A Birth day

Angus thanked Minos for sharing with him the good news that the kingdom was up and running just fine and that all the cocoons had opened. Minos seemed to want to hang closer to Angus today, so he parked himself on Angus's shoulder and waved the rest of the fae to their duties. Angus came back in, and he sat down and picked up his coffee cup.

'I will," Angus said to Ruby when she told him the bathroom was free. "You need to go out to the garden. All the cocoons have hatched, and we now have over 60 Fae living in our garden. That is really a spectacular sight. It's nice to know we did some good somewhere."

Robert came upstairs.

"She's doing pretty well, all things considered," Robert said. "I gave her some more pain potion, and I think she's just going to hang out in her room today and rest, which is the best thing for her, really. I don't think you need to hover. I'll leave the potions I'm giving her on the kitchen counter. There's a bottle of the mild strength pain potion, some anti nausea potion, and just a very mild nerve potion. This seems to have rattled her considerably. The directions are on the bottles, but most of them are just as needed. Now, I'm going to snatch Angus away from you all for a few minutes and get a look at that shoulder. Shall we, Angus?"

"Why not?" Angus asked.

"Do you need me to go along?" Marcus asked.

"No, I think we'll manage just fine," Robert said. Angus followed Robert upstairs.

Ruby looked at Angus as he came in from the garden and smiled " oh wow I got to se this" she said and smiled as she passe him by kissing his cheek again as she headed out smiling as she saw all the Fae moving around as they worked and made things. " its beautiful out here" she said to her self but hear Jacks voice .

"yep, they did great work" he said and she chuckled " The made several homes and hatched all their fae people" he said as a female fae flew up and sat on his shoulder tapping his cheek where she wanted him to look. Just as he turned a fae fell from a high branch Jack caught him and placed him down on the ground " be carful" he said and both Fae laughed and nodded.

Robert was checking Angus's shoulder and he noticed that Angus hadn't said a word, hadn't made a peep even when Robert knew it had to hurt like the devil.

"Alright," Robert said, sitting in the chair by the bed, "level with me. You're a million miles away. What is it? What's on your mind?"

"Nothing important," Angus said, trying to redirect Robert. "My mind is just wandering."

"I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. You're very focused and shut down about something, and the more you shut down, the worse whatever you're concerned about actually is. Now, what is it?"

"I need legal godparents for my kids. I need to know my family will always be taken care of and provided for --I mean, all of them. the kids, Ruby, all of them."

"Well, it's always a wise decision to make sure there's a backup plan, especially given the work we do, but why is this bugging you today?"

"Because, in the last 24 hours I've been a complete screw up."

"How so? And just for the record, I've never seen you that way."

"Peachy, but it doesn't change a thing. If I hadn't tried to climb that tree, and if I had been a better fighter and had kept my word to Anise..."

"Wait, wait, wait," Robert frowned. "Why does this sound like you're starting in the middle?" For Robert, it was like pulling teeth trying to get the facts from Angus, but Angus's explanation started with the tree climbing, and eventually, Angus got to the point about what he had done everything in his power to not discuss at all--Jess's grim prognosis about his shoulder, and how Angus believed that he had ruined his life and the lives of Ruby and his kids by just climbing a tree. And by now, Angus was rooting through the dresser drawers for something.

"Oh, I see," Robert said. "Well, do you want to know what I think?"

"Not really," Angus said, still rooting.

"What are you hunting for?"

"I had a bottle of firewhiskey in here somewhere," Angus said.

"Come and sit down for a minute. Let's finish this," Robert told him. "Drinking might numb it for awhile, but it doesn't solve it. Now, listen. You didn't intend to do anything but help the Fae. You didn't throw yourself out of the stinking tree. You just fell. It was an accident, and, frankly, crap happens. Jess is a good healer. She knows her stuff. However, no two healers are alike, and she and I have different skill sets. She's not a surgeon, and I've been doing this just a bit longer than she has. So, did she say your shoulder is irreparable? No. She didn't. She gave you a warning, and that's fair. It's damaged, and it isn't as strong and resilient as the other one, but that isn't news. But, she doesn't know entirely what I can do to help repair it. I think, realistically, if it doesn't respond to some really careful healing, I might need to go back in and do another surgical repair. But it doesn't mean you're going to go through the rest of your life as a one armed man. We're not even close to that yet. We might never be in that place, so I don't think you need to write yourself off as being able to be a good provider for your family. Have you talk to Ruby about any of it?"

"For what end? To spook her? To tell her I'm washed up as a chef and as a fighter, and from everything I am that makes me a decent partner or a dad?"

"Well, first of all, you tell her because she's your partner. Second, you tell her because she's always been supportive of you. Third, you tell her because she has the right to headslap you for believing that if you're injured you're not worth a tinker's damn. I'm with you until you get to the part where your life is over if Jess is right. And it doesn't have to play out that way because you have me, and I can even your odds considerably. Fourth, you tell her because you don't need to always be strong and silent. Sometimes it really is okay to let your partner lead. If it feels like life is beating you up, its fine to let her take the lead from time to time. And, fifth, yes, you do need to reduce what you do with that shoulder for awhile., I'm sure she already knows that because she's not stupid. And if I have to do surgery, that's going to decrease activity with that arm even more for awhile. You work it out with her because that's what partners do. You want me to keep going?"

"Actually, no."

"That's what I thought."

Ari cleaned up the duplex and watched Ruby with Caprice and Dimond once they had woken Aria made some stuffed rolls with filo pastry for a snack while they normalized to the time change again. Ruby looked at where Robert had taken Angus and sighed 2 he'll be okay, what ever Robert says take it one day at atiem" Aria told her and saw her nod.

