A Birth day

Ruby heard Angus and chuckled knowing what he was going to do " oh I was going to use that but didn't know if you were saving it for another day" she said as he brought the bottle and pored some into Marcus and his own Mug. When he asked Aria or Ruby if they wanted some Ruby picked up Aria s mug and her own " oh hell yes" she said holding both out as Aria looked to Marcus and shrugged.

"look like I am trying it too" she said and marked her page and placed the book next to her. Standing she watched as Angus pored it in and handed her mug back to her. Taking a sip she smiled " this is delicious" she said now sipping it again. Ruby chuckled and nodded .

"oh its the best" she said and looked to Angus. " you defiantly checked every where ?" she asked as she sipped her coco slowly as she looked at him over the top of the mug. Aria just sat quietly drinking her coco and looking at the babies sleeping in the pen.

"Nope. Not saving it, just hadn't had any inspiration to cause me to open it," Angus said. "He's got an Irish cream coming that's dark chocolate and orange. I told him I wanted a bottle when it came in."

"Just one? What are you gonna drink, then, because that bottle is gonna be mine," Marcus teased.

"Oh, Not gonna share?"

"It wont last long enough to share," Marcus laughed.

"Okay. I'll order us a case of the dark chocolate and one of the dark chocolate orange, then. Yes. Marcus and I checked all the likely places and all the ridiculous places," Angus said. "Besides, my gran's been here. She won't let something get past her, and if there's danger, she'll let me know--if I'm awake, that is. She was the one who alerted us to the problem with the converter. I won't sleep tonight, so you ladies feel free to sleep."

"He's a trifle on edge, I think," Marcus said. "He's feeling like he has to be extra alert tonight to make sure that no one gets to his family. You both know how he is about that. So if you just make sure you feed us some breakfast and take over for us straight after that, we'll be just fine."

Aria finisher hot coco an took her cup to the kitchen placing it in the sink , Ruby did the same "Glad to know you looked every where and that Caprice is watching over us." Ruby said with a smile as she placed her cup down and let a yawn slip out " okay I'll say night and if you need me call" she said and headed up to the bed room where she showered and checked the window before sliding in and falling asleep.

"I'll be down early, have a run and patrol with Jack " Aria said then headed up to the bedroom showering she changed and slid under the covers to fall asleep but she just lay there looking up at the roof.

Next morning Ruby was up and making breakfast she made simple pancakes along with some fruit salad with crispy bacon and some maple syrup if any one wanted it along with hot tea and coffee in the pot , she pored two cups and placed them next to Marcus and Angus " this would wake you up." she said smiling " breakfast is ready if you want to eat before going for your naps." she said.

"Sounds great," Marcus said, standing up to stretch for a moment, and taking the coffee. "Oh, so you know, the babies woke up an hour ago, and were having a conniption, so Angus and I changed them and fed them, and they went back to sleep. They should be fine for awhile. Finn is outside, but I'm sure he's ready to come in. There's food in his bowl so we just need to open the door for him. And the Fae have been up and outside working in the garden for a couple hours."

"Minos asked me for a couple cookies, and they divided them for breakfast and I think they enchanted some water for some tea. But I don't think they're planning on eating breakfast with us this morning," Angus yawned. "I think they want to work today now that the storm is past."

"Your pancakes smell great," Marcus said. "I'm going to get a couple sips of coffee and then I'm coming for some of that. I'm definitely hungry."

"Me too. I'm going to get a bit more coffee than Marcus, but then I'm coming too," Angus said, just as the boys came downstairs.

"I smell pancakes!" Sam said.

"Hungry?" Marcus asked.

"Starved!" Sam said, fixing his plate. Victor went to stab a pancake on the platter and accidently stabbed Sam's hand instead.

"Ow! Hey, that's my hand, Idjit," Sam scowled.

"Well, get it out of the way, Doofus," Victor replied.

"So much for a quiet morning," Angus laughed.

"Save everyone else a couple," Marcus told them.

"You snooze, you lose," Sam teased.

Ruby smiled hearing Angus talk about the babies and nodded " that's good I'll fetch him in so he can eat" she said but the back door opened and Aria walked in with Finn who ran over to his bowl and started to eat. Ruby chuckled and went to the kitchen to finish dishing up the rest of the food and placing it on the side board so the others could take what they wanted.

Aria looked at Angus " I saw the Fae outside fixing what the storm damaged , Jack helping them too with the bigger stuff. Also I ran past the the sink holes its still filled, I was worried it would become bigger with the rain but it didn't" she said. as she moved to grab a plate of food for herself and sat at the table seeing the boys she chuckled noting his hand wasn't badly hurt or at least she couldn't see any blood.

"We'll keep an eye on that sinkhole," Angus said. "Depending on how much rain we actually got, we could have more settling as the water absorbs down into the ground. Brian is talking to some wizarding engineers about what it would take to fill it. We have a lot of dirt and rock left over from digging the cellar beneath your house and also from Brian enlarging the pond, and all of that will help. We can toss that all down there to help fill the sinkhole but we probably will still need more fill beyond that because it's so big and so deep."

Marcus and Angus both went over and fixed their plates, and just then, Diamond woke and started to fuss. Marcus sighed and let his plate set and went over to her. to see she was trying to put her fist in her mouth and was chewing on her fist. Just as Angus was going to tuck into his food, Minos flew in and put a teeny tiny glass bottle on the table and then motioned to Angus to enlarge it. Angus enlarged it a couple of times until it got to the size that Minos felt it should be.

