for both him and Angus, and Marcus smelled it and tasted it.

"Hm. Tastes like hibiscus and..." he began.

"Lemon balm," Angus said. "And a little bit of persimmon and honey, i think. It a good, light summery blend. It should be good for digestion and insomnia, amongst other things. I bet it would taste great blended up, with a bit of orange added, and put over ice on muggy summer nights."

"We might need to try that," Marcus said. When Ruby asked if Caprice was eating solid foods, and Angus smiled.

"She is indeed," Angus said. "She's eating regular pureed baby foods. She eats almost anything--except bananas and avocados, and it does not matter if it's in a prepared baby food or if its something we make for her from scratch. She absolutely hates them. Hurled all over Marcus when she tried her first banana, and now she can't stand even the smell of them. And she reacts to avocados the same way. Can't say as I entirely blame her. There are things I don't like either."

"Durian," Marcus said, listing a food he hated.

"Oh, God. Durian. That has to be the worst," Angus agreed. "It's a melon sort of a fruit from Asian countries like Borneo and Thailand and a couple of others, and the thing that makes it completely repulsive is that it smells like a rotting corpse. It truly, truly stinks."

"In fact, it is so disgusting that it's actually banned in some places," Marcus said.

"Don't worry," Angus told Ruby. "I have absolutely no plans to add durian to any of my menus any time soon."

Ruby smiled as Angus and Marcus spoke of Caprice's dislike for bananas and avocados and she smiled " I couldn't as a kid , detested Avacados" she told them " but bananas , hum thats a new one" she chuckled as he spoke of his dislike of Durian then told her he wuld not put any in any of his recipies he would make " thats a wise idea" she said chukaling as she sipped her tea happy to be back home again.

She heard them talk about the tea and smiled " thats is it exactly" she said smiling " a refreshing summer tea sounds perfect for the type of weather were having" she said siping her tea again and smiling " Im glad the boys are doing well at work" she said softly as she looked to Angus.

Well, think about it. They are pretty much the same from a textural standpoint," Marcus told her. "Thick and pasty. At any rate, her dad decided that if she didn't like them, she didn't need to eat them, so we haven't been forcing the issue. I expected her not to like pumpkin or sweet potato if she didn't like bananas but no. She loves those."

"That's because I don't fix them like that," Angus said. "I cook them more like either a baked potato so it isn't pasty, or rather like a smoothed whipped puree so it's light and creamy. Either way, it's considerably different than a banana."

"God, listen to him. He's teaching her how to be a gourmet before she can crawl or talk," Marcus laughed.

""No, no," Angus replied. "I'm just picking my battles. There are other things that are more important than the fact that she won't be coerced into a banana. As far as the tea goes, I'll make a pitcher of it tomorrow and refrigerate it so it's nice and cold when it gets warm out."

Marcus got up and took the empty plates to the sink and set washing up spells in place.

"I made a trip around to secure the house, so I'm going to head to bed. Thanks for the meal, Ruby. Goodnight," Marcus told them, heading upstairs.

"Well," Angus looked at her, "this may not be the homecoming you expected but there is something to be said for a quiet house when everyone else is asleep and, at least for a few hours, things seem like they're going to be pretty peaceful. I don't know which I like better, this time of night when everyone else is asleep or early in the morning when everyone else is still asleep. Either way, I like it. Just a word of fair warning, though. The kids are doing pretty good now at getting up and packing their own lunches, but they haven't learned to do it quietly. That'll come, but it might be loud in a few hours. We probably ought to get some shut eye while we can."

Ruby chuckled at Angus and Marcus happy at the warm comunicaton that was happening . She smiled as Marcus took the plates and set them washing " thank you Marcus " she said and chuckled again as Angus satif the boys still could not make their own lunches " it will come in time " she said then smiled as he said it might not have been the welcome home she expected " Angus this was exactly as I expected " she said and kissed his cheek " Im fine with the noise afte the dead silance Jeffery had at his place" she stod up and held out her hand to him " we should definatly get some sleep before the others wake" she said and moved to the stairs .

Now up in their room she changed into her PJ's and sat on the bed waiting for him to finish changing she pulled the covers back and lay down looking up at the skylight ." still looks as beautiful as the day Kate and Robert put it up for us" she said smiling and roling to her side as she watched him change .

Angus was already wearing his pajama bottoms, so he just got into bed and turned out the light.

"Yeah, Edward and Simone spent one night over here while you were gone, and I gave them this room. They both said this skylight is probably one of the best features of this whole building, including their half. They can't put a skylight in their room because Edward's tower lab is above their bedroom, I believe. There's a glass roof in his tower room, so I suppose they could put some sort of a folding cot upstairs if they really wanted one up there, but I somehow don't see either of them wanting to go to that extent." He yawned, getting sleepy. "Goodnight, Ru." A moment later, he dozed off to sleep.

Marcus got up early, started the coffee and the tea, and went for a run long before it got light. He was back when it was still dark outside, feeling some raindrops just start to fall. He came in, saw the kids were up and packing their lunches, finding odds and ends of things in the fridge that Marcus didn't really think went together well in any lunch bag, but he wasn't going to interfere in some of their weird choices. One of them had put a sheet pan in the oven to make a large batch of toast, and when it was ready, someone had spread some jam on the toast and made sure each of them had two slices of toast and a cup of coffee for breakfast.

"You lot have raincoats?" Marcus asked them.

