A Birth day

Aria chuckled as she watched Simone pick out some things for the basket and some new articles of clothing for her too then they headed to the counter so they could pay but the woman behind it waved them off speaking Italian she told them she knew who they were and that the Donohue's had done so much for her and the town it was an honor having them in her shop. Aria thanked her and she gathered everything up.

As they stepped out into the sunshine Caprice reached dup to grab her Sippy cup but could quite reach it " okay narky nappy" Ruby said and handed her the cup which she took happily and drank as Ruby gave Amari her cup and then they walked back towards Evens estate.." did we get everything?" Ruby asked looking at the bags on top of the stroller and under it.

Michael apparated them all back to the estate, and Angus thanked Michael for helping them recover the Fae gold. Michael handed the heavy little gold chest to Marcus, and Minos and his men thanked Michael as well. Michael headed back to the main house, and Marcus and Angus left their packs on the back deck and went to the garden where the Fae people gathered and cast a spell to levitate the gold chest and place it, with great ceremony and reverence, into the new palace where it belonged. Then the Fae burst into huge celebration. Angus was glad to see them so overjoyed. He brought them out a couple of cans of beer, which he figured would hold them for quite awhile, and he opened them and poured them into a half gallon crock, which he put temporarily in the garden. Now, with free flowing beer for everyone, the Fae party and revelry really began. 

Angus and Marcus left them to it, and Marcus unpacked their backpacks. Angus's shoulder was far more sore now, he realized, than it had been in Scotland, and Marcus brought him a dose of pain potion with some ice cold soda. Marcus got a soda for himself, and they sat back to just enjoy the quiet. No kids, no babies squalling. Just silence except the giggling and the fairy music of the Fae party going on in the garden. Even with the partying, there was something purely magical and soothing about the fairy music, and Angus and Marcus both enjoyed listening to it.

"What are you making for supper?" Marcus asked.

"A take out order, I think," Angus said. "We rarely do that, but I see no reason why we shouldn't do that every so often. I think everyone ought to order what they want from Sparks and we'll have it delivered. It isn't like we're financially destitute. We can afford it every so often.

"Angus!" there was a shout from the floo. Angus sighed. Why did peace and quiet never last more than a few seconds? It sounded like Owens.

"Owens?" Angus asked. "Are you back at work?"

"Desk work, yes. And you're going to want the Paris paper tonight. There's a photo story of a big charity ball that was held here last night, and, guess what! There are big color photographs of Tom there--with Suzanne! And she was wearing a designer evening gown."

"That's not possible," Angus frowned. And then he realized. He had seen this--or something similar to it--in his dreams the last few nights. 

"Well, something's not right, because I'm looking right at the pictures, Mate."

"Thank you. I'll get back to you." Angus shut off the floo and then he opened it to try to call Evan. He got Tara instead.

"Don't you lot get the French papers?" he asked her.

"Certainly. the Paris muggle paper and the wizarding paper. Why? What's up?" she asked

"Can you get me some copies--at least two of each and send them home with the girls, please? I'd appreciate it. I'll send the money with the girls tomorrow."

"Oh, they're just newspapers. Its not like its a major expense. Don't worry about it. Of course I'll send some along. No problem," Tara told Angus.

"Thank you," Angus said. 

"Could we perhaps come and stay the weekend and visit Carlo and Rosaria, do you think?" she asked.

"Certainly," Angus said, figuring Edward would welcome them on his side, and if he didn't, they could come up with a different arrangement on Angus's side.

"Wonderful. Thank you. Then, since tomorrow is Friday, we'll bring the girls with us when we come. Fair enough?"

"Sounds good to me," Angus said.

"We'll see you then. Thanks, Angus."

"Any time," Angus said, and he turned the floo off.

"And what if Edward says no?" Marcus said. 

"He won't. On the exceptionally rare chance he would say no, Ruby and I would give him our room, and we could sleep down here. We'd work it out," Angus said.

"I suppose I need to talk to Robert about how he wants to handle security now that our house is very likely ready now for us to be able to stay at, at night," Marcus said.

"I would guess that he might have you do the security check at night and then we'd just have to behave til morning, with the understanding that we'd have to wake you somehow if we had an issue during the night, but I hadn't thought of that either. That's up to him to solve, though."

Ruby checked with Simone and found they ahd all that was needed for the baskets , now relaxxed they paid and heaed back out to the walkways and back to the estate . It was as they were passing a news stand she spotted a paper and frowned picking it up he paid for it and gasped turning it to show Simone and Aria " shes not meant to be out" she said " we need to get back" she said some what in a panic .

