A Birth day

Jack nodded " my thought exactly the he laughed hearing about Dimond " basically being a banshee?" he said laughing when Edward spoke about her having a grasshopper in her mouth he laughed more.

Ruby heard Edward and ran out the door to Dimond and freed the soggy grasshopper from her mouth , it flopped to the ground then hopped quickly away, " don't put that in your mouth." she said to her but sighed knowing she wouldn't understand her " its yucky" she added and looed to Angus " I'll watch her while you finish the construction." she said with a smile a she sat down next to Dimond and Caprice who was sat on the grass giggling as she ran her finger threw it.

"She is entirely a banshee--24 hours a day, seven days a week," Angus said. "When we got her, she wouldn't move, wouldn't make a peep. Now she won't shut up."

"Sounds like she's coming along just fine," Edward said. "She's just making up for lost time."

Angus worked right alongside the others all afternoon, and by the time the sun started to sink in the west, they'd laid out the wood sides for all the circles and the spokes, and they'd laid the inner most circle with mortar and flagstones.

"You boys need to stop for the day," Edward called. "Its getting too dark to see clearly, and its going to be too cool for the mortar to set well. Stop, clean up your tools, and go wash up for one day."

"I'll go fix a quick supper," Angus said. "Give me a bit, and I'll have it."

"I'll give you a hand," Simone said. "What can I prep for you to get a jump start?"

"Get three big frozen containers of butternut squash out of the freezer and thaw it, please," Angus said, "I need it made into a sauce. There's a recipe in my book. I'll be right with you."

She went into the kitchen, got the frozen squash and started on the sauce. Angus washed up and prepped some mushrooms, some shallots, garlic, and sage, and sauteed them in butter. Then he added spinach and some truffle oil to make a vegetarian filling. He made a ricotta cheese mixture, and then he took some lasagna noodles and made a vegetarian lasagna with the butternut squash sauce, the ricotta cheese mixture, and the sauteed vegetables. He popped it into the oven to cook, and then he and Simone made a big salad that had a mix of baby greens, some tender fresh vegetables, some sliced strawberries, chopped nuts, and a beautiful balsamic vinaigrette. Simone made some quick, fresh loaves of Irish soda bread since it didn't need to rise.

She set the table and set up the Fae's dining room on the cheeseboard and then portioned them out some of the salad and the bread, with some more pitchers of ale, since they liked it. When the lasagna was done, she shrank some of it for them, and sliced it, put it on platters and set it on the tables.

By then, the workers had cleaned up their tools and had gone home. Simone called the Fae and the family for supper.

Ruby chuckled and nodded " defiantly , you should have heard Jessie when he was a baby , just like Dimond, could shout the house down if given the chance" she said and chuckled as did Jack. Jack after a while looked up as Edward spoke about packing up for the day it was now he noticed the small lights that the fae had put down light up .

" yeah mate its late" he said to Angus as he saw Ruby pick up Dimond and Caprice and carry them inside to bathe and change them ready for bed. " I think those two will really sleep tonight with all the fresh air they got" he said with a smile " and don't worry its will pass the shouting stage." he told Angus as he packed away his tools " I'll be here early tomorrow , night mate" he said and headed to the barn to finish cleaning it out and put his told away for the night.

Ruby and Aria washed the girls with a bit of a fight since they insisted on splashing them both making Aria laugh but wet. Ruby finished Dimond while Aria washed Caprice then together they changed them into pj's ready to sleep in once they had eaten. Now clean and changed Ruby brought the babies back down and saw Simone in the kitchen " thank you Simone" she said " these two kept us busy with water fights." she said and chuckled.

"Before they board the train at Kings Cross?" Angus teased. "Night, Jack." He carried the cheeseboard inside, and the Fae followed him. He set the cheeseboard on the countertop, and, at their request, he got out a number of dollhouse bathtubs and filled them, with warm water and managed to arrange a number of old greeting cards to make some privacy screens for them and made sure there were plenty of soap and towels. He told them he would be back in short order to change the water for more of them to get warm baths.

He went up to shower and found the bottle of soap that Robert had promised to send. It was sitting on the bathroom vanity. He showered and changed, and then he went back down and changed the water for the other half of the fae who wanted baths.

