A Birth day

Ruby chuckled at how fast Sam and Victor grabbed the wafers and dove back down to the basement "Oh they will learn to cook" she said Aria looked at Marcus.

"You can cook too, right?" she asked " because if not you need to learn too, I'm not going to do all the cooking in this relationship" she added with a smirk " but if you can alls good" she said adding a jack to a red queen. Ruby chuckled and looked to Angus.

"Its a basic , so Im told , owens insited on seeing me cook , we had shifts in the kitchen in Paris." she added another peice as she ate her wafer.

"Yeah, I can manage," Marcus said. "It isn't gourmet, but it's edible."

"Doesn't need to be gourmet," Angus said. "I don't regret that I went to culinary school, but I could have honestly probably spent my time more effectively doing other things."

"That ability has served you well. Just like your maritime training," Edward said. "It's been a way to open doors for you in the fighting career that is your first choice. I think, honestly, they were very wise moves for you."

"And those fencing lessons," Evan agreed. "I've never seen anyone faster with a wand. I'm never going to be that fast."

"You can be," Angus told him.

"I can't do it. I've tried."


"Yes, you can. Your stance is all wrong to be speedy," Angus told him. "Adjust your stance and you'll pick up speed."

"What's wrong with my stance?"

"Its' wrong," Angus replied. Evan rolled his eyes.

"Show me," Evan said. Angus stood up and drew his wand, and Evan stood beside him, thinking he had the same stance as Angus did. "So? What?"

"Evan," Marcus laughed, "not even close." Marcus got up and went over and adjusted Evan's stance.

"That just feels awkward," Evan sighed.

"Because it's new," Marcus said. He had Evan draw his wand several times, and his speed increased.

"Angus is right," Simone said. "He's significantly faster in drawing his wand now."

"Its a basic fencing stance," Edward said, "with a very slight bit of a twist to it. Also makes him less of a target that way too."

"And he's better balanced, ready to run if he needs to," Marcus said.

"I might have to learn it myself," Simone said.

Aria watched and placed down her cards as she watched the boys stand and take a stance she watched as Marcus moved to adjust Evans stance to match Angus. Standing she moved beside the two men and copied their stance " its basic fencing stance , right?" she said showing she too thanks to Marcus used the stance too " Marcus adjusted my stance back in the byuo " she added and chuckled " it does work" she told him drawing her wand quickly.

Ruby chuckled wtching them then heard Simone " oh you should it throws off others who don't know it and it realy does make you draw quicker and your more likly to hit your target, isn't that right?" she said looking up at Angus.

"Right," Angus said.

"Well, it does throw off others, but it makes it easier to draw your wand quickly and raise it straight up to a firing position all in one swift movement," Marcus said. "Watch. He doesn't hesitate, doesn't shift his position, doesn't move his feet, just draws right up into a proper aim. Angus, draw again."

"But that still doesnt entirely account for how much faster he is," Evan sighed, frustrated. "I'm still missing something." Marcus went over and stood beside Angus, and he had Angus draw several times, mimicking his movement. And then Evan caught it.

"His grip on the wand. It's different from yours," Evan said. Marcus looked at Angus wand grip.

"Ah. You're right. Look. His index finger is on and around the wand shaft itself and the other fingers are wrapped around the handle. It lets him have more control with how he slashes and flicks his wand, and gives him a much wider way of moving it. That's the difference. We've all been holding the wand with all our fingers wrapped around the handle. He's using a different grip," Marcus told them.



Angus drew, and Simone was fascinated.

"You/re right, Marcus," she said. "It's all one flowing movement. It never waivers. It's completely smooth. It's how he gets the drop on people, isn't it?" Marcus nodded.

"Now you're getting it. Aria, you have the stance but not the drawing movement," Marcus told her. "You're faster with the better stance, but let me show you the draw." Marcus came over and stood beside her and laid his hand over hers and, in slow motion, he showed her how Angus drew and aimed in one smooth continuous motion. "See? That's how he does it. You can do it in the new stance, but in your old stance, your wand hits your leg, and it almost is a fumble. That's why you were moving while you were shifting from drawing to aiming. In the new stance, though, try this new way of drawing and aiming. It almost doubles your draw and aim from your old stance. Now you try it."

Aria watched as Angus drew his wand for Evan and smiled she'd seen his hold of his wand was diferent but waited to see if Evan saw it and he did . She smiled as Marcus came up behind her and took her hand in his to slowly change her hold of her wand as he drew it out so she held it correctly. Aria could not help leaned back against him and smile a little as he did so. " like this?" she said softly and followed his direction making her movement now fluid and smooth " wow that is so much faster" she said.

Ruby smiled seeing Marcua and Aria working together and smiled at Angus " I think she has it" she said to him " but I think Marcus and Aria will be practicing together a lot" she added teasingly to both Marcus and Aria. Aria just chuckled and mooked at Marcus.

"I don't mind" she said looking over her shoulder at Marcus. " sometimes retraining in different styles can help keep you sharp in a battle and the bedroom." No it was Rubys turn to chuckle.

