A Birth day

Ruby sat and listened to Robert and Lee liking their ideas of small teams. When she ehard Angus ask about which form of money to use she nodded in responce " we wer'nt sure of witch one" she said but when Lee spoke she smiled and nodded " thats good, I'll ask Simone to take Caprice while were away. " she said glancing at the adjoining door.

When the kids were broght up and Angus spoke about once they were done with trainning Ruby nodded " I agree until then they stay out of harms way" she added " not thatwe could stop them if they trully wanted to help" she smiled knowing they would do anything to help Angus get rid of the voodoo witch that was plauging him at the moment . " so when do we leave?" she asked and looked from Lee to Robert and back.

"Ruby, Edward and Simone will be a team too. They'll be in New Orleans as well," Robert said. "I suggest you perhaps consider asking Jessie and Yu to take the baby if they're staying. At least, I thought they were staying behind. If not, then perhaps you might consider perhaps leaving here here with Shannon and Nicky. Or Tara and Evie and Faith or Rosaria and Carlo."

"My parents would gladly take her as well, I'm absolutely sure," Marcus said. "We won't have trouble finding someone to take her. And we have to have a dog sitter for Finn too."

"The way Cris likes Finn, I bet he would like that task, if Jessie's okay with it," Angus said.

"I'm quite certain of it," Robert laughed. "I don't know for certain when we'll be leaving, but I presume it could be as early as tomorrow. I don't know that we'll all be packed and ready to go today, but we wouldn't need to all go at the same time anyway. Why don't you make your arrangements for the kids and the dog, and then let us know when you think you could be ready to go? I'm sure the kids are going to want to come back after their training and get some clothes that are better suited for hot weather than what they have with them right now. And you'll want to pack some things for Caprice, I suppose."

"We'll let you know," Angus said.

"We will remain here until we know for sure when Angus and the other members of his team are going," Iya said, "because I would not want him being here tonight and my not being here with him."

"You think there is risk to him yet tonight, then?" Lee asked.

"Oh, I am certain of it," she told Lee. "Beau and I are going to get some sleep today because I think we will be needed yet when he sleeps."

"Fair enough," Robert said. "We'll leave you to your work, then." He and Lee excused themselves and headed back to the main house.

"Sounds like we should be glad we pushed through all that weeding yesterday," Angus said.

Ruby listened and nodded "Yeah I forgot, Jessie said he was staying and would talk care of Caprice for us," she said just as he walked back in the door.

"Sorry forgot the...sauce?" he said seeing them all look at him "If this is about us looking after Caprice don't worry she'll be fine," he said and Ruby chuckled and shook her eyes "Good because I have a cot all setup and ready for her and Chris is looking forward to having a roommate and Finn" he smiled at Ruby.

"Okay I get it, I'll stop worrying about her now," she said and smiled " I'll pack a bag for her for you but if you need anything else you have ou spare key right?" she asked and saw Jessie take out a set of keys and show her a single new key among the bunch.

"yes I have the key and it's safe as well Caprice." he walked over to her and held her shoulders " She will be fine, go take care of the old crone whose harrassing your man," he told her and she hugged him then picking up a bottle from the counter he chuckled " see you when you get back." he said and left again with a chuckle.

"guess that's settled then," she said and looked to Angus as they spoke about the woman attacking Angus again that night. " gods I hope she doesn't he could use a good night's sleep," she added.

"Which old crone are you referring to, Jessie?" Angus teased. "Suzanne or Marie?"

"If we're lucky, we'll get them both," Marcus said. "You've given her more than sufficient chances of ending this without hurting her, Angus, but we really are getting to the point where we need to consider sending a stronger message."

"I really don't want to have to do that," Angus said, not wanting to take a strike at Ruby's mother and the biological mother of their boys. He was sure that he believed that Ruby and Jessie and the boys were ready for him to do more, but he wanted to use restraint for as long as he could manage to take another tack. "I just think there has to be another way."

