A Birth day

Aria heard Angus and nodded as she helped pick up some of the boxes and carry them to the kitchen, opening them she took out the pies and placed them on plates as she saw Angus do . Soon all the boxes were inside and in the pies were ether out or in the fridge. Aria took some pie and ate smiling " I agree this is perfect" she said.

Ruby found a simple apple pie and some cream she cut it up into small pieces and pored a small amount over the pie that sat in two bowls , she then placed them in front of the babies letting them eat as they wanted Caprice with a spoon and Amari with both spoon and fingers.She chuckled at the sight of the two babies eating happily " seems they like it too" she said eating her own pie. Hearing Simone talk about the silk pie she nodded " it is superb" she said

Angus saw the apple pie and made a mental note to tell Lizzie. He hadn't ordered any apple pies, so he was sure someone wasn't getting their dessert tonight. He finished his slice of pie and went back to the kitchen to warm up his coffee and he saw Kate and Robert coming back from the running trail but it looked like they had just walked it, rather than doing any running. That was fine. Sometimes a walk was good for the soul. 

"I'll be back," Angus looked at Marcus. Marcus got up. "Sit. I'll be fine." Marcus went to the window and saw Angus crossing the yard going towards Robert. Marcus was sure that Angus would be safe with Robert, but he also knew his own job. He went out on the front porch, giving Angus some privacy but keeping Angus in view just the same.

"Angus," Kate smiled, giving him a motherly kiss on the cheek, "I knew we'd be seeing you tonight. Your grandmother has been hanging around me lately."

"Us too, evidently," Angus said.

"She's concerned."

"I know."

"And you're not sleeping. You're starting to get dark circles under your eyes again."

"Don't say it," Angus looked at Robert. "I have dreamless sleep potion. If I need it, I'll take it. You have my word. Minos dug up another thingamajig today." He took it out of his pocket and handed it to Robert.

"Be very careful with that, my love," Kate said, frowning deeply. "This one has particular murderous energies about it."

"I know," Robert said. "I'm certainly not a seer like you are, but as a healer, I have learned to recognize the feel of life and the feel of death. This has no life about it."

"It craves to absorb life into it, to take it," Kate said.

"I know. I'll be containing this one so it can do no such thing. You did well to bring it to me," Robert told Angus. "Have you been dreaming of Priscilla?"

"No. Not really. Its more about Suzanne."

"Well, that's no concern. She's still at Jeffries," Robert said. "Still, do yourself a favor and get some damned sleep. I'll be over probably in the morning to check on Poppy. Is she doing alright?"

"She is. We changed her dressing this morning."

"Have someone check it to make sure it doesn't need a dressing change tonight, and then I'll check it tomorrow. Call me if there is any change or if you dig anything else up."

"I will."

"Robert, I keep seeing the cemetery again. I have no desire to take any fight back there."

"I think that would be most unwise to go back there. We need to keep any fight her on our own home turf. Let's not give away our own advantages."

"I agree. So you know, though, these pieces of voodoo junk are bringing out the worst in Aria. I think it gets too her because of the time she's spent there."

"Marcus and Ruby will keep her level, and if its a problem, I'm sure one of them will say something. For now, I'm not worried. We all get triggered by something, and she's no different. If it gets ugly, just let me know, and I'll talk to her."

"Understood. Goodnight," Angus said, going back to the duplex. He met Marcus on the porch. "It's gone now."

"I know. That should probably help," Marcus said, as they both went back inside.

Ruby fed the babies and smiled seeing Angus glance out the window , she saw Robert and Kate and just nodded to him " take your time" she said softly as she watched him leave. " oh come on you eat it not wear it" she said seeing Caprice with cream all over her face and even in her hair making Aria chuckle.

Aria finished feeding Amari and took the bowls to the kitchen then quickly took Amari up to the bathroom to see if she would go on the toilet seeing she was at that age, she was presently surprised that she did. Aria then ran a bath for her and set her down as Ruby did the same with Caprice finding her to be stubborn about sitting still on the toilet while Amari played in the bath as Aria cleaned her up then changed her into her PJ's.

Ruby did the same getting slightly wet from Caprices splashing but she managed to clean her up and washer her down before drying her and placing her into her cot so they could sleep.

When they went back in, Angus and Marcus saw that things appeared to be under control.

"Robert says he'll check on Poppy in the morning, but he would like us to make sure her dressing doesnt need changed tonight," Angus told him.

"I'll look after that. You'll be alright for a few minutes?"

