A Birth day

Jack looked at Marcus and shook his head " can't she just leave it for one day?" he said and then shook his head again as he listened to Marcus tell him about what Robert had found. " nope, I take it back she can't" he added as he looked at Ruby with Ana and Sergio.

Ruby smiled to them when they said they could stay " that's great Angus fixed some steaks " and I know he'll love you staying , even just to catch up " she said smiling as she looked to Ana " and there's a lot to catch up." she saw the girls run to Dennis and smiled again.

Marcus walked up to Ruby. 

"Let's go home," Marcus told her. "I think things are back under control for the moment. I don't know if Angus needs a hand with anything for supper but I presume he's got it right where he wants it for now."

He walked with Ruby back to the house, and when they got back, Angus was just coming back in the house. Marcus could smell the aroma of the charcoal heating up. 

"I'm going to make a batch of cocktails," Angus said. "Are you lot interested?"

"What are you making?"

"Sazeracs," Angus said.

"Oh, nice," Marcus smiled. "Never mind the New Orleans reference."

"Yes, well, I won't hold that against New Orleans," Angus said. 

"Just make enough to go around," Marcus said. "This house never wastes a good drink."  

"True enough," Angus said. He got out a glass pitcher and measured out sugar, water, and bitters and combined them in the bottom of the pitcher and added some top shelf firewhiskey. Then he cast a spell on the glasses to chill them, rinsed each glass with absinthe, and poured the cocktail into glasses and added a twist of lemon to each glass. "Sazeracs all round, I presume?" he floated the glasses to everyone, leaving some of the drink in the pitcher in case the girls or Dennis or the boys wanted one when they came in.

"We're home," the boys said, coming in. "How soon do we eat?"

"Oh, at least another hour," Angus said. "The grill needs to heat up first and then once I put everything on the grill, we should be roughly 30 minutes or so from eating."

Ruby heard Marcus and nodded as Sergio and Ana had left she chuckled and walked inside seeing Aria placing Amari back in the play pen with Caprice and take off the carrier to place back where she had gotten it from. " all's good for now." she said walking over and smiling to Caprice and Amari in the pen. Looking back as she saw the boys enter she chuckled and nodded. Hearing Angus she nodded " oh please" she said .

Aria chuckled an nodded " perfect drink for today" she said with a smile " even if it is from New Orleans" she added with a chuckle. " I'm glad nobody was hurt." she added as Jack walked in and looked at Angus " okay barriers strengthened to the best of our ability for now, i'll check it in the morning when I start work, and your grill is hot by the way." he added as he then walked back out and over to the barn to check the animals within it.

"Thank you, Jack," Angus said. "Thank the outdoor crew for us too please? We certainly appreciate their help today."

Angus got the food out of the fridge so it could come to room temperature before he grilled it. 

"I'll help you take it out," Marcus said, grabbing one of Angus' trays while he grabbed the other. The two of them went out, taking their drinks with them. Angus put the potatoes on first because they were going to take the longest. Then he started to grill the portabello caps, gill side down first, and he put the loaf of garlic bread on, in a cooler spot on the grill so it could toast slowly.  

It was now, as Marcus had some time with Angus that he admitted he had added a calming potion to Angus's tea this morning. He wanted no secrets. Angus looked into his drink, nodded and took a sip.

"Maybe I should have warned you, but..." Marcus said.

"No. Not your fault," Angus said. "They had their reasons, and they knew I wouldn't say no because I would not have ever done anything that would have remotely looked to Ruby like some sort of rejection. And I am aware of the 'do-not-intefere' clause that most bodyguards have to abide by no matter what. So, no, I don't blame you. If anything, you probably saved me from going utterly ballistic, and that would have been worse."

"What am I smelling already?"

"Garlic bread, potatoes, and portabellos," Angus said. "I hope Ruby finished the salad. I made the dressing already, so there probably isn't much left to do with it. I asked her to do the lemonade too, but I think she has that done."

Ruby grabbed a drink and went to start the salad for Angus as she saw him and Marcus walk out side. Finishing the salad she carried it in a bowl out to Angus " is this okay?" she asked showing him the bowl of salad to him. Aria chuckled and watched them talking to each other knowing Marcus was telling him about the calming potion in his coffee that morning.

Aria levitated the play pen with the girls inside it and moved it outside to the seating area " thought they could use some air" she said placing it down next to a seat and sat down as she accioed some Sazeracs for herself to gently sip while she watched the babies. Once ruby was happy the salad was right for Angus she headed back into the house to make the lemonade fresh from the fruit.

"It looks great," Angus told her. "Good job, Ru. Couldn't have done better myself. Thank you."

"Did I hear correctly that Edward and Simone are in Tuscany tonight?" Marcus asked.

"According to Evan, yes," Angus said. 

"Should I presume that they'll be back tonight or no?" Marcus asked

"I presume no," Angus said. 

"He does normally tell you, doesn't he?"

