A Birth day

Ruby listened to them talking and saw Robert touch Angus as she walked back down to the living room " will he live?" she asked and chuckled. She watched as Minos flew from Angus pocket and Angus thanked him " that goes from me too" she said smiling to him seeing Marcus with a change for Angus and the bottle she smiled as Robert spoke of Mickey sending over food for them for lunch " oh perfect , he's a life saver" she said and chuckled as Marcus handed out the fire whisky and Angus returned looking more like himself. " now that's more like the man I love" she said and smiled to him.

Aria sat with the babies and chuckled relaxing as she took a glass from Marcus " thanks" she said and hear him talk about the whisky " oh it's got to be good if its from Ireland " she said and held her class " here to Angus being home and not in a jail cell" she said and Ruby chuckled and second it bd downed her drink " wow that's ..that's whisky all right" she said coughing this time at the strength as it hit the back of her throat.

"Well, he didn't die of embarrassment at Daniella's so, yes, I wager he'll live," Robert laughed.

"That's for supper tonight," Angus said. "I'll put something quick together for lunch." He got up and headed to the kitchen.

"Um...slow down on that, Aria," Marcus laughed. "That isn't tap water you're swilling. Irish whiskey can bite back."

"This is excellent," Robert said. "Good choice, Marcus. Angus, do we need to order out for lunch too?"

"No, I've got it," Angus said, taking some chicken breasts out of the fridge that were left over from the chicken he'd fixed a day before. He diced up the chicken, added some chutney, a little mayonnaise, some white wine, some chopped celery, some raisins, some chopped pecans, some curry powder, and some salt and pepper and blended it all up for some curried chicken salad. He used some of the soda bread he'd made last night and made sandwiches with it, using some rocket greens on the sandwiches, and he served it with some fresh crisps and some of the fruit salad from breakfast.

"This isn't fancy but it should be edible," Angus said, handing everyone a plate. "Curried chicken salad sandwiches on fresh soda bread."

"Perfect," Robert said. "I think the last time I had curried chicken salad was the last time you made it. It's a nice change from Kate's 'health regime' she thinks she can win me over to."

"Oh, God. What's she serving you this time?" Marcus asked.

"Some nasty green drink that she says is good for me," Robert shook his head. "It's like drinking the lawn."

"Sounds fabulous," Marcus said sarcastically.

"She calls it a smoothie. Smooth, my ass. I still have to chew it. Like a cow chewing her cud--nasty crap. She sent it with me yesterday to St. Mungo's. I handed to my secretary and had her send out to get me a toasted bagel and a mocha latte," Robert said. Marcus and Angus were both laughing now and Minos was laughing so hard, he fell off the coffee table.

Aria couched and sat down as Ruby took a slow sip from her glass as she heard Marcus talk to Aria who was getting her breath back. " good advice they tend to make their whiskey stronger than others" she said sipping hers " but she is right this is nice." she watched Angus head to the kitchen then return with some sandwiches " he can't stop for a minuet" she said and chuckled as she took a sandwich and took a bite " oh this goes well with the whisky " she said.

Aria finally got her breath back and chuckled " now you tell me, but yeah its good, " she took a sandwich and ate it " oh yeh , this is nice" they both heard Robert and burst out laughing " oh boy, nasty" Aria said " let me guess it was a kale smoothie?" she asked knowing to her that was horrible when she tried it.

"I think it was a Lawn Smoothie," Robert said. "Probably chuck full of grass, ragweed, and crabgrass."

"You know she probably won't like you chucking it out," Marcus said.

"She's used to it, actually," Angus said. "She sends her smoothies with him in paper to-go cups because, she figures he's going to toss some of it out somewhere between home and work. If its a decent smoothie, he might eventually like it, but it does take him a bit to get him off of the sorts of breakfasts I've always fixed for him. She seems to think that all he needs is a smoothie."

"Not the only thing she has ever been wrong about," Robert said. "She doesn't have any idea that her freaking smoothies at 6 am do not last me til I get home, which, normally isn't until 8 or 9 at night. I normally don't get any lunch. I'd much rather have Angus's breakfasts any day of the week."

"Then you need to come over here. I still make them. I just do it here," Angus said. "So, Marcus, how are you and Aria going to manage without a cook over there?"

"Well, either she's gonna cook or we're gonna get sick of my eggs 3 meals a day, seven days a week, or we're gonna be eating a lot of crumpets with jam and cream," Marcus replied.

"So, in plain English, she's gonna cook or you're gonna starve," Robert said.

"Yup. That's about the size of it," Marcus laughed.


"

Ruby listened to Robert and Angus as did Aria and they laughed when Marcus said Aria will do all the cooking Aria did not dispute it and chuckled " I don't mind cooking, I learn a lot from watching Angus cook too" Aria said looking to Marcus " but you know a lot about survival cooking though" she said " plus we can always come over here to eat." she added and looked to Angus with a chuckle.

