A Birth day

"You're Diamond's bodyguard," Marcus corrected. "No offense, but Tom hasn't ever shown any interest in harming you, Ruby. He has, however, some strong interest in Diamond, for obvious reasons."

"I don't think he'll jeopardize harming Diamond," Angus said, "And besides, he'd have to get through me to get to Aria to get to you."

"And to do that, he'd have to get through Robert, Jack, and me," Marcus said. "There's an open plaza almost right in front of the cafe. That may be where he wants Jack and me, and perhaps both of you and Diamond. Wait for instruction."

"Robert would not bring ab aby into it if he didn't have a plan to keep her safe," Angus said.

"Calm," Marcus told Ruby and Aria. "Remember, Robert is commanding this. If he wants to you to leave, he'll signal you. You take your orders from him. Don't go rogue. He isn't going to have any patience for it after losing a lot of work time trying to keep Angus out of jail. You really need to wait for his instruction. Besides, you can always go to the organization headquarters too. That would be a good deal closer. Or you could just port back here. I presume he'll give you instructions."

Ruby and Aria listened to Marcus and Angus and Ruby nodded " true he hasn't but she'll have two body guards myself and Aria, but your right Robert runs the show and as you said he won't put a baby in jeopardy" she said and looked to Aria " we'll go with what Robert wants us to do and yeah the HQ is closer to get to." Aria looked to Marcus and nodded she understood.

"okay I understand and yeah the HQ or here depending if things go wrong." she said " but no point in worrying about it yet, lets here what Robert has planed out" she moved back to the couch where she saw Dimond looking at them from the pen. Leaning down she picked her up and held her close to her " its okay , you'll be fine" she said softly to her as she gently rocked her back and forth.

Angus went upstairs, and he changed clothes to some newer jeans, a reddish orange linen shirt, and a suede jacket, and, as an after thought, he picked up a tan suede safari style fedora. He went to the nursery and got out a pair of jeans, a hot pink long sleeved henley, and a lighter pink jacket for Diamond, along with socks and a pair of hot pink glitter sneakers that Simone had bought for Caprice but Caprice hadn't gotten to wear more than once or twice. He took the change of clothes for Diamond downstairs and gave them to Ruby since Aria had her hands full.

Marcus went and got a baby bag ready, putting in some tiny champagne grapes, some dry cereal, and a bottle, in case Diamond started fussing. Angus, meanwhile, went downstairs and asked the girls to tend to Caprice while they were gone.

"No problem," Ginger said.

"Your gran's here," Anise said. "She's showing me an image of some broken necklace, and she wants you to put it in your pocket. Do you know what she's talking about?"

"Yeah. I do. Thanks," Angus said. The girls followed Angus upstairs.

"We'll babysit while you're gone," Ginger told Ruby. Angus accio'd the necklace they had taken from Priscilla.

"This one?" Angus asked Anise.

"Uh huh," Anise nodded.

"Okay. Got it," Angus said, dropping it in his pocket.

Ruby watched as Angus headed upstairs to change she assumed , when he returned with a change for Dimond she nodded and took Dimond from Anise and lay her down on the couch to change her into the outfit. Ruby smiled as she wriggled under her while she tried to get her shoes on , now dressed she handed her back to Anise " okay so I guess its happening now" she said as Jack walked in the door wearing jeans a light tee shirt and Swade jacket with his work boots on.

"welp , I'm here Robert explained and let this guy try anything, not that Robert would let him" he said and chuckled " looking ready for anything Angus , what about you Marcus going in the undercover look?" he asked his hands resting in his pockets as he spoke looking at both of them.

"It isn't happening until Robert gets here," Angus said. "And besides, I have to send word to Gelding yet. I wasn't supposed to send him word until right before we were about to leave." He opened the floo. "Gelding! I got your note," Angus said, being firm from the outset.

"Good. Where and when?" Tom responded.

"Cafe de la Paix, in ten minutes," Angus said.

"What! Ten minutes...." Tom seemed flustered.

"I'll be there. You make your own choices," Angus said, shutting the floo with a quick snap, as Robert arrived, Robert was wearing a sharply tailored pair of slacks, a dress shirt, with a crew neck sweater, and over that, he had a light brown sports coat that had a cream-colored thin striped plaid. For some reason, he made it look elegant. Robert knew that sidewalk cafes were actually a bit of a dressy place, so he was dressed to fit in.

"Oh, well played," Marcus grinned. "You didn't give him time to refuse or to object or to ask for Diamond. Well done."

"He's coming?" Robert asked.

"I don't know. I didn't give him time to refuse," Angus said. Robert laughed.

"I agree with Marcus, then. Well done," Robert said. "Ruby, you take Diamond and the baby bag, and let's get this show on the road. Jack, you take Aria and Ruby with you. Our table is set for a sidewalk table. I reserved a second table, this one inside. It should a table near a window, where, hopefully, I can give the girls signals if I need to. Your job is to make sure they and Diamond stay safe, and, if Marcus and I need backup, we'll trust you can respond. If things go off the rails, get the girls and get them to the organization building. You'll know, I think, on your own, if we'll need you to apparate straight back to back us up. Clear?"