Aria took the paper from her and read it then sighed " this was from a ball last night" she said to Simone a she tucked the paper under her arm and looked to Ruby " okay breath shes not here and we're done , once we're back at the estate we'll head home" she told her making her breathe deeply to calm herself down. it was now Aria changed Ruby's shoes to the trainers then looked at Simone " just in case" she said then as she stood they all headed back to the estate.

Once there Ruby walke dover to Tara but seeing the look on her face she knew that Tara knew. " we have to get back" she said as Tars explained she was returning with them " good idea and yes if Edward won't let you stay you can stay with us , you can take our room" she said as Tara told her that Angus had already said pretty much the same Ruby smiled and nodded " hes right, now gather some things and we'll head back"

"Calm," Tara told her. "Angus already knows, and he's fine. He asked me to get him a stack of French papers. If you'd be so kind as to take them to him, I'd appreciate it. I was going to send them with the girls, but you could take them, if you don't mind?" Tara handed the papers to Aria as she listened to Ruby telling her to pack some things to go with them now.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean we're coming tonight. Sorry to confuse you. Your girls and ours still have school tomorrow. We'll come tomorrow after the girls are done with school for the day, and we'll bring your girls with ours tomorrow when we come," Tara said. "I didn't mean to confuse you. I know we wanted to see Rosaria and Carlo, and Evan didn't think today was the day to go, since Rosaria might well be sleeping today after her surgery. We figured she'd be in better form for visitors tomorrow. And I know Evan wants to try to spend some time with Carlo. He feels sure that Carlo is probably pretty anxious, so I know that concerns him...."

"Well, that half of the duplex is mine too," Simone said firmly. "Edward has no problem with Evan or you or the girls whatsoever. Of course you can stay tomorrow. Angus's and Edward's disagreements have nothing to do with your household. We would love for you all to stay with us, like you always do. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon, then, shall we?"

"Thank you, Simone. I'll tell Evan. He'll be relieved," Tara smiled. "We'll see you all tomorrow then. And one of us will bring the girls home today when they finish their lessons for the day."

Aria listened to Tara and chuckled taking the papers from her " its okay shes just panicking a little " she said patting ruby's shoulder gently making Ruby look at her " they will be there tomorrows , okay, Ginger and Anise still have school " she told her and Ruby nodded and looked to Tara.

"sorry about that yeah , we'll be ready" she said smiling to her " I just hate the notion she's out and on the lose again" she said " I thought for Angus this was all over when we blocked her magic and sent her to Jeffery, but again looks like she's don'e something and wormed her way out again" . Looking at Simone she hard her talk to Tara about the room on their side of the duplex " thank you Simone and your right" she said smiling " okay we should get back, " she gave Tara a hug and spoke again " I'm hoping this is just Tom and some ploy juice potion to keep up appearance" she said hoping inside that's all it was but fearing Suzzanne had slipped out some how.

Aria thanked tara and too Ruby and Simone hands while both Simone and her held the buggy and ported them back to the duplex front door. Walking up she opened it and let them go in first following behind " got those papers you asked Tara for, Ruby saw one in Tuscany too" she said handing them to Marcus " oh and we're home" she added with a chuckle.

"Thanks," Marcus said. He took one of the papers and handed the rest to Angus.

"Thank you for bringing them back," Angus said. He looked at Ruby. "You have to stop all that anxiety. Haven't I always protected you and the kids? When have they ever been able to get their hands on you?"

"Never," Marcus replied, knowing the answer. "You're a fine protector, Angus. You've got them, and I've got you. Its fine. I don't think her anxiety has anything to do with your abilities. I think she's just a rather overly anxious type."

"I'll get it solved but you have to give me a bit of time and not go off the deep end in the meantime," Angus told Ruby.

"He's right. He and I will get it resolved but we only found out about it a couple minutes ago. We might need longer than that."

"I'm going to go change," Angus said. 

"Change? What for?" Marcus asked. 

"I have to go see for myself that she's still in there," Angus said. "I'm going to go clean up."

"Go clean up, then," Marcus said. Angus got up and went upstairs to shower. In the meantime, Marcus contacted the main house and got Michael. He told Michael about the newpaper articles and the pictures.

"Well, I can tell you right now what he's going to tell you," Michael said. "Keep your security tight on the house and sit tight. He'll go see Suzanne for himself. He can assess her in ways you can't. Just wait for him. As soon as he knows something, we'll tell you. Can you anchor Angus that long?"


"Maybe," Marcus said. "I'll try."

