A Birth day

Ruby nodded to Angus and took Caprice to sit in her high chair, placing her in she picked up a small jar of homemade baby food and set it in warm water to take off the chill so she would eat warm food with them. After a moment she took it out, popped open the lid, and picked up a small spoon.

Sitting facing her Ruby scooped some into the spoon and offered it to her but Caprice wanted the spoon Ruby let her take hold and placed it into her mouth before holding it back out to her again to refill which she did with a chuckle and looked at Angus with a smile.

"Do we have time to shower?" Victor asked Angus.

"If you don't dawdle," Angus said. "Make it fast." The kids scattered in all directions to go hastily shower. Since there were guests present, Angus decided to give the kids a hand, and he cast a cleaning spell to get rid of any of the remaining mud, and while the spell was getting rid of that, he put on fresh pots of coffee and tea to have with dessert.

He deliberately waited until Caprice was pretty much done eating before he called everyone else to supper. The adults seemed definitely impressed, and as the kids sat down and they saw how impressed the adults were, Anise asked what chateaubriand really was.

"It's a very special elegant French dish," Edward said. "It's basically a filet mignon roast, which is some of the best cuts of beef. Part of why people have always liked it is because it makes the meat so wonderfully tender and tasty. Personally, I think it's one of the very best dishes in French cooking, and a lot of people think of it as a very special romantic dish. Lots of engagements and proposals have happened over chateaubriand, that's for certain."

"So its sort of a gourmet thing?" Sam asked.

"It's something that would be served at a more elegant restaurant, that's for certain," Simone said.

"So what's the occasion?" Ginger asked.

"I was hungry for it, and I had the right beef cuts to do it," Angus laughed. "Tuck in, and enjoy, Everyone."

"Oh my goodness," Simone said, as she tasted the first bite. "It absolutely melts in my mouth. Perfect, Angus."

"This is what I want for Christmas dinner, for Easter, for Father's Day, for my birthday, for Simone's birthday..." Edward laughed.

"This is not at all what we have at our house for a weeknight supper," Lena laughed, "but I wouldn't have missed this for the world. I am so glad you invited us to stay for supper. Thank you. This is lovely, and I can't think of a better meal to celebrate saving our school."

"And I'm not sure how you all do it. You put together a team that looks like a military operation, go to Paris, battle a powerful criminal family, and come back and throw together a chateaubriand supper for ten people and make it look as easy as beans on toast," Enrico said

"You're very welcome," Angus said. "For us, it's all about family, and it's just another day for us. We take care of our own, and you're family. It's just what we all do."

"And you're not afraid to go into a real battle, knowing that in any one of those one of you might not come home?" Lena asked.

"No, not really," Angus said confidently. "Everything in life is a gamble in some way or another. There's a risk in getting killed in a muggle neighborhood just by crossing the street. Every time you apparate, you risk getting splinched. we can't spend our lives being afraid. We do our best to train to minimize the danger, and we do our best to keep each other covered, knowing that we're not only doing what we love, but fighting to give our kids a better life than what we've had."

"I don't see how it could get much better than what I've seen today," Enrico said.

"We've been very fortunate," Angus agreed.

"I think I see why you're so happy here," Lena told Simone. "I think Dad would be glad that you're happy again finally."

"I know he would be," Simone said. "That was important to him."

Ruby sat quietly listening as everyone spoke she chuckled as Angus set a cleaning spell for the last bits the boys had missed and she focused on feeding Caprice until she saw her want to play with the food rather than eat it. Placing some in a bowl she let her smush it in her fingers knowing it would help her with her dexterity. Once she had her plate she smiled agreeing with Simone.

" It's wonderful, thank you Angus" she said smiling as she took another piece of her steak and ate it tasting all the flavours as she ate. She could not help but chuckle as Edward asked for it on all special occasions. " Angus is right about we could be killed just walking around, Its why we form such a strong bond, a family of sorts so we have people who we can rely on to be there and watch our backs and those of our familys if needed." she said softly

"It makes sense," Enrico agreed.

"My kids both went to Hogwarts, but neither of them were Gryffindors," Simone said. "Lena was a Hufflepuff, and her brother, Guy, was a Ravenclaw. Lena has always loved fine arts, and Guy has always been a bookworm."

"I'll try not to hold that against them," Angus teased.

When the main course was over, Simone and Edward cleared those leftovers and dishes off the table and set them on the counter so that coffee, tea, and the peach rice pudding could be served. Angus made a point to dish up three servings, and he sent Sam with them to deliver them to Jessie and Cris and Yulong since they didn't stay for supper. While Sam was gone, Angus served the pudding and hot drinks to everyone.

"Now this is a taste that I remember," Edward smiled. "Sergio's mother made this a lot, but she made it with apples, which is the more traditional way to have it. The peach is really nice though."

"That was Cris's request. He said his mother made it with peach instead of apples. That's why I sent some over to them. I guess I had expected they would stay for supper but they didn't. That's fine. They have their own family to form, but since Cris wanted it, I felt it was only right to send some to them."

"By all means," Edward said.

"Our kids would go crazy for it," Lena said.

"Well, there's plenty here, so I'll send some home with you," Angus said.

"Thank you," Lena said. Angus happened to see something out of the corner of his eye, and he saw Caprice start just flinging food in every direction, and some of it was hitting the people at the table, including their supper guests. Angus tried to put on an amused smile, but inside he was definitely frustrated.

