A Birth day

Ruby chuckled and nodded " yeah sounds they ere both perfect for each other" she said chukaling then heard him mention a chricket box " Yeah he'd know " she said then smiled as he motioned for her to join him under the blanket. carfully she moved and curled up against him loving how the house was quiet and the lights now cosy with just the christmas lights on " now this is perfect" she said softly as she smiled as she lent her head against him relaxing as she felt safe and secure being close to him as she heard th soft patter of the snow against the windows.

Jack slipped off his boots and placed them infront of the fire to dry off then moved to the kitchen and pored a cup of coffee for himself. " well its getting bad out there, Im glad all the animals are in side " he said moving back to a large cosy chair and grabbing the quibbler to read but nor before he checked on the little wolf cub , moving the blanket he found him sleeping , curled in a ball and smiled.

"I agree," Angus smiled. "So, have you thought about Christmas gifts? I admit I'm rather stuck for Edward and Simone. I was considering giving them another vacation package. I considered some sort of close place, like maybe Ireland. Or, I thought of something that is surprisingly close to Tuscany and considered something more exotic, like maybe Egypt or Morocco. They both like travel, and I think they'd like just about any place we'd pick. Actually, I considered similar packages, but close destinations for Anise and Sam and Victor and Ginger. I don't know that I'm ready to see them go to someplace exotic, but they might like Scotland or Ireland. Shoot, maybe we should just give everyone a vacation package and call it done. What do you think?"

As he spoke, he watched Finn come downstairs, pick up one of his toys out of his box and take it back upstairs the the nursery.

"Now what do you suppose that's about?" Angus frowned. "I'll be right back." He got up and quietly followed Finn upstairs. He saw the issue straight off. Diamond was fussy, and Finn chucked his toy into the crib, hoping to quiet her. And, Diamond's fussing now woke Caprice as well. That was the one reason he hadn't wanted Diamond's crib in Caprice's room. He went to the top of the stairs and motioned to Ruby, needing an extra hand. So much for peace and quiet. He went back and picked up Diamond, taking her to the changing table to change her diaper.

Ruby heard Angus and chuckled " same here Im stuck too." she said then heard him talk about giving every one vacations and she moved to look at him " us too?" she said and chuckled turning to see Finn pick up his toy then head back upstairs " hum thats diferent" she said and felt Angus stand up. As he stood up and headed to the stairs she stood up and placed down the blanket on the chair . glancing at the stairs she saw Angus and smiled heading up towards him and the nursary.

Getting close she heard Caprice and Diamond fussing and she smiled " at least shes making noise now like a true baby and not just laying there quiet, I'll get Caprice if you want to tend to Diamond" she said with a smile as she headed in and picked Caprice up finding she needed a change but was not too wet.

"If you want," Angus told her. "You have yet to tell me what you want for Christmas. And do not tell me you want a seventh kid. We do not need seven. Just saying." He changed Diamond's diaper but that did not soothe her. He sighed, knowing she probably was hungry. "I'll be back," he sighed. "I thought we were done with bottles in the middle of the night, but apparently not." He took her downstairs to make up a cereal feeder bottle that was a mix of formula and cereal for her.

Diamond was soon in a sound sleep on Angus's shoulder, and Angus took her back upstairs.

"She's finally getting an appetite," Angus said. "I made up one of those four ounce cereal feeder bottles, and she drank it all and was still hungry. So I made up a second, and she drank nearly all of that before she was satisfied. And now, she's out like a light. Does make me wonder what the hell her daily life was like with Gelding."

Ruby heard Angus and smiled shaking her ehad 2 gods no seven is enough" she said smiling at him as she moved to changed Caprice once he ws done with Diamond. She ahd thought about what she wanted for christmas but found her self wanting nothing but what she already had , maybe some time alone with Angus again on the yacht.

Hearing him return with a now sleeping Diamond she smiled " thats great and yeah it does make you wander." she said smiling a she placed Caprice now content in the cot. " I was wondering if we should move Diamond down stairs with us tonight" she sugested " might let Caprice sleep and it would make it easier if she wakes again for a feed." she moved to Angus side and smiled seeing the sleeping girl on his shoulder drooling alittle on his shulder that was covered with a towel. " and I thought we were done too, but she needs us, I think she knows some one loves hr even if her own perents treat her badly."

"We might need to consider that, but let's decide that in the morning," he said. "I do think we might need to rethink where we keep her crib at night, because I really don't want her throwing off Caprice's routine. Now, though, I think she's likely to sleep pretty soundly for us because her stomach is full, and she's comfortable now. If she gets restless for us again, let's move the crib to our room. We're more able to deal with that sort of thing than Caprice is. Her fussing is still quieter than Caprice's. I don't want her so far away from us that we wouldn't hear her. Maybe she'll learn how to do a full on rage about it, but that's not what she's doing. I agree with you that some fussing is better than none, but she still needs to get downright pissed off about it and scream her fool head off like normal babies do. Until then I want us to be able to hear her." He laid Diamond in her crib.