Ruby chuckled and shook her head. " oh no you guys cook in your own home , we have enough people to feed" she said and chuckled " not to change the subject but whose bringing the girls home? asked " or should one of us go get them?" she asked finishing her whiskey and now feeling her whole body warmed by it.

"I'll go," Angus said. "We've got time. I mean, after all, we just finished lunch."

"You mean, 'we'll go'," Marcus said.

"Whatever," Angus said.

"Oh, so now that you have an important governmental title, I become 'whatever'?" Marcus teased.

"Went straight to his head, didn't it?" Robert laughed. "Alright, I really do need to go. Thank you for lunch and a fine glass of whiskey. I'll bring the new potions when I get them from Nigel. Until then, don't go do anything else that I have bail you out of today. Understand me?"

"Yeah, so when Priscilla comes next time, do I need to ask you first."

"No. Her, you have my permission to get rid of. Just try not to destroy anything else in the process," Robert said. He got up and took his plate to the kitchen. "I'll see you lot later." He left.

Angus looked out and there seemed to be a lot more Fae than there had been. He went over to the terrarium, and he saw that half of the cocoons were hatched and apparently empty now.

"Oh. So you know, we have a lot more Fae than we used to," Angus said. "And the garden construction is going a lot faster now. Have the cocoons are empty now. that means we have at least 25 more Fae out there. We had ten, Now we're up to about 35. I'm guessing that we're going to need some more stumps put out there."

Minos scribbled a hasty drawing to Angus and handed it to them.

"Minos says the palace in the large tree is almost completely finished, and he says that if we give him permission to forage and also to take from our garden and Kate's garden, we won't need to feed them anymore or house them. He says they can double up for now in what stumps they have, and some of the new ones can stay in the palace for now until there are enough stumps to go around," Angus said. "Whatever you need is fine, Minos. We'll help however we can. Why don't you make a list of supplies that we can help you with, and we'll get them to you?" Minos nodded, grateful.

Ruby and Aria both looked at Robert and chuckled as he spoke of Angus then nodded to him when he said he had to head back to the main house " thank you Robert " Ruby said then noticed Angus looking at the Fae in the garden " oh really, that's wonderful" she said looking out and seeing them busy building and moving things. she heard Angus mention that Minos wanted to forage for them selves and she smiled as Angus agreed to let them. " our garden is always open to you and your Fae family Minos" she said smiling to him.

Aria waved to Robert from where she sat and watched the babies who seem to have laid down for a nap now they had been changed. Aria took a blanket and laid it over each girl and sat back down cross legged on the couch to do her cross word.

Minos was grateful that his people were so well provided for. It made his job of rebuilding his kingdom that much easier.

"The construction on the house is just about finished. However, I think, with everything as busy as it has been, I'll hire one of the decorators that Brian's used to decorate our place," Marcus told Aria. "We just can't have our attention divided that long. I think we can tell them what we like and what we don't, let them to sketches and show us fabric swatches and things and let them to the grunt work. I think it just makes a lot more sense under the circumstances. What do you think? It would move the process along, and we could stay focused on our jobs."

Aria looked to Marcus as he spoke and she smiled " I agree, our place is here for the time being watching over Ruby and Angus , we can't divide out attention right now hat with Pricilla doing what she is" she said and looked at Ruby still looking out the window at the Fae building then down to the sleeping babies. " if you have an interior designer in mind , go with them, I don't mind" she said smiling to him.

Ruby was watching the Fae when she saw Jack walk over with teo more tree stumps being directed by the Fae he placed them down just as they instructed then waved to her before heading back towards the main house.

" Jack just put down two more stumps for the Fae" she said and heard Angus ask Minos for a list of supplies the would need " oh please, let us get those for you" she said to Minos as she moved from the window to sit beside it so she could still see the Fae working admiring the carvings they made in the wood to personalise their hgomes.

Minos nodded, not opposed to Ruby and Aria doing some shopping for them. Minos drew a picture to convey a rather complex message to Angus, and he showed it to him.

"Don't worry about it," Angus said. "I've got you covered. I understand your concern, but we'll figure that out." He looked at Ruby. "Get anything and everything they need. Minos, you make your list. Whatever you need, put it on the list. We'll handle it. Here's the snag, Ruby, our Fae kingdom wasn't always on this estate. They had been chased out of the land Minos's father ruled for over a thousand years--by human habitat encroachment. They took all the riches, the gold, and all the kingdom's valuables with them, and they hid it while they looked for a new home. But while they were gone looking for a new place to live, muggles encroached on that land too. Right now, Minos's gold and resources are very limited. He's very concerned that he's going to have a hard time funding all this rebuilding. I'm not concerned at this point, just because our food and goods for a lot farther for them. However, he's thinking it's worth a try to see if any of their treasure can be recovered, but i rather think we're talking about some significant traveling to try to get it. And, first things first, he knows his people need their basics covered before they can go back for the treasure. So, get whatever they need, and I'll cover it for now. We can work it out between us and them later. Make sense?"