A Birth day

Ruby smiled at Angus saying she did indeed smell bacon as he sat and sipped her coffee. " I have to agree it smells divine and yes to me your hot" she said smirking as she smelt the eggs and maple bacon enjoying the smell of it all cooking then when Marcus said fot ythem to grab some she smiled and stood up walking over she did exactly that and too some bacon and eggs just as the kids walked down " wow just in tim" she said chukaling as she moved to the table to eat taking off her jacket and placing it down on the back of the couch to keep it safe.

Once she was done she sat back and sipped her coffee as she watched the kids walk over and take their breakfast and eat " and yeah why do other make borning bacon and not like this" she said and chuckled.

"I'm glad you like it," Angus said. The kids raved about the bacon too, and Sam swiped a few slices, saying he was going to take a bacon butty to lunch. The other kids graoned because there wasn't enough maple bacon for them to all make bacon buttys. "I need to make more bacon, clearly," Angus laughed, getting up. He got out more bacon, put a bunch of it on a sheet pan, glazed it with maple syrup and put it in the oven. "You lot are responsible for taking it out when its ready," Angus told the kids.

"How do we know when its done?"

"Before it burns," he laughed. Ginger rolled her eyes at him. "Alright. At that temperature, about 12 minutes would be good."

"Before it burns," Ginger mumbled, shaking her head.

"Do leave a couple pieces for Aria--if she gets up before lunch, won't you?" Angus told the kids. Just about that time, he heard Caprice starting to have some sort of big temper tantrum upstairs. "I'll get it," he said. He went upstairs and found she had tried to squeeze out of the crib and had only succeeded in getting the sleeve of her sleeper stuck between the bars on the side rail. In fact, it was caught so badly, Angus had to actually clip the sleeve of the sleeper. He took her downstairs and handed her to Ruby.

"She's irked that she can't squeeze out through the rails," he told her. "And she stinks. I think she's probably had a blowout. If you take care of little Miss Stinky, I'll help the kids pack a decent lunch since I doubt we'll be home at lunch, and I'll see if Edward's free."

In the meantime, Nigel was just coming out of Robert's bedroom, yawning tiredly, when he ran into Khaat in the hallway.

"Nigel? I didn't know you were here. When did you get in?" she asked.

"Ten minutes til four--your time," he said. "I'm heading for some of your French roast."

"What brings you?"

"Your mother. Well, specifically, your mother found out that your father had an accident yesterday when she accidently elbowed him in the night," Nigel said. "He's grounded for today, maybe for two or three days, actually. If you want to talk, you'd better be able to follow me to the coffee pot."

Ruby chuckled as Angus placed a second tray of maple bacon in the oven for the kids. It was now she heard Caprice from upstairs standing she was about to had up when Angus beat her to it then returned with a stinky annoyed daughter. " wow okay bath time" she said and chuckled heading up stairs to bath Caprice.

Aria woke to the subtle smell of maple bacon and smiled , slipping out of bed her book fell to the floor and she picked it up laying it on the bedside table. washing and dressing casual she ehaded down to the living room " passing Ruby with a stinky Caprice as she did so " wow that bacon smells beter than what I just pased in the hall way" she said and chuckled " morning" she said and walked over to Marcus kissing his cheek and smiling down at him " I must have passed out before you ame up, sorry abou that" she said softly to him before heading to grab some coffee and check the maple bacon  so she could grab some.

[Wait. Aria wasn't supposed to know about going to sign the papers on the house. Marcus was trying to surprise her. Did she somehow find out and blow the surprise? I'm confused.]

"That's why I passed her on to her mother," Angus teased when Aria mentioned Caprice's odor.

Angus hastily made a fresh salad and divided it up into four plastic containers for the kids for lunch and made small containers of dressing to go with them. He packed some fresh shortbread and some fresh fruit. When the bacon was ready, he made bacon buttys for the kids' lunch.

"There," he told the kids, "You each have a bacon butty in your lunch."

"Thanks," Anise said, always glad when Angus packed the lunches because they were considerably better when he packed them than when they packed them themselves.

"Glad to do it," Angus said.

"Aria," Marcus said, as he watched Aria get her coffee, "we're still going to breakfast, but after that, I really have to get back. You've done a great job with Khaat, but I need to go with her today. There was trouble last night, and it might well have been while you were still there with Khaat. There were some people there last evening who stole some potions. Robert saw them and went after them, and they shoved him down three flights of stairs. He was very definitely hurt. I don't exactly know the extent of the damage, but I do know that it is significant enough that Michael was here last night to tell us that he expected to be calling Nigel before morning. He does not figure Robert will be in any condition to work today, and, the moment that the press gets word of this, there will be a huge press mob at St. Mungos. You're not used to that. I am. I'll take care of her today. If Khaat goes in before we get back, Angus and Ruby will get her in the back way to avoid the press, and I'll go upstairs and relieve them.

"I realize I am just presuming you're going to want to go to St Mungo's," he continued, "so if you don't, then just ignore the rest of what I am about to say. I am the very last person to tell you what to do. However, I have two concerns. First, Robert's attackers need to be found, and the people stealing potions need to be stopped. In this case, it seems like they are the same people. Angus and Ruby will look for clues as soon as I relieve them from guarding Khaat, but solving crimes like burglary and assault? That's your specialty. You can help me with Khaat if you choose, and we can let Angus and Ruby gather as much as they can in terms of any clues or evidence. Or--you could join them and see if you can't help bring these tossers to justice. That choice is yours."

