A Birth day

Angus had put Abbey next to him but on the inside, and he slept on the outside so she wouldn't roll off. He vaguely heard breakfast being prepared, but Abbey hadn't moved, and neither had he. He slipped back off to sleep. He had opened his eyes to check on Abbey a couple times during the night. The last time he'd checked, she was cuddled tight her him, sucking on her thumb in her sleep.

Marcus had gotten up early and had showered and shaved and dressed. He had set out a change of clothes for Angus before he'd gone to bed so he wouldn't have to intrude on Ruby to get them. He left a note saying he was taking clean clothes to Angus, and then he went to the main house. He poured two mugs of coffee and took them silently into Angus's office and put them on the desk. He hadn't been there more than a couple minutes, and a small head popped up from behind Angus on the sofa. She motioned to Marcus not to make any noise and she began to figure out how she was going to climb over Angus without waking him. Marcus went over and lifted her up and then set her on the floor. Leaving her blanket and BooBoo Kitty behind, she scampered out of the room, but not before giving Marcus a hush signal so that Marcus did not wake up Angus. Marcus slipped out of the office and got a basin of water and a towel to help Angus freshen up when he woke.

An hour later, and Angus was awake, freshened, changed, shaved, and sipping on coffee.

"How are things over at the house?" Angus asked.

"Don't know. Everyone was still asleep when I came over here this morning," Marcus said. "Would you like me to get you a breakfast plate from the sideboard?"

"No thanks. I'm really not hungry," Angus said.

"Do you have any work you really need to do here this morning?"

"Nothing that particularly ties me here. I'm pretty well set up to do my job from home most days, which is how I've been doing things. So if I stay here, then I'm pretty actively avoiding going home. I wasn't really angry. I was more frustrated."

"And hurt," Marcus said.

"Well, yes. That too."

"Jess talked with both Ruby and Aria, and she was spot on that they needed to lighten up, so I'm sure you'll find things are probably different there today."

"I'm sure they will be."

"What are these books on your desk?"

"What books?"

"Two copies of 'A Guide for New Parents of Wizarding Children.'"

"Oh, Kate or Robert must have come in overnight and left them. Kate was hoping maybe it would give Ruby some additional information so she could relax a little."

"Ok. So we're taking them along. That's fine."

When Angus was finished with his coffee, Marcus put Angus's clothes from yesterday in a bag, along with the books and a container with two dozen orange and cream cheese danish that Zoe was sending along with them. And then Marcus apparated Angus home. They landed on the front porch, and Marcus helped Angus inside and to his chair, leaving the bag on the table until he could get to it. Once Angus was in his chair, Marcus made a pot of coffee and took the fresh coffee to him.

"Thank you," Angus said.

Jack finished sorting the creates and much to Zoe's delight cleared out of the kitchen so she could start breakfast. Seeing Marcus he chuckled " morning" he said as he sealed the second crate and marking it for the Pack. Seeing Angus he walked over to him and handed him the letter " I'm guessing its just the invoice but its got your name on it not mine" he said and placed it next to Angus. " one crate is charmed to act like a freezer for the meat, the other has toiletries they might need along with blankets warm coats, clothing for the young and old also added some boots and shoes for all" he added handing him the list5 he had made of the items in each box.

In the duplex Ruby had woken and seen that some clothing had been taken she got up and dressed making lunches for the boys she saw them off to work while Aria took care of the babies and brought them down, this time Ruby was cautious as to what she gave Dimond for her breakfast giving her toasted solders so she could chew or suck on them as she wanted. " I'll go over to the Studio and check on the plants might help me focus on anything else that what happened yesterday. " she said to Aria who nodded and ate her own breakfast.

"That's exactly what I had in mind. Thank you, Jack," Angus said.

