A Birth day

"I am," Kate told Jess. "Can't promise I'll save any particular bits, though."

"I'm fine, Jess," Angus told her. "Not the first time I've fallen off that hippogriff, and I doubt it will be the last. Persnickety bastard."

"As long as she's here, let her see to the bleeding at least," Marcus told him. He walked with Angus back to the duplex and had Angus sit at the kitchen table, knowing it would be easier for her to see the back of Angus's head if he weren't in his recliner. Marcus saw the cup of tea that Aria had gotten for Angus and brought it over to him.

"Here. Enjoy the last of the pot of hobnob tea," Marcus told him. 

"Angus!" Evan's voice shouted through the floo. "Angus, you there, Mate?"

"We're here," Marcus said, going to the floo. 

"She won!" Evan said. "Evie just snuck to a floo and sent me a message. Anise won! Madame Maxime says Anise will represent Beauxbatons in the fall in an International Wizarding School Dueling Championship!"

"What!" Angus was elated. "She did it?"

"Evie said Anise cleared every spell she had to cast with a perfect score. She said the judges said her technique was flawless! Evie said that hasn't happened in nearly 20 years."

"Fantastic," Angus said. "Thanks, Evan."

"Can we take the girls to a celebration breakfast here in the morning?"

"Certainly," Angus said. "By all means. Thanks for relaying the good news, Ev'."

"Any time," Evan said, turning off the floo. Angus accio'd a piece of paper and a pen.

"Would you whistle for Archangel, Marcus?" Angus asked, scribbling two hasty notes.

"Of course," Marcus said. Marcus went to the window and whistled for Archangel. When Archangel arrived, Marcus took Angus's notes and gave them both to Archangel. "Take this one to Dennis, Archangel, and take the other to Twilfitt and Tattings in Diagon Alley." The bird screeched loudly and left with the messages.

Jess looked at Kate and chuckled " that's okay I can fix what ever's left " she said chuckling . Walking over to Angus she followed them inside as she was checking Angus head she heard the floo open and Even's voice came out she chuckled. " oh well done Anise" she said patting Angus on his good shoulder " you taught her well" she focused again to stop the bleeding and set the cut to heal , taking a damp cloth she wiped away the blood and was please at what she saw " okay bloods stopped and cuts healing nicely as for any swelling.." she placed the ice pack gently on it " leave this in place for twenty minuets and then you can take it off, any headaches or you start to feel sick , call me." she told him and then looked to Marcus.

Ruby heard Even and hooped in delight " yes, knew she could do it" she said smiling like a Cheshire cat as was Aria as she pored and handed Marcus a cup of the hob nob tea , that last of that tea before she rinsed out the tea pot and made a fresh batch of normal tea. Ruby walked over to Angus and heard him talk of a breakfast for Anise and Ginger " oh that would be perfect to celebrate" she said.

"Thanks, Jess," Angus said, listening to her recommendations. He felt fine. For him, this really was nothing more that, basically, a skinned knee sort of scrape. "She asked for some steaks if she won," Angus said. "I need to get to our supplier and pick the best steaks he's got."

"Let's send him a message instead," Marcus said. "Make a list, and we can get it from the suppliers."

"Steak, potatoes, salad, garlic bread, some sort of dessert?" Angus asked Ruby. "Would you like to do the salad and dessert maybe? I could do the steak and potatoes and garlic bread outside on the grill. Obviously salad isn't so good on a grill."

Aria heard Angus and smiled "I got dessert all sorted " she said patting gently the box in front of her smiling Ruby just shrugged at Angus.

"I'll make the salad once the ingredients arrive" she said as she sook her head to him " before you ask no I have no idea what Arias up to" she finished as Aria chuckled and moved the box into the fridge for safe keeping. Ruby looked at Amari and Caprice and smiled seeing how they played together.

Angus made a list of ingredients, and Marcus sent it on to the supplier. It was about an hour later when Archangel returned, and he flew over to Angus and dropped a package on his lap. Angus opened the package and found 2 small boxes, one labeled for Anise and one labeled for Ginger. 

Right at the same time, there was a knock on the door. Marcus answered it, and it was Nicky with a basket.

"Zoe made sweet and sour chicken for lunch, and we have plenty, so I thought perhaps you could use a bit of an early lunch," Nicky said, "It has fried rice with it, and some fortune cookies."

"Wonderful," Marcus said, taking the basket. "Can we use sweet and sour chicken for lunch?"

"Sounds fine to me," Angus said. "Thanks for thinking of us, Nicky."

"Our pleasure," Nicky smiled. "I need to get back. I have two honey cakes in the oven. Enjoy." He headed back to the main house, and Marcus put the basket on the table and looked inside. He saw four containers. One held the sweet and sour chicken. One held the fried rice, one held some extra sauce, and one held the fortune cookies.

"One of you want to sort this out in some particular fashion?" Marcus asked Aria and Ruby.

