A Birth day

Aria smiled and set out for lunch. she looked up and saw the kids return from the water she wanted as Poppy washed her hands free of sand and returned She held up a towel for her to dry them and smiled "Help yourselves guys" she said showing the spread she had in front of her. " I brought sodas too, but if you want to eat your lunches that's okay." she made a plate for Marcus and smiled handing it to him.

Hearing that the kids wanted to stay at the beach longer she was glad. we can take them to the water park tomorrow." she said placing down an iced tea with minty in it for him. " Hope you like it," she said turning to get her food and drink. she lent back on the ooler and dug her toes in the sand again.

"Thank you," Marcus told her when she handed him the plate. He started to eat, and he saw some commotion around. He saw people going up the beach, like they were leaving, but they were leaving their belongings on the beach. He frowned, trying to see where everyone was going.

"Food trucks," Zane said, pointing at some food trucks up at the entrance to the beach.

"Ah," Marcus said. "Good catch, Zane. So, I was given a muggle police ID years ago in case I needed it. Sometimes boundaries are not so very clear. So, your next question is whether this security guard could actually verify it, and, actually, yes. He could. I won't explain how. But, the guard was savvy enough to not want to start an international incident, so he let me go. Very wise of him, really."

"I'm sorry I caused trouble," Poppy said.

"You didn't," Marcus told her. "Don't you regret that for one moment. You didn't do anything wrong. Not a thing. It was those muggle lads entirely. No beach anywhere allows that sort of horseplay. And never, ever clsoe to another swimmer. You could have been seriously hurt or worse. That was not your fault. Understand one thing, each one of you. I don't care what sort of trouble you're in. If you need my help, I'll be there. You have my word."

"Well, you're a sight better than Evelyn," Kai said bitterly.

"Well, Evelyn is an absolute complete waster of oxygen. Dad would have been better if he'd never met her," Zane said.

"Not true," Marcus said. "If I'd never met her, I'd not have you four. And, Poppy, I don't regret knowing your mum either. Not for a minute."

"Did you love her?" Daria asked.

"Your mum? Yes, when we first started out. But sometimes time changes people. I care for her because she's your mum, but I don't love her anymore."

"And Poppy's mum?"

"I loved her too, but she didn't love me, not enough anyway," Marcus said. "Still, I wouldn't trade any of you lot for the world."

"Are there any more of us running about?" Ezra asked.

"Siblings, you mean? Not that I know of," Marcus laughed. "That's okay. Five is enough, I think."

"So, you okay not having kids with him?" Ezra asked Aria.

"Ezra!" Zane scowled. "Manners--again, you little git."

Aria listened to him talk to the kids about the ID and she chuckled " I thought it was something like that" she said knowing his job and the people he dealt with. Hearing them talk to Marcus about their mother and if he loved her she listened as she ate. When he spoke saying he had loved Evelyn once but not any more and that his mother had never loved him she reached out and lightly touched his arm and smiled. Hearing Ezra Aria looked at him.

"it's okay, I'm good with it, but not right now, Marcus is right you lot are all we need for now and I'm happy to know you all," she said smiling "One day though, one day when we both ready, not just one." she looked at Marcus and smiled to him.

"You know that was the only reason Mum stayed with you," Ezra told Marcus.

"What are you talking about?" Marcus asked. Zane elbowed Ezra hard to try to keep him from talking.

"Well it is," Ezra scowled at Zane.

"Enough!" Zane was angry now.

"What are you talking about Ez?" Marcus asked.

"The last time Mum visited us. She said she stayed because the bedroom was the only thing you was good at..."

"I told you to shut it!" Zane was furious with Ezra. "She's an ugly, barmy, old hag! You cant' believe a syllable she says. Told you that! And so did Granddad! You say one more syllable about it, and I'm going to shove your teeth straight up your arse, you little knob."

"What's a knob?" Ezra asked.

"Its a doorknob," Kai lied.

"Granddad?" Marcus frowned.

"Granddad heard her say it, and he threw her out on her ear and told her she was never visitin' us again," Kai said. "And Zane told Ez that if he ever repeated it, he would pound Ez into the ground like a tent stake."

"See what happens without Granddad around? Complete degenerates, all of them," Daria told Aria. That made Marcus laugh.

Aria listened to them talk and as it grew heated she moved to sit up where she could intervene if needed. Hearing them talk about Evelyn and how she acted "Well she lost out and I can tell you I'm not with him just for the bedroom, your dads one hell of a fighter outside the bedroom too." she told them as she turned to look at Marcus " hes kind caring, focused and good at what he does."