"Maybe--but, Mate, maybe not. You might not be able to afford to give her any more breaks," Marcus said. "I'm starting to believe she just really isn't mentally right, and I think she might really not be able to dial it down. We might have to put a stop to her before one of these attempts cause you some real, serious harm. And believe me, if I have to make a choice, she loses--period, full stop."

Ruby chuckled at the question of old crone he ment before hearing a chuckle as Jessie left she sat and listened to them talk " Angus, you do what you need to, we all understand its needed, " she said looking at him " and I know the boys will understand , we just want her off your back and to be left alone" she said to him " if it comes to it just do what you need " she said smiling at him.

Standing she moved to Angus " now I will fetch the bag and make up th bag for Caprice while you sort out everything else " she said softly before kissing his cheek then heading up to the nursary to mak up a bag for Caprice who was still playing on the play mat in the living room. with it made up she carried it down and placed both bags by the door ready for when they were ready to leave.

"There's a brand new, unopened bag of Finn's kibbles in the pantry," Angus said. "I'll make sure you get them, along with some canned food, his toys, his leash, his bed..."

"Forget the bed," Marcus laughed. "You let Finn stay over there, and he's going to be inseparable from Cris. He'll be curled up on the bed with him. He won't begin to use the bed over there."

"Well, I know you're right," Angus said, 'but I figured it was worth sending, just in case there was the odd chance he would want his bed at some point."

"Yeah, I get it, but I don't think so," Marcus said.

Angus took it upon himself to decide to make some homemade dog biscuits for Finn. He had a recipe for some biscuits that had all natural ingredients, and it used beef broth, crumbled bacon, bacon drippings, peanut butter, oats, and some other healthy things. It didn't take him long to put the dough together, and he found a bone shaped cookie cutter, and he cut out the shapes and baked them. When they were done, he put them in an air tight dog treat tin.

While he had been doing all of that, Marcus had double checked his bag and Angus's and added a few pieces of clothing that would help make their outfits more complete. Then he packed things for Finn and took them over to Jessie's.

"Everything for Finn is over at Jessie's except Finn and those dog treats you're baking," Marcus told him. Now, tell me you didn't put a whole pound of bacon in those treats."

"No, it used a lot more drippings than actual bacon. We have enough bacon left that I think we should do BLT's for lunch with a spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. And, yes, I made some homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for us too. We can have them with lunch."

"That sounds great," Marcus said.

"Oh, Ruby, we need to make sure that we ask Jessie to take any perishable food out of our fridge and Edward's so that we don't come home to skanky things in our fridges," Angus said. "I think, if I make us a large lasagna for supper, that will use a lot of the perishable foods for us, but that also means that Jessie and Yu might need to be alright with either coming for supper or taking home leftover lasagna."

"Your lasagna? They'll certainly be up for that, I'm pretty sure," Marcus said. "We going to have salad and garlic toast with that?"

"Always," Angus laughed. "It wouldn't be complete without it."

Ruby listened to Marcus and Angus and chuckled " I'll send over a note to him Im sure he'll be okay with coming over here to eat." she said writing a note and sending it to Jessie and Yu who after a moment knocked on the door " hey come in guys, there are a few things we forgot to mention earier" she said and Jessie chuckled as did Yu.

"so Finn's bed is ready though I suspect he will sleep on the end of Chris's bed.

" Caprices bag is next to the door for you to take back." Jessie glanced over and nodded at what he saw.

"and the dog's food bag too," he asked seeing Ruby nodded and then pointed to a smaller bag " Ah dog biscuits, he touched the bag " home made nice Abgus I'll make sure he gets them when hes a good boy" he siad Yu chuckled.

"He likes these better than the kind I can order from our suppliers," Angus said, "so I figured that while we're away, he might be easier to lure back into the house with a treat he really likes.

"Dad..." a voice came through the floo to Angus, as clear as a bell. He whirled around and went to the floo, and he saw Anise's face in the flames. "Dad, you there?"

"I'm here," Angus said. "How'd you learn how to use the floo?"

"Uncle Evan is here too," Anise said. "He opened it for me. I had to talk to you..."

"What's up?" Angus asked.

