A Birth day

Ruby and Aria looked at Robert and nodded as he spoke both smiling to Angus as Robert talked to Kate Ruby was about to say they had some seers tea still but she thought it best that Kate relax in her own home " thank you Kate for what you did." she said walking over and giving her a hug. Stepping back from Kate so she could go with Robert she moved to put Caprice in the pen with Dimond.

" well I guess we have all seen Caprice now, and I for one am saying she is bad ass" Aria said as she chuckled and sat down. " your a lucky man Edward and your not bad ether Simone." she added placing a toy back in the playpen that had been knocked out when she had grabbed Dimond earlier.

"Always," Kate smiled. "What's the point in being a seer if I can't use it? Angus, you might find some benefit in some seers' tea yourself."

"I hadn't thought about that, but it's a good thought," Robert said. "We'll see you lot later." He took Kate home.

"She definitely was a bad ass," Edward laughed. "And she would have appreciated you thinking it."

"Its not a side I saw much of," Angus said. "I remember her baking cookies or working in the garden or embroidering or some such thing. I don't remember seeing her in mission wear very often."

"She tried to shield you from that. She thought you had been through enough, and she wanted you to have as normal a childhood as you could," Edward said.

"And that was why you took me werewolf hunting?" Angus teased.

"Well, I knew that if you were going to be a Donohue, people were going to expect that you could hunt them too, so I saw no bloody point in hiding it from you nearly as much as she thought I should have. I rather think that, in the end of it, you had a good balance of both."

"Yes, I think that's true," Angus said. "Alright, give me ten minutes, and we can eat?"

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ginger asked.

"If you like, yes. You could set the table. Someone can get some glasses of iced tea poured for everyone and get out wine glasses for everyone. Edward's chosen us one of his nicest white wines to pair with the fish," Angus said. Ginger headed to the kitchen to set the table. "Ru, the ratatouille smells like it's done. If it's ready, could you set the dish on the table? And I think the rice pilaf is ready to garnish with some of the chopped scallions I have here on the counter. Then it can be set on the table too." He was dividing the flounders into serving portions and drizzling hollandaise over the top and then garnishing them with some finely chopped chives.

Ruby had moved to the kitchen and brewed some seers tea , walking out she had a cup in her hand and nodded to Angus " I'll be right on it, here , its seers tea as Kate suggested" she said handing him the cup then heading back to the kitchen , Taking out the ratatouille from the oven she placed it on the table then garnished the rice and placed that with a cover on to keep it hot the table. She looked over as she saw him garnishing the fish " smells wonderful;" she said as she made up some ice tea and put it in a jug for those who wanted some.

Aria stayed with the babies and did more of her word search looking up as she smelt the fish and rice together " I agree smells wonderful" she said as she crossed off another word in the list.

"Thank you," Angus said, taking the tea from her. "One more minute---there. It's ready." He floated his tea mug over to the table and carried the large platter of fish to the center of the table and set it there. Then he took bowls of ratatouille and rice pilaf over to the cheeseboard, and the Fae gathered quickly. Minos looked over the human's table, and he gestured to Angus, asking if the Fae could have some portions of the fish to try.

"Absolutely. There's plenty," Angus said. He put some portions on a couple platters and took them to the cheeseboard and then returned to the table.

"Roasted flounder, stuffed with deviled crab, and covered with hollandaise, a jasmine rice pilaf, and a real ratatouille," Angus told them.

"Hey, wait," Sam said, coming to the table. "Is it true that rats like ratatouille?" Angus burst out laughing.

"Rats eat anything. Did you hear that from some idjit in school when you were there?"

"Yeah. Some stupid Hufflepuff."

"Your Hufflepuff friend was watching muggle cartoon movies, I'm afraid," Angus told him. "Come and eat, Everyone."

"I can't wait. I've been smelling that fish for awhile now," Edward said, pouring everyone a glass of wine. "Simone's on her way. She's down to the last stitch on something or other. Not sure what, though. I wasn't keeping track."

"Well, tuck in. There's plenty," Angus said, sitting at his place and

Ruby listened to Sam and burst out laughing as he explained his question " Angus is right , their vermin , nothing more and yes they eat everything and anything." she said as she and Aria gathered the babies and set them in the high chairs she watched as Angus took some of the fish over to the Fae and set it on the bread board. She heard him explain to them exactly what it was " its delicious and we have ice cream again for afters."

Aria placed Dimond into the high chair and sat down next to her Dimond didn't let go of her finger a she sat " its okay , its all over now" she said but she still would not let go. " okay looks like I'm eating with one hand." she said with a chuckle but Ruby smiled at Dimond.

"she'll let go once foods in front of her." she said as she pored some ice tea for herself and passed around the jug to the others while waiting for Angus to return to the table. Once she was all dished up she smiled and took a deep breath in " smells wonderful" she took a fork full and ate " tastes divine too" she added and smiled seeing Dimond let go of Aria and start to eat her food.

"Angus, I don't know when I've had better seafood," Edward said. "Well done, indeed. It's flavorful and not a bit dry. What a nice treat. Thank you."

"It's my pleasure," Angus said. "I'm glad you all like it. It really is a quick meal."