She heard Daria and chuckled "Boys will be boys, well some of them" she added as she glanced at Marcus. " maybe they need to blow off some steam some how." she added and looked to Marcus " not sure what we can do to do that." leaning closer she kissed his cheek " you can talk to you dad later threw the loo if you want awnsers."

"You don't need to compete with my soon-to-be ex," Marcus told her. "They're just venting because even talking about her irks them. As far has them burning off energies, I don't disagree with you, but they're soon going to be adults. They really do need to be figuring things out for themselves. I don't intend to fix that for them. They need to try to figure out how to do their own emotional regulation."

"See? You've made him angry now," Zane told the other kids.

"I'm not angry, but I won't let you complete trash this weekend with arguing about your mother," Marcus replied calmly. "You either find a way to behave like civilized people, or I'll wrap this up right now and take you all home. So I suggest you figure it out." They all were immediately silent and finished their lunches. "Alright," he told them, "I think we've had enough of the beach, so let's pack things up and head back to the campsite."

They did as they were told, and Marcus shouldered the beach backpack so they could head back to the campsite. The kids were already debating on what they wanted to do for the afternoon. As they were walking back to the campsite, they saw some other kids that were trying to get a game of volleyball together and they invited Marcus's five to join them. The kids quickly took them up on it and left Marcus and Aria on their own to go off to the volleyball court.

"Well, I have no idea how long they'll last at that," Marcus said, "but let's go back and maybe get some cold sodas and just enjoy the quiet for however long that lasts."

Aria loked to Marcus and smiled at him " Im not compeating with her, its how I feel about you" she said softly to him " but yeah they do need to sort their shit out and fast." she added chukaling. Hearing them say he was angry she chukled as she moved closer to him " I know you aer not prone to bouts of PDA but.." she lent loser to him and placed hr hand on hi cheek as she slowly lent in and kissed him gently " but I love that about you" she aded softly so only he could hear her.

Pulling back she smiled " well hes calm now" she added taking a sip of some soda as she looked out over the ocean in front of them. " you know maybe the older boys would benafit from Roberts trainning program in colorado , once thre done with school and evrything" she sugested to Marcus.

He smiled as she said her response was just because of her feelings for him.

"If they want to go to a training program once they're done with school, then I'll support that," Marcus said, setting out a couple of lounge chairs so they could enjoy a comfortable chairs at the campsite. "I think we should just get the kids off our minds for now. So, let's discuss something for the moment. I think that when Robert pulls me away from guarding Angus so closely, which I think will be soon, I'll probably be either going back to guarding Khaat or I'll be guarding Angus on occasion. I'm not sure exactly what he'll be having me do. I'll be either needing to return to my room in the main building or, maybe, if Robert is in agreement, maybe I can rent one of the apartments in the new building. Do you have a clear preference one way or the other?"

Aria heard him and chuckled as she nodded her agreement "All right," she said sitting on the chair next to him. She listened to him and looked her head " I don't have any problem with either, but if you want us to have privacy, maybe that apartment would be a good choice especially when the kids visit." she said smiling at him "Can't have Khaat or Robert being disturbed by a bunch teens running around " she said " plus it will make them feel like being home again, especially if we enlarge the place to add rooms of for each of the elder kids." she added with a smile.

Sitting back she sighed "it's going to be very quiet without them around, even after two days I'm gonna miss them." She smiled as she turned to look at him.

"Well, then perhaps we need to just wait and see what Robert has in mind. As far as the kids go, I rarely visit with them at the estate. Most of the time, we plan a trip someplace when I have him for a weekend," Marcus said. "So I don't think that's an issue." He smiled when she said she was going to miss them.

"I do sometimes miss them too," Marcus said. "I absolutely understand their anger with Evelyn. They're entitled. I've certainly been angry with her too. I know she has tried to visit them periodically over the years, and it never goes well for any one of a hundred different reasons. And that only makes them angrier. At some point, I really want to take them to Switzerland, when Jeffrey says we can do it, and they need to be able to have a face to face meeting with her, with me there with them, so they can finally say, uncensored, everything they want to say to her. And then she needs to know that this will be the last time that she'll see any of them before they reach adulthood. If they want to see her after they become adults, then that decision can be theirs, but I do not want any more contact between her and them unless I'm there. Period. She's not stable enough to do it, and she's done enough damage to them as it is."