"Yes, normally, but there are exceptions to everything," Angus said. He heard laughter that was gradually getting louder. He looked and saw the Sam and Victor had taken their frisbee outside and there was a game going on between them, Dennis, and Ginger and Anise. They looked like they were having a great time, and Angus was happy for them. He checked the grill and took the portabellos off to cool for just a moment before he stuffed them and added some shredded gruyere. He put them back on the grill, turned the potatoes and the bread and then put the steaks on to grill. Marcus heard th telltale sizzle and smelled the wonderful aroma of steaks over a charcoal fire.

"God, that smells insanely good," Marcus said.

"I'm glad. It won't be long now. From now til we can actually eat is probably fifteen minutes or so," Angus said. 

"I hope someone knows they should soon set the table, then," Marcus said, accio'ing the sazerac pitcher out to the deck and refilling his glass. "Another?" he asked Angus.

"Why not?" Angus smiled, as Marcus added some to Angus's glass too.

Ruby heard Angus and nodded as she return to the kitchen " I'll get the table" Aria said standing and accioing the cutlery and began setting the table for Angus chuckling as he was pored by Angus another glass " be carful that can sneak up on you like a Lagniappe ." she said and looked at them and chuckled " sorry that's the Cajun in me" she said as she lay the last of the cutlery on the table.

Ruby brought out the jug with the cool iced lemonade in it and several glasses placing them on the table she was glass to hear and see the boys and girls playing along with Caprice and Ameri watching them from the play pen giggling along with them. She felt this was where she belonged and walked over to Angus " that smells heavenly" she said watching him take the mushrooms leaning close she gently kissed his cheek.

Aria placed the last knife and moved to sit back with Marcus watching as Ruby lent against Angus watching him cook. " I'm glad everything was cleared up and that Jack is keeping an eye on the barrier, want me to double check the lock down tonight?" she asked him " might give them time alone tonight." she added with a chuckle.

Angus nodded at Aria's New Orleans reference. Ruby brought out the lemonade. 

"Thanks," he told her. "I think we're probably fifteen minutes or so from it being ready. The mushrooms cook pretty quickly, but I want it to all be ready at the same time."

"You can check it, but you do realize I have a hard time letting anyone else do that but me, right?" Marcus laughed, when Aria offered to double check the security later. "Besides, we know how to make ourselves scarce if we need to."

"I heard that," Angus said. "So do we, if we choose to. The thing about having six kids in the house is that it puts a damper on a lot of things. We'll have plenty of time for adult recreation. I'm not concerned about that."

"Shall I go get a bottle of wine?" Marcus asked.

There's a couple bottles of bordeaux in the fridge,' Angus suggested.

"Now, that's an excellent choice," Marcus said. I'll go get them. Aria, can you get the wine glasses, please? We'll need nine of them. I'll open the wine and pour it so the wine has time to breathe before we eat."

"I was just going to suggest that," Angus said. Marcus went into the house, got the wine from the fridge, and opened both bottles and brought them out to the table. Angus took the steaks off the grill, put them on a large platter, put some pats of French creamery butter on the steaks to keep them juicy, and then covered the platter with foil to let the steaks rest. 

"Those steaks smell incredible," Marcus said. "I am going to miss this gourmet stuff every night when we move into the house."

"We're just across the pond. it isn't like we're miles away," Angus laughed. "Besides, with Aria around, you won't be trapped with just eggs."

"True," Marcus said.

Aria heard Marcus and chuckled " oh I know" she said smiling " its part of your charm and yes we do." she added and chuckled looking to Angus and laughed at his words , she heard Marcus ask her to get the wine glasses and nodded " sure" she said and stood up and moved to the kitchen to gather them. Once she had nine of them she carried them to the table out side and placed each down. Once done she sent the tray back to the kitchen.

Ruby chuckled and smiled to Angus " we have plenty of time for all that" she said but chuckled as Angus and Marcus spoke about adult time and how Marcus always double checks after Aria. She heard Marcus talk about how the food smelled and nodded " it does smell wonderful;" she added as she watched Marcus open the red wine.

"I think it should be good," Angus said. "So far it's all going like clockwork."

"Great wine, by the way. This isn't Edward's. Where'd you get it?" Marcus asked, smelling the wine before he poured it.

"I bought it several years ago when I was working at the office in Paris," Angus said. "It wasn't expensive but it tastes like it certainly should be expensive. I actually have two full cases of that stored in the basement here. We might as well drink it before we end up with two cases of red wine vinegar."

"Yes, well, I also happen to know you make an excellent red wine vinaigrette. so it won't go to waste."

"Well, that's basically an everyday cooking condiment in Italy," Angus smiled. He took the potatoes off the grill and, using his bare hands, he unwrapped the foil from around each potato, split the potatoes open with a knife and added a generous amount of butter, some fresh chives, a pinch of salt and some fresh cracked pepper into each potato, and the he put the potatoes on a platter and put them on the table. 

Next he removed the gorgeous looking stuffed portabello caps and garnished them with some finely minced scallions and a pinch of parsley and put them on a large platter as well and put them on the table. He removed the bread, plated it in one of Kate's large, rectangular pottery dough bowls to make sure the butter didn't roll out in a bread basket, and he put that on the table. Last to be added to the table was the enormous platter of charcoal grilled steaks that had butter melting into the top of each steak.

"Well, I think we're ready. Can someone go call Dennis and the kids, please?" Angus asked.