When Angus found out that Ruby had gone to the studio basically to avoid him, he sighed heavily. So that was how it was going to be, was it? Great. Just great. He took off his sling and tucked it in the desk drawer out of the way. He took Diamond upstairs and gave her a bath and got her fresh clothes, he chose just a pair of tie dye sweatpants and a matching hoodie sweatshirt--tie dyed purple and teal, and a pair of teal socks. He put her on the floor in the nursery to save himself going up and down, and he gave Caprice her bath and put her in a pink pullover sweater with a black and white kitty on it, the black and white leggings that went with it, along with some black socks. He put Caprice in a baby sling and carried Diamond downstairs and put them in the playpen and gave them both some bottles with some very mild warm tea, and he got out two new shape sorting toys and gave one to each baby. They would have to figure out how to put the various shapes in the right size holes to get them into the cubes. That would keep them for a little. By then, Angus's bad shoulder was definitely hurting, but he was the dad. He had to step up.

"You could have asked me for help, you know," Marcus told him.

"Yeah. I know, and I appreciate it," Angus said. "I'm good. Thanks."

Now, with the babies taken care of, he settled in, in his chair with fresh coffee and a pile of paperwork for the estate.

Aria had seen Angus enter and smiled " morning" she said and watched as he picked up Caprice then head up stairs " Um. Ruby went to check the plants , not that there's much to see since we only planted them yesterday" she said to Marcus then sighed. " some times I wish I could just knock their heads together" she said as she looked at him. " they slept all right last night, Dimond woke with a wet diaper but I changed her and she went right back to sleep" Aria told Marcus as she handed him a cup of coffee and a plate of food.

Ruby stood in the studio and looked around seeing an easel empty and a canvas she wondered it Kate would let her use it and made her way to the main house " morning Jack is Kate around?" she asked Jack looked up at her.

"I've not seen her as of yet" he said "Angus went to the duplex , might want to go say Hi" he said and saw Ruby look back at the duplex .
"I'll do that" she said heading back to the duplex . Entering she saw Angus and walked over to him " morning sorry I wasn't here I went over to the studio" she said and saw two book sat on the tale in front of her "Are those from Kate, she did mention some books." she asked softly already glad he had brought them over.

"Good morning, Aria," Angus said, as he headed to take the babies up for their baths.

"Don't read into it, Aria," Marcus said when he saw Angus taking the babies upstairs for their baths. "He's not questioning anybody else's capabilities of taking care of the babies, and he's actually in a decent mood. He's just feeling pushed into stepping up more, that's all. If there was something you needed to know, I'd tell you. You know that. He/s doing the only thing that he thinks he can do right now."

"Morning," Angus said to Ruby when she came back. He listened to her say she had gone to check the bedding plants in the studio. "That's a good idea. "They can dry out pretty quickly in a greenhouse setting like that is going to be. I think Robert told me that last year, Kate checked her plants in the morning and Robert checked them after supper. That's probably a bit of overkill, but since their plants went nuts last year, they must be doing something right. Oh, the books? Marcus put them in the bag we brought back. You might not find much helpful in there, but still, they might be worth the read anyway."

"I unpacked the bag," Marcus said. "The books are on the desk. Your clothes from yesterday are being washed right now, and there's two dozen of Zoe's fresh orange and cream cheese Danish on a platter on the kitchen counter."

"Did the girls get to Evan's?" Angus asked.

"Oh. Yes. They did. I should have mentioned that. Evan came this morning and got them, and Tara intends to take them with her girls to do a little shopping in the village after their lessons. She'll have them here by supper time," Marcus said.

"That's fine," Angus said. "They're safe with Tara."

Aria looked at Marcus and nodded " your right" she said simply to him as he took the babies for their bath. Ruby heard Angus and nodded hearing him talk about the books she smiled and nodded " I'll read them, and those fresh orange and cream cheese Danish sound lovely" she said as she walked over and picked up one of the books and opened it and began to read it.

Aria heard Marcus mention of Zoe's fresh orange and cream cheese Danish's in the kitchen she smiled and moved to make two plates " you want a plate Angus?" she asked " they look really good " she added as she placed some on a third plate and sent it over to him and one to Ruby while making one for Marcus but leaving it in the kitchen.

"Yes, please," Angus said. "That would be nice." He was just going to break off a piece to taste it, when Abbey came running in, not knocking. She ran over to him and jumped up on his lap, big tears on her face. "Abs? What's the matter?"

"I gots nobody to play with," she sniffled. He took a tissue and wiped her tears away and then put the tissue up to her nose.

"Blow," he told her to get her to blow her nose. She obeyed. "Where's Molly?"

"Gam say she no can play. She gots bumps."

