A Birth day

"At this point in my day?" Sam looked at her. "Yes. Tomorrow, you can take my place, do my schedule for one bloody day, and then we'll see whose trash talking on the obstacle course tomorrow night."

Sam and Victor both let Aria go ahead. Ginger hadn't had to do the course tonight, so she had been able to head home after work. Sam and Victor hadn't gone much farther before Sam let out a cry of pain and was stopped in his tracks, grabbing his leg.

"You alright?" Victor asked.

"God. Feels like a knife in my leg," Sam winced.

"I wonder if its that Charlie Horse thing that Kieran told us about in Colorado," Victor said.

"No. Somebody's got a hex on my leg. Tryin' to rip it off," Sam was frustrated.

Aria paused hearing a cry from behind her crawling out she ran back to see Sam on the ground holding his leg " Victors right its a Charlie horse, you didn't stretch properly before taking off" she said moving to him she took his leg in her hands and moved her fingers down the muscle then gently massaged it to try and release the muscle from its cramp.

Jack walked over and looked at Sam " okay we'll call that done" he said helping Sam to stand then picking him up in his arms bridle style. " lets get you back, last time I was at yours Robert was there " he said as Aria walked beside them " Come on Victor you've ran enough for today" he said heading to the duplex.

Opening the door Aria looked at Marcus but didn't say anything feeling a bit embarrassed by her actions earlier as Jack walked in. " we bring an injured solider" Jack said placing him down on the sofa. " Charlie horse, running the assault course ." he finished as Jess arrived and looked at Marcus " you want to take this ?" She asked wanting them to use their first aid skill more than rely on healers.

"Thanks, Jack and Jess. I've got it. Hobble over here, Dude," Angus said to Sam. "Sit down at the foot of the bed and lift your leg up here. I want to see your ankle."

"It isn't in my ankle!" Sam was still frustrated.

"Come on. Let me try," Angus said. Sam did as Angus requested, and Angus took off Sam's shoe and dropped it on the floor. Then he found the medial on Sam's ankle and found a select spot behind the medial and pushed his thumb into the spot.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Sam exclaimed.

"Bear with it. Just a moment," Angus said calmly. After a moment, the pain stopped, and Sam looked blankly at Angus.

"What sort of spell was that?"

"Not a spell. Accupressure. Long story short, putting pressure on that spot made the muscle in your leg that was causing the charlie horse let go. Next time you see Yulong, ask him about it. He'll tell you--its legit. Heat will help the muscle continue to relax, but you might want just half a dose of pain potion or an aspirin powder to cut whatever pain is still there."

"Not magic?"

"Nope. Muggles have been using it for almost 3000 years," Angus said.

"Sorry about last night, Dad. Not trying to throw Anise under the bus, but when she took off to follow Priscilla, we went after her. We didn't want her trying to deal with her alone."

"Yeah. I get it. How'd you get away?"

"I went after that woman when she was fighting with Anise, and I grabbed the only thing I could get---some big ugly necklace she was wearing. She got real mad about that--especially when the thing broke, but right then, Victor and Ginger grabbed Anise and me and apparated us all home."

"Too bad you didn't get that necklace."

"Well, I did get some of it. Shoved it in my jacket pocket, actually."

"You did? Oh, well done," Angus said. "Give it to me straight away. Maybe we can find out something about it from what you managed to get."

"Okay," Sam shrugged. He accio'd the jacket, rooted around in the pocket and deposited a handful of odd beads and charms and some sort of an animal tooth, all still on a piece of worn leather lacing.

"Perfect. Thank you. Good job. Now, go take care of your leg. I'm sure we'll be having supper shortly." Sam got up and left to go get a heat pack. Angus looked at Jess. "I'm sure you could have done a much better job, but I guess all these years of running every day has maybe taught me a little."

Jess watched her arms folded as Sam walked or rather hopped over to Angus. She watched and walked over to him as he found a spot behind the medial and pushed his thumb into it gently. She could not help but smile at this action. Once she saw Sam's face relax she nodded to Angus's words " too true" she said then patted Marcus shoulder " you'd make a good healer" she said to him.

Watching as Sam left and Marcus said she would have a better job she shook her head " you did exactly what I would have , don't bring your talents down you have many and you know how to use them correctly" she said smiling " I don't have to worry while your over here" she said Jack chuckled behind her " come on Jack its Supper time and I'm hungry, again Angus well done, I'll make note if I'm short staffed I certainly call on you to help." she said teasingly as she smiled at him she paused seeing and hearing Sam mention a necklace he'd pulled from Pricilla before they ported home.

