A Birth day

Ruby nodded to Angus and watched as he chilled the pastry. She smiled seeing the boys but then screwed up her nose "Whow what or who smells" she asked but hearing Victor and Sam talking she chuckled then she heard Marcus and laughed softly "Best do as he says " she said Aria sitting close by hiding s smirk as Marcus gave the boys an ultimatum to either shower or be washed down naked in the yard with a hose.

Once they had run upstairs Aria laughed out loud as Ruby chuckled walking to the fridge to take out the pastry to continue making the almond biscuits for supper. Once they were done she sat back down letting them bake. Aria stood up and looked to Marcus " consitancy, right?" she asked " stick by what you say, make a promise keep tht promise , make a warning stick to it."

"Being someone of your word is an important thing, always," Marcus told her, "and its certainly important with kids. Kids gauge whether they can rely on you or not by whether you follow through and do what you say, so that's why I always stick to my guns with a kid. I try to do it any time, but especially with a kid."

The kids showered and returned quickly as the food was being set on the table.

"I think you're decent now," Angus said to them. "Come and eat."

"We don't have our bags packed and..." Anise began, anxious.

"Calm," Angus told her. "Ruby did your laundry and repacked them for you. You have her to thank for that."

"Thanks, Ruby," Ginger and Anise told her. "We just lost track of time."

"Yeah, thanks," the boys said. Edward called Evan and his family, and they were delighted to see Chinese on the menu.

"You made Chinese?" Evie asked. "Isn't it hard to make?"

"Not usually, no," Angus said. "This is chicken with a sticky ginger soy glaze, and Simone made fried rice and some Chinese tea. Ruby made the almond cookies, so it was a family effort."

"We don't get Chinese unless its take out or unless we go to a restaurant," Faith said.

"That's because I never thought I could make it at home," Tara said. "If I hang out here a little more often, I might learn how to make all kinds of things I haven't made before."

"Oh my goodness," Anise said, tucking into her children. "This is awesome. This might just be my new favorite food." The rest of the kids agreed.

Aria nodded at Marcus words and smiled as she saw the others return smeling some what better. " agreed by the way Marcus." she said as she watched Tara and Ruby place down their contrbution to the supper. She watched as the kids spoke to Angus and ruby who just smiled to them and nodded.

"its whay mom does , and ther by the door all ready for you, we even added something special inside for when your back in colorado." she said as she too sat down and helped herself to some food " how do you think I make the cinimon rolls, I watched and learned from Angus." she said taking a bite of the chinese food smiling " its delishious Angus" she said smiling. Aria ate hers too

"So those aren't your cinbnamon rolls, then?" Evie asked

"No," Sam said. "Those are Angus's. Kieran doesn't believe me, though. Someone made some regular sized cinnamon rolls for breakfast in Colorado, and I was telling Kieran about Angus's. But Kieran thought I was pulling a lag. He says nobody makes them that big."

"You need to send him a bunch of yours, Angus," Victor said.

"We might need to do that," Angus said. "He'll be surprised if we do, though."

As they were finishing their entrees and starting to eat the almond cookies with more Chinese tea, Kieran and Fiona arrived.

"Somehow we always arrive at supper time. What's on the menu tonight, Guys?" Kieran asked.

"Chinese," Sam said.

"Smells fantastic," he said. "We had an early lunch."

"So, do you have many new recruits there now?" Angus asked.

"No, actually. The others that were there finished up while these slackers were in New Orleans," Kieran teased. "Anyway, these five are our only recruits right now, so they'll get some intensive training this week. They'll have a bit of a leg up on the other new recruits that left yesterday."

"Why does that sounds like its not going to be fun," Sam scowled.

"It won't be so bad," Angus said. "Besides, you guys can do any challenge they throw at you," Angus said. "They haven't probably had much of any field experience, and you all can honestly say you have." He looked at Kieran. "James was here this afternoon, and these five stepped in to lend a hand. They did alright."

"Nice job, Guys!" Fiona said. "Proud of every one of you. You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Anise said. "We're ready." Angus and Tara started the goodbyes as Evan and the kids got ready to go for the ir last week of training. Evan looked at Angus.

"You alright, Angus? Really?" Evan asked him. Angus nodded.

"I'll be fine," Angus said.

"Take that weekend with Ruby," Evan said.

"We're planning on it," Angus told him.

"I'll check in, in a rfew days."

"Just focus on your training," Angus replied.

"He knows where to find you, Evan," Edward reassured him. "If he needs you, he'll call you by floo, I'm sure."