Jessie on receiving the dessert and seeing how happy Chris was sent a noteover to Angus apologizing for not staying but explaining that Yu had made a Romanian dish of Romanian Sausage Stew and was happy to have the peach rice pudding to finish meal-making Chris feel like he was home again. Ruby had seen the note and also Caprice flinging food taking the bowl she walked over to the kitchen grabbed a damp cloth she returned and wiped off the food from Caprice's hands and face then the table in front of her.

" sorry about that, I think she's in her let's see how far I can throw my food, phase," she said removing Caprice's bib and picking her up to place her with some toys not far from them. She looked at Angus and mouthed sorry to him. "I'm sure she'll be happy playing with the toys until bedtime," she said and saw Caprice pick up a stuffed dog and start playing with it. She hoped Caprice would be happy there playing.

Looking back at Angus she spoke softly " I'll give her a warm bath before bed, that will tire her out." she smiled at him.

"It's fine," Angus said, knowing it wasn't Ruby's fault.

"I'm sure our kids did the same thing," Lena said. "Not quite so young, though. Ours were a bit older before they started that."

"And then they shoved food in their ears and all sorts of places food was never designed to go," Enrico laughed.

"Oh, God, I forgot about that," Lena said. "I think the worst of it was when our youngest son made such a mess that Enrico actually did take him outside and sprayed him off with the garden hose." Edward laughed.

"I have threatened to do that with mine," Edward said. "I don't recall ever having to actually do it, though."

"Not to change subjects," Angus said to Enrico and Lena, "but are you able to accept some of the needy kids into your dance programs?"

"A few," Lena said. "We'd accept more, but we need to keep our class sizes at a reasonable level so that all the kids can have enough attention to learn, and that sometimes means we can't offer as many 'scholorships' to low income families as we have call for. We have to still be able to meet our expenses, of course."

"Well, certainly," Angus said. "I have a special interest in kids who don't have a lot of advantages. Why don't you get me some numbers on what it would cost for a one year scholarship for a kid, what their equipment and clothing costs are, all of it? Maybe I'll sponsor a scholarship or two."

"Now that is a splendid idea," Edward said. "I'd be interested in looking at that myself."

"I've told them I thought they should do a fundraising drive for exactly that, but they just have never had time to do it," Simone said.

"We might have more time now since we won't be struggling to make sure we can still keep a roof over our heads," Enrico smiled. "I'll do some number crunching and send you some figures."

"Good," Angus said.

Ruby chuckled as they spoke of their children doing the same but not at a young age " shes kind of ahead for her age, in many things " she said then listened futher to them talk of the programs for the dance students " That sounds great" she smiled and looked to Angus as he spoke of fundraisers to get money for scholarships" what about looking into investors, like silent ones who help financially but leave the every day things to you, some don't even ask for anything in return, just that the kids have fun and learn to the best of there abilities." she asked glancing at Angus hoping he would understand she wanted to help as well.

"We've talked about that as a pipe dream," Lena told Ruby, "but as Enrico said, that would take quite a lo t of free time to organize some fundraising efforts in order to try to find investors for such a program. Maybe someday we'll be able to do that."

"Well, maybe you need someone like your mother to chair a volunteer fundraising committee," Angus said, looking at Simone. She looked rather wide eyed for a moment. "After all, with your experience as an ambassador's wife, you surely have all sorts of affluential connections that might well need a tax shelter of some sort, and helping needy kids might be a good one."

"I actually never thought about it," Simone said.

"I didn't either," Lena said, never considering that her own mother knew lots of wealthy people.

"I think it is worth some thought and some discussion," Enrico said, seeing that with someone who knew a lot of wealthy people like Simone did, that perhaps considering some fundraising might take on some new importance now. "It's a good idea. Thank you," Enrico said to Ruby and Angus.

When they finished dessert, Angus packaged up some extra portions for Lena and Enrico's kids, and because of the time change between England and Paris, Lena and Enrico soon took their leave afterwards to get home to their kids in time to get them home and put them to bed. Angus believed they had appeared encouraged when they left.

Edward returned to the kitchen and cleaned up dessert plates and coffee cups.

"That was a lovely meal and a lovely evening," Simone said. "Thank you. Both of you. I suppose I should give Edward a hand cleaning up."

Ruby listened to them talking and smiled at Angus's suggestion "She would certainly be perfect for that position" she said " She has the expiriance and contacts " she said then heard enrico talk and thank them " its no problem" she said smiling as she saw Edwrad head to the kitchen to clean up.

" oh don't worry about cleaning I'll do that" she said and looked to Simone " dont worry about it, ether of you , Edward why don't you sit with Simone and let me clean up, you are our guests after all" she said standing and begining to clean up.

Aftera moment she finished and wiped down the counters before turning on the ketle to make tea or coffee for those who wanted an after super drink. She also took out several glasses and a bottle of fire whiskey and placed it on a tray. Picking it up she placed it on the table " help your self if you want something other than tea or coffee." she said smiling

"What a good idea," Edward smiled, seeing Ruby get out a bottle of firewhiskey.

"It's about time," Angus said. "I've wanted one of those all afternoon."

"I'll pour," Edward said, pouring a couple glasses of whiskey and handing one to Angus. Simone made herself a mug of tea.

"Tea, Ruby? I'm making one for myself. I can make two as easy as one," she asked, getting out the tin of almond tea and plopping a teabag in her mug. "Where'd the kids go?"

"The boys went upstairs to play a game of chess. As I understand it, there is some sort of a wager at stake," Edward said. "And the girls went downstairs. Ginger has some sort of lace project she's working on, and Anise borrowed one of my books on advanced defense techniques."

"We won't see them til morning, then," Angus said.