A Birth day

Ruby nodded to Robert as he spoke then she listened to Marcus and Angus " okay." she said " I'll focus on making sure you get home and that everything is ready for when you get there." she said now dropping the subject and now leaving it to Robert to deal with until the time she needs to be involved.

Aria let Ruby slip past her and head to the sitting room. She stayed quiet as she looked at them all before opening a floo in the room and sending a note to Jack receiving one back quickly " okay Jack has said if Jessie can help you get to the duplex once you arrive he will be there to carry you inside, if you want him to." she told then handing Robert the note before stepping back since it had the normal estate report on it too.

"Thank you, Aria," Angus said.

"I'm going to go see to the rest of the arrangements. Get some sleep soon," Robert told Angus, leaving the room to head to his own room for a little so he could go talk to Nigel and Andrew.

"Aria," Angus said, "Ruby's stressing, I think. I don't think its random curiosity about what Tom Gelding is thinking. She wants to figure out of Tom or Suzanne are going to try to strike again. Of course they will, but they won't be gunning for her or for you, actually. They're going to be thinking that the girl they saw as the nanny is someone else entirely but yet one of our operatives.

"I don't' actually care what Tom and Suzanne think or don't think," Angus told her, "but the sooner we get home, the safer everyone will be. Edward's estate has really good security, but, the crews here have never needed to be as ready to fight without any notice as the crews back home are. Besides, I know Jack had probably been working on constantly improving the fighting skills of the grounds crew. I know that's important to him. I'm sure Edward will have the overnight crew on high alert tonight, but the sooner we get home the better. When you see Ruby, do try to get her to breathe a little. I am positive that it isn't going to even cross Tom or Suzanne's mind that they might need to be hunting Ruby, qnd for right now, I'd like to keep it that way because it gives me additional ways to keep the kids safe, if that makes sense."

Aria nodded to Angus " not a problem" she said then listened more to him talk about Ruby" I'll get Carlos to make some cocktails, that should loosen her right up" she said and chuckled " but don't worry she'll chill out" she said then listened more " yeah think he was talking about that with Jessie before they left, actually Jessie still has to finish his stint with Jack when we get back" she added as Jessie walked in and groaned.

"way to remind me" he said and chuckled and looked to Angus and Marcus " grounds are fine, I saw a few of the grounds men and Roberts around the area, there doing good." he said " and yes" he looked to Aria " I took my dose" he said making Aria nod her head in approval.

"Thank you," Angus said. "When Jack knows they managed to get to the babies, he will have the crew on high alert, but since we're not there, that does not need to be tonight. Oh, Jessie, if you talk to Jack again, do ask him to make sure to tell Brian and Nicky to be sure not to let Abbey and Molly outside right now for any reason. I know the snow can be a big temptation to a toddler, but we also know that the way they keep getting in is through James. We've not been able to seal the estate off from James, no matter what we do, so I'd like to make sure that Abbey and Molly are not out. We probably need to say something to Fenrir so that any little kids in the longhouses are kept safe."

"Would you stop?" Marcus sighed. He looked at Aria. "See what I have to deal with? Just out of major surgery, and he's working. I do realize he has good points, but, he might as well put this bed in his office over in the main house when he gets home..."

"Actually," Angus began.

"No. I am not going to let you actually do it," Marcus said firmly.

Jessie looked to Angus and nodded " well Jack and I did enforce the charms after James but I'll send a note to Jack right away about Molly and Abby not going out just yet" he said " its a good thought" he added.

Aria chuckled and nodded to Marcus " yeah he is a bit like an Eveready bunny once he gets going. " she said with a chuckle " Angus stop take a breath , we have it in hand, Jacks notified of your return he'll be ready when you get there, Jessie is ready to notify the estate guards when we get home and will be sending word to Brian and Khaat about keeping the girls inside, you say about Ruby chilling, take a bit of your own advice and chill and relax my friend" she told Angus as Jessie nodded and headed back out of the room " now we'll wash up and head to bed ready for when you wake tomorrow , to get you home in your ..well new bed" she looked at Marcus and chuckled " I'll see you if you come up but if not I'll see you in the morning, bright and early. "she told Marcus as he walked over and gave him a kiss before leaving to find Carlos and gather some cocktails for Ruby to try chuckling.

After Aria left the bedroom, Marcus got Angus to take his sleeping potion, and it wasn't more than a moment or two before Angus had slipped into a sound but exhausted sleep. Marcus knew Angus was now most likely not going to wake before morning. With Angus safe, Marcus showered, changed, packed Angus's bag and his own, and left out a change of clean clothes for Angus and one for himself. Marcus put the packed bags on the floor near the bedroom door. He checked the doors and windows in the bedroom and the attached bath before starting to make a check of the rest of the rooms.

The night passed very slowly for Marcus, and he busied himself by sending a note to Flourish and Blotts to order more mystery novels for Angus to keep him busy. He had also read that they had some new wizarding backgammon boards, using little enchanted jade toad figurines as the playing pieces. That intriqued Marcus, so he ordered a set, with one set of toads in dark green jade and the other set in pale green jade, on a green and cream colored velvet board, with a free bonus mancala board. Marcus liked both backgammon and mancala, and he knew Angus did too. And the toads sounded like fun. He sent the note off, and then he settled in to read the paper as he heard Sam and Victor finally head to bed. He did hear the babies squalling because they were hungry. Marcus knew the sound of their screeches. He heard Rosaria's quick footsteps in the upstairs hall, and then a moment or two later, the screeching stopped. How she had managed to feed them both, he didn't know, but now they were quiet, and a clock somewhere now chimed 2 am.