"No," Sam looked at him. "Umbrellas. No raincoats."

"You can take your umbrellas but they won't be practical. It's raining. If you go into the barn and go into the store room where Kate keeps the feed and the equipment for the magical creatures, you'll find some yellow rain slickers and some wellies in there. You can borrow them, but if you're going to work outside, you need to get yourselves some weather gear," Marcus told them.

"Great," Sam sighed. "And that means Finn is going to be a mess when he comes back in."

"He's out?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah. Let him out to go his business, and he's not come back yet. He's going to be a muddy mess."

"Well, you might find it on your list to give him a bath today, then." Marcus laughed, smelling bacon, onions, and cinnamon from Edward's side. Simone was cooking breakfast. He went upstairs, showered quickly, returned and poured himself his first cup of coffee for the day, as the kids dashed out the door to go to work.

Ruby smiled as Angus climbed into bed , she pulled the covers ofer them both and cuddles against him listening to him talk " yeah it would be " she smiled seeing Angus become sleepy and soon fall asleep , leaning over she kissed his cheek gently and lay next to him " good night" she said as she too fell asleep next to her sexy swashbuckler.

Nxt time she woke she heard voices from below and smiled knowing it was the boys. Quitly slipping ut of the bed she slipped on a dressing gown and headed down to the kitchen " morning guys" she said smiling " oh and you too Marcus." she added with a chuckle asshe saw the toast in a sheet pan being pulled out. " well thats a novel idea" she said and smelt bacon, onions, and cinnamon from Edward's side. " smells like Simone is cooking , want me to make our breakfast?" she said " oh Angus is still sleeping I felt he needed the extra sleep after yesterday " she said taking out eggs bacon, brad for toast sausages and hash browns to make an english breakfast then turned on the kettle to make some tea or coffee which ever he prefered.

"There's already tea and coffee both already made, Ruby," Marcus said. "I made that earlier before I went out for a run--unless you want something other than regular breakfast tea. I didn't brew anything fancy. Yeah, Angus probably won't sleep a lot longer. He'll be up before too long. I presume I may have to go into St. Mungo's today to fill out paperwork for Evelyn. I don't know. And I know for certain I need to go to Gringotts. I need to take out a loan to repay Angus for the money he's going to have to pay Blackstone. I could have managed the fee until Jack ended up costing me double. Last night I wanted to throttle him, but that's just Jack, and I know that. It's all water under the bridge now. I'm alright with it now.

"However, I know what those fees cost for a man of Blackstone's stature, for an after hours call like that. We're certainly going to be talking many hundreds of galleons. I know I've been paid very well for a long time, but I'm also supporting five kids and more than one piece of property. I can't afford a damned big fee like that coming all out at one time. I'll probably make sure you lot are alright for a bit and go get the cash this morning."

Ruby looked at the pot and chuckled " thanks Marcus , guess my brain is still sleeping too" she said and pored some coffee for herself and Marcus as she began cooking. Seeing the guys getting ready she smiled " have a good day at work guys and don't get too wet" she said knowing it was raining all ready out side she listened to Marcus talk about the lawyer and nodded. " yeah, and Im sure like you hes calmed down and forgotten about it , but Jess did say she'd help out if he did anything too bad" she said as she turned some honied bacon in the pan. " she contacted me about Jacks anger and its how come I was there she felt me being there with you would calm the situation, and it did sort of." she said with a smile " well it got Evelyn wher she is ment to be and will get the right treatment too."

Plating up three plates she set a charm on one to stay hot for Angus and sent one over to Marcuse " hope you like it" she said and moved to the table to sit and eat as he spoke of Angus and St Mungos. "true if Robert hasn't sorted it all first, im guessing he knows that Angus hates doing the paper work." she started to eat

"Well, I think you did help," Marcus told her. "Jack sometimes seems to want to everything to happen immediately, and sometimes things just don't happen that fast in the real world, and when he's fed up, he defaults to trying to use his size to bully somebody into doing whatever he wants. I'm glad you stopped before Angus knocked his block off because I'm sure it probably crossed Angus's mind."

"Breakfast is great,' Marcus told her. "Thanks. I like the crisp you got on the hashbrowns. That's the way they should be. Oh, I'm saying I think I'll have two different task. I may have to go to the bank to apply for a loan, and then I'll have to go to St. Mungo's to sign admission paperwork for Evelyn. Angus can't do either of those things for me."

Angus came downstairs, barely awake, still in his pajama bottoms. Marcus smiled, got up and poured Angus a cup of coffee.

"Ruby's got your breakfast plate, but how about you just enjoy your coffee first?" Marcus said, putting a mug of coffee in front of Angus. "Take your time. Your breakfast will wait a few minutes I'm sure."

"Thanks," Angus said, still heavy with sleep.

"You must have been really in a dead sleep. You didn't have to rush getting up, you know," Marcus said.

"I didn't rush it," Angus yawned. "Or I don't think I did. What time is it?"

"Just half past seven. It's still early," Marcus said, as an angry little squeal from Caprice sounded from next door. Marcus laughed. "That has become a standard thing over the last couple days, particularly at breakfast. She gets really irked if whoever is feeding her doesn't move that spoon fast enough to her mouth. Never mind that usually she still has food in her mouth while she's yelling for more. She'll learn how to calm down. Edward and Simone are really good with her while she's tantrumming at mealtime. I'd let her go and enjoy your own breakfast right now, Ruby."