"Do that," Evan told Angus, nodding. Angus agreed.

Ruby saw Kieran and Fiona arrive and smiled at them. Hearing the kids she stood up and held their backpacks for them as each finished their food "You'll all be fine" she said and smiled as she gave each a hug and their backpack. Soon Sam was the last and she handed him his backpack and hugged him too "Stay safe and listen to what Kieran and Fiona tell you " she said and stepped back letting them separate from the house. Now without the kids she looked to Angus " Is it me or does the place feel quiet?" she asked smiling at him as she sat down next to him.

Aria sat and watched looking at Marcus as she saw him watch the kids hug Angus and Ruby before porting back to Colorado. She smiled as Ruby spoke of how quiet the place was until Caprice shouted DADA! at the top of her lungs from the playpen. Ruby picked her up and gave her an almond biscuit for her to chew on. " okay almost quiet." Ruby said with a chuckle

After Evan left, Tara kept her word. She and the girls cleaned up the supper dishes and the kitchen, and then they said their goodbyes and ported them back to Tuscany. Then it really was quiet.

"It is definitely quiet," Angus said. Even with Caprice's noise, the house felt emptier. Angus got up and he made a pot of Highlander Grogg coffee. "I don't know if you've ever had this but the beans are soaked in this liquer that's flavored with vanilla, rum, caramel, butterscotch, maple flavor, and a couple other things. It flavors the beans so that when they're ground, they make a flavored coffee. I don't know if you'll like it or not, but I like it. It doesn't have milk or sugar in it, but, you can certainly add it if you want. It won't hurt it a bit."

He poured mugs of coffee and handed them to Ruby, Edward, Simone, Aria and Marcus. Then he noticed that there was more of Caprice's almond cookie gone than he thought should be gone. He went over to her, expecting to find pieces of cookie on her shirt, but he didn't. He opened her little mouth.

"Hey," he told Ruby, "her first tooth is just starting to come through on the bottom. I can see it."

Aria heard Angus talk about the coffee and smiled knowing she'd not had that coffee before " this should be intresting " she said taking th cup and thanking Angus, she did add milk and suger but only enough to make it les bitter but still have the flavor. Ruby smiled taking the cup thn heard him talk about the coffee she looked over as Angus said Caprice had her first tooth.

" well that explains her fussiness" she said and smiled " means now she can try some of our foods too." Ruby smiled to Angus " just don't go putting your finger in her mouth, she might bite it." she said with a chuckle. Ruby picked up her mamories book and wrote down the date and that they had found her first tooth along side that she had said her first word and what it had been. Closing it she smiled to Angus " shes reatching all her mile stones early." she showed him the book she was keeping for Caprice for when she was older so they could look back at it.

"That may well even out as she gets a little older," Edward said.

"Abbey hit almost all her milestones early, especially her magic milestones," Angus said. "Some of them have evened out a little now, though. I think she's going to be advanced in some things and on point with others. I mean, it makes sense considering how smart Robert and Kate both are. Maybe Caprice will be sort of the same way."

"Maybe so. It's a bit early to tell yet," Edward said, watching Caprice getting impatient with Angus because he was holding onto her cookie. "The most important thing is that she's healthy and happy. Right now, though, if you don't give her back her cookie, she's gonna let you know exactly what she thinks about you." And just at that moment, she began to rant and have a proper temper tantrum because he had her cookie.

Ruby looked and watched agreeing with Edwrd " I would hun" she said and chuckled as Caprice banged on the playpen sides and shouted again DADA while grasping for the cookie. Aria watched Carice and Angus and chuckled " were your kids like this?" she asked " I mean hitting their milestones." she asked wanting to know a little about his kids before she met them in person.

Ruby stood up and pored another coffee forherself and sat back down " this is a great coffee" she said to Angus then listened to the quiet around them even with Caprice happily chewing in her playpen not far from them.

"God, I can't wait til I can start teaching her delayed gratification," Angus sighed.

"She'll learn," Edward laughed. "Right now, you just need a couple days away. I suggest you two get packing your summer clothes for your little holiday. I have your keys right here." He got out a keyring from his pocket and dangled it in front of them. So when will you leave?"

"Maybe tomorrow sometime?" Angus asked Ruby. "I mean, nothing's packed, the boat isn't stocked..."

"The boat can be stocked in the matter of a couple of hours," Edward said. "You tell me when you want to arrive, and I'll have it stocked and at the ready. And you are leaving the baby with us--right? We wouldn't have it any other way."

"What do you think?" Angus asked Ruby.