A Birth day

Angus was sharply aware that Marcus needed to be well rested for tomorrow's work, so he sent Marcus to bed instead of allowing him to catnap off and on through the night on the sofa. When everyone was safely asleep, he spent some time practicing sitting up on the edge of the bed and standing. The first three times, he fell. He was grateful that he was falling on carpet so he wasn't making enough noise that anyone would hear him.

The fourth time, he was rewarded with success. He had to cling onto things to stand or to walk but he could do it. That was definitely improvement. He felt incredibly relieved. If he needed to take on Suzanne or Priscilla, he now knew he stood a chance. He managed to take the two or three steps from the bed to the sofa, and he sat down, knowing he needed to sit and rest before he worked his way back. He looked up, and he saw Caprice standing in front of him, looking at him with an expression of curiosity on her face.

"Welcome," he said quietly. "Our place here isn't as fancy as yours and Edward's is, but I'm not a fancy person. But I suppose you know that." She looked at the bed, looked at him, and looked back at the bed. "Oh. That. I just want to be ready in case I need to fight tomorrow. I lost my wand when the ship went down. Mind if I use yours?" She smiled at him, and the wand levitated from the nightstand into the air. Then he saw the cloak pin, the one he thought he'd lost, and it was floating towards the wand. She made a motion with her hands to try to get him to put the two together. He wasn't sure he understood, but he grasped the wand and then the cloak pin and he saw a hole in the end of the wand's handle. He turned the cloak pin, and slide the pin itself into the hole and it fastened firmly there with a click. The pin started to glow with a bright green, and the light seemed to wrap itself around the wand all the way down to the tip. The wand felt to him like it had some sort of new energies but he wasn't sure just what.

It took some work for her to get him to understand, but she finally showed him that the two halves of the Celtic circle in the cloak pin were supposed to move. They rotated down and gripped the handle of the wand, forming a completely different Celtic symbol. Now she was pleased. She gestured herself giving the wand to him. And he understood. The wand was his now. He opened his mouth to thank her, but she was already gone.

Tired, he yawned and leaned back on the sofa to rest a moment before he would try to go back to bed, but he slipped into a heavy sleep, the improved wand on his lap.

Ruby woke early and headed down the stairs pausing when she saw Angus on the couch with Caprices wand on his lap " well that's something I didn't think I'd see " she said walking to make a pot of coffee and tea for any one who was up as she knew Marcus might be up soon. With the pot boiled she made tea cups of coffee and carried one to the table beside the couch " Angus , coffee" she said softly so not to startle him awake.

Once she knew he was awake she smiled at him " I'm guessing you saw Caprice again by how the wand has changed" she said motioning to it but not touching it nor mentioning about how he was sat on the couch and not in the bed.

Angus woke when Ruby called him. He took the coffee from her.

"Thanks," he said sleepily. When Ruby noticed the wand had changed, he nodded. "I asked her if I could use her wand, and she showed me that I needed to hook them together, but look how the cloak pin changed. She taught me to do that. Now it makes a completely different symbol. I don't know what it means, but it does something. It gave me some funky green light for awhile after I added it to the wand. And after I added the cloak pin, she gave the wand to me. I think she really means for me to have it now...." At that moment a book--a very old book--flew off the bookcase and landed at Ruby's feet. Partway through the book was a green silk bookmark.

"Where the heck did that book come from?" Angus asked. "I've never seen that before."

Ruby smiled as Angus woke " coffees on the table" she said then listened to him talk about the wand " it looks good" she said but paused as a book fell at her feet , she looked around then picked it up feeling the worn cover and seeing the green marker tucked in between the pages. " hey its got a name on the inside cover, Finley Callahan Donahue" she said opening the page where the marker sat she read it out "fair-haired hero bright-headed " she handed the book to Angus " even your surname men's dark warrior in Irish" she added placing the book down so he could see it.