"Tell him its an order. Give Robert an hour or two, and we'll let you know," Michael said.

"I'll give it my best shot," Marcus said.

Ruby looked at Angus and listened to him and Marcus . She nodded her head and took several deep breaths to slow her thoughts as they both continued " okay, I'll leave it to you, I'll sort the babies and calm my thoughts" she said smiling to him " Marcus is right, you've never steered me wrong" she said smiling to Angus.

Aria listened to Marcus and Angus, She nodded to him and knew she too had to tighten up security for the duplex." I'll be on watch while your checking it out" she said to Marcus as she moved to Ruby " Ruby why don't you get the babies settled in their pen and help Simone with the baskets , that will give you something to think about other than whats going on " she said Ruby nodded and moved to take the girls out the buggy and remove their sun hats and sun glasses , placing them in the play pen.

Angus came back downstairs a few minutes later dressed in a pair of jeans and a linen button down in a chili pepper red, with a pair of gray linen slip on loafers. He was rolling up the sleeves on the shirt as he came downstairs. Marcus was watching Angus's business-like stride. He knew the look. Angus was geared up for a confrontation with Suzanne, and he was not planning on giving her any quarter. 

"Mate," Marcus said, "if you're determined to go, you know I'm with you. No problem. However, you have an order from your commander to stand down for a little. He prefers to handle this himself. He wants to know what the heck is going on as much as you do." Angus scowled at Marcus.

"I didn't invite him," Angus replied.

"Well, that's just as well because he didn't invite you either," Marcus laughed. "I'll tell you what. We'll sit and wait and in the meantime, how about I make you a cocktail for a change?"

"What do you know about making a mixed drink?"

"Try me," Marcus said. 

"Fine. He has one hour but not a minute more," Angus said. Marcus went to the kitchen and he made a couple cocktails--very stiff ones geared for people who preferred truly strong whiskey and stronger cocktails. His was made with a little bit of very strong black tea, firewhiskey, tangerine juice, cardamom, bay leaf, and a bit of simple syrup. He put the mixture and some ice in a shaker, shook it for a few seconds and divided the cocktail into two glasses. "Try this one," Marcus told him. Angus took a sip, and he looked at him.

"Oh, this is definitely not for sissies," Angus said. "I like it. What's it called?"

"A Strong Eagle," Marcus said. "It's an old recipe from the American prohibition era."

"Very nice. You might have to make us a second, though."

"Probably, because Aria and Ruby might be brave enough to try it. Maybe," Marcus laughed.

"If they really want a taste, they'll rob ours long enough to take a sip to taste it," Angus said, unconcerned. "Then they'll let us know if they like it or not."

Ruby saw Angus return from changing and saw how he moved and just nodded to him knowing he would do what was right for his family. hearing Marcus and watch him make a strong cocktail for Angus she smiled as he took a sip and liked it " a Strong Eagle?2 she enquired to Marcus " whats in it?" she asked wondering as she placed the items they had got in the table Infront of her while she hoped Simone got the baskets that they can put the thing in.

Aria in the mean time had sent a note to jack and received one back saying he would take care of the outside security. She had moved around the duplex and secured all windows that were not needed to be open and locked them tight.She even went into the boys room and secured their window before returning to the living room.

"Ridiculously strong black tea, tangerine juice, cardamom, bay leaf, simple syrup and a hell of a lot of firewhiskey--the stronger the proof the better for this one," Marcus replied. "Aria, why are you locking us down at three in the afternoon? Jack has already made it as secure as he knows how to make it, Robert's going to Switzerland to get some answers, we're all armed. Why are you locking all the doors and windows in the middle of the afternoon? Because of some pictures in a newspaper?"

"Probably best, then, that I didn't tell them I've been dreaming out similar things for the last several nights in a row, then," Angus muttered, sipping on his drink.

"I'm going to choose, for now, to presume that might not be a seers' thing. Mainly because I don't want to be pissed that you didn't tell me and decide to knock your block off for holding out on me," Marcus scowled at him. "So was she in a designer gown?"

"I...don't entirely remember. I wasn't looking at her clothes. But every time I saw her, I think she had different clothes on. I don't know. It didn't make much sense."

"You dream about her again, you tell me. Fair enough?"

"Sure. Whatever," Angus brushed it off. "But since neither Ruby or Aria sked, I won't tell them that we found the money and returned it to Minos. Case closed. Forty pounds worth of gold in a chest 2 inches wide, two inches deep, and four inches long. Michael said its worth about one and a half million dollars. Not bad for an afternoon's work."