A Birth day

"And I took it as a compliment," Marcus smiled. Marcus knew Angus was soon not going to be able to stay awake any longer, and he was putting off the pain potion only because he didn't want to go to sleep while the rest of the house was still up. He glanced over at the babies, and just then Caprice found another big glob of cake from somewhere and was sitting and eating it in her playpen. "We're going to be finding cake for a week," Marcus laughed as Caprice squeezed the cake getting it all over her face and hands and her pajamas. And then, she yawned. 

"Oh, no...don't,..." Marcus began, knowing what was coming. Caprice yawned, and began rubbing her eyes with her fists, getting frosting and cake all over her eyelids, eyebrows and eyelashes. She was immediately frightened because all of a sudden she couldn't see, and she began screeching and screaming. And that started Diamond screeching because Caprice had more cake and she didn't.  It startled Angus and almost launched Angus straight out of his chair. "Hold it," Marcus told him. "It's okay. Just more cake face. We'll get it. You can stand down." Angus took a deep breath, almost embarressed that he had been startled over that.

"I think we're going to head down to bed," Anise said. " Great party, but tomorrow's going to be busy for us. Thanks, All. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Edward and Simone said, and the girls headed downstairs while the guys said goodnight and headed upstairs.

Ruby chuckled and then saw Caprice " we did she get that from. Never mind" she said and chuckled at Marcus worse , she stood up and was about to take Caprice out when she heard her cry out " its okay I got you" she said softly and used a tea towel to wipe Caprices face " I'll take her and clean her up then put them down to sleep" she said looking over a she heard Anise and Ginger she smiled " okay, glad you had fun, I know these two did" she said with a chuckle as Aria picked up Dimond " rest well girls and guys. " she added as she and Aria carried the babies up to clean them off.

With Dimond resting in her cot now Aria let Finn out so he could do what he needed and filled his food bowl and water bowl for when he came back in which wasn't long after. eating and drinking he then dove up the stairs to the nursery where he lay down under the cots. " I'll check upstairs and bring don the pillows and blankets for you" she said to Marcus as she reached the stairs and headed up to check each room, other than Angus and Ruby's she made sure all windows and French doors were locked then walked downstairs checking the adjoining door was now shut between the two homes. " want me to check Edwards or do you think his is secure enough?" she asked as she gently pulled the door closed behind her.

"I'll check it," Marcus said to Aria. "It'll let me stretch my legs a little anyway." He poured Angus's pain potion and handed it to him. "I know you wanted to put this off but everyone's going to bed now. I think you're fine to take it now."  Angus took it, not questioning it. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, not a thing," Angus said, yawning, now heavy with sleep. Marcus helped Angus kick back the recliner and get settled for the night.

"Get some sleep, and I'll be back as soon as I check Edward's side for the night," Marcus said. "Then I'll be going to sleep too." Marcus gave Aria a quick kiss. "Thanks for checking this side. I'll check Edward's, and then I'm heading to bed. You know, Edward and Simone are so used to my routine that they aren't even remotely disturbed when I go over. They're normally in a sound sleep, and they don't even move."

"That's trust," Angus said sleepily, "because, trust me, Edward hears everything--and I do mean everything."

"Now, that I believe," Marcus laughed. "Okay. I'll be right back. Night, Aria." He turned and went over to check Edward's side.

"Goodnight, Aria," Angus said. "Thanks for coming back, even if it did mean giving up your assignment in Paris to do this assignment."

Aria nodded to Marcus and watched as he gave Angus his pain potion " I can stay with him till you get back" she said chuckling as she saw Angus yawn and how he fought to keep his eyes open " not that he'll be awake for much longer" she said as she saw Marcus walk over to her. She was pleasantly surprised when Marcus kissed her making her smile as he soke to her.

" Its what we do" she said softly to him her hand now resting on his she chuckled when he said Edward and Simone wouldn't notice he had checked their side because of how heavy they slept and they trusted Marcus.

She watched as Marcus headed to Edward side and she smiled staying with Angus as he sleepily spoke to her. She smiled as she replied to his apology " its okay, family comes first, always has and always will, even Marcus family are important to me, Good night Angus." she said smiling as she looked at the adjoining door as she saw him fall asleep.

Marcus made his check of Edward's side quickly but efficiently, and he soon returned. "I'll leave the door open between the two sides just so I can hear if something happens during the night." He looked and saw Angus was in a deep sleep. "I'm glad he's finally letting himself rest. He's dozed off and on, but he really hasn't wanted to give into it. Now that the rest of house is quiet, he's apparently decided it's safe to sleep. Frankly, I'm tired too. " He put his pillow at the end of the sofa closest to Angus so he could hear him if Angus woke and opened up his blanket. Sitting down on the sofa, he kicked off his shoes. "You should get some sleep too while you can. It's hard to say how long any cell can hold Priscilla and Suzanne. We should prepare for the worst and hope for the best," he told her. "Goodnight."

He stretched out on the sofa and covered himself with the blanket and was soon drifting off too.