Ruby walked over and looked at the necklace as did Jess " looks like black magic all right" Jess said  " some sort of voodoo protection charm?" she looked at Marcus " I'm not that good with black magic only white."

(it was angus that did the accupressure, not marcus. lol)

"Yeah, I sort of knew that before he even showed to us," Angus said. "The last I knew Robert had brought Iya here, but that was just before the shipwreck, and I've had chaos of my own. Hopefully, in the next day or so, I can ask her if she knows a specific meaning for it. In the meantime, its better with me than it is with the kids. I don't want them fooling with any part of it until we know what it does."

"I think that's wise, but I don't think any of us should muck with it," Marcus said.

"I've seen this before somewhere, and there are definitely pieces missing."

"Do you remember enough to sketch it?" Marcus asked.

"Maybe," Angus said. Marcus got Angus's set of sketching pencils and laid it nearby in case he decided to try to sketch it.

Angus did start working on a sketch, but he was finding it slow going because it was hard to hold the sketch pad with his injured hand so he could sketch. Without a word, Marcus got up and got him a stiff dose of pain potion. Angus hadn't had any all day, nor had he asked for any, but he was definitely hurting now.

"You're too soon out of major surgery to go all day without pain potion. I should have insisted you take some earlier. My apologies," Marcus said. "Want this in some tea or something?"

"No, but I might have a firewhiskey chaser," Angus said, taking the potions cup from Marcus and drinking it without giving him any static.

"Well, I've done that myself. It might make you a bit drowsy, but it won't hurt you.'

"I don't think anyone will care if that happens," Angus said.

"You should wait on that chaser," Edward said, coming in with Carlo. "We've got supper right here, and I know you'll like it. I found a really nice whole salmon, and Rosaria made Salmon Piccata with a lemon caper butter sauce. She did some nice crispy oven roasted potato wedges, a rocket salad, and the green beans that you like so well."

"Really? She did the green beans?" Angus asked, as Edward and Carlo set supper out on the table.

"She did," Edward laughed. Edward looked at the others. "She does this dish with green beans that has a homemade tomato sauce. It really is very good, and it was a good way to get Angus to eat his green beans as a lad. I think you'll enjoy them. And, I think you'll like dessert too. She made castagnaccio."

"You will like it," Angus told them. "Its a chestnut cake made with fresh ground chestnut flour, olive oil, rosemary, and pine nuts. It's not a really overly sweet cake, but it is really nice and dense, so we'll certainly want some fresh coffee with the cake for dessert."

"I'll go get the kids," Marcus said.

"I haven't heard the kids all day," Angus said.

"No, you haven't but they're fine. I put the playpen a bit farther away from your door so you could rest and not be disturbed. Simone's just finishing feeding them their supper. It is a bit easier to feed them a little ahead of when we eat, especially if they're wound up. I told her she could let you lot give them their baths tonight."

"That's fine. We'll get to them, I'm sure," Angus said. "Are you eating with us?"

"No, we've got ours setting out and waiting for us on our side. You lot enjoy some peace and quiet, and I'll bring the wee ones over after you eat."

"Thank you," Angus told Edward.

Jess looked at the pieces and to Angus " I could take it to Robert so he can start looking into it and it won't be around the kids " she said but then chuckled hearing about the whiskey chaser " okay I did not hear that" she said smirking " but it might be good just before you go to sleep" she said as Edward entered with Rosaria. " that smells wonderful" she said " now I'll leave you to rest" she said seeing Marcus bring some pain potion. She accioed a glass of fruit juice and placed it next to Angus " drink that after the potion for now" she said then waved and headed back to the main house.

Ruby gathered the plates and things so supper could be dished up with Aria bringing over a jug of fresh squeezed juice for those wanting a drink with their food " It does smell wonderful Rosaria, we'll miss your cooking when you head back" Ruby said smiling to her " but you really have to teach me some recipes before you do" she also said making Aria nod.

Rosaria smiled and told them that the dishes she was making weren't hard, but she said she'd make sure Ruby and Aria got the recipes. Angus sent Marcus to the table to eat, rather than hovering over him tonight. After all, Marcus would only be a few steps away. He didn't need to hover here.