Marcus realized that he really wasn't teaching her anything, that she had already seen the change in the grip for herself. He let go of her, feeling a bit embarrassed that he had been trying to help her with her speed, and she was using it for inuendo instead. Besides, he was realizing there really was nothing he could teach her because she knew everything about everything already. He needed to pull back on that, he resolved. Besides, he didn't mind a sexual remark between the two of them, in private, but he wasn't comfortable with it being in a room full of people. Were there times when the job made him mix work and sex? Certainly. Espionage sometimes did that, but this wasn't one of those times.

"I think you have it," he told her gently. He looked up and checked the time to see it really was getting quite late. "I'll go check on the kids and lock up the rooms we aren't using." He headed for the basement.

Angus put his wand away, and Evan collected the dirty dishes and took them to the kitchen.

"Not to change subjects," Evan said to Angus. "Should I include my girls in your kids cooking breakfast?"

"That's entirely up to you," Angus said. "Ginger is the only one of my kids that has taken an interest in cooking, and the other three need to be getting with the program. That's my whole point. I won't be offended, no matter what way you decide."

"Then I think Tara and I will discuss it and talk to the girls before bed," Evan told Angus.

"You're good parents. You'll come to the right decision," Angus said, sitting down at the chess board and flicking his fingers to move the chess pieces back into a starting position.

Aria heard him and chuckled "Okay, and your a good teacher by the way" she said as she felt him move from behind her and head to check the rooms they weren't using. " um..did I say something wrong?" Aria asked " or is he always like this?" she asked Ruby looked at Angus and Evan too.

"She is a quick learner" she said and turned back to her jigsaw. Placing more peices she had one courner done and she looked for another peice then sipped her coffee quietly as she let Angus explain about how Marcus was. She knew he kept things seperate in regards his personal life and working. Aria sat back down and delt her cards again this time quietly playing solitaire again.

"No," Angus told her. "He's not always like that but he'd probably much rather teach you something you didn't know rather than to be teaching you something you already know. He isn't a man who likes to feel embarrassed like that, that's all. He'll be fine by the time he gets back from his night time check and taking Finn out for the night."

"I'm going to go send our girls up for their showers," Tara told Evan. "They need to be heading to bed so the rest of the kids can be heading to bed. They have to work in the morning. Ours don't. Ours need to be considerate."

"Yeah, I agree," Evan said. "You want me to go?"

"Sit still," she smiled. "I'll go." She got up and excused herself and went to tell Evie and Faith to go get ready for bed.

"You don't tell your kids to go to bed, do you?" Evan asked Angus.

"No," Angus said. "They want to be treated like adults, so I figured, that while they have jobs here on the estate, they're in a pretty sheltered position. Theyll figure out for themselves what happens if they stay up too late. They'll learn from Robert that they can't call off if they'd rather lag in bed. And they'll learn how to go to bed on time and how to get up on time. They've learned how to get up and pack their own lunches. They're learning to do their own laundry. If I stand back, they'll get this adulting thing figured out, and if they need help, they'll ask."

"Remind me of all this when my girls get there in another year or two, will you?" Evan laughed.

"You know, I don't have a clue what I'm doing, right?"

"Neither do I."

"No one does," Edward said. "We all just parent by the seat of our pants, but you seem like you/re doing just fine."

Aria listened to Angus and nodded "well he shouldn't be embarased, I don't know everything, I don't have a clue about kids or animals, especialy large ones, I kinda stay away from them." she said placing a fresh card down as she waited for Marcus to return. Ruby smiled at Aria as she watched her place a card down on the table.

"Don't worry about it Aria, Guess he likes teaching you things." she said and Aria smiled and nodded " my sugestion let him be the gentelman he is and teach you , might even be something different." she sugested then heard them talk of the kids "That goes double for me, seat of the pants is the saying that comes to mind." she smiled at Angus " but we'll get threw, and there good kids" she smiled .

Marcus took Finn out and checked all of the windows and doors on both sides, as he usually did. Finn came back in, and he curled up in his bed to go to sleep for the night.

"I hate to break this up, but I'm tired," Edward said. "I think I'm going to head to bed. Thank you for a lovely evening, Everyone, but I think I hear my pillow calling my name."

"I think you're hearing mine, Dear," Simone laughed. "Can you leave the puzzle up, and we'll keep working on it?"

"Certainly," Angus said. "Watch." He flicked his fingers and the puzzle and all the pieces froze and levitated up into the air almost touching the ceiling. "Michael taught me that one. And it'll stay up there like that until I lower it back down. It's a rather clever little jinx." He lowered the puzzle and the pieces back down so that Ruby could keep working on it if she wanted to.

"Now, that's one jinx I like a lot," Edward laughed. "You'll have to teach me that one tomorrow. That one definitely could come in handy."

"I'll be happy to," Angus said.

"Goodnight, All," Edward and Simone said, and headed home.

Marcus came back, his check completed.

"The girls are heading to bed, and I think Sam and Victor must have apparated upstairs to their rooms because they're up in bed in their room but they didnt come through here. Tara sent their girls to the showers and to bed, so Anise and Ginger were in their pajamas and were heading to bed. Even the dog has abandoned us, so I guess that just leaves the four of us," Marcus said.