A Birth day

"You're right. I need to get back. Thank you, Patrice, but back to work for me. Keep up the good work," Marcus said, realizing too that he had been away far longer than he had expected to.  He walked out with Aria, heading towards the duplex. "You know, you should consider, for this year, having Patrice get some big pots and doing some herbs in some big pots on the terrace right outside the morning room or the dining room. Those terraces are the closest to the kitchen, after all. Then, that gives you time to decide if you want to put in a kitchen garden or continue to get what little bits of herbs we need either from Angus's garden or Kate's big kitchen garden. I know there are plenty for just the two of us, but you do what you like."

"Oh," he continued. "There's one more thing. My London flat. I've never stayed there for more than a few nights all the years I've had it. It was one of the places Ana and I could go where we weren't followed by my wife or her husband. And trust me, Pavel is as just as much a loser as Evelyn has become. Pavel made all his money by becoming that big quidditch star, but he has an ego to match. He believes he's Gods gift to all women, even to Poppy when he believed she was his daughter. He's a player. He's a millionaire loser.

"But--back to the subject of the flat. I could give it up and I probably will move almost all of my personal belongings out of it. However, I am considering keeping it for awhile, but only because it's a damned good safehouse. It's in an upscale neighborhood, and not very many people know I have it at all. So, if we ever needed a safehouse for any reason, that would be a damned good one that we could always have access to. What do you think?"

Angus looked and saw they were near lunch time. He went to the kitchen, took a package of chicken tenders from the freezer, breaded them like fried chicken and put them in a cast iron skillet of oil to deep fry. Then, he cut lettuce and vegetables for an enormous tossed salad, and he made an Asian salad dressing. He decided to use some slivered almonds on his salad too, and some crunchy Chinese chow mein noodles on the salad, along with a lot of fresh vegetables. He found a jar of spiced peaches that he had canned last summer, and he opened them, diced them into bite sized pieces, and opened a jar of mandarin oranges and a can of pineapple tidbits to add fruit to the salad. When it was all ready, he assembled the salad with greens and his vegetables, tossed in the fruit, and topped it with the almonds and the chow mein noodles. He cut the skillet full of chicken tenders into bite sized little pieces and put the pieces on top of the salad and then drizzled his homemade Asian dressing on top. 

"There. Asian chicken salad for lunch for everyone," Angus said. He portioned out a serving for Ruby and one for himself. "Tuck in. And there's more than enough for the boys if they come home for lunch, and for Aria and Marcus, and Simone and Edward. And probably there'll be some leftovers."

Aria walked with Marcus and heard him talk about his Flat and weather to keep it or get rid of it. Aria listened to him and thought for a while then smiled to him " lets keep it, it has memories for you and I'm not going to ask you to get rid of anything your attached to and besides we might need a bolt hold away from here if it gets too crowded" she said teasingly to him and chuckling.

Ruby watched as Angus made lunch she watched as he gathered and made several dishes for lunch. She smiled as he handed her a plate of crunchy Chinese chow mien noodles on the salad. Tasking it she smiled " excellent Angus" she said and chuckled as she gave a small piece to Caprice who sucked up the noodle and giggled.

"Well, I have warm memories of Ana, but not of the place itself. It has that contemporary style furniture, and that has never been my style. Not really. It's not exactly unpleasant or uncomfortable but its not my thing either. I don't think you've ever been there, have you? I'll have to take you so you can see it."

He opened the door to the duplex so they could go in, and he smelled the chicken. 

"Someone's been cooking," Marcus said. "I didn't think I was hungry, but, damn. Now, I'm starving."

"Then come get some, both of you," Angus said. "Asian chicken salad. Get a big salad bowl, and heap it up and tuck in."

"I'm going to do just that," Marcus grinned. "Looks great. What a good choice. And we get it before the boys get here? That's even better."

"What do we smell?" Edward said, coming in with Simone. "Can we join you?"

"Of course," Angus said. "The more the merrier.  Come and get some."