"Something isn't good, and it somehow connects to you," she said. "I saw a woman tonight in my sleep. She's really creepy. She's dressed funny, and she does some sort of strange magic..."

"Yeah," Angus said. "She's a black woman, and she wears a turban and lots of beads..."

"Yeah. That's her..."

"I know about her," Angus said. "Stay calm. It'll be alright. We know all about her. We're going to be going to the States for a few days on a mission. We're going to be helping the Americans to catch her and stop her. She's been quite naughty..."

"No, something's not right here. You can't go on this one. Don't go..."

"Anise," Angus said gently, "we aren't going to be alone, not any of us. We'll be alright. And we have lots of help from the Americans. But I do hear you. Don't read too much into this. She likes tinkering around in people's sleep. And she uses a different form of magic that what you've seen. It makes her look all the more creepy."

"One of you isn't supposed to come back!" she insisted.

"Then we'll have to be extra careful, won't we? I hear you, and I'll pass the word on so we can be sure to be very, very careful. Just because there's some sort of premonition doesn't mean it will come true. I think we get premonitions so we have the chance to change the odds. Thank you--I mean it. Now that we're forewarned, we will take every single precaution. You have my word."

"Kieran said we might be needed," Evan said seriously.

"Possibly, yes," Angus said.

"If I get the opportunity, I'll be there," Evan said. "And I know all four of the kids feel the same way. Angus, they're all doing better than most of the adult recruits. They're going to be ready. If I get to come, they're going to want to come with me."

"I told Robert that if they passed the training, I'd be open to discussing it, but Ruby and I haven't had the chance yet."

"Then we're coming," Anise said. "If we get the chance, we're coming. You can try not to use us, but we're coming all the same."

"I'll discuss it with Ruby, and we'll let you know. Now you better both get some sleep. You're going to have a busy day tomorrow. Keep up the good work. We love you both, and be sure to give our love to the others. Goodnight." Angus closed the floo. He looked at Ruby. "She's mucking around in Anise's sleep now too."

"You can't know that. You do know she's a seer. Seers see all sorts of things, whether they're supposed to or not," Marcus said.

Ruby stood up hearing Anise's voice than hearing why she was contacting them she placed her hand on Angus's arm " shes messing with our girls now?" she said giving his arm a slight squeeze but as he spoke to Anise she slowly let it go. " she has to be stopped, nobody messes with my girls" she said and looked at Angus . "there's nothing to discuss they want to help once there trained, they have my approval" she told him " no one fucks with our kids and gets away with it." she told him as she picked up Caprice and held her close to her;.

Jessie walked over and took Caprice from her " She'll be fine with us" he said as Caprice grasped hold of his shirt and giggled as she bounced on his arm. Ruby looked at them and smiled at both of them.

"all right," she said before looking to Angus "I'm ready when you are," she told him.

"Well, I'm glad you're ready," Angus said. "Don't take all that so seriously, Ru. She's a seer. You don't know that Marie intended to reach a sixteen year old kid. I think that its probably more realistic to think that she is developing some sort of sense of my magical energies and that she's sort of picking up on Marie through me. I think we've got the dog and the baby taken care of. I wonder if I should make sure I've got all my weapons packed..."

"I think Angus is probably right, Ruby," Marcus said. "I don't think Marie would be trying to get Anise's attention. She probably doesn't know Anise actually even exists. Oh, Angus, I packed your wand, your knives, some of the bubbles you like, a pistol and some clips, a couple holsters. Anything else you want to take? Ruby, do you have your weapons packed too?"

"No, I think that's good. Thanks," Angus said. "If we need more than that, then Robert or Lee will make sure we have it. "

"I also packed sleep potion and pain potion and some pocket patch kits," Marcus said. "I'll go tell Robert we're packed, shall I?"

"That's fine," Angus said. "Do you think Barnett knows she's partnering with you?"

"Doubtful, but she'll probably be alright with it," Marcus said. "Unless she has her eyes set on you." He cast an amused grin at Angus.

"No thanks," Angus laughed. "She's nice enough but she's not my type."