While he had been doing that, Marcus had cleaned up and had put the Fae's dishes in a sink of hot soapy water to clean and then set a washing up charm to finish the job and made a kettle full of Robert's almond tea. When it was finished brewing, he poured some pitchers of tea for the Fae and then poured a cup for Aria, Ruby, Angus, and himself. It was then that he realized he hadn't heard a peep from the kids.

He went downstairs and he found the girls busy working on their papers, and Sam and Victor were working on a new puzzle.

"More dragon anatomy?" Marcus asked.

"No, we finished that one finally," Victor said. "This is one of Michael's. We have to break into a miniature Gringotts', get past the goblins, pick the lock on one specific vault, rob said vault, and get out again without getting caught."

"Oh! I did that one once years ago," Marcus said.

"Did you win?"

"I did, actually," Marcus grinned.

"Show us how," Sam said.

"Now, where would the fun be in that? Good luck, Gentlemen," Marcus said, turning and going downstairs.

Jack laughed as he made his wat to the main hose at Angus words about the babies. Ruby chuckled too a she watched him pick up the fae and bring them once more inside. Aria walked with Angus and Marcus inside she could not help chuckle as Marcus spoke to the boys . " yeah where's the fun in that, it would like reading a book from the end , as the muggles say, spoiler's" she said as she moved to the couch and sat down.

Ruby watched the babies while helping dry the fae dishes carefully and placing them neatly in a plie to be reused in the morning. She looked up as she saw Angus fill the fae's bath tubs ready for them to use when they were ready. " feel better after your bath?" she asked noting his skin was less red now.

"Thank you, Marcus," Angus said, taking the mug of tea from him. "Almond. Good choice. Yes, actually, I do feel a bit better. I wasn't feeling bad before, but he's got more than a healing potion in it. I think he has a wee bit of a topical pain potion in it, and I think he's also got something to moisturize the burned skin. The burn areas aren't as stiff now as they were. And it has a decent scent to it."

"He's got some almond oil in it, I think," Marcus said. "Almond oil is good for damaged and sensitive skin because it's gentle. That could be part of his formula. He made a skin oil once for Khaat when James clawed her back, and he put almond oil in that."

"Oh, I remember that," Angus said. "Didn't he do a series of surgeries on that?"

"He did. Werewolf scars tend to not want to heal, so he eventually just did a magical version of a plastic surgery to eliminate the werewolf scars altogether. You'd have to look at her skin with a magnifying glass now to see that she ever had anything done there at all."

"I'd like to know how he got the scars to look that small," Angus said.

"I can tell you how. I was with her in surgery--part of the job. He used a magnifying glass to close the wounds, and he cast the closing spells one inch at a time. Painstakingly slow, it was. but it paid off."

"Well, that would be the perfectionist in him," Angus said. "It generally only shows up in his potions and in medicine. Probably why he has the reputation he does."

"You're probably right..." Marcus said, as Kate hailed Angus over the floo.

"We're here, Kate," Angus called. "What's up?"

"Can you find us a couple of your chef friends to help us for a couple days? Robert just had to isolate Rosaria and Carlo at the isolation cabin. They have those awful magical mumps now too...."

"Oh, no," Angus sighed.

"'Fraid so. Zoe apparently got them from Shannon and Nicky when she took some fresh foods over to their apartment. so we isolated Zoe, but it wasn't in time to keep Rosaria and Carlo from getting it. I can handle breakfast and lunch if you can find us someone for supper maybe?"

"I'll come up with someone, or I'll cook it myself."

"Robert isn't sure he wants you in the kitchen in the main house for any length of time because he doesn't want you taking it home to the babies," Kate said. "If you cook you need to do it at your place and leave it on the back porch over here. We'll come out and get it."

"Understood."

"Oh, and they need new menus at the isolation cabin, if you can do some."

"No problem," Angus said.

"Thank you. You're a lifesaver," Kate said. The floo clicked off.

"Well, so much for a quiet evening," Angus sighed.

"Take the rest of the evening since there isn't much of it left," Marcus suggested. "Get a fresh start in the morning. You're an early riser, so even if you don't start til morning, you'll have plenty of time."

"Probably so," Angus sighed. "Edward isn't going to like hearing that Rosaria and Carlo have it now too."

"It can wait til morning. Their lights are out over there, so I think they turned in early," Marcus said.

