A Birth day

"That's a good thought too," Simone said. "I've heard of the lemon trick now that you mention it. Anything has to smell better than what it smells like now."

"Almost," Marcus said. "I didn't get a good luck upstairs in the guest room. I'll do that quick and be right back." He went upstairs and made a quick check and came back downstairs with a couple sheets of paper. "Look what I found. These were under the bed. The only night she spent here was the night she came to me--before she knew she had siblings. I didn't know she did these." He showed them two sketches Poppy had done. One was of him, labeled "My Forever Dad." . The other was a sketch of him with her, and it was labeled "My Real Family." Both of them were actually quite good. "She's good at sketching. I think I'll keep these."

"You should," Simone said. "What will you do with them?"

"I think I'll ask her if I can keep them and frame them and hang them in my office, unless I come up with a different idea for them," Marcus said. 

"I think you're right about this summer. I think she'd be a perfect assistant for Kate," Simone said.

Aria nodded to Marcus and waited for him to return from the spare room. When he did she looked at the drawings " she really is good" she said and smiled " I think they should be framed and put in your office " she said " it would make her see she truly does have her forever family" she said smiling to him. Hearing Simone she nodded as did Ruby.

"those truly are good " Ruby said looking at them " I think I have two empty frames in the basement storage area that would fit these" she said looking at the pictures on the table in front of them all . " if hats everything then we should get back to the duplex" Ruby said placing the pictures in the box Aria had hold of.

"You go ahead," Marcus told them, seeing they were in a hurry to get back home. "It'll take me a minute to get the rest of this packed up and dropped off at the new house, but then I'll be back to the duplex. I can do that on my own. I appreciate everyone's help."

At the house, Edward was at the stove. He had made the Bolognese, and he was pouring in a bottle of merlot, along with some muscovado sugar. In his experience, tomatoes could sometimes be a bit to the sour side because of their high acidity. Just a wee bit of sugar in the bolognese usually rectified the problem, and Edward preferred muscovado because the molasses in the muscovado gave a deeper, richer taste than plain white sugar. He had also put on a large pasta pot full of boiling salted water. He had decided to use orecchiette instead of spaghetti noodles because the orecchiette were shaped like tiny bowls. Each one would hold a bit of the rich sauce.

As for Angus, he had churned out a classic Sicilian orange cake and a lovely Caesar salad, as well as a loaf of garlic bread, but he had taken a bit of a break and had gone out to the deck and had dozed off. Edward had taken the reigns in the kitchen to finish the bolognese and the orecchiette.

Aria looked at Marcus and smiled " I'll help" she said as Ruby looked to Simone then chuckled.

"we can stay a bit longer" she said smiling at him " besides that fridges need a second clean" she added with a chuckle heading back to the kitchen. Aria chuckled and looked at Marcus " we can stay as long as you want, as long as you need." she said to him " and those really are good drawings" she told him "I might ask if we can put an artis easel on the sun room" she suggested " so poppy can draw when she wants."

Jessie was passing by the duplex when he smelt something and diverted to it, knocking on the door he saw Edward in the kitchen " wow , no girls?" he asked walking over " hum smells good" he said as he looked into the pot .

"Good idea," Marcus told Aria about the sunroom, as he continued to shrink his belongings and pack the things into one large moving box. "There is a large walk-in closet attached to the girls' room that I don't think they'll use all of. Why don't we take the side of it next to the windows and put a pair of easels in there and take one of the cabinets and fill it full of artist supplies. Then they can both sketch and paint and draw to their hearts' content."

"No, no girls," Edward said. "No Marcus for the moment either. He's packing up what few things he has at his London flat and moving them to the new house. They haven't been gone very long, actually, but then again, Marcus says he's never really had much there either. Angus has been there a few times and says the place really isn't Marcus's style to begin with, which might be part of the reason Marcus never really put much into it." When Jessie checked out the pot, Edward smiled.

"Donohue family recipe bolognese," Edward said. "Angus is enjoying a short...What on earth is that smell?" Edward wrinkled his nose. Something smelled quite foul indeed. He went over to the playpen. 
"Well, how did you get ahold of one of those?" he sighed. "Your sister ate a crayon, it seems, and she's spewing purple puke all over the playpen, the wall, the floor, and her half sister. How in the world she even managed to get a crayon is beyond me. Looks like, when she's done ridding her stomach of crayon, I'm going to have to bath her, Caprice, the floor, the wall, the playpen, the desk, the bookcase and everything else on that half of the living room. Always when her mother isn't home. Isn't that always the way with kids?"