"I'll stay inside so you can do that. If you find out where my children are, let me know, won't you? It's getting dark, and I at least would like to know where they're at."

"Okay," Marcus said. Marcus went downstairs, and he found all the kids downstairs in the girls' bedroom. They were playing board game together--a wizarding questing game of sorts. Each player had drawn five cards of things they needed to find that were either obtainable on the board or by taking them from other players. The first player to collect all five of their quest items and get home without having their items stolen along the way would win the game. The girls had thought it would be an easy little game, but Sam was far more competitive than they had given him credit for. Someone would collect some of their items, and Sam would swipe them, even if he didn't need them himself, just to keep someone else from winning. Victor decided to turn the tables on Sam and start swiping Sams's stuff.

"Who's winning?" Marcus asked.

"I am," Sam said.

"You are not," Anise scowled. "He would like to win, but the rest of us have other ideas."

"Good. Poppy, how's your surgery dressing?"

"I just changed that about five minutes ago," Ginger said. "It was getting pretty wet. Same color as her dressing last night. I didn't see any swelling around the wound."

"Listen to you," Marcus laughed. "You're going to be a fine healer some day. You sure you still want to be a wizarding veterinarian?"

"I don't know now, actually. I've liked being helpful to Poppy."

"Mind if I take a peek?" Marcus asked Poppy. He lifted one edge of the dressing and then replaced it. "You're right, Ginger. It's looking very good. And good work on the dressing change. Oh, and don't forget about your homework, you lot. Tomorrow is Sunday. Don't wait until bedtime tomorrow to get to it."

"We won't," the girls reassured him. Marcus left them to their game, secured the downstairs and then went over to Edward's side, and secured that side. He found Edward and Simone with Evan and Tara, and they were all playing a murder mystery board game. Someone had made a batch of popcorn and gotten out some beers, so they were munching and playing.

Marcus came back to Angus and Ruby's side and secured the upstairs and the main floor.

"Everyone seems to be having fun except us," Marcus said. "The kids are all downstairs playing a questing game, and the other grown ups are over next door playing some sort of murder mystery game. And here we four are doing absolutely nothing."

"We have two babies. There aren't any dull moments with them until they go to sleep," Angus said, "and then, we're usually cleaning up the high chairs, the floors, the walls, by the time they're done flinging food."

"They'll improve with their table skills. Give them time. They won't be little barbarians forever. Lookat Abbey. she doesn't fling food."

"Well, she never really did," Angus said. "We would give her berries at every meal, and she was far more interested in making sure she didn't lose one single berry."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot about the hell we paid if we didn't have berries on the table."

"She still thinks berries need to be on the table at every meal."

Aria and Ruby finished putting down the babies and headed down hearing Angus and Marcus Ruby chuckled " not tonight, they were both well behaved tonight" she said as she sat down next to Angus as she heard Marcus mention the girls and the boys playing board games down stairs " at least their cooperating at something, oh have they done there home work yet?" Ruby asked as Aria walked around the downstairs and kitchen area making sure all was put away and clean for the next day.

Aria chuckled and shook her head " I'm betting they haven't, hows Poppy doing, is she healing okay?" she asked as she walked over to them holding a bowl with some pie in it and some ice cream she found in the back of the freezer a she sat down to eat it. " it was nice seeing your parents today, I'm happy they liked the cottage" she smiled to Marcus as she took a spoon of ice cream and ate it.

"Poppy's fine," Marcus said, "Ginger's been a huge help. She seems like she might be re-thinking some of her career goals and might be thinking about a healer and not a veterinarian. And, no, homework isn't done."

"Then I will let them have breakfast but that will be the only food they get until they get their homework done," Angus said. "None of them have ever missed a meal in this house, and they won't starve. I told them I wanted it done Friday night, but here we are, going into Sunday morning, and it isn't done. I can't force our girls to do their homework, but I can stop cooking for them until they do their homework."

"Hey, don't penalize the rest of us because they can't follow the rules," Marcus teased.

"I said I wouldn't cook for Ginger and Anise. I can't penalize Faith and Evie. They're not mine to correct. I didn't say I'd stop cooking for the rest of us," Angus said. 

"Oh, now, you do have some mischievous ideas, don't you?"


"I do," Angus said "I'll give them plenty of fair warning, and if they decide to put things off, then, they're going to be hungry. And it will be their choice."

"Well, they should know by now that when you say you're going to do something, you generally follow through."

"If they dont' know by now, they're never going to learn it," Angus replied.