"Well, quick, yes, but I know for a fact it has to be done with some precision to not end up with something that rather looks and tastes like a piece of tree bark," Edward said.

"Tree bark? When did you last eat tree bark?" Angus asked.

"Probably the last survival weekend when someone who didn't cook tried to grill fish on a spit. It was shriveled up through and through--like fish jerky," Edward laughed.

"Fish jerky? Eww," Angus laughed.

"If its done right, fish jerky can be good," Marcus said. "The fish you had sounds like it was anything but, Edward."

"Not something I think I really want to try unless it's the only food for miles," Edward teased.

"Survival weekends," Anise sighed. "Not looking forward to that. Nobody but Angus and Michael can cook on those things."

"Well, we'll just have to get you two out and foraging and then cooking what you forage. You're permitted to take a notebook and a survival guide. So, we'll come up with some easy recipes for you," Angus said.

"Will we really be expected to go?" Ginger asked. "I mean, we're real employees now, after all."

"Everyone is expected to go to at least one survival weekend a year, unless medical problems keep you from being duty fit to go," Angus said. "No matter how many years you've had on the team."

"Well, shit," Sam sighed, not excited about going either. That made Angus and Marcus and Edward laugh outloud.

Aria and Ruby looked at each other and chuckled " fish jerky, not had that, had beef jerky" Aria said Ruby just shook her head as she ate her food " oh survival sounds fun" she said but laughed at Sam's reaction " its not as bad as you think, other than the bug and beasts …okay maybe not for you" she said and chuckled " I loved being out doors, the camping under the stars hearing owls at night hooting , cooking on an open fire, it gives the food a unique taste." Ruby looked at Aria who chuckled " okay I'll stop."

Ruby looked at Sam " I don't think it will be just yet, but yes you will, have to do it, same as myself I'm guessing " she said " besides it could be fun doing it as a family" she ate the fish , rice and ratatouille loving each bite as she finished she saw Caprice with rice around her mouth but the fish was all gone " well some one likes your fish too" she said wiping her face clean/

"It'll be fine," Anise said, "aside from the food thing. Remember, that's how Ginger and I grew up."

"Watch. Robert will put us in completely different groups, and I'll be reduced to eating nightcrawlers or something stupid," Sam said.

"Gross," Victor scowled at him. "Really? While we're eating you think of that?"

"Can't help it. My brain just went there."

"Its a quick hop if there's nothing in there but stupid stuff, clearly," Victor continued to scowl at Sam.

"You won't be placed with someone inexperienced," Angus said. "And Nightcrawler Surprise can be tasty."

"There is no such thing," Marcus said. "We have never eaten a nightcrawler in one of those trainings. Don't lead them on like that. In all honesty, you might have salads, maybe a roasted nut soup, maybe fish or rabbits or something like that. You really will survive. It won't be like Angus's cooking unless he's on your team, but you won't die. You will survive."

"I'm glad she likes fish," Angus said, glad the babies didn't find the smell or taste of fish to be strange.

"I don't mean to preach at you, Angus," Marcus said, "but since Kate has bought you some time, you should get some sleep after supper, while you can. If you pair it with some of Minos's potion, you might be able to get four or five hours of sleep--and that would be what you're used to for a full night's sleep. It would truly help, I think."

"You're probably right," Angus said.

Aria and Ruby chuckled but it was Aria who spoke " oh I remember the mushroom soup we made , now that was a real trip" she said and chuckled " I still think one of the guys picked the wrong type of mushrooms though." she said and looked at Ruby " hey I wasn't the gatherer for that training session" she admitted making Ruby chuckle as she listened then looked to Angus .

"leave the cleaning up to us, grab it while you can" she said finishing her food " and yes I'm glad they aren't fussy about the food they eat and are willing to try new foods with new flavours" it was now as she finished talking Caprice burped loudly " excuse you young lady" she told her making Caprice giggle. Ruby chuckled along with her as she gave Caprice a Sippy with juice in it along with Dimond who happily drank from it.

"I've done that myself," Edward said. "And in fact we had two of the wrong sort. As I recall, the group I was with were out of it for about two days. I got a lot smarter about mushrooms after that."

"Was I with you on that trip? I dont remember that," Angus said.

"No. You were not."

"I did get sick out in the middle of nowhere once, though."

"Oh, yes you did," Edward said, remembering. "You were just a little fellow, maybe seven or so. We thought it was perhaps something you ate, but as it turned out, you had a gastroenteritis. That was one of the very few times I had to entrust you to a muggle hospital, but it was the best I could do under the circumstance."

"Barbarians. All of 'em," Angus said, remembering.

"And Robert would agree with you 100 %," Edward said.


"And with that, I will get the dessert that Ruby made earlier--ice cream--so, Mint Chocolate Chip, or Key Lime Pie? Who wants what?" Angus asked.

Sam ordered Mint Chocolate, Victor ordered Key Lime. Ginger ordered Mint Chocolate, and Anise ordered Key Lime. Marcus wanted a scoop of each, and so did Angus. Edward chose Key Lime, and, Simone, who finally arrived, with a basket that she set aside, said she would like Mint Chocolate, but after she finished her fish. "So, what about you two," Angus asked Ruby and Aria.