Marcus filled a bowl with salad for himself, as Simone and Edward did the same. Then they joined Ruby and Angus at the table. 

"Perfect early summer lunch," Edward said.

"It's delicious, Angus. This could become a favorite for me," Simone said.

"Has everyone recovered from yesterday?" 

"We have, but I haven't decided what I'm going to do with today's new drama," Angus said.

"You mean Rita Skeeter's little trick?"

"Yeah,' Angus said.

"If you want my advice, I'd do absolutely nothing," Edward said. "Not unless the accusations gain some traction, and they might not, since Robert is the deputy minister. I did get an owl this morning from Lovegood, wanting me to do an interview about the whole business for the Quibbler. His cracker never had any cheese on it at all from what I can tell." That made Angus laugh.

"He is quite peculiar, that's for sure. Poor Luna. She never stood much of a chance of not being made fun of in school. But she never really let it bother her either," Angus said. "So you're not going to do it, then?"

"No, I am not. Not unless Rita's accusations gain more traction than usual. I think everyone knows that 90% of what she writes isn't true. For now, I think you should let it alone and see what happens."

"Probably wise advice," Angus said, "but its just so frustrating."

"Given. Yes, it is but the kids handled it better than I ever could have. And, they needed to know that, sometimes, they can defend their dad, after all the times their dad's defended them. I was proud of them this morning."

"So was I," Angus said.

"So was I," Marcus said. "They did a top notch job. "

"Oh, so you know, Robert said Tom did visit Suzanne yesterday before Robert and Jessie got there. And it was while Suzanne's magic was, apparently, not bound. So, I think we reall need to keep our eyes open in case she had time to do some sort of dark crap before Robert figured out she still had her magic," Angus said. 

"Well, but you know that she doesn't do magic well."

"She doesn't but I think she could have reached out and communicated with someone who could," Angus said.

"Well, that's very true," Edward sighed. "She annoys the crap out of me, you know that? She's a pain in the arse."

"I didn't have that nice an opinion of her," Marcus replied.

Aria listened to Marcus talk of his flat again and shook her head " nope never been and only if you want to show me" she said smiling softly to him as they entered the duplex to the smell of chicken and Angus saying he'd managed to cook " oh nice" she said and smiled to Marcus . walking over she grabbed a plate and moved to the table to sit and eat.

Ruby sat and ate her food and listened as Edward and Marcus returned " I think they did all of us proud today" she said smiling to them all. With the babies fed and now sat playing she sat back and finished her own food enjoying the flavours that Angus had managed to get from the ingredients.

"How's the house coming?" Angus asked. 

"On schedule," Marcus said. "They think we could be in, in 2 or 3 days, if we don't mind them being there during the day yet for at least a couple more weeks. I'd like to be able for Aria and I to get settled, at least, before the kids come for the summer. And i think its time to bring most of my things from my London flat. I don't know that I should entirely give it up, in case we need it as a safehouse, but I don't need much of anything there anymore."

"Are most of your important personal things at your parents' anyway?" Angus asked

"Yes," Marcus said. "There, and in my room at the main house here. Oh, and I have a storage unit in London too."

"Well, why don't you and Aria take some empty boxes and go and pack up the London flat while its quiet this afternoon? I really don't think we'll hear much from Suzanne in the next 24 hours," Angus said. "And, if we need anything we'll page you. Ru, if you want to go along, I'm sure that i can manage the babies for that long. They're rubbing their eyes and looking like they want naps after lunch anyway. If you get the London flat off your list, Marcus, that's one less pain in the bum. And you might want to give your parents a heads up that the kids will have their own rooms at your place now, so they could pack up and send some of their things."

"Good idea," Marcus said. "Most of what I have in London are clothes. Some nonperishable food, a few books, that sort of thing. I didn't keep many photos or deeply personal items there in case the place was discovered."

"I can go help pack boxes," Simone said. "It sounds like that place shouldn't take long."

"I don't think it probably will," Marcus said.