Aria woke and saw Marcus was now next to her she slipped from the bed so not to wake him and quickly showered. Once done she slipped from the room smelling Coffee and hearing the babies , walking into the nursery she changed them and dressed both of them and then carried both down to the living room " Moring " she said and looked at Angus " should you be out of bed?"

"Hm. I have more Celtic roots than I thought I had, evidently," Angus said. He flipped through the book, and saw some sketches on one of the pages. One looked like the cloak pin. "Look here," he told her. "There's a sketch of the cloak pin here. It says the shape of the cloak pin is the symbol for the word Harvest. Interesting." He turned the page and there was another sketch--the sketch that the pin now looked like. "Oh, look,' he said seriously. "This looks exactly like the new shape the pin is in. It's a Celtic symbol Aven, and it means the inability to separate love, logic and truth. It says the Aven wand can only be wielded by someone who intimately knows and understands this and who will wield the wand on those principles alone and will have the ability to learn the wand's secret. I wonder what that means. Apparently he had decided to will this Aven wand to his son--my great grandfather--Caprice's grandfather."

At that moment, he heard Aria asking if he should be out of bed.

"My gran gave me a gift. Check this out," he said to Aria, picking up the wand. And when he picked it up, the wand again took on a soft gentle green glow. "It's glowing again. That's just weird," Angus said.

Aria walked over to Angus and smiled hearing him read out what the symbol stood for " not weird if your the one who welds it" she said then chuckled " intimately knows and understands this how to separate love, logic and truth, " hum sounds like you threw and threw" she said " you can use the wands secret because , one your the great great grand son and two you instil those principles and hold with them, we all know that" she told him smiling " its a beautiful wand, my moms part Celtic so yeah I know about those, she would show me them carved onto the rocks around our home."

Ruby stepped back from the glow " it is beautiful" she said smiling as she stood and listened to Aria before moving to the kitchen to start break fast for every one not knowing if Rosaria would cook again or if those in the main house would send over , but she wanted to be ready in case as she knew hungry boys and girls would be up soon.

"What are you all looking at?" Edward asked, coming over with a large tray loaded with breakfast for them. "Omelets stuffed with three cheeses and shredded ham, fresh fruit, and fresh homemade bombolini."

"She made bombolini?" Angus was interested.

"For those of you who haven't had them, bombolini are Italian donuts. Soft and light as a pillow, and these are filled with one of three different creams--an Italian vanilla cream, or an Italian chocolate cream or an Italian pistachio creme."

"They're addicting," Angus said. "Edward, look what Caprice showed me last night." Edward walked over and looked at the wand now.

"I don't know if I've ever seen them put together like that, but clearly, they're supposed to be together," Edward frowned.

"And look here, in this old book," Angus said, showing him the passage. Edward read it and smiled. 'Aria, you're right, it does fit him but it isn't for the wielder who knows how to separate love and logic and truth. It's for the wielder who deeply understands that love and logic and truth can never be separated. And, I daresay that is something that people like Priscilla and Dominic will never ever understand. It seems to me that this is part of your heritage, and your grandmother believes the time has come for you to step into it. The Aven symbol also means a spiritual awakening of sorts so maybe, somehow, you will find yourself or your abilities enriched in some way."

"I rather like myself just as I am," Angus frowned.

"Well, consider this, then," Edward said. "You have found wandless magic to have a good many uses. So if this awakens another gift that you can use to protect the ones you love or the children you've dedicated yourself to, then who are you to reject it? She gave it to you for a purpose, and perhaps she means to help you to defeat Priscilla."

"Perhaps," Angus said.

"What are you doing up, anyway?"

"Gran made me do it,' Angus teased. At that point, one of Angus's slippers seemed to throw itself at Angus and bounce off the back of his head.

"Liar," Edward laughed. "She caught you."

"Well, alright. I was only trying to see if I could do it, and clearly, I managed," Angus said.