Ruby nodded to Aria she had been there when Angus buggered his shoulder the first time , they can get threw it again. She also knew as good as Jess was she wasn't always right and she had only told him to be carful with it so he didn't bugger it up totally which meant he hadn't done it completely and that was one thing he was glad of. It was now she saw Minos flutter in carrying some flowers and place them in a vase in front of her " awe thank you Minos there lovely" she said and smiled .

"So, here's what I'm going to do," robert said. "I'm going to leave the magic wrap on for today, and we'll check it in the morning. I'm hoping that by then that maybe I can have Andrew start to work on some very gentle rehab with you. I want to be sure he takes it slow because those tissues have some long standing issues. I don't want them buggared any further. If you feel significant pain or stiffness in it, or if it feels like your arm is just too much weight for your shoulder, and it very well could feel that way, those are cues that you need to wear a sling to give those muscles a bit of a rest. We can be more restrictive, but let's see how it does if we try this for now instead. If it works, great. If it doesn't work well for you, and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, we'll immobilize it. You keep me posted about it. I'll make sure you have some potions, so make sure you take them as the labels say, and I'll check in with you after supper tonight unless you need me sooner. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough," Angus said. Robert got up and left the bedroom, heading downstairs. Angus headed for a shower and a shave.

"I'm sending over some potions for him in a short bit," Robert told Ruby. "He doesn't necessarily have to immobilize it, but that depends on how he does with it. I'll check in on him and Anise this evening."

Ruby saw Robert walk down from their room and stood up to walk over to him. she listened to him as he spoke about Angus and she relaxed " that's good right, for the moment, Aria and I can do the cooking if Angus lets us know what he wants us to cook, so that's no Biggy" she said " I just hope she leaves him alone long enough for it to heal properly." she said then took a long deep breath in to calm herself " but we'll leave her to Dianella to deal with " she said and looked at Aria who smiled.

"he's doing great, we'll make sure he takes his potions, and wears the sling" she added knowing that would be one of the conditions he had told Angus about. Aria finished the last piece and placed it on a plate leaving them out so if any one wanted they could just take some . " oh is he going for his sleep, he stayed awake last night" Aria told Robert.

"It's okay for the moment. I'm not going to rush into anything because there's no need to. He did the right thing by icing it. I'm going to leave the magic wrap on it for now, and I'll have Andrew get with him about some very gentle rehabilitation on it. I don't know if it'll work or not. If it does, great. If not, I can certainly do more reconstructive surgery, but I want to see how it progresses first without that. We don't have any idea if they will be able to hang onto Priscilla and Dominic this time or not. So, if they manage that this time, he'll have time to recover. If not, then, I really don't want him trying to recover from another major surgery and end up being pushed into trying to defend himself at the same time. So, I'd rather be very conservative right now. Oh, and as for the sling, he does not need to wear it right now, not unless his shoulder gives him a lot of pain and swelling. If he's not putting it through a lot of nonsense, then he could get by without it. Let's just see how it goes. If you have questions, then, by all means, ask."

"Robert," Marcus asked, "with Priscilla behind bars, at least for today, I presume we would be safe to perhaps go off of the estate grounds and do something fun for a change of scenery, right?"

"That would be perfect for Angus but not so good for Anise," Robert said. "And I really don't want her alone today. Figure that out, and you might have the makings of a decent outing. I'll try to have the potions for Angus to you in an hour or two. I have a couple of pressing things, but I'll get to his potions as soon as I can. I'll see you lot later." Robert left.

"I think we could consider some sort of a picnic off the grounds, if someone would stay with Anise," Marcus said to Ruby and Aria. "It's supposed to be fairly warm. I mean, it might be sweater weather, but a change of pace for some sort of freedom might be worth a thought. Angus'll hate it, but I still think its' worth a thought."

Ruby listened to Robert and nodded then looked to Marcus as he spoke and she nodded " maybe we could do a BBQ here in the yard, be out side and relaxing and Anise could join too" she suggested with a shrug to Marcus. Aria looked to him trying to rea what he was thinking. as she made a fresh pot of the almond tea for every one . Ruby said bye to Robert and breathed out as she sat down.

" well not as bad as expected" she said smiling Ruby moved to the kitchen and started to make crushed Almond Rounds so every on can nibble on them too later if they wanted with their cup of tea or coffee.

"Well, we could, but I think Robert's point about Anise is that bright light, including bright sunlight is really going to bother her for a bit until her concussion heals," Marcus said. "Bright lights, activity and noise might really cause her a lot of pain and nausea for a couple days at least. So, let's perhaps scratch the idea of an outing for today because, in all honesty, Angus won't want to leave Anise today. You know, I know this estate isn't mine to add things to or to take things away from, but as much as everyone here likes being outside, we need to get them to consider adding some sort of large shelter or pavilion like they have in the city parks, to the yard. Of course I think it should have the same sort of log or rustic look that all the other buildings have here, but a covered shelter would allow us to have more activities outside and in a lot more kinds of weather. It could look like an outdoor living room, with a fireplace and nice outdoor furniture at one end and an outdoor kitchen with tables at the other. I'm sure it would certainly get use in the summertime."

Anise listened to Marcus and nodded " yeah , sunlight and concussion aren't good " she added and thought about what he said " you know Farmer Mechanize he has a gazebo that's not being uses and is over grown, it does have cooking area and seating I'm sure he'd let us use it and bring it here , we could put it between the cottage and here give us someplace covered to sit out " she suggested " he has offered it to Jak before as he wants it gone" Ruby listened and looked to Marcus as he spoke.

Ruby listened and looked at Marcus " worth a shot , if he's already offered it , I can get Jack to put down a pad for it to sit on" she said "and at the same time I could get Jack to make a pizza oven at one end?" she added as she with Aria sketched a really rough drawing using what Aria knew of the Gazebo and its structure.