A Birth day

"I know," Angus smiled. "I was trying to put the brakes on them, not you. But I know those four. If I'd have directly said to them that they needed to slow the heck down, we'd have had a brawl right here in the living room. And, yes. I would have won. Even with one arm, I'd have still won. The way I see it, if I believe there is a legitimate safety risk, that is a fight I will jump right into and I will win. They dohnt have any idea how dangerous Priscilla really is. I honestly think they think she's no more of a risk than one of Gelding's thugs. If they underestimate her and take her on, they'll be coming home in an envelope. And I'm not having that happen to our kids. I'm just not."

"You've encountered her more than any of the rest of us," Marcus said. "What's your estimate of how dangerous she really is?"

"She's far more dangerous than all of Gelding's operation combined," Angus said. "She's been holding back so far, when she's near me, whether its face to face or in my dreams, I can feel it. I can feel that she's far more lethal than anything we've encountered before. That's my honest sense of it."

"Understood," Marcus said, hearing Angus loud and clear.

Ruby nodded she agreed with Angus " yeah not something I would feel good with happening ether " she said then chuckled as he said he could beat her even with one arm " I think you have done that already dear" she said and chuckled again but listened to him talk about Pricilla and how dangerous she was to them she took his hand in her own the more she heard about Pricilla. " we'll be on our guard." she told him now understanding how dangerous this woman was.

Aria finished placing the dishes in the washer and walked around to lean against it as Angus spoke. " we'll be on our guard when out , even more so now2 she said folding her arms around her waist as she listened more to Angus then looked to Marcus as he spoke giving an understanding nod as Marcus said he understood.

"Come help me bring back the babies," Marcus told Aria, motioning to her. He wanted a word without Ruby. "Ruby, while we're getting the kiddos, would you cut that lovely chestnut cake and serve it with some mugs of coffee? We'll be straight back."

He went with Aria to Edward's, and he pulled her aside for just one moment.

"I just wanted you to know exactly what it was he's saying," he told Aria very softly as he went over and picked up Caprice and handed her to Aria. Then he picked up Diamond. "That is not fear you heard. He's not afraid, not in the least. What you heard was courage. He's giving me a heads up that he will absolutely will stand right in between Priscilla and his family, and I can't blame him. Its what I would do. To protect my kids? Hell, I'd die for my kids, no questions asked. That's the choice he will make too if he has to. He just wants us to know that and to not underestimate her. I've heard him, and I consider myself forewarned and forearmed. Just so you know. That's the message."

"She is defeatable, Ru," Angus said. "Everyone has an Achilles heel. Once we find it, she'll be defeatable, and I will find her weakness."

Aria heard Marcus and followed him threw to Edwards side of the duplex she pause as she held Caprice as he spoke to her and she nodded to him " I felt that's what it was and I know you would as I would" she told him " we'll both be standing at his side should that happen, and about what happened earlier , I sorry I don't know what happened , I did have a good run with the boys and well feel normal again but I do understand about Angus and I will be ready."

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded as he spoke to her " I know you will with Marcus and Aria and I'll be right here protecting the kids. " she told him smiling down at him before she lent down and kissed him " we'll get threw this together, and don't worry I'll have my wand on me all the time and wards checked and strengthened."

"I know. I just wanted you and Marcus and Aria to know what I think we could be up against. If I don't tell you what I've experienced, then, you don't have the knowledge that might mean the difference between life and death for any of you," Angus said to Ruby.

"I'm glad you had a chance to run it off," Marcus said to Aria. "No harm done. It's all good. Let's get back. This one is laying a monstrous surprise in her nappy. We're gonna need to take this one outside and hose her down with the garden hose."

Marcus took Diamond back to the other side.

"You're the mum. You deal with the surprise package she's prepared for you," Marcus teased, handing Diamond to Ruby.

"Lord, I smell her from here," Angus frowned. "She might need a garden hose at that, and whoever takes care of her is going to need a biohazard suit."

Ruby smiled at Angus and nodded " we're prepared " she said simply then looked up as she saw Marcus with Dimond return " oh lord that's some smell" she said taking her from him and with Dimond held out in front of her as she headed up the stairs to bathe Dimond.

Aria chuckled as she watched Ruby head upstairs to bathe Dimond. " glad she took her "I'm happy with Caprice" she said placing her into the play pen and sitting down next to the pen.

Ruby returned with a clean and changed Dimond who was giggling away to her as she bounced her as she walked down. " looks who de-stinky" she said with a smile to every one.

"Good," Angus teased. "We won't all need oxygen tanks tonight."