Aria listened to Marcus and nodded " that sounds perfect for her" he said " we could charm the walls so that they stay clean so no worries about paint or pencil going any place it shouldn't and she can draw how she want" she added as she watched him shrink the boxes again.

Jessie sniffed and held his nose " oh gods" he said following Edward over to the play pen where he chuckled " well she's defiantly taken after our side on that" he paused and looked at Edward " I did that it was a blue one" he added and chuckled " I'll get Dimond , we can do it together." he said picking up Dimond, your food going to be okay while we clean up the girls?" ha sked looking back at the pot gently simmering on the stove.

taking Dimond to the nursery he cleaned her up and changed her clothing making sure she had her hair brushed and in pigtails. He picked her up and carried her down to the living room " one done" he called out and sat with her on his knee while he set a cleaning charm on the playpen to rid it of the sick from Caprice.

"Yeah," Edward said, "the sauce is just on a simmer now anyway, so it'll be fine, and Angus has the garlic bread in the oven just to keep it hot. It's only on a low heat setting. So it should be just fine." 

"So Tyler kids eat crayons. Good to know." Edward teased. He set an initial cleaning spell in place, but he personally wanted to be sure that the place was completely clean and disinfected. Some things just needed to be done by hand. He took Caprice upstairs and bathed her and he left her temporarily in her crib in case there was more puking to come. Then he went downstairs, got a bucket of hot soapy water and some sponges, and went to work doing deep cleaning of the living room. 

Marcus finished packing his box, and then he looked to the women. "I'm finished. You three go back to the duplex. I'll be right behind you. I'm just dropping off this box at the house and then I'll be right there. You three can find your way home?" 

"I'm sure we can," Simone smiled. "Let's go, Ladies. Let's head home."

Jessie chuckled and nodded to Edward " um, sorry but yep" he chuckled back to Edward . He sat with Dimond on his knee keeping her occupied while Edward cleaned up the pen and floor below.

Aria listened to Marcus and looked at him " if your sure" she said, she walked over to him and kissed his cheek, " see you when you get home" she said smiling as she walked over to Simone and Ruby . Taking their hands she and Simone ported back to the duplex , walking in she saw Jessie with Dimond and chuckled. Ruby looked at Edward as he cleaned the play pen and then looked for Caprice .

"Caprice?2 she asked him as she walked over to where he was cleaning. Jessie nodded.

"shes in hr crib napping I think, she ate a crayon" he said and looked at Ruby who rolled her eyes and sighed " yep the Tyler curse strikes." he said with a chuckle.

"I'm sure. I'll be right there," Marcus said. He apparated to the house, put the box down on his desk in his office and then apparated right to the duplex.

Angus woke up and came in and saw his grandfather cleaning, and the moment that he saw his 71 year old grandfather on his hands and knees cleaning and all kinds of younger people there who weren't stepping up, Angus stepped up. Marcus immediately went to the pantry and got a second scrub bucket with hot soapy water and more sponges and went to help him. 

"No, she's in her crib puking," Edward corrected. "I put her there til I could get this mess sorted."

"Thanks, Edward, I've got it," Angus said quietly, taking the sponge and the bucket from him. "I am so sorry. You should have called me." He took Edward's place on the floor scrubbing not just the playpen but the floor, the wall, the bookcase, the books, the desk, the desk chair, everything that had been within radius.

"I'll give you a hand," Marcus said quietly. "The less time you're trying to crawl around using that shoulder, the less Robert will complain later. It has never ceased to amaze me how big a mess such a small person can make."

"I know. Staggering, isn't it?" Angus said.

"What's staggering is the smell," Marcus laughed.

"Do you get bio-hazard pay, by the way?"

"No, but I should, living in this house," Marcus teased.

"I didn't think about waking you," Edward said. "Never entered my head."

Simone was getting out large pasta bowls, salad bowls, bread plates, silverware and glasses and starting to set the table. Edward went to the kitchen, washed his hands thoroughly, and he went back to the bolognese and added now the orecchiette to the boiling water in the pasta pot.

Ruby saw Angus head to grab a bucket and moved to take Dimond from Jessie " thank you Jessie " she said as he stood and moved to grab a cleaning cloth to help " more hands" he said and knelt down to help clean up. " wasn't too long ago she did this2 Jessie said as Aria headed up to the nursery to check on Caprice.

"wow, clean up in the nursery!" Aria said and chuckled as she walked in to Caprice sitting in the cot with pink sick on her " oh dear" she said picking her up and taking off the dirty clothing " what did you eat?" she asked as she walked to the nursery bathroom to wash her.

"thank you Edward "Ruby said " we just got back" she watched as Marcus, Edward and Jessie were cleaning up the floor and playpen of pink sick.