"Well, mine's good for a couple hours. How's yours?" he teased Ruby as he took the dog toy out of Diamond's crib. He petted Finn. "Good boy. You can have this back now. She's sleeping for a little." He handed the toy back to Finn, and Finn settled on the floor against the travel crib. "I still say he thinks that, until we get some sheep, he's going to herd babies. I'm going back downstairs to enjoy the fire." He turned and went back downstairs, wanting to enjoy more of that perfect night in front of the fire with just the light of the Christmas tree.

Ruby smiled and nodded she agreed to his suggestion and then glanced down at the now sleeping Caprice " Oh she's out for the night" she said chukaling. She watched as he spoke to Finn and glanced at Diamond as she too slept " I agree, if she fusses again I don't mind her being in our room" she said.

Hearing him say he was headed back down to enjoy the fire and lights of the tree she took his hand and walked with him back down sitting back in the same chair and holding out the blanket for him to join her under it, " plenty of room" she said with a smile as she waited for him to join her " oh I was thinking about what you said about Christmas, I realy can't think of anything I want, I truly have everything I need right here, a family who cares, a man who is my sexy swashbuckler and who I love with all my heart." she said smiling at him.

"I'm glad you're happy," he smiled. "I honestly don't know of anything I want either. I'm glad that you're happy, the kids are happy, and the fact that Edward has actually found love again is beyond his dreams and mine. He grieved so hard when my grandmother died, but to see him happy again not just because of Simone but also because he actually gets to be part of the lives of his great grandkids, that's beyond his wildest dreams. If we asked him and Simone what they wanted, they'd both tell us that what they have here with us every day is all they want and far more than they ever thought they'd be able to have. Maybe that makes the idea of vacation packages more of a good gift. Maybe we need to think of the idea of some honeymoon types of vacation where the adults can go by themselves. We could offer babysitting for Jessie and Yu, I suppose.

"I do have some hesitancy about giving holidays for the kids simply because the girls are still underage. But, I suppose that we could do a family vacation and let the kids have perhaps their own cottages or something if it was close to us. But to have them completely away from us, maybe that's not such a good idea. I don't know. Maybe I should rethink it for those four."

Ruby smiled as he spoke of Edward and Simone " after what you told me about what happened I agree he deserves to be happy and she gives him that, as for Jessie and Yu a family trip would be good for them, as I don't think they want to be apart from Chris." she said " but I think a family vacation sounds perfect" she chuckled " water parks are good for teens" she added " plus there baby pools to"

Once he was sat down with her she placed the blanket over him and lent against him again. " we can think about that a bit more, Im sure a teen oriantated holiday would be good for them and us." she said laying her head back against him again " what about a world cruse for Edwrad and Simone, I know they can go to places by porting but maybe trying the muggle cruise, a slow way of traveling might help them relax more."

"Well, they can make their own choices, of course, but frankly, that isn't the healthiest choice. they're a new couple, and every couple needs a bit of time to themselves. I mean, we know how much we've needed it from time to time. I don't think they're all that different, but maybe we shouldn't do vacation packages for anyone after all. It's a bit presuming, perhaps, thinking everyone would like a vacation somewhere. Maybe we should just give everyone some sort of a gift certificate or a cheque and let them do whatever they want with it. I honestly don't like shopping anyway. It's a pain in the butt." He yawned, getting tired. He closed his book and set it aside. A moment later, his eyes were fluttering shut, his fatigue taking over. He hadn't intended at all to doze off. He had wanted to enjoy the fire, but it was late and he was tired. And a moment later, he was in a sound sleep while the blizzard howled and raged outside.

Marcus was one of the first ones up in the morning. In fact, it was still dark when he woke. He checked in the nursery and found the babies were still sleeping, and he wasn't fool enough to wake them up. He could smell that one of them had had some sort of a massive diaper blowout, but he still wasn't going to wake them. That would only be double trouble, he figured. He left them sleep and went downstairs.

Silently, he put on a pot of tea and a pot of coffee. He tried to open the door to let Finn out but the door wouldn't open. He looked out the kitchen window to see that the storm was still raging outside, but he was just making a guess that there was anywhere for a foot and a half to two feet of new snow outside. That meant that the snow was up tight against the door, keeping it from opening. He went back upstairs, dressed warmly, and then apparated outside. It was absolutely brutal outside. It was near white out conditions. The wind was fierce, and he couldn't see much at all in front of him. He had intended to shovel out the snow from in front of the door, but in this wind, a shovel wasnt' going to do diddly squat. Instead, he opted for a spell to move the snow from in front of Angus's door and Edward's. It would only be temporary at best but at least Finn could go outside.

Marcus went back in, and he was faced with a new problem. Angus didn't use a leash for Finn, but Marcus didn't want Finn going without one during the storm because as far as Finn wandered from the house when he went outside, Marcus knew Finn wouldn't find his way back. He checked the obvious places, didn't find a leash, and opted to tying a rope to Finn's collar and he took him outside.