"Bumps?" Angus asked. Abbey puffed out both her cheeks like a squirrel with nuts in its mouth.

"Bumps," she repeated.

"Mumps!" he exclaimed. "Did she tell Papa? We wouldn't want you to get it."

"He say I backed in eggies."

"What?"

"I no get it. I backed in eggies."

"Oh. You're vaccinated," he said. "I get it. I thought you were, but I'm glad he checked. You want to color while I work? Look on the bottom shelf of the bookcase. There's a coloring book there and some crayons if you want to color. You can do your paperwork, and I can do mine. You want part of my danish?" She nodded. He broke off a piece and gave it to her. She ate it and then went to the bookshelf to look for the coloring book.

"It's a good thing he speaks fluent 3 year old," Marcus laughed, picking up his plate with the danish on it.

Aria was about to sit with her Danish when she heard the door open and the patter of small feet followed by Abby's voice and she smiled as she explained about Molly having the mumps. "Yeah , defiantly a good thing, who could have given it to her?" she asked " is everyone vaccinated against it?" she wondered . Seeing Abby eat Angus's Danish she placed another on a plate and walked over with it " here this ones yours" she said and chuckled " and I think the coloured pencils are in the draw of the table" she said softly to Abby.

Ruby smiled hearing Abby come in threw the door she listened as she said Molly had the Mumps and that she was vaccinated against it. She turned her page and read more not concerned since she could not pass it to the babies. She watched as Abby ate his Danish and smiled , she also saw Aria walk over with a fresh one for him. She smiled when Abby went to look for the colouring book.

"Sanks," Abbey told Aria, finding the colored pencils. She found the coloring book and she climbed up in Angus's chair with him and ate her danish and started to color.

"My best guess is that, unless someone is spreading it on purpose, maybe someone in Fenrir's pack is carrying it," Angus said. "I'm sure Robert's probably already considered that, but I should send him a paper bird just in case. Maybe I'll send it to Jack since he's been up to the longhouse recently." He wrote a quick message to Jack.

"Jack, in case Robert hasn't considered it, you might want to have Jess or Robert go up to the longhouse. Abbey just told me Molly has mumps. I know anyone who works for us is fully vaccinated, so I think we really should send Robert or Jess or both up to the longhouse to check Fenrir's pack to make sure they're not sick. I doubt any of the pack have actually been vaccinated, and, of course, all the magical beings like werewolves and vampires are going to be immediately accused of spreading this, so we need to discourage the pack and anyone with the vampire curse or werewolf curse from leaving the estate in case some of the haters decide to go after magical beings if this spreads. Abbey's here with us, fyi, because she's out a playmate while Molly is sick. Angus." He sent the paper bird to Jack. And then he had another thought.

"Ru," Angus said. "We don't have any records of whether Cris has any of his vaccines. That was one of those things we weren't going to be able to get because he was declared dead. You might want to forewarn Jessie in case they're not completely finished with Cris's vaccines--just a thought. And, if words gets out about this, Jessie and Cris need to not leave the estate unless they absolutely have to. You know how some of the bigots are. They'll believe that werewolves and vampires and the like are responsible for this, and they'll be hunting down all magical beings. Jessie and Cris need to be very careful."

Aria watched and smiled to Abby " your very welcome" she said and chuckled as she moved back to stand with Marcus. Ruby heard Angus and nodded agreeing with him " I'm not sure if Jessie is vaccinated against that, I know he never had them while I looked after him, but I'll send over a note to him" she said and quickly wrote a note sending it out the kitchen window. Moments later a note returned and she opened it " okay he's said he will keep Chris away from the main house while she's down with it and will see if Robert knows if Chris has had his vaccinations, if not he will try and get him vaccinated as soon as possible." she read to him. then looked at him.

Aria looked at Marcus as she spoke " you had mumps right?" she asked having a feeling he would have been vaccinated against them when younger. As for herself she knew she was her mother made sure she was kept up to date so she was in no risk of catching it. It was now Jack walked in from the main house .

"Got your note Angus, was about to take the creates up to them, don't worry I'm taking Jess with me unless Robert's free but can't see it, I'll ask around about if any in the pack have it, though last time I was there all seemed to be healthy" he said