Minos used some gestures to show Angus that he wanted him to put a little of the contents of the bottle in Diamond's mouth. Angus got up, took the bottle and went over to Diamond, and Minos flew with him. Minos made some gestures about biting and chewing.

"Oh! I see," Angus said. He put just a wee bit on Diamond's gums, and Diamond stopped fussing immediately. Angus smelled the potion in the bottle. "It smells like strawberries," Angus said. Minos nodded, smiling. Angus tried just a tiny drop. "Tastes like strawberries too. But it stopped her pain. Thank you, Minos." Minos made a gesture to Angus to tell him that the Fae loved human babies and children. As he was gesturing to Angus, Diamond reached out and grabbed Minos in her fist and tried to stuff him in her mouth. Angus panicked, but Minos was laughing. He began to tickle her, and she promptly dropped him.

Aria heard Angus and nodded at the mention of the cottage she looked over at Marcus then went back to eating. She saw Minos fly in and the bottle that Angus enlarged then took it over to Dimond . Ruby followed Angus and smiled when Dimond settled down once the soft salve was placed on her gums " oh so its like a teething gel" Ruby said watching Angus try it too " she will love that, " she said but paused seeing Caprice grab hold of Minos but stood mesmerised as she let him go giggling.

"good to know their safe around the babies" Aria said " but we'll still watch out" she said walking over and watching Dimond as she licked her lips and giggled at the flavour she tasted " well she does love strawberry" Now done with her run Aria looked at Angus " okay I'm going to shower and change" she said heading up to the bedroom to shower after her long run. Once done she slipped on some slacks and a light top along with flats and headed back down to the living room. Entering she looked at Angus " did you send that sample over to Robert, because I could take it over to the main house for you while you get some sleep if you haven't." she suggested.

"I think I'll finish my breakfast before I decide much of anything," Angus said. He handed Diamond to Ruby and headed back to the table, but then he saw his gran standing near the front door. "Well, I was going to finish my breakfast," Angus sighed. "I guess I'm going outside."

"Finish breakfast so I can finish mine," Marcus said.

"My gran says I'm going out," Angus said. Angus heard Aria offer to take the sample they'd found in the basement over to Robert, and he put it on the table. "Yes, please, Aria," Angus said, "Thank you."

"Okay, I'm coming, I'm coming," Marcus sighed, knowing he was going to have to leave his breakfast sit too. They headed towards the door, but Caprice pointed to the closet. Angus opened the closet door, and his broom and Marcus's both fell out onto the floor. "Okay. We get it. We'll take the brooms." Marcus got both brooms and handed Angus's broom to him.

"We'll see you in a bit, I presume," Angus told Ruby. The two of them headed outside, following Caprice.

Ruby took Caprice from Angus and saw where he was looking seeing nothing she nodded to Angus " I'll keep it warm for you" she said as Aria walked over and took the small bottle of the goo they had found.

"I'll get this to Robert Asap" she said and paused as he walked to the broom closet and two brooms fell out hearing Angus said he would be back soon Ruby nodded " be safe and watch each others backs." Aria told the both and watched as they left. With the bottle in her hand she walked over top the main house and up to Roberts lab " Robert you in here?" she asked as she knocked on the open door.

Ruby watched Angus and Marcus leave then followed by Aria she walked over to the babies and sat down with a fresh cup of coffee to read and watch the babies as they slept for the moment.

Kate walked out into the hallway, hearing someone calling for Robert.

"Oh, I'm afraid he's not here," Kate said. "He got called over to the isolation cabin. I'm afraid there was a death there early this morning. One of the grounds crew apparently had an underlying health problem that they were keeping from us, and when he got this magical strain of mumps it was too much. Robert's over there tending to that. I'm not a healer but is there something I can help you with til he gets back?"

Angus and Marcus took a walk across the grounds enjoying how clean and fresh the air smelled after the rain, and they both noticed that Caprice was heading straight for the sinkhole.

"Why do I think we're going to be flying over the sinkhole?" Marcus asked.

"Because that's right where she's going, and she didn't make us bring our brooms to sweep the woods with," Angus said.

"Peachy," Marcus said sarcastically. "Hippogriffs would have been more fun," That made Angus laugh.

"Well, I'm not sure how she would have done charades to tell us to go get the hippogriffs," Angus said.

"Oh, probably," Marcus gave in. When they reached the sinkhole, Caprice started to float down into the hole. "Oh. Not over the hole. We're going down into the hole. Lovely." Marcus and Angus mounted their brooms and followed her.

Caprice went clear to the very bottom of the sinkhole and led them through some of the deep rock and gravel and showed them a small opening between a couple of rock. Angus got down on his belly and lit his wand and put it into the opening.

"Oh, God, Marcus," Angus said. "It opens up inside. There's a damned tunnel in here. Someone's made a new tunnel on the estate. Looks like this was where it came out at."

"Oh, goodie. Now we get to explore the tunnel to see where it started from," Marcus said. "I'm excited."

"Suppose we should take Michael with us?"

"Well, let's see if its a rather short walk that we can figure out for ourselves. If it seems long or convoluted, we'll come back and go get Michael. Fair enough?"

"Sounds good to me," Angus replied. "The entry is going to be a tight squeeze though. Jack would never make it through the opening in a million years, not unless we shrank him."

"Sometimes there is an advantage of not being his size," Marcus laughed, as they both squeezed through the tiny opening in the rock.