Aria sat until she saw Marcus return and grab a pillow then settle on the couch. Standing as he spoke she stood up and walke dover to him. " I am, night Marcus" she said and lent down and kissed him gently " slep well" she said and smirked walking to the stairs and up to their room where she changed unpacked her bag and changed then slipped into bed.

Next morning she slipped from the bed and walked down the stairs to the kitchen , putting on the kettle she made a fresh pot of coffee, Once done she made two cups placing on next to Marcus on a table she had moved so she could place the cup next to him for when he woke.

Marcus had been uprooted twice during the night from Angus having some sort of nightmare. Angus wouldn't talk about it. Marcus didn't press it during the night, but he was going to try to get Angus to talk about it in the light of day. Now, hearing someone in the kitchen, he presumed it was Ruby, but when someone but coffee near him, he figured it wasn't Ruby. He woke and sat up and picked up the coffee cup. He got two sips out of it, but then he saw Finn come downstairs. Marcus got up, let Finn out and put fresh food and water in Finn's bowls.

"I'm going to try to let him sleep as long as I can," Marcus told Aria softly. "Someone was mucking with him during the night in his sleep, but he seems to be better for now. When Robert is up, I'll get him to check with Paris and make sure that Priscilla and Suzanne are still in custody and their abilities are still bound. I suppose Brian's up by now, but there isn't a floo that I can use here quite this early without disturbing someone. So it can wait a little bit, and then I'll maybe try to call him."

Aria saw Marcus wake and listened as he told her about his night " hum, best to do that" she said then saw Finn and Marcus move to let him out " did you sleep well?" shea sked knowing the couch would not be that comfortable but knowing Marcus and where he had slept before she had met him she knew he would say he had slept well enough.

Aria glanced at the main house and saw some one moving in the kitchen " well Nicky or .. drat what's his name is up I can see movement in the kitchen so I'm guessing he might be too" she said softly keeping her voice down so not to wake Angus " why don't you just go over and talk to him I can keep an eye on sleeping beauty" she said with a chuckle.

"At breakfast? It's Zoe," Marcus laughed. "Mickey and Trish are apparently happily relocated now at the Colorado ranch, and they're spending the next couple weeks doing an overhaul of the kitchen and food services at the operations office in Paris. Then they'll get down to work in Colorado with all of their food services. Over here, Zoe does breakfast and lunch, and Nicky does supper and breakfast prep. I'll go over. I've never known of Robert to sleep past five, not ever. He's like Angus. He pretty much always goes on about five hours of sleep. He actually probably is up. I'll send him a paper bird instead." He scribbled a note, transfigured it into a paper bird and sent it to Robert. 

It wasn't three minutes before he had a reply.

"That is not good news," Robert said. "Trust me, I will be on that straight away. I planned on coming to see Angus before I go into work anyway, so I'll update you then if I've learned anything by then. R."

"One thing about it, I can tell that Robert has spent his whole life in a houseful of seers," Marcus said, handing the note to Aria to read. "He knows an omen of bad news when he hears it, that's for certain. Even in our world, people tend to discount and brush aside anything from a seer. Robert has learned that some seers can be more accurate than not and very necessary. I don't think any seer has ever been 100% error free, but I'm sure you've noticed that humans are loaded with errors. Even when I've taken statements from multiple witnesses concerning the same event, their statements are dramatically different, and I'm sure you've seen the same thing. I think that's just being human. I think seers are no more and no less accurate than any other witch or wizard." He thought of Angus and he grinned a bit, amused. "As for Angus, he's still creeped out by the whole business."

Angus woke hard with a jolt, sitting up. Marcus turned and went over to him.

"Good morning," Marcus told him quietly. "You okay?"

"Glad it's morning," Angus said. He got up to head upstairs, and Marcus set his coffee cup aside. He followed Angus upstairs, and in a few minutes, they came back downstairs, and Angus was clean, shaven an in a pair of pale gray sweat trousers with one of the velcro closed tees, this one in a darker gray, and a pair of slippers. He came back downstairs, and Marcus took his own cup, refilled it, and got Angus a cup of coffee too.

"Here. Fuel," Marcus said.

"Bless you," Angus said. 

"I'm sure Robert will be over before long," Marcus said.

"I'm sure he will too," Angus replied. 

"Were your nightmares seers dreams?"

"I don't know. I hope not," Angus said. "For all I know it could have been all those potions I was given yesterday."

"Maybe," Marcus replied.

Arisa chuckled hearing Marcus " oh , okay , so Zoe does breakfast" she repeated and shook her head " so many cooks , I can never keep their names straight" she said still chuckling as she fetched the coffee port and refilled His cup . Pausing she saw Angus jolt awake in his chair. Walking over behind Marcus while he tended to Angus she set the chair upright so he could drink his coffee which use to be Marcus so she went and got Marcus another cup.

Seeing the note Robert send Marcus she nodded " lets hope she's still in jail and its an amateur we can deal with if it is that" she said letting Finn back in and filling all his bowls so he could eat and settle for the day.