Ruby walked over to Agnus and took a deep breath in " Mumm does smell wonderful" she said softly into his ear with a cheeky smile to him before stepping back. " might use that myself for the moisturising affect and the scent" she said with a smile. She heard Kate call through the floo and explain Rosaria and Carlo had the mumps too " oh no that's not good" she said as Angus responded to being asked about preparing breakfast " I can do the lunch" she said then listened to Marcus and nod " plenty of time."

Aria saw Dimond rub her eyes and lay down as did Caprice. Watching them both she saw them drift into a nap." well that's two down" she said smiling a she placed a blanket over both of them only to see Caprice roll and take it from Dimond so she placed a separate blanket over Dimond. " yeah rest for the rest of tonight, your skin need to heal and lots of movement isn't going to help it." she said.

"If you want something with that scent, I'll order you some almond lotion when I order supplies," Angus told her. "You don't' need the medicines that are in the soap. "I think Kate is planning on doing breakfast and lunch, so maybe you and I can cook supper for them tomorrow. That will give me a bit of extra time to find someone for them. Actually, I have several full pork loins in the freezer. I could thaw them and to some very elegant crown roasts for a nice supper tomorrow. What do you think I should serve as sides? I definitely want to do potatoes. Maybe stuffing to stuff inside the crown."

"I think you should do that spinach salad that I like so much," Marcus said. "The one with the hot dressing."

"Oh, the hot bacon dressing?" Angus asked.

"Yeah. That's the one."

"I could do that. Maybe some shaved and sauteed brussels? And...I don't know...maybe homemade sorbet and maybe some madeleines because of all the sore throats over at the isolation cabin."

"I think we'll eat like kings if you do all that," Marcus said.

"Well, I want to be sure to do plenty of vegetables since our guests are vegetarians," Angus said. "I might add some extra vegetables and some shredded cheese to the spinach salad. Maybe."

Ruby heard Angus and nodded " sounds good " she said smiling then heard him mention that Kate was planning breakfast and lunch, She also nodded at his subjection of them doing supper " sounds good and those loins are perfect and those extras are perfect, not had the hot dressing I don't think before so really want to try it." she said as Aria leaned over to her .

"its heavenly, I see what Marcus loves it" she said and chuckled as she sat back on the sofa listening to the now quiet except for the tinkle that told her the fae wanted to talk to them " seems our guest ned something?" she said to Angus.

Angus got up and went over to talk to Minos, and he gave Minos the pencil lead and some paper.

"Oh! I see. I'm glad you told me. I'll go get some right now. It won't take me more than a few minutes," Angus told him. He went to the desk and got out his pocketknife. "I'll be right back." Marcus got up, knowing his job, and he tagged along with Angus. The two of them went outside.

"So where are we going?" Marcus asked.

"I put some grapevine starts in over in the orchard where we planted the trees, I knew I would need to move them, but I hadn't gotten around to building an arbor yet, so they're still over there. I need some tender grapevine pieces."

"What for?"

"Cocoons," Angus said. "Minos said the eggs will be hatching at any time. They'll be larvae for just a few days, and then they'll be spinning cocoons. I talked to Minos about using an old terrarium that Robert had, and Minos was fine with it. It's good and clean. I just need to put some moss in it, maybe a few little rocks, and the grapevine. The Fae will move the eggs, and they'll tend the larvae themselves. All I have to do is to provide them a safe place for the larvae to crawl about in for a few days."

"Oh. I see. Makes sense. Never tried to hatch Fae eggs, and I daresay neither has Evelyn," Marcus said. The two of them harvested some nice bendy, green pieces of grapevine and brought in some moss and some rocks. The two of them got the small terrarium that Angus had borrowed from Robert and they set it up for the fae with moss on the bottom, a shallow bowl of water, some rocks and the bendy pieces of green grapevine. Minos was thrilled. Marcus brought an end table up from the basement that wasn't being used, and Angus put the terrarium on it so it would be in a safe place. The Fae took over at once moving the eggs.

"The eggs should be hatching any time now, according to Minos," Angus told Aria and Ruby. "They'll be larvae for about a week, and then they'll be spinning cocoons. So, this terrarium is going to be a Fae baby nursery. We dont need to do anything but make sure the moss stays moist and green."