Ruby saw Robert enter just as she put on Dimond's jacket and picked her up Aria hung the bag over Ruby's shoulder and Jack looked at him as Angus walked to the floo and opened it, he listened as he spoke then snapped it closed chuckling as Robert entered the room " agreed," he said and nodded as Robert said he would let him know if he was to return should he have to get Ruby and Aria out quickly.

Ruby walked over to Angus "we understand Robert and we're ready" she said as she walked back to Aria and Jack. Jack took both woman's hands and nodded to Robert as he ported to the café Robert had mentioned , seeing the table he moved them to it and sat them down staying on a table behind them so he could over hear what was said. Aria sat with Ruby next to her as Ruby left the bag on her shoulder so that if anything went wrong she could just leave.

Robert and Marcus and Angus arrived at the cafe, and they were shown to the table that Robert had managed to reserve. They were seated there, and Robert ordered them all coffee and ordered them each a dessert. It was not proper to come to a cafe as famous as this one and not order something. Angus chose a Chocolate Liegeois. Marcus selected a strawberry tart, and Robert chose a creme brulee.

"I hope the girls and Jack know they can't get away with just ordering coffee. They need to order something edible," Robert said.

"Well, if Aria doesn't know, she'll follow my lead, I'm guessing," Marcus said. He glanced in the window and when he saw Aria looking his direction, Marcus made a very tiny gesture towards the menu, hoping she understood. They had to presume they were being watched, so all movements needed to be tiny--nearly invisible.

Aria saw Marcus motion to the menu and picked it up looking at it she smiled " let order something to eat" she said to Ruby and Jack although Jack had already ordered himself something to eat and drink Aria looked at the menu and decided on coffee and some Vanilla–Brown Butter Sablé Cookies where as Ruby chose a cola and some creps that she could share with Dimond if she became fussy.

Jack chuckled as he caught Marcus small movement he picked up his French roast coffee cup and paused smiling as he sipped it before he took some of his Quiche Lorraine and bite into it smiling . he was however watching around the café at the same time seeing people come and go several caught his eye but they all left except one stood by the counter looking rather lost. Jack motioned subtly to Marcus to look over at the man.

Marcus glanced the way Jack was gesturing, and he saw the man looking lost.

"Angus, do you recognize the man at the counter?" Marcus asked.

"The kid in the designer glasses that looks like he needs to be doing his homework somewhere?"

"Yeah," Marcus said.

"Oh, yeah. We know each other. I'm surprised Tom let him out," Angus laughed. He looked at Jack and nodded very slightly to confirm that he knew who the man was. He didn't know if Jack knew sign language, but he signed a letter G to Jack to try to convey that the man was indeed a Gelding. And if Jack could figure that much out, he figured Jack would remember the family details and figure out that the young man was Tom's son Elliot.

"Who is he?"

"Elliot Gelding--Tom's son by his first marriage," Robert said. "He looks young because he is. He's just 20. Diamond would be his half sister--and, by default, Ruby's half brother by marriage."

"God, I've got kids almost that old," Angus said.

"Careful what you admit to," Robert laughed. "People will think you fathered Sam and Victor when you were eleven."

"Wonder what that would do for my bad boy image," Angus teased.

"Even the worst bad boys were likely not doing that," Marcus laughed.

"You'd get a reputation, alright, but I daresay it probably is not one that Ruby would want you to have," Robert said, amused. They were served their coffee and desserts.

"Head's up," Angus said. "Tom is coming, and he's got four goons with him."

"Calm. Enjoy your dessert. Let him come and sit down with us." Robert hailed a waiter and ordered a coffee, knowing already what Tom usually drank. Tom came over and sat down across from Robert.

"Well, well," Tom said. "who let you out of your box, Lupin?"

"Now, now," Robert said, "be civil, Tom. I bought your coffee, so the least you could give us is a moment of your time."

Jack saw Marcus nod and sign G, He nodded back and signed an E to let him know he knew it w3as one of Geldings brood and he knew witch one, Elliot. Picking up a newspaper he opened it as he spoke to Aria " shows about to start" he said and she nodded while sipping her coffee.

Aria glanced over and saw a man walk over to Robert and Angus and talk to them she kept them in her peripheral vision so to watch them with out watching them, she also reached over and angled a mirrored napkin holder so she could see them both.

Ruby drank her drink and gave a piece of crepe to Dimond who loved it she also gave some fruit that it came with and again Dimond loved each bite giggling as she ate happily. Ruby saw Gelding and frowned as she saw him she also felt Aria place her hand on her arm to refocus her away from him and on to Dimond again. " he's there your here with us" she said softly.

" your right " she said and smiled at Dimond who looked up at her a she sat on her knee with a strawberry in her hand.