A Birth day

Aria woke at 6am showerd and dress with her hair pulled up in a bun to look as professonal as possible. Smelling the food she walked down the stairs and smiled seeing Edward and Angus talking about Simone with a cold. " Good morning , and a cold thats not good" she said poring some coffee into a cup. Ruby woke to Finn kicking her and she sighed turning over she saw Angus was already up and she wrapped a dressing gown around her ahdn headed down stairs.

"Morning , coffee good?" she asked Aria as she handed her a cup smiling before making a plate with some food and sitting down at the table. " food smells wonderful" she said to Angus " how'd you sleep last night?" she asked knowing he didn't sleep well at all.

Aria glanced at the clock and inished her food and cofee " okay Im off , see you later" she said smiling as she headed to the front door and across to the main hose. Walking in she paused not knowing what to do now but wait for Khaat.

Ruby shook her head " shes got a long day ahead of her." she said as she sat down and sipped her coffee " I an check in on Simone if you want and Im sure Jess can check her over before she goes to work."

Marcus felt Aria get up and he heard her dress. He had lingered in bed a bit, letting her dress in peace. Then he got and and dressed and shaved and went downstairs, finding everyone was already up but Simone and the kids. Marcus helped himself to coffee and then let Finn out and poured kibbles in his bowl, listening to them talking about Simone not feeling well.

"If she's going to catch him, you need to let him know soon," Marcus told Edward. "I have to send him a note to get David's keys from him for Aria. You want me to include a mention of it for him?"

"If you're already sending him a note, that would be great," Edward said. "Thanks." Marcus went over to the desk and was writing a note when the kids came to the kitchen, but Sam was bundled up in a sweatshirt, and he had a horrible sounding croupy cough. That immediately got Angus's attention. Angus went over and touched Sam's forehead.

"You're not working today," Angus said. "You're running a temperature."

"I'm fine," Sam said. "I can handle it..."

"I said no," Angus said. "You're not an adult yet, and I'm telling you you're not going."

"Better mention that one too," Marcus said, including mention of Sam and Simone both. "You have any symptoms, Victor?"

"No, and I'm not going to get any either," Victor scowled, sitting down at the table and fixing himself a plate. "He can keep whatever creeping crud he has. I don't want it."

"This day is about to get longer yet," Angus sighed.

Ruby looked as Marcus walked down and chuckled as he mentioned the keys for Aria, but when the boys came down she stood up and walked over to Sam " okay Sam you heard your dad back to bed" she said softly " Angus, isn't there a soup we can make to help?" she asked looking at him wnderinf if the restorative orbone soup would help in this case " what do you think it is thats going around?" she asked " can't be crop, hes too old" she sighed and knew what he was going to say, 'wait for Robert to check him over.' But she wanted something to do.

Aria stood in the living room as sone one walked over to her and handed hr two keys " thank you" she said looking at both they were as Marcus discribed one for the front and one reversed for the back door.

"Go," Angus said. "Either Ruby or I will bring you up a breakfast plate, Sam." He looked at Ruby while Sam trudged back upstairs. "It isn't croup," Angus told her. "It's something respiratory, maybe a virus. I don't know."

"His sounds like bronchitis or flu to me," Marcus said, as Robert called to him from the floo. "We're here."

"Got your message. Keep them both quiet, and I'll be there as soon as I can. They're dropping like flies over here with what sounds like the same stuff. I'm going to have to uproot Jess if she doesn't have it. I have to get to work as soon as I can, and so does Khaat. And Andrew has it too, I guess. I haven't gotten to him yet," Robert said.

"What is it? What do they have?"

"Flu," Robert said. "I don't even have a cook here today. I'm gonna be sending for takeout from Sparks, I think."

"Robert," Angus said, "I'll do what I can, if you like..."

"Do you have any nannies in your file of possible employee applications, by chance?"

"I do not," Angus said. "What do we need a nanny for?"

"Abbey has it, and I don't have anyone here to tend her. Khaat and I really do have to go because St. Mungos is up to their eyeballs in patients. And pretty much everyone else here has...."

"You're not going to bring a stranger in," Angus frowned. "I'll come get her. We've already got some sort of crud here. She's not going to infect us any more. I'll tend her myself. She's used to me. Nanny, my ass."

"You'd better check with the others over there before you do that. They might not want a sick three year old over there."

"Is Caprice in danger of getting this?"

"Not in the same way a muggle baby would be, but I wouldn't put them in the same room. I'll talk to you when I get there. Give me a few minutes. Tell Aria Khaat's going on time today. She's going to be swamped. She might want to wear her trainers today because they're going to be running from one end of that hospital to the other all day, I can just about wager."