"I suggest you manage yourself straight back again before Robert turns up," Edward said. "Now, I'm going to set this tray of breakfast goodies on the table, and then Simone and I are taking Rosaria and Carlo out this morning. I promised them concert tickets for tonight's opera."

"Oh. You won't be free to watch the babies, then."

"Not tonight. Sorry, Lad," Edward said. Angus looked at Ruby.

"Suppose Jessie would watch them while we're working tonight?" he asked her.

Aria listened to Edward and chuckled "oh yeah , my mom always said I never really paid attention when she spoke " she said and chuckled but looked at the tray that Edward had set down on the table. She out of instinct ducked a little as the slipper flew at Angus " wow she's got good aim" Aria said and chuckled again. Ruby laid out the table for breakfast and made a plate for Angus hearing him mention Jessie she nodded in agreement.

" oh he'll jump at the chance , I'm sure Chris will love to play with the babies too" she said placing the plate beside the bed. " okay lets get you into bed, Can I help you Edward, or is Angus going to walk again?" she asked moving to stand on Angus left side.

"Sorry, Gran," Angus said, and he thought for a moment he could hear her laughter in the room.

"All these years, and you can still amuse her," Edward smiled.

"It's only three steps. I should be able to manage it. I need to manage a good deal more than that tonight," Angus said. He got to his feet, and Edward flew to brace up his good side.

"I've got him, Ruby. You're on his bad side. If you want to steady him, you could grab hold around his ribs. He needs to go three steps and then turn around. Then we can lower him to the bed."

Angus actually did better than Edward expected him to. He was a bit breathless for a moment or two but then it passed. That was better than he had done during the night.

"Oh, well done," Marcus said, coming downstairs. "I knew you wouldn't behave. Sometimes you just don't have it in you, do you?"

"I did try," Angus said. "My gran was here. She gave me her wand and she improved it. Check it out."

"Sit down, Boy," Edward said, "before you fall down." He lowered Angus to the bed. "I'll get him from here. Ruby. Thank you. Well done. You're good help."

"Edward," Angus asked. "How'd you know about the Aven symbol?"

"Well, apart from what was in this book, your grandmother gave me a tie tack that was an Aven symbol. She told me what it meant and said someday I would have a use for it. Never did have a use but it's a nice tie tack."

"Maybe it fits on the wand somehow," Marcus suggested.

"Maybe so. I'll go get it, and you lot can fiddle about with it," Edward said.

"Oh, and so everyone's aware, Sam and Victor said the girls have dresses, and the four of them are planning to come tonight," Marcus said. Angus sighed and rolled his eyes in irritation.

"i think you should discuss it with Robert first," Edward said. "Maybe he'll agree to let them go. And, Simone and I have been all through our side of the duplex, and we didn't find a bloody thing unusual, so evidently all the attention is focused over here, at least for the time being."

"Good. Thanks for checking, though," Angus said.

"Angus, shall I get you a breakfast plate, or, maybe, Ruby, you'd prefer to do that?" Marcus asked.

Ruby looked at Edward and followed his instruction helping him walk Angus to the bed then sit him down . She turned hr head as Marcus took over " oh thank you" she said and chuckled " what's a wife for if not to help in sickness" she said chuckling as she moved out of the way once Marcus had hold of Angus " I put a plate behind you on the side table" she said then moved to the sofa.

Aria watched and listened to Edward and moved closer but not too close when they moved Angus but smiled when she saw Marcus walked down to see Angus stood up hearing the mention of dresses for the ball she groaned " I may have to ask Khaat if I can borrow one of hers , I do not own a ball gown, never been to one" she admitted.

Ruby looked up at her and shook her head " I have plenty you can have one of mine. " after breakfast we can check out a few if you want" Aria nodded to Ruby " we'll find one that makes you hot that all the guys will want a dance with you." she said and chuckled knowing Aria would never want to dance with any one other than Marcus or may be Michael since he will have escorted her to the venue..