"I can stay and help take care of wee ones," Edward said. "And break limbs on anybody who tries to come who doesn't belong."

Aria smiled as Marcus explained about the cottage and his flat. Ruby looked at Angus and smiled as he said she could go and help with the packing, she was in two minds whether to go or stay with Angus knowing he needed some one with him in case Suzzanne tried anything while they were away but what he said did make sense " why don't we leave it and talk to Robert on who goes with Marcus and Aria, I'd love to see this infamous flat of yours Marcus but as you know things can change quick around here" she said

Aria looked at Ruby and Angus " we'll be real quick and we can pack on our own if you don't want to come Ruby" she said and looked to Marcus having a feeling the lest amount of people who know exactly where it was the better it would be as a safe house should at anytime they need it.

Marcus didn't share the same need to keep Ruby out of his London flat as Aria seemed to have. Ruby was family, after all. And his feeling had been, like Angus's, that if they went as a group, packed things up and got them out, they likely could do it in one trip and be done with it. That certainly wasn't going to cause any undue attention. After all, he'd moved all that crap in there, had he not? Oh, whatever. He wasn't going to make a scene of it. 

"I'll go get some boxes," Marcus said. "I'll be back." He drew his wand and apparated out.  

Angus, meanwhile, cleared the table and put the lunch leftovers away. He took the dishes to the sink and started a washing up spell.

"Well, seems things are under control. Since you don't need me, I'll go to the garden and pull weeds. Give a shout if you need a hand," Edward smiled. He headed outside, picked up a bushel basket to put the weeds in and headed to the garden.

Ruby looked at Edward " wow , who said we didn't I'm going with them to help pack up the flat" she said smiling following him out to the garden , Aria stood wondering just what had happened.

"Um, did I say something wrong?" she asked Angus looking around at the empty room " didn't say she couldn't come " she said ass she saw Ruby out side with Edward as she crossed to the kitchen " you'll be okay here if we do this?" she asked knowing he was very capable of fighting should anything happen,

Ruby followed Edward out side and chuckled " the girls are sleeping right now , so not much to do, we will be back once Marcus has everything he wants" she said to Edward " besides I need to get back into the swing of things , whether Aria approves or not" she added as a fae flew over and placed a strawberry in her hand and motioned she could eat it " thank you" she said smiling as she bit into the sweet fruit " yum very nice" she said smiling to the fae who flew off back to tending to the garden.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll go back in for a bit, then," Edward said. "Since the babies are both over 20 pounds now, I'd rather Angus not buggar up his shoulder lifting and toting them. That shoulder has come too far for him to screw it up now."

"I didn't say anything," Angus laughed, "And so far as I know, Marcus went to get some boxes. Of course I'll be okay. I can still fire a wand. I think Marcus's instincts are probably correct that even if Suzanne did have an opportunity to get ahold of someone, it would take them a bit to get something put together, especially if James really is gone. He knew how to get here. Tom's newer goons will have to work at it to find us. And then they'd have to get through the protection grids.

"Keep in mind, Ruby," Edward said, "that the more you go along and take some risks, the better you'll get as a fighter, and that will definitely help you, whether you're partnering with someone or defending your family. I'm glad to see you stepping out.

Aria chuckled and listened to Angus nodded " okay so it wasn't me" she said and lent on the counter listening again to him " yeah that was my thought but , yeah it would take them time to get here " she added " and Ruby coming would help move things along" she added.

Ruby listened to Edward and nodded she agreed to him " yep, I'm a mom, but I need to improve my skills as Angus would say , and hanging around here won't do that, but getting out and about will" she added then nodded as Edward pointed out Angus shoulder " yeah , that's something he doesn't need and I don't want to have happen ether" she said " so thank you for standing in" she said smiling to him before gentry kissing his cheek and heading inside to Aria . " okay Marcus not back yet with the boxes?" she asked looking around the room.

Aria shook her head and chuckled " think he might be having a fight with the boxes." she said and glanced over at the cottage.