Ruby took the basket from Nicky and thanked her for the food " I got it" she said and took it to the kitchen to dish it out into several plates she placed some fried rice into two small bowls and added some sauce over the top for the babies. Aria moved to pick up Amari and Caprice who she sat in their high chairs so she could feed them both. " okay foods ready , fortune cookies are ready too." she said and chuckled.

Ruby made two plates and sent them over to Marcus and Angus placing two cookies on a side plate so they could take which ever one
they wanted of the two. Ruby sat and fed Caprice while Aria sat and fed Amari who loved the sweet and sour with the rice.

"Thank you," Angus said. 

"Somehow I don't seem to remember your life, when you were cooking in the main house, being day to day chaos," Marcus teased Angus.

"Oh, it was. It was just different chaos," Angus said, as an owl tapped on the kitchen window. Angus flicked his fingers to open the window, and the bird flew in and dropped a message in Marcus's sweet and sour chicken.

"Great," Marcus laughed, picking up the note that was now covered with sauce. He opened the note and read it. "Oh, its for you, Angus. Sorry. It's Dennis. He says he is grateful that you always keep him up on the news, and he says he accepts your kind invitation. Did you invite him to supper tonight?"

"I did," Angus said. "Those girls still need their dad in their lives, and this is a great occasion to ask him to come spend an evening with them. I don't really have a plan as such, except making some steak and then letting them have time with Dennis."

"Well, maybe you don't need any more of a plan than that," Marcus said.

Ruby saw the owl fly i and chuckled as he dropped the letter into Marcus food. She smiled as he read it and nodded " I agree with Marcus, it will mean a lot to them to have their father here to celebrate there win" she said and smiled to him as she fed Caprice her food then ate her own.

Aria fed Amari and was soon done giving her a Sippy cup to drink from while she ate her own food now with both done she picked up a cookie and looked at Marcus wondering just what hers would say as he broke it open to revel the piece of paper inside "True love is not something that comes everyday, follow your heart, it knows the right answer." she read " huh" she shrugged and placed it on her plate.

As Marcus and Angus finished their lunch, they each took a fortune cookie. Marcus broke open his cookie and read the fortune and laughed, handing it to Angus to read.

"A routine task will turn into an enchanting adventure?" Angus questioned. "Well, that could be just about anything."

"I'm almost afraid to find out," Marcus laughed. "What does yours say?"

"Mine always say something about some sort of dark omen," Angus laughed.

"Well, maybe that's my adventure. Maybe I'm following you to battle dragons or something," Marcus said.

"I'm better with werewolves," Angus said. He cracked open his cookie and read it and handed it to Marcus. 

"You will always be surrounded by true friends," Marcus read.

"Wait. That can't be my fortune. Where are the dragons?" Angus frowned, taking the fortune back to read it.

"You get a good fortune for a change, and you think I'm making it up," Marcus laughed. "Don't you think I'd tell you the truth?"

"Depends on what it is," Angus said, and as he spoke, a bolt of lightning sizzled through the air and landed in the distance, followed by some rolling thunder, and then sheets of rain.

"Well, its a little late, but there's our storm," Marcus said.

"Maybe the crew got their tomatoes harvested then since they had some extra time," Angus said.

"Will that be all the tomatoes you get this year?"

"With tomatoes? Heck, no. This is just the first harvest. We'll get tomatoes all season long now til it frosts, and I'm sure Zoe and Nicky will be busy canning pasta sauce, ketchup, taco sauce, and all sorts of tomato products. I think Nicky wanted to make some tomato jam this year."

"Tomato jam?"

"Think about a condiment that's sort of a cross between a salsa and a ketchup but with a different flavor profile than chili powder and cumin," Angus said.

"So its savory, then."

"Yeah. It is. I use it sometimes when I make grilled chicken or when I make burgers."

"Okay. That clears it up."

"Not to change subjects, but are the two of you going to take any time away now, after this morning?"

"I don't know if that's wise, honestly," Angus said. "Not that I wouldn't like to, but Suzanne and Tom will both be served their final documents, either today or tomorrow, that Diamond is no longer theirs. I don't think they'll be told of the name change, but if Suzanne is going to go into a rage, I would think this would do it. Hopefully, she won't be able to do a bloody thing about it, but we've made that assumption before, and its' worked out really badly. I just think we should maybe be cautious, but maybe I'm nervous for no reason.?

Ruby looked and listened to Angus and chuckled at his fortune then jumped a little at the lighting strike she looked to Aria who stood up and made all the doors and windows shut. she stood up and checked the duplex satisfied the place was locked tight she hoped the boys were not out in the storm " I hope the boys get back before it gets too bad" she said .

Ruby picked up her plate and Caprices bowl and took it into the kitchen. Returning she heard Marcus ask if they were ging to take some time for a small honeymoon , hearing Angus she smiled " I'm in agreement , plenty of time for that once everything settles down more. " she said smiling to Angus she understood his reason for waiting and agreed with it totally.