"I know the other one is due for a bath tonight too," Marcus said. "I don't have a three sided coin to flip, but if one of you bathes her, I'll make up a little thing for them that my mum used on all of my kids at bedtime."

"It doesn't take that long to pour firewhiskey," Angus teased Marcus. Marcus cast an amused grin his direction.

"I'm not going to give them firewhiskey. They're too young to appreciate it. We'll have to wait until they're at least a year old," Marcus returned Angus's teasing. He went to the kitchen and got out some teabags from a few different tins and put them together and then set them to steep in a teapot while he got out some honey and a wee bit of milk. He made a tea of the blended teabags, tasted it for flavor, and then added the honey and the milk and made two small size bottles.

"I have some leftover," Marcus said. "I'll give each of you lot a taste." He poured each of them a few sips in some teacups and made sure there was a cup for Ruby, one for Angus, and one for Aria and he handed them around. "This helped my kids to relax and go straight to sleep. I remember she particularly made sure they had it on stormy nights when the thunder and lighting would frighten them. Worked like a charm." He handed one bottle to Diamond who was now capable of holding her own bottle. She took a sip, looked at Marcus as if to ask him where this had been all her little life, and then she took right to it.

"I think she likes it," Angus laughed.

Aria chuckled as the mention of Caprice needing a bath too " I'll take her and bathe her" Aria said as Marcus mentioned something about making something for his kids to help them sleep when they were young. Aria picked up Caprice and headed up to bathe her too returning after ten minuets with a clean and changed Caprice.

Ruby sat down and took the bottle from Marcus offering it to Dimond she took it and started to drink , pausing she looked at the bottle then smiled placing it back in her mouth to finish the bottle as Aria fed Caprice her bottle. " well they do like it" Ruby said smiling seeing a yawn on Dimond's face as she lay down in the pen beside Caprice.

Angus watched the kids drink this tea concoction and slip straight off to sleep. Angus tasted the few sips of the concoction that Marcus had given to everyone.

"This is actually really tasty," Angus said. "I can see why this would appeal to younger kids. We'll have to give this recipe to Jessie in case Cris is still having nightmares from time to time."

"My kids still ask my mom to make it every so often just because its' relaxing and they like it," Marcus said. "It's sort of become their ritual they have, especially if its bad weather at bedtime. They have been known to say, 'Hey, Gran! It's storming. You need to make us tea tonight.' And if she just made them regular tea, that would be a lot like when my dad would deliberately choose the wrong storybook at bedtime just to get a reaction from them. I sometimes think they're going to be having her make this when they're in their 50's."

"Try yours, Ru. You too, Aria," Angus said. "It's good."

"Shall I put them to bed?" Marcus asked.

"If you like," Angus said. Marcus went over, laid his hand on the playpen and apparated the playpen with the babies in it up to the nursery. "Why didn't it occur to me to do that?" Angus frowned. No more than five minutes later, he apparated back in and put the playpen back in its place. "Any trouble?" Angus asked.

"They didn't even move," Marcus laughed. "I floated them over into their cribs, and they didn't move a muscle. They're both pretty much comatose, I think."

"Okay, so write that recipe down so we can make it again if we need it," Angus told him, getting back to his sketch of Priscilla's necklace. He had some of it from the fragment that Sam had given him, but it also remembered what the rest of it looked like, and he wanted to give it as much detail and color as he could. He tried to accio his colored pencils but the drawer wouldn't open. It tried but it ended up just banging over and over, unable to open.

"What the heck?" Angus asked.

"Maybe something got caught in it," Marcus said. He went over and opened the drawer, ready to reach in, but he drew his hand back. "Angus, do you own a figurine of a gold spider with black onyx sets in it? "t's about three inches long, and about the same width, maybe and inch and a half high."

"No," Angus frowned deeply. "Neither does anyone in this house, to my knowledge. Don't touch it. If none of the four of us have ever seen this thing, we need to see if Robert has any ideas of how to remove it. I don't think we should touch it unless we know its safe to try it."

Aria and Ruby picked up their cups and took a sip Ruby smiled and nodded to Angus " this is delicious " she said taking another drink " I think even I will sleep well after this its warming and relaxing" Aria sipped her own and nodded.

"hum its like wrapping up in a warm fleecy blanket In front of a warm fire." Aria said not helping the Yawn that hit her and she looked surprised " wow" she said and chuckled as she finished the tea. When Angus tried to get the pencils from a draw but couldn't they watched as Marcus walked over and opened it only to find something inside it, Aria stood up and walked over to look at it " not mine nor Ruby's , its not her style" she said and looked to Marcus not touching it after her own experience earlier that day.