A Birth day

Jess paused and listened to Khaat "Right six, I can spare three from the ER, two from OR and the rest will be pulled from the wards" she said "We won't be short there." she added making another note " I'll get on that right away" she said " and yeah we both have a lot on our plates and I think after this we need a spar break." she said and chuckled as she headed out to sort out the nurses.

Ruby saw Edwrad walk over and realised he'd asked her to taste the soup "Oh sorry dear, I guess I'm just worried about those kids" she said standing and walking over to him. " if you and Marcus have to go, just go, we'll be fine, I can cook for us" she told him as she took a spoon and tasted the soup " Edwards right about the salt" she said with a smile.

Angus added some salt to the soup, and he prepared the fragrant and hot fruity pomegranate tea, and he made a fruit salad, and then made some shortbread that he dusted with crystalized sugar to give it a little extra crunch.

"There is enough food there to feed fifty people," Edward laughed.

"Well, i was going to slice the bread thinly and make some grilled cheese sandwiches to go with the soup," Angus said. "I just hadn't gotten to it yet."

"Why don't you use that for just toast with butter for those who don't have a big appetite? If you really want to do something, how about making some of those little thin, square crackers that you made once for me from that Hawaiian bread dough?"

"Oh, I'd forgotten all about those," Angus said. "They're pretty easy, but they do take a bit of time. Ru, look in my book in the bread section. You'll find a recipe for Hawaiian Sweet Bread crackers."

"Those sound tasty," Marcus said.

"They are. Abbey loves those darned things. In Hawaii, the bread dough has mashed potatoes in it and so much sugar that the crust caramelizes and turns dark brown and crispy. And because of the amount of sugar in it, its called sweet bread--not to be confused with offal. But, I took some of the dough to make sweet bread one time, rolled it out really thinly, cut it into little squares, dusted them with salt and baked them into these crispy little crackers. And people went nuts for them. They polished off the whole batch in one evening."

"He sent me a batch for Christmas one year, and they didn't make it more than about 24 hours because between Rosaria, Carlo, me, Evan, Tara, and the girls, they vanished in no time flat," Edward said.

"Well, you need to make a mountain of them, then," Marcus laughed.

Robert finished with Sam shortly after and came downstairs.

"He's definitely one sick young man," Robert said. "I gave him a more powerful dose of fever potion and some flu potion. He could also have a couple aspirin powders if he'll take them. Make sure he drinks lots of fluids. And keep a watch to make sure his fever doesn't get much higher. Of the people here on the estate, Sam seems to have it worse than the others--at least so far. I'm going to want to keep an eye on him."

"We'll handle it," Angus said.

"Do me a favor. See if Jessie can prepare to go to Colorado with you. If he can't go, I'll send Jack," Robert said. "I apologize I don't have a plan for you lot but I think you'll have to go and investigate. Check the kids' rooms and talk to their caretakers and see where it takes you. Stay in touch. Don't go doing a lot on your own. I can maybe pull a couple from Europe or someplace to go with you."

"Maybe Sergio and Ana?" Angus suggested.

"That's a good thought. Does Jessie get along with them?"

"I'm not aware of any problems, but I'll ask Jessie," Angus said.

Ruby heard Angus and nodded turning to find a book in the pantry with the recipy for Hawaiian Sweet Bread crackers. She took out the ingridiants and began making them. Hearing Robert return from upstairs from checking on Sam. " oh poor dear" she said softly as she continued to make the Crackers. When Robert asked about Jessie he walked in the door and stopped in his tracks as he looked at them al.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked and looked at them but sniffed the air " wow that smells wonderful" he said as Chris ran in but he stopped him with a gentel hand on his shoulder "you have the flu hre ?" he asked " thats flu potion has a distinct smell and its strong also I can see Abby laid on the couch" he said motioning to her as he let Chris go. Chris ran over to Abby and frowned as he looked back at Jessie " shes not well" he said and Chris nodded.

"There's flu just about in every corner of the estate," Robert said to Jessie. "Almost everyone in the main house has it. And so does Abbey, Simone, and Sam. St. Mungos is full of it. It's spreading like wildfire. Jessie, I know this isn't the best time to ask, but we've got trouble in Colorado. Long story short, someone impersonated Kieran there while the kids were training, and Evan ended up hurt because of it. And now, we've got three of our kids that we sent there who are now missing. I need an away team to go to Colorado and check out and see if we can find the kids or what happened to them, and see if we can get any information on who impersonated Kieran. Sam is absolutely sure that who he talked to looked exactly like Kieran. Any chance I can send you to Colorado with Angus and Marcus? I'm sure Ruby could use Yu's help because she's going to have to be cooking for the main house and the duplex too. Yu and Chris could come and stay here and give a hand while we're so short staffed."

"I suggested that we consider adding either Jack to the group or Sergio and Ana. Got any opinions, Jessie?" Angus asked.

Jessie looked at Robert and nodded " I saw, some of the ground crew is down with it, and I'm ready when you are Yu can look after Chris" he said but saw Chris standing next to Abby " Or he can stay here, if that's okay with you Ruby?" he asked and she looked up from making the crackrs.

"yes that's fine," she said smiling Jessie looked back at Robert and nodded to him.

"I'm good to go" he told him carrying his jacket ready to leave when they were all ready.