"Well, that won't bother her, as long as she's not wearing high heels."

"I didn't know they made high heeled trainers," Robert said. Marcus paused, not following Robert for a moment, then he laughed. Clearly Robert was overwhelmed at the moment.

"We'll see you in a few minutes," Marcus said, closing the floo.

Ruby listened as Marcu and Angus spoke then Robert threw the floor " oh my" she said as he said Abby had it she turned to look at Angus " bring her here" she said smiling "If Caprice gets it all the better for her immune system." she said " best she gets it young than at Sams age" she noded to Angus that she aproved of him bringing her to their duplex " I an look after her while your gone, not like I haven't before" she said smiling. Aria looked at her feet and the flats she wore wondering if heels would have been better. It was now she heard the clatter of heels and saw Jess walk down from upstairs.

"damn it, sorry Aria busy hospitals flooded with flu patiants," she said and grabbed her coat and bag before porting out. Aria chuckled and shook her head waiting the keys nestled in her pocket.

"Thanks, Ru," Angus said. "I can just about tell you that we'll be planning today and hoping we can actually deploy either overnight or tomorrow. He's got too much on his plate today to be planning a mission. Maybe if we do the planning here, he can just either approve or not and won't have to worry about it. I'll go over in a few minutes and pack some things for Abbey and bring her back here. Wonder if anybody over at Jessie's has it or if they're good."

Over at the main building, Robert had been planning on not sending Jess to St. Mungos today. He desperately needed someone here to take care of all the sick people on the estate, and he had planned on Jess spearheading that, but, no. she'd taken off without talking to him. He lashed out a stream of curse words that would embarrass any pirate. He decided he had to reach out to Nigel and ask for some help. He made a quick floo call to Nigel and then picked up his shoulder bag and headed through the kitchen, as Khaat finally made it to the kitchen herself.

She had a pretty, slim fitting dress that was styled a lot like a double breasted trench coat with a wide belt. It was a beautiful emerald green that actually accented the enchanted necklace that she wasn't able to ever take off, and she had a pair of beige high stiletto heels that made her legs look longer than they really were. She had a leather messenger bag that served as a briefcase. She saw Aria waiting in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Aria," she smiled. "Great suit---looks nice. I hope I didn't keep you waiting. It's been ridiculous here this morning." She put her bag on the counter and picked up a few pieces of fruit from the fruit bowl. She grabbed a couple apples, a couple oranges, and about four French butter pears, and then grabbed a handful of little tiny wheels of cheese that were individually wrapped. "There's no cook here for breakfast, so if we get hungry, we can ask the kitchen to send us up something, but I'm tucking in a few pieces of fruit just in case. These French butter pears are some of my favorites, and technically, these little cheeses are actually little baby wheels of Brie, so if all else fails, I've had worse meals thatn some gourmet pears and some Brie cheese." She began rooting in one of the pockets of her bag. "My keys," she sighed, "I laid them someplace last night... Accio Keys!" she said, and about ten different key rings flew to her hand. "Well, crap. I've just accio'd just about every key ring in the house." She laid them on the counter and picked through them to find hers. "There they are. I'm ready if you are. Shall we?"

"Leave my damned keys here, Khaat," Robert shouted to the kitchen.

"Countertop," she shouted back. "Let's go before he gets surly."

Ruby smiled and nodded "Don't worry I'm sure Abby and I can find things to keep each other occupied" she told him walking over to him she kissing him gently "Stay safe, okay?" she said then moved back to take out a spare blanket from the downstairs closet with a pillow " Im sure she just going to want to sleep for today?" she said placing them on one of the couches.

Aria heard Robert and chuckled " shes gone to St Mungo's to help with the flu break out sir," she said to him as she saw Khaat walk down she nodded to her when she complimented her suit when she accioed several keys she tried not to laugh but kept a straight face as she found her keys "All right if you're ready," she said eeling her own give a slight pull in her pocket. Walking over she gently rested her hand on Khaat's arm and ported them to the ally where Marcus had told her was safe.

Walking out Aria watched around her, keeping an eye out for anything not right, she followed behind Khaat as she went to the stand and retrived her papers. Now walking back Aria led her around to the back of the building seeing several men at the front with cameras around their necks " I think the back way is safer " she said unlocking the door and letting her walk in first following behind she relocked the door and followed her up to an elevator that took them to the top floor and close to Robert and Khaats office.

Entering Aria looked around and saw the door Marcus had mentioned she looked at the pictures on teh walls and saw the couch he had mentioned watching her head for her desk she moved and sat down on the couch.