Aria hearing Angus laughed and nodded "Good choice" she said sipping her coffee now listening to Marcus she nodded " I saw the report that landed on Khaat's desk, and you know me so well, I going with you " she said looking up at him. " and I'll stay with you to guard Khaat the thrft could be a diversion to lessen security around Khaat so they can get to her easily, and Im not having that happen" she said sipping her coffee again assge looked at them.

Ruby wash and changed Caprice then changed her own clothing since she ahd goten wet from Caprices splashing. Returned back downstairs with her happliy chatting to her aas she walked over to the play pen and handed her a bottle to drink from then she sat down

"Well, we're on our own, then," Angus said to Ruby, feeling pressured now to come up with answers. He was not an investigator. He was a fighter, and so was Ruby. He was debating that perhaps, if they didn't come up with something relatively quickly, they needed to just call the real aurors and let them deal with it.

"Don't get overly stressed about it," Marcus told Angus, sensing his stress. "I honestly think one of the best things you can do is to lay some advanced protection spells to try to keep the staff safe. Potions can be replaced, people not so much." Angus nodded. "Let's go," Marcus told Aria. "I'm hungry."

"I'll go see if Edward and Simone can watch Caprice," Angus said. He went next door, but he found Edward and Simone were not there. He saw a note instead that said Edward and Simone were out for the morning. Frustrated, Angus apparated over to the main house, and he found Kate was up and dressed and she was just finishing her breakfast, while Nigel was just getting some coffee. Clearly, Nigel had not had much sleep. It was written all over his face.

"Well, well, what brings you here?" Kate asked Angus.

"The kids are working, and Ruby and I have to be out this morning. Is there anyone here who would take care of Caprice for us?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Kate's face suddenly brightened, loving the idea of time with a baby. "Besides, it will give me a bit of a break away from my beloved. He's on my last nerve this morning. I'll come over there, if that's alright."

"Of course its alright," Angus said.

"Then, I'll be over in just a couple minutes," she told Angus.

"Thank you," he said, relieved. He apparated back to the duplex and went inside. "Edward and Simone are out at least for the morning. Kate will be here in just a couple minutes. She's looking for a bit of an escape from the main house this morning anyway."

Aria seeing Angus worried about her staying with Marcus walked to Ruby "All you need to do is look for things out of place no matter how small of a thing it is, Marcus's advanced protection spells will help but thats all you have to do is look and observe" she told her Ruby looked to Angus and smiled nodding.

"We can do this" she said smiling to him " I have a good feeling" she told him walking over to Angus and taking his hand in her own gently. Hearing the mention of Edward and Simone taking Caprice she nodded and kissed his cheek as she watched him head to the other side of the duplex.

"Let's go. I have a small errand to do on the way," Marcus told Aria. He reached for her hand, and when she took it, he apparated them out for London and landed on the sidewalk outside the realtor's. He opened the door and went inside, motioning to her to come with him.

A moment later, Kate arrived, with a shoulder bag that held a craft project she was working on, along with some small homemade arrowroot cookies. Angus had made them for Abbey when she was a baby, and she had been hungry for them. So Kate had made some in simple little pumpkin shapes. She had brought some, figuring that Caprice could maybe gum one of them and enjoy it, even if she did get a bit messy in the process. Kate knocked on the door and then came in.

"Coffee's fresh," Angus told her. "I can put on some tea if you like."

"No, no. I'm fine," Kate said. "Has Caprice had her breakfast?"

"Not yet. She's working on a bottle but she hasn't had breakfast," Angus said.

"Not to worry," Kate said. "We'll be fine. Khaat's ready to go anytime you are."

"Then we should go soon," Angus said. "How's Robert?"

"Badly sprained ankle. Nigel or Jess will cast it maybe sometime today if the swelling is down far enough. He's got a headache from hitting his head, but he apparently also broke two ribs that Nigel found last night, and he's got more bruises than I've seen him have for awhile. Nigel's put him on sick leave until further notice, whether Robert likes it or not. When I left, he had just finished breakfast, and Nigel was going to get him some more pain potion," Kate said. "I'm glad you needed a sitter. He and Nigel were arguing about Robert's thoughts that he could go into the office and do paperwork. I'm glad Nigel is here because it would have put Jess is an awkward spot trying to get him to stay home. Nigel just really isn't in that spot, so he doesn't really care what Robert does or doesn't want. Anyway, Caprice and I will be just fine, so don't worry."

"Well, then, let's go get Khaat and get going, shall we?" Angus asked Ruby. "You ready?"

Aria smiled and nodded to Ruby as she stood up and moved to take Marcus hand so they could head out. She clung to him as they ported away.

Ruby smiled seeing Kate enter and she shook her ehad as she asked if Caprice had eaten yet but let Angus explain. " well we're glad to give you some peice" she said and chuckled as she stood up placed her cup into the sink and walked over to Angus taking his hand in her own as she listened to Angus talk to Kate then ask if she was ready " Im more than ready" she told him.