A Birth day

"Thanks again, Jess," Angus said, watching her leave. He listened to Ruby talk about how the casket creeped her out. "Yeah, I didn't do handsprings over it either, Ru," Angus said. "But I couldn't let her keep it. She meant to put me back in it for good. I knew it was dark--really dark. You have no idea how many times I've dreamed about that damned thing, but it started to get a bit less after we brought it home because i knew she wasn't going to have an easy time if she thought she was going to bury me again in it."

"I'm hoping that nonsense lets up for you now that it's gone," Marcus said. "We've all had our nightmares about digging you out, believe me."

"I'm sorry about that. If I could have somehow not let them overpower me that nght..."

"Stop. That could happen to any of us. You did the right thing by getting control of it, and I believe that we did the right thing by getting rid of it. Now we move forward from here. Our task is the same--stop Suzanne and anyone working for her. And continue to stop Tom from his idea of a business enterprise. We're in it together, like we all have always been."

"I suppose you're right," Angus said, sipping on his tea.

"I was actually impressed at how well you swung that axe. You're going to be back on your feet any day now."

"I needed to do that for not only myself but so that no one else had to think about that thing again," Angus said.

"And I'm sure the memory of it will fade for us, and for you too--in time," Marcus said, basically trhing to quietly tell him that he knew Angus might continue to have to deal with the memories maybe a bit longer but it would fade too eventually.

"Now, that I can do," Angus smiled. "I hadn't actually considered that, but it was nice to see that there was nothing left, not even ashes"

"Thank you for sending some over to Edward's side. They will love that when they get home," Angus said. "You know, if the kids want to be so adult, maybe we need to divide the cooking duties and let the kids all take a turn at the cooking."

"That could be bad," Marcus frowned. "They can burn water."

"Pretty much, but I bet they'd learn," Angus said. "If they're smart, they'll ask one of us to help them, but I think they need to figure that out. Ginger is a fair cook, but the rest of them don't have a clue. If we do that, though, we'd best give Marcus breakfast duty only since he does eggs and that's about it."

"We might want to let the girls take Friday and Saturday or something so they dont' have to try to shove homework and cooking into the same evening. They haven't had a real schooling experience until this year, so I want to be fair about it," Angus said. "If the kids each do a night, that leaves three nights a week. I'm sure we can decide that as we go. Besides, I do know Simone loves to cook too. Let's discuss the other three nights when Edward and Simone are here."

As he was speaking the fire flared up in the fireplace with a green glow. The floo. Someone wanted to call through. Angus got to his feet and went to the floo. Marcus pulled the desk chair over and motioned for Angus to sit. Angus sat and opened the floo. To Angus's surprise, it was the attorney.

"Angus, your attorney in Paris just contacted me. Tom's been in touch with him. The good news is that they're following proper channels. Tom is asking for visitation with Diamond. He says he just wants to see her. Are you open to considering it? It would look better for you and your case if it looked like you were doing absolutely everything you could that even looked like it would be in Diamond's best interest."

"How is it in her best interest to see the parents that neglect the hell out of her?" Angus frowned.

"He's still her dad, Angus,"

"I really don't care," Angus said icily.

"Angus, you dont' have to leave her alone with him. We can agree to a supervised visitation where we are there and so are aurors." Angus sighed. He looked at Ruby. He paused a moment, thinking. "He does not get to see her until I'm right there. And Suzanne doesn't get to see her at all."

"She's her mother, Angus!"

"And she's actively trying to kill me! If I agree for her to be there, she does not get to hold her. Absolutely not. And I am not going to leave Diamond. She stays close enough to me at all times that I can take her from them if they get squirrely. I'm her legal caretaker. You cannot make me leave her. They either do this my way or not at all. You got that?" Angus was shouting into the floo, furious. "And I will bring anyone I want with me. We will meet where I say, when I say and for how long. I don't have to agree to crap, and you know it. So it's either my way or not at all."

"You're being a dick."

"You havent' seen anything yet. If you want to see me really be a dick, then buckle up, buddy, because I haven't even started yet."

"These are her parents, and you can't just..."

"The hell I can't," Angus said. "You know how many children they've hurt over the last 40 years? No. You heard me perfectly well. They do this my way, or if she decides she wants contact with them when she turns 18, she can make that choice. Until then or until the Wizengamot decides differently, it's my way or not at all. This discussion is now closed until they decide how bad they really do want to see her. Oh, and by the way, if they bring Priscilla or Dominic with them, I will leave immediately and there will be no visit at all..."

"Angus, you can't..." the lawyer was getting angry. Angus closed the floo while the lawyer was still talking, basically hanging up on him.

"Good for you," Marcus told him. "I give him fifteen minutes tops and he'll be calling back. Stand your ground, Mate. By the way, I can do that security spell in my sleep, Aria. If Angus wants the room locked down, it'll be locked down because I'll see to it."

"He's a decent enough lawyer," Angus said. "I see his point. He wants us to look like we're decent, sympathetic people who are family oriented. I get it. But I really don't care what I look like. I care if Diamond is safe. I'll talk to Robert and see what we can give them as proof of Tom and Suzanne's crimes, along with the medical reports on Diamond that they already have. I have to try to not stick Robert in the middle because of his position in the ministry, but he's also the leader of our organization, so to a certain extent, he's already in the middle. I'll talk to him, and then we can make a decision but not before. If we can't promise that Diamond goes into that room with us and leaves with us, then any thoughts of a visitation need to be completely off. Or at least that's my opinion. I think we are all on the same page here that if Diamond goes back to them, she doesnt stand a chance. I didnt want to get involved with this, but I really think this is where we have to take a stand if we want that child to live. Anyone see it differently?"

"I'll give him a bit more rope, but if he buggars it up, I'll hang him with it," Angus said. He flicked the floo back open.

"Robert? You still awake?"

"Of course," Robert's voice came through a moment later. "What did you think I would be doing in the of the morning if I was home? Surely you didn't think I'd be napping. I'm stuffing my face with this cinnamon roll, which is wonderful, by the way. Thank you for that. Why aren't you napping, though? What's up?"

"That asshole wants visitation with Diamond. Just so you know, if I end up in jail, I'm not taking Diamond anywhere at any time to meet with anybody unless I have a 200% guarantee that she goes in with me and leaves with me. No exceptions," Angus said.

"Well, okay. So, first things first, do try to lower your blood pressure about 500 points, would you, Lad? You're starting endwise. Take a breath, rewind this to the beginning and tell me what happened," Robert said.

"Angus's attorney says Tom and Suzanne want visitation with Diamond," Marcus said.

"Oh, of course they do," Robert sighed. "That doesn't entirely surprise me. Look, we have some options. I think, we can make it so full of security that Suzanne and Tom won't even be able to fart without hitting a guard. I understand your anxiety, but you hold the cards here. I think we can use this to our advantage. We can say that because of the very direct threats to your life, there will be as many bodyguards there as we deem necessary. We can determine who we want there and who we don't. We probably could demand that they show us proof that Priscilla and Dominic are back in New Orleans on the day of the visit too. I think you should give this some thought because, if we do it right, we might be able to give you a bit of a breather from all this noise from Suzanne. My best advice? Stall for time. Stall so we can think this through. How about I come over later either late this afternoon or after supper and we can discuss our thoughts. We don't have to make a plan, but we sure can discuss options."

Angus looked at Marcus and Aria and Rub, and Marcus nodded, liking the idea of just discussing ideas and options.

"Fair enough," Angus said. "We'll be here."

"Don't stress. She's right there with you, and she's as safe as she can be. We'll work it out."