"I'll be here until Robert tells us we're going and what exactly he wants us to do, Ru," Angus said, "so you're going to have to put up with Marcus and me for at least some of the day today. I'm just going over to get Abbey right now. I'll be straight back. Would you please take a breakfast tray up to Sam, Ru?"

Marcus and Edward stepped in to clear away the breakfast dishes and to store the leftovers in the fridge. The rest of the kids left for work as Angus went over to the main building. He went up to the nursery and packed a bag for Abbey. He knew he was likely overpacking, but he knew this child, and he knew what she would need, and he knew what mattered to her. Then he got her favorite blanket and wrapped her in it and picked her up. She cuddled tight to him, curling into his neck. He could feel the heat from her skin on his neck and his face. He didn't like it when she had a fever. In his own mind, he knew that Caprice was far more of a mama's girl, and if Caprice didn't feel well, she was going to want Ruby. He was fine with that. And since moving to the duplex, he saw a lot less of Abbey than before, but he didn't want anyone else taking care of her if he were around to do it.

He brought Abbey back to the duplex and put the bag down on the floor near the sofa.

"I've probably packed way too much, but as short as the attention span is of a sick three year old, I figured I'd better pack more toys than usual," Angus told them. "It isn't well packed though. It's just sort of all crammed in there.

"Thanks for stepping up for David and Marcus," Khaat told Aria. "One thing about our family, there's never a dull moment. Make yourself at home. My secretary will be happy to get coffee and tea for us any time we need. She's good about that. If you need something, just ask. I'm going to look over my messages and some of these shift reports and then maybe I'll know where I'm needed."

Ruby listened to him and nodded " okay" she said then smiled and nodded as she made a plate for Sam along with some soda to cool his throat. Now with tray in hand she headed up to the boys room and knocked , pushing it open she smiled " brought you some food " she said then pulled out teh soda from her pocket " and a cool drink for your throat" she added placing the tray next to the bed as she then placed her hand on his forehead " Angus is right you do have a temp" she sighed and smile at him " Abbys the same so shes coming over for me to look after today" she said to him " if you need anything just give me a shout" she finished as she heard Caprice babbling in the other room. Now with his breakfast beside him she stood up and headed to Caprices room picking her up she carried her down to the kiving room and placed her in her play pen.

Aria listened to Khaat and nodded " thank you, and I'll just be right here" she understood but she would not leave her side and if she needed anything she would send a note to the secetary rather than leaving Khaat alone, one thing she knew was Marcus never left her alone even in her own office.

"There's a drawer in the coffee table," Khaat told Aria. There's a crossword puzzle book and a deck of cards and maybe some other sort of puzzle book. Marcus likes logic puzzles, so there may be a logic puzzle book in there too. He's learned how to stay alert and do the occasional puzzle. I'm sure it gets to be awfully boring when I'm just sitting in here doing paperwork."

"I'll make a pot of soup to kind of keep everyone going," Angus said. "I know a chicken soup recipe that uses not only bone broth but it uses chicken, ginger, garlic, celery, a little cilantro, some tumeric, and some buckwheat soba noodles. It's a really tasty soup that even Abbey likes, and it's a super healthy, nutritious soup. I've got some other recipes too that I'm sure might help...."

There was a knock on the door, and Robert opened it and came in.

"So, I'll go see Simone first, shall I, and then go see Sam," Robert said.

"Would you like me to come with you? You'll have to wake her, I'm afraid," Edward said.

"Its not necessary for you to come along. I'll fill you in when I get back," Robert told him. "Angus, if you get a chance, would you make some big batches of that pomegranate fruit tea you made when this happened a few years ago? That would really help."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that," Angus said.

"I didn't, and neither did Kate. She asked me to ask you to make some for everyone that's dealing with this. We can send to the supplier for a couple cases of pomegranate juice and anything else you need."

"I'll do it as soon as I get all the supplies," Angus said.

"Thank you," Robert said. "I'll go see Simone." He turned and went to Edward's side.

"Is he talking about that hot drink you made that was a combination of pomegranate juice and some sort of hot tea and a few other ingredients?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah, that's it. Its basically half tea, half juice, with some sugar, some spices and a few herbs, for fighting fever and infection and boosting the immune system."

"That was great. Did you ever write it down?"

"Someplace, but I don't think it ever made the book. It's on a piece of scrap paper somewhere."

"Well, that's great. All we have to do is find it," Marcus laughed. "It isn't like we have all sorts of pieces of paper on this property. Not more than a few billion. Piece of cake."