A Birth day

Aria chuckled and nodded " so true" she said and finished her pancakes. " we can take the babies with us and do it together" she said " or Simone can mind them while we do the work," she said placing her plate in the sink.

Ruby nodded as she finished her breakfast them heard them talk about Finn. It was now Jack whistled and opened the back door " morning guys, I'm here for Finn, by the smell of him last night I guessed you want him washed and trimmed?" he asked brushing his head " I'll take him and bring him back de-doggiefied." he said with a chuckle.

Ruby moved from their side of the duplex to Edward and Simone's side " morning guys" she said " I came to help prepare for Evan and Tara's arrival, because with your hand being as it is you need the help, don't want to damage it." she said smiling to them both.

"Be careful. It takes more to do things one handed than you both probably realize," Angus said, knowing from personal experience. "Her wound is really new and, I'm sure, quite painful. She's not going be able to use her hand today. Edward might be able to give her some help if you ask him, and I'm sure that, as long as the babies aren't fussy or crawling away, she'd be able to take care of it. If you put them down somewhere, I'd put them in their playpen with some toys so they can't run rampant on her. 

"Honestly," Angus said, "I think we should look into finding a trustworthy sitter or part time nanny for them or daycare. There are times when we all four have things to do, and sometimes there just isn't someone quickly available to take care of them because of things going on in their own lives. Even if we only have them as backup."

"Is it wise to do that right now?" Anise asked Angus.

"Looking doesn't mean I'm going to hire anybody," Angus told her. She nodded slightly, going back to her pancakes. Marcus knew Anise was asking her question for a reason. He didn't want to press Angus in front of everybody, but when they had a chance, he would ask. 

"Shall I send a note to Carlo and ask if he wants to go along this morning?" Marcus asked.

"If you could, that would be great," Angus said. Marcus wrote the note, changed it to a paper bird and sent it to the main house to Carlo.

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " okay I'll make sure she doesn't over use that hand at all" she said to him " and that was the plan " she said when he mentioned the play pen for the babies to be in while they cleaned the guest rooms and made the beds with clean bedding " good idea" Ruby said and moved to shrink the play pen to put in her pocket for the moment , " I'm sure they will love spending time with their Nona." she said smiling as Caprice ate a strawberry piece.

Aria returned to their side of the duplex " I think they are still sleeping there is no sign of life yet." she said walking over to hand Amari a piece of banana to eat. She sat down and smiled to her pulling faces to make her chuckle.

"I'm sure it took them both awhile to settle, and it might have taken her some time to get comfortable," Marcus said. 

"I'm sure Robert will be over to see Simone but it could well be towards lunch time," Angus said I'm sure he would have left Edward and Simone an instruction to let them know when they get up, especially if he left her any pain potion. And even if he didn't, Edward could well have made some for her."

As he was speaking, there was a knock on the door. Sam answered it and saw Carlo there. 

"Um...Dad? A little help?" Sam asked, not speaking Italian.

"Oh. Certainly," Angus said. "Avanti, Carlo. Ti piacerebbe fare colazione?"

"No, no grazie. Ho mangiato con Rosaria," Carlo said.

"What's he saying?" Sam asked.

"I asked him if he wanted breakfast, and he said he ate with Rosaria. Since Carlo is here early, we could take the girls with us and drop them at Evans and go on to the house. You know, we have enough leftovers that you could take breakfast to Edward and Simone when you go over if you want, Ruby. And, if Marcus and I are quick, we might get there and back before you go over to work at Edward's--if you don't care. I might bring back some nice citrons if I can find any. Is there anything else you can think of that we might need from over there while we're going?"

Ruby and Aria listened to Angus and Ruby smiled seeing Carlos and Angus speak Italian to him. She listened to him and then as he explained what he had said to him and his suggestion" that sounds good" she said " since they're not up yet" she said looking to Aria .

"didn't look like they ere up yet , curtains are still closed" she said smiling as Amari took a grape and ate it then dropped it on the highchair table not liking it and taking some strawberry's and eating them instead. Ruby chuckled and looked at Amari.

"she'll grow in her taste" she said smiling to Amari as she cut up the grape into smaller pieces this time when Amari took a small piece she ate it and took another.

The boys packed pancake lunches for themselves and one for Jack. Then they headed to work. The girls grabbed their bags, and Angus and Marcus finished the last couple sips of their coffee and stacked their plates in the sink.

"We'll be back shortly," Angus told Ruby and Aria. "I don't think this'll take long." Carlo did the porting and ported Marcus, Angus and the girls to Tuscany. The girls headed straight to Evan's, and Marcus and Angus headed straight for the main house. 

Marcus and Carlo set in changing the sheets on Edward's bed and on Carlo and Rosaria's and then doing up all the dirty laundry and setting cleaning spells in place. Angus got into the fridge and the pantry and got all the perishable food and packed it up to take back to England. Any questionable food he found, he pitched.  