"Stay in touch, you three," Robert told them firmly.

"So wait," Marcus frowned at Jessie, "you don't plan on taking a go bag? You are not planning on wearing those same clothes for our entire stay if we have to stay for a few days are you? I'm not going to be upwind from you if you're in those clothes for a week. Nor am I going to be going anywhere with you if you're naked."

That made Angus laugh. He looked at Ruby.

"Now, Ru, this food should get you through for most of the rest of the day. I doubt the ones that are sick are going to want much more than this right here. If you follow the recipe, you won't have any trouble making the crackers. No more than aboutg 1/16th of an inch or they won't crisp up for you. If you need something for a quick supper, check the freezer in the big house. There are several large size frozen casseroles you could get out and stick in the oven and bake them up and then just put maybe some fruit salad or something with them. Keep it easy for yourself. The sick folks aren't going to have much appetite, and there are only a few who don't have the flu. They'll want just a regular meal, but it won't be like cooking for fifty. Use what's in the freezer and in the pantry in the main house. It'll save you hours and hours of work. If worse comes to worse, order take out for those who aren't sick. It'll be fine. And Ginger can help you cook after work. Anise and Victor can step up and help take care of Abbey and Caprice."

"I can help with the little ones," Edward said.

"Anything else I can help with before we go?" Angus asked Ruby.

Jessie cuckled and shook his head at Marcus's teasing reatching around the door as he picked up a sports bag and placed it down by his feet " you think Im going with nothing for several days, your mad" he said smiling as Yu ran up to him giving him a kiss then stepped back.

"stay safe all of you" he told them " I can help too" he added as Edward said he could help with the kids.Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " we'll be fine" she told him gently " I have enough helpers" she lent forward and gently kissed him " as Yu said stay safe, and I don't think there is anything else." she told him her hand resting on his.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Angus told her. "Alright, I guess we're going, then." He drew out a key ring from his pocket. On the key ring was a horseshoe nail that the point had been curled round into a loop so it would hang on his keyring. It was one of the few portkeys he had that wasn't actually a key. "I'm ready. Let's go."

They ported to Colorado, landing on the ranch property outside of the main house. It was pitch dark outside, except for some of the estate lights and the stars above them. Angus checked his watch.

"So, it's 11:17 am at home. That means its 4:17 am here. Colorado is seven hours behind us. I suggest we check in with Kieran and Fi and get to our rooms for now. I'm sure if we give it a couple hours we'll be able to talk to people and get started."

Angus led them into the main house, and they were greeted by a couple of security guards. They recognized Angus straight off, and they went to get Kieran and Fiona.

Ruby smiled and nodded to him stepping back as he moved to Marcus and Jessie. She watched as they ported away. Jessie held his bag and ported with Angus and Marcus to the colorado trainning facility. Arriving he held his bag as he followed them towards a house with some security guards he also looked around and felt some what un-nerved being back. He saw Kieran and Fiona and smiled to them " hey guys" he said as he moved to stand with Angus and Marcus.

Ruby finished the small crackers and moved to sit down every so often she would check the soup. " this is going to be fun with all these people down with the flu." she said to Edward as she heard coughing from above " I should give him something to drink" she said grabbing a cold soda from the fridge to take up to Sam. Finding him sat up in bad she placed down the cold soda " here this will help cool you alittle, Angus made some soup for later that will help but sleep and rest" she told him wrapping the blanket around his waist.

"Are you lot our rescue team?" Kieran asked.

"Well, I don't know about that, but we're the start of maybe an investigative team," Angus said.

"Alright, well, first things first, I suppose," Kieran said, motioning to them. He took them to an office that was off the foyer, and he opened a cabinet in the wall behind the desk. The cabinet was actually a place where rows of keychains with keys were kept. Kieran looked at the rows and selected three keys and handed one to each of them. "They're on the back side of the main house, in the northwest wing, on the next floor up from this one. Jessie, you're across the hall, from Angus, and Marcus, you're next to Angus. Would you like to get settled first?"

"Tell us about the missing kids," Angus said.

"There are three girls. They didn't really even know each other. They came from separate raids. The one girl is one you know. Her name is Sarah. She's the one who gave you the dog--what's his name. She's 13 now. There is an older girl, she didn't know Sarah. She arrived actually before Sarah by about six months. She's 15. Her name is Holly. Holly was one of the girls that had earned her way to help in the kitchen with lunch prep. She's a good girl, and she has some tremendous talents in Herbology. We've unblocked the spells that Gelding blocked, and she's regaining her skills in leaps and bounds. I trust her. Hell, I trust them all. They're good kids. The third is a little scamp named Charlie." The name made Fiona smile.

"Charlie is 7 going on about 13. He doesn't have a lot of control of his magic yet, but he tries. he tries really hard. The thing about Charlie is that he tries so damned hard to be good, and somehow, he ends up causing mischief without even trying. He's always in trouble. He doesn't try to make things go off the rails, but, boy, if someone's going to end up in trouble, its Charlie. I love that boy to pieces. They were all housed in separate places. They had nothing in common. None of them hung out together, but tonight at bedtime, those three were gone when we took roll call. We've had staff searching since we saw they were missing, but we havent' found them or any real leads on what happened to them."