Aria listened and smiled as Marcus said Poppy was feeling better after Ginger had checked her, she is good both with animals and humans" she said smiling " she'd be good as a healer or vet" she said as she ate her pie and ice cream.

" I'm just glad she found her talent" Ruby said with a smile " which ever she choses we'll support her on it" she said smiling to Angus as he spoke of not making any food other than breakfast for the girls if their home work wasn't done.. Aria finished her bowl and walked to the kitchen placing it in the washer a she walked back picking up the p[aper as she passed by the table and opened it to read the articles.

" well at least there's no articles about you this time" she said turning the paper .

"I'm glad that they have other things to talk about in the papers besides us. Thank God. As for the girls, I think both girls know what they want," Angus said. "Anise wants to be a fighter. That's all she sees. She needs some sort of job to earn her keep for when she's not fighting, but she hasn't gotten to the point of even looking at that. Ginger doesn't want to have fighting as a career, but she wants to know enough to help defend her family. And that's fine. She doesn't need to be a fighter. I think she's looking forward to helping Kate this summer with some of her art things, but if she wants to seriously be a healer, she needs to consider asking Robert about an apprenticeship at St. Mungos when she graduates."

"I think they're going to be full on-into wedding planning by then."

"Its mostly planned, I think," Angus said.

"Do tell," Marcus said.

"They want a very quick, casual double ceremony, and all they want for a reception is a pool party in the big pool with burgers and hot dogs on the grill. They want as little muss and fuss as possible. Ginger told me they've both shifted the designs of their dresses to be a lot shorter. Tea length or knee length. I forget just which, and the conversation I heard was them talking about a barefoot wedding," Angus said.

"Barefoot? Well, I actually see nothing wrong with that, so long as nobody in the wedding party shows up with nasty looking toenails," Marcus teased.

"I'm not concerned about Anise and Ginger, but I will push the boys into pedicures if that's the way they go," Angus said. "I will do my best to make sure neither of them show up looking more werewolf than their brides."

"Probably a good strategy," Marcus laughed.

Aria listened to Angus talking about Ginger and Anise and how they both spoke of how they and already arrange their weddings and how they wanted it done " oh better get the clippers out" Ruby said and chuckled " I think its just for the bride and groom, or does she want all of us bear foot?" she asked.

Aria turned the page of the paper and nodded when Angus said it was about time they had other things to talk about " yep" she said and chuckled turning another page to some adverts " why not ask Jess if Ginger could tag a along on a weekend, just to see if she wants to be a healer, kinda like a tour of St Mongos?" she suggested with out looking up from the paper

"I don't know. I haven't been told yet, but as impulsive as all four of them are? I think, if they think about doing it, we'd better shape up just in case. I can see all four of them saying they wouldn't ask anybody else to do that and then change their minds at the wedding," Angus said.

"And I think that's a very wise approach," Marcus said, "but since you won't be looking at doing it til next summer, I think you've got some time to make some appointments."

"I did ask about what they wanted the dress code to be, and I really was teasing. But I was told swimsuits, flip flops and coverups," Angus said. "I don't know if they were teasing or not."

"I wouldn't worry about it because they'll change their minds at least 45 times by then," Marcus said.

"But I do think your idea about seeing if Ginger could tag along at St Mungos is a great idea. That, and whatever help she can give to Kate with the animals here. It might help  her make up her mind. In the meantime, though, I need to get busy with breakfast preparations." He got up and headed to the kitchen. 

He got busy making some old fashioned toffee and then he made a toffee syrup too. He made an eggy bread casserole, putting in some crushed homemade toffee bits in between each layer. Then he put hte casserole in the fridge to soak up the milk mixture overnight. 

After he was finished with that, he made a savory egg casserole that was layered with cooked, crumbled sausage, sauteed onion and bell pepers, cheese and crumbles of bacon. He put that in the fridge too, and made a fresh fruit salad so it would have time to mascerate and chill overnight. Then he took the time to clean up the kitchen and set up the sideboard for breakfast so that all that would need to be done was baking off the casseroles, warming the toffee syrup for the eggy bread casserole, and making the coffee. 

"There," he yawned. "That's done. Come on, Finn. One last trip, Fella." The dog, who had been sleeping on the floor at Ruby's feet, looked up at him like the last thing he wanted to do was get up and go outside. "You' aren't waking us up at 3 am to go out. Come on. Let's go." The dog got up lazily and padded over to the door, and Angus let him out.

"Suppose he would have woke one of us before morning?" Marcus laughed.

"Count on it," Angus laughed. "Personally, I'd rather not have to do that."