Carlo packed a few more things for himself and Rosaria, and Marcus thought it looked like he had a list from Rosaria of things she wanted him to get. He gave Carlo a hand in anything he could. Angus made sure to empty the trash so that there was no spoiled food left in the house, and he watered all the plants, trying to remember to tell Tara where all the plants were, in case perhaps she might miss one. He didn't know, right now, how long it was going to be before Carlo and Rosaria could come home, so he needed to secure it as best he could. 

He and Marcus and Carlo, when they had all their tasks completely to close down the house for awhile, cast locking and protection spells on every window and door in the place, as secure as they could muster. The only ones who would be allowed in the house, besides Edward and Simone would now just be Evan, Tara, Angus, and Ruby. If the girls needed to get in for clothes, Evan would need to go with them. Angus wanted no chance of any sort of break in. 

With the house secure now, Carlo, Marcus and Angus ported back to the estate. Carlo had a suitcase that was packed full of shrunken things. Marcus and Angus had bags of perishable food that they had removed prior to closing down the house. It had taken them just a few minutes over two hours.

Carlo took the suitcase and headed back to the main house, and Marcus and Angus headed into the duplex with their bags of food.

Aria and Ruby watched the boys leave and continued feeding the babies until they had enough and Aria and ruby lifted them out carrying them to Edwards side Aria enlarged the playpen and placed the girls in it while Ruby checked their fridge and pantry writing down what they were lacking in and needed refilling. Now done she sent the list to the retailer then set about cleaning out the old food making space for the new things to come.

Aria stayed with the babies until she saw Simone walk down " how did you sleep?" shea sked smiling to her " we thought you might need getting thigs ready for your guests." she said smiling to her " oh there's breakfast on the counter , Angus made candied bacon pancakes and syrup" she said motioning to two plates sat on the counter charmed to stay warm. along with two bowls of Fruit salad for them both.

"I didn't sleep much," Simone confessed, heading to the coffee pot to make some coffee. "I did try to get up so I wouldn't disturb Edward, but he was trying to sleep with one eye open and knew I wasn't settled. So Edward got up and went up to his workbench and brewed a stronger pain potion. I was able to sleep a bit after that. He's up. He helped me dress and then headed for the shower. Thank you for lending a hand. I wasn't sure how I was going to get all done. Enchantments don't do everything, you know. i am grateful for your help, though."

Angus put the perishable food that he'd brought back into the fridge. he had asked Carlo if there was anything in particular that he and Rosaria wanted from it, but Carlo said Angus should just take it and use it for his own house. So that was what Angus had done. Believing things were done, he and Marcus headed to the track to go for a run, one that was long overdue for Angus.

Aria and Ruby both listened and smiled to Simone " thought as much" Ruby said " Angus was the same with his shoulder and its our pleasure. " she said as they set up the play pen and placed the babies in it " leave the gust rooms to us you relax and watch the girls they just had breakfast so should just nap for awhile " she said smiling . Aria grabbed the clean bedding and cleaning things and headed up to the first room while Ruby noticed Angus change out the perishables from the fridge as she too went up to the second guest room and began cleaning and changing the bedding.

After half an hour both women walked back down and placed the dirty laundry into the washing machine and set it going " all rooms are ready for occupancy , I opened the windows too so the room will air out" Aria said " anything else you need to do?" she asked as she finished sorting the bedding into light and dark piles.

"I can't think of a thing. Thank you," Simone said. "I appreciate it.

Angus and Marcus were on their way back from their run when Minos flew up to them in the front yard, and he had a bandana with him. The bandana was tied up, and he handed it to Angus, cautioning Angus on using great caution when he opened it. Angus opened it, and found a couple of dried chicken feet, some odd painted stones with runes on them, and the last item--a voodoo doll, with some pins laying beside it.

"Where did you find these?" Angus asked. Minos motioned to Angus and fluttered back towards the duplex. He motioned to the flower beds that were up against the house--on Angus and Ruby's side.
"I see,' Angus sighed. Then Minos motioned to Abbey treehouse, motioning for Angus to check it for himself. 

Angus and Marcus went to the treehouse and climbed the ladder up into the tree. Abbey wasn't able to use it yet unless she had help because she was still too small to climb the ladder. When Angus and Marcus went up, they saw clearly that someone had been living up here off and on. That did not make Angus happy in the least. And whoever it was apparently had a love of chicory coffee, beignets, crisps made and packaged in New Orleans, and some other foods that had clearly come from New Orleans. It wasn't over.

"Damn," Marcus sighed. "Got any thoughts?"

"Yeah, actually. I'm going to lay some protections from the dark arts around this treehouse," Angus said. "With a little luck, when our squatter comes back, the charm will chuck them out of the treehouse onto the ground."

"Its a place to start," Marcus said. The two of them laid some powerful charms on the treehouse and climbed back down. Angus headed for the barn, hoping to find Jack to give him a heads up.