Aria helped a rather tipsy Ruby up to bed now relaxed as requested by Angus . Once she was sure Ruby was in her bed and sleeping soundly she headed to Angus seeing him sleeping she looked at Marcus " Ruby's slapping " she told him " how's Angus" she asked but could tell he'd had some potion " sleeping potion I presume." she asked him softly so not to disturb him " oh Jessie said the grounds men already are on high alert and Brian replied to our warning , the girls molly and Abby are happy to stay inside , they were drawing and painting ." she said " just thought you should know before I turn in, I know you'll want to stay close to Angus so I'll bit you good night" she said kissing his cheek she moved to the door.

Next morning Aria woke early and showered , dressing she made her way down to help Rosaria prepare breakfast.

Ruby woke with a bit of a hang over after the cocktails. Washing and dressing she headed down to Aria handing her a coffee as a tray was taken up for Marcus and Angus. " morning, sleep well?" Aria asked as Ruby nodded " here " Aria said handing her a hangover potion of Roberts.

"His head is still spinning, trying to anticipate Suzanne. Just so you know, he's absolutely certain that they will strike, and they'll be coming for him. Suzanne blames him and always has. I think he's right that when she comes, she'll come for him. This is not something we need to talk to Ruby about. She's going to be on alert to protect the babies anyway, so right now, her current alertness is good for her. More than that might make her not effective at protecting them. We need to leave this, for now, between you and me and maybe Edward. If we need to take anyone outside the house into our confidence, we'll know that as we go along," Marcus said. "I gave him his sleeping potion so he could rest, and I think he's good for now. Get some sleep, and if we're good tomorrow afternoon, maybe you can take over for me for a couple hours so I can catnap. I haven't slept since we've gotten back from the shipwreck, and its starting to get to me a little."

When morning came, Marcus was now really tired. He welcomed the coffee tray when it came, and he got a basin from Carlo and helped Angus wash and dress. Carlo offered to shave both Angus and Marcus, and Marcus welcomed it. By the time people started really to move around upstairs, Angus and Marcus were both awake, refreshed and dressed and working on second cups of coffee.

Aria sent a message to Jack letting them know they were up and received one saying he was ready and waiting. Now with breakfast done Aria made two plates and carried them up leaving Carlos free to pack his and Rosaria's bag. Aria grabbed two plates and put some of the food on them then walked them up to Angus and Marcus. Once she saw Carlos leave after shaving both men she walked in " morning my hansom men " she said chuckling " one for Angus and one for Marcus" she said smiling " had a good sleep so will relive you this afternoon, you look like you could use it" she said brushing some shaving foam off his ear. " Jacks ready for you Angus, and the grounds men are all on high alert for anything out of the ordinary."

Ruby finished her coffee and smiled as Rosaria placed down a plate of food for breakfast and smiled to her placing a hand on her shoulder before heading back to the kitchen. Ruby ate and then went to check the babies finding them sleeping she packed their bags with diapers and clothing she thought they would need placing it by the nursery door where it could easily be picked up on the way out. It was now Caprice and Dimond both woke up. She moved to Dimond and picked her up just as Jessie walked in and picked up Caprice before they both waked down stairs.

"Thank you," Marcus said, glad to get food. "My stomach decided it was empty, when? At a quarter til 3 this morning. Was anyone in the house conscious at that hour but me? Nope, but, as you see, I did manage to survive."

"He's telling me that if I leave anything on my plate, he gets first dibs," Angus said. "If I'd known he intended to stay up for three or four nights in a row, I would not have taken my potion last night."

"It was only 2 nights," Marcus said. "And that was why I didn't tell you. Aria and I have it worked out. Nothing for you to be concerned with.

Robert and Kate were at the breakfast table, and Rosaria had made them a huge omelet that was filled with caramelized onions, sauteed peppers and mushrooms and freshly made burrata cheese. They had slices of buttered toast, coffee and orange juice, and they had split the omelet between the two of them.

"Come get some breakfast before we go," Robert told Aria and Ruby. Edward and Simone have already eaten, and the boys are over at Evan's. All four girls apparently deliberately got up early and made a romantic breakfast for four and they are double dating this morning at Evan's before the boys come back. Oh, and by the way, Madame Maxine did attempt to reach you and Angus this morning, Ruby, but she got Evan's floo by accident. Evan explained things to her, and she gave the girls Monday off. They will have to come back here for classes on Tuesday unless we get in touch with her before then, but, since this is only Sunday, that gives them today and tomorrow at home before they have to come back here Tuesday morning. Maybe that will help them feel a bit ..."

Carlo came into the dining room at that point with a large heavy cardboard box, and the box was making loud croaking sounds, like an army of frogs was inside trying to get out. Carlo was demanding to know who bought a bunch of frogs, and he was also demanding that nobody open the loud box in the house. He was not in the mood to have to herd frogs.

"Did you two send for a shipment of frogs?" Robert asked.