The kids came upstairs and joined them, and they seemed to really like the salmon, in particular. Sam also liked the crispy potatoes. Ginger told them that Evie and Faith were planning on doing lunch at Edward's house on school days so Rosaria could teach them very quick traditional recipes that were simple enough to do in a few minutes and still have time to eat and relax before starting their lessons again for the afternoons. Rosaria had asked Ginger and Anise if they wanted to join them, and of course, both girls had accepted. Angus said nothing at all since he was across the room, and he also didn't want to make a big thing out of Anise actually agreeing to participate in the lessons too. She just generally hadn't ever liked cooking, but the peer pressure had gotten her to agree to go. Angus was pleased but he certainly wasn't going to say that to the girls. At their age, Angus knew it might discourage Anise.

"Angus," Anise asked, "Ginger and I are going to be seventeen soon. Can we move out and get apartments at the new building here with Sam and Victor?"

"When you're eighteen, certainly," Angus replied.

"We have to wait?" she whined.

"Just til you're 18," he said. "You could use that time to save up money, decide on furniture..."

"If we see things, can we buy them now?"

"Depends on if I can find you somewhere to store them on the grounds," Angus said. "I'll check with Jack. Brian has a big barn on the far side of the estate where he stores things he isn't using but I would not want you to get your things mixed up with his. I have an idea or two about where you could store things but it would be very disrespectful on my part to not work it out with Jack. The grounds are his responsibility, and I want to honor that."

"Aren't you technically his boss?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but I don't work like that. Jack does a damned good job, and I have no reason to question his judgment. I wouldn't like it if things were reversed. Besides, Jack is a damned good friend to everyone here, and I believe in treating the people I care about like I would like to be treated. So I'll talk to him and let you know."

"We won't have to be married, will we? After all, you're not," Victor said.

"When all four of you are 18, whether you get married or not will be your decision," Angus said. "We'll give you our opinions if you ask for them, but we will do our best to stay out of your business then."

ruby and Aria went to the table and sat down Ruby heard Anise talk to Angus and left it to him to talk to her agreeing with his thoughts as he spoke to her about waiting till eighteen to move out . She walked over to Anise and smiled at her " we can talk to Jack in the morning " she said softly to her " and look at it this way its only just over twelve months, plenty of time to gather the tings you need for a home" she added " now come eat supper Rosaria made it and it smells divine"

Aria dished up food for every one and sent over a tray to Angus with a soda and some tea on it for him to drink. Sitting down she took some of her food and marvelled at the flavours " I have to know her secret this is delicious and its healthy too" she said as she took another bite.

"They don't need to know tomorrow, Ruby," Angus said. "They're not going to be moving out next week. They have time. They're not supposed to be going to London anyway, so I don't plan on asking tomorrow. I said I would talk to him, and I will. He's crazy busy, so I'll talk to him when he's got a little down time." Marcus understood Angus's logic when he tried to explain it in a rather cryptic way that the kids wouldn't understand. Angus deliberately was not going to ask Jack tomorrow about storage space because he knew that they would get antsy to go shopping straight away, and after seeing Priscilla in Knockturn, the kids would be in danger if they got a wild hair and skipped off the grounds anyway to go do whatever they wanted. Angus was deliberately waiting and he didn't want Ruby going out and around him to talk to Jack.

"I'll put on the coffee for whenever we get to dessert," Marcus said, getting up. He made a pot of coffee, and then he checked to make sure Angus still had everything he needed.

"You girls ready to go back to Evan's in the morning?" Angus asked.

"Oh, gosh we do go back tomorrow, don't we?" Ginger paled. "And I have a paper yet to write."

"Me too!" Anise said.

"After supper, you both get right to it," he told them. "And if you have any laundry that needs done to take back you get that to Ruby before you start on the paper. We're not going to be doing laundry at midnight."

"I need to go start now," Ginger said, excusing herself to run downstairs to start her paper.

"Me too," Anise said, following her.

Ruby looked at Angus and nodded she understood with a smile" of course" she said and moved Anise to the table. Once they had finished she heard the girls talking about things for school they had to do and they headed down to their room. She walked over to Angus and looked at him " I wasn't going to talk to Jack unless you okayed it by the way" she said " I knew you wanted them to hold off because of this Pricilla woman that's around, and they can wait a bit, safer that way." she said to him as she looked over at Aria clearing away the plates and glasses from the table and placing them into the washer to set it going ready to be put away later that night.

" its a good reason to hold off" Aria said to Ruby" if she found out they were not with us or are out and about on their own, she could try for revenge and nobody wants that" Aria mentioned slipping a taurine into the washer then leaning on the counter.