A Birth day

Aria chuckled " oh, you mean the cottage, I thought you meant the main house, yeah we could do that" she said then chuckled as he corrected himself and said until the kids get into the fridge and mix it up. " I'm sure there not that bed" she said and chuckled but looked to Ruby when he asked and then let her know what Angus did when he was stressed " oh I've seen Yu doing that behind the cabin" she said

Ruby listened to Marcus and looked to Angus who was now sleeping " Tai Chi would be good for him" she said " maybe Kate could do a session out on the grounds for those interested" she said smiling " Aria's right I know Yu knows it and I think Jack knows a little , but I've not seen him do it" she said at his mention of smoking she looked at him again " as much as I know he smokes when stressed I always know when he has as he tastes like an ashtray." she said pulling a face 2 but its his thing and I'm not going to stop him."

"Angus and Tai Chi?" Marcus laughed gently. "He's gone out with Robert a couple of times when Robert's gotten him to go, but it's not exactly his favorite. Angus would rather run or spar or lift weights or something a lot more intense. If you want Kate to do a beginner's class sometime, I'm sure she'd be happy to do that. She has more time than Robert does, but I'm sure you'd be welcome to join him any time he's doing it."

"Marcus? You there?" a voice called through the floo sharply. The sharp tone in the voice in the floo woke Angus quickly.

"Dad?" Marcus frowned. "What's up?"

"We've had a fire here downstairs in the candy kitchen. The place is still filled with smoke. We're going to have to shut down and get the place up and running again, and then we're going to have to replace all our product. The important thing is that the place isn't liveable tonight. We've all got to bug out of here. I know its not any advance notice but..."

"You all come here. The house is ready, except for some groceries," Marcus said.

"We' can take care of the kids because I know your work schedule isn't set up for this, but..."

"I don't care about that. Pack some things, and all of you come here. You and Mom and the kids. Just come. We can do laundry to get the smoke smell out of your clothes."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. Are you set with someone to guard the place so you're not robbed in the meantime?"

"Not yet. Hadn't thought of that..."

"We'll arrange that for you. You all just get on your way here."

"Give us at least 30 minutes, and we'll be there. And son? Thanks."

"It's what we do. Not a problem," Marcus said. Jonathan closed the link. Marcus looked at Aria. "You worked at the Ministry. You probably know some folks that would do some private duty guarding to make sure they aren't robbed of everything they own, don't you? I'll try to see if I can get the groceries moved up to today instead of tomorrow."

"Marcus," Angus said. "Don't forget that right now, Edward has two empty guest rooms. We could put your folks up over there. The girls could add one more bed downstairs for Daria. And, with a small charm, we could enlarge the other guest room at Edward's to put the boys up in, if we need to. And either way, regardless of where you all decide to sleep, we have plenty of food to make sure no one goes hungry tonight for supper or tomorrow morning for breakfast."

"I appreciate that," Marcus said, knowing Angus could cook for an entire army on a spur of the moment basis. "But I can't leave you unattended. The stakes are too high..."

"I will have Minos and the Fae here. It'll be fine. Your family has to come first."

"You and your household, you're my family too, though," Marcus said.

"I know," Angus smiled. "I am not dead. I can still wield a wand. I am not defenseless. Nor is anyone else here. It'll be fine. Besides, we knew you wouldn't be living here forever. It'll be alright."

Aria looked to Ruby who chuckled and nodded " that would be great" but she paused as a voice came threw the floo. Hearing Jonathan talking she stood up as Aria grabbed hold of Marcus arm in worry but she slowly let it go once she knew every one was okay when Marcus offered for them to stay with them she smiled and nodded " its a given they will" she said " after all they are our family" she said then heard Angus talk about putting a bed down in the girls room Aria looked to Marcus " we have plenty of rooms at the cottage , Anise and ginger are already sharing their room with poppy, she could have her room in the cottage now and come over during the day" Aria said .

Ruby looked at Angus then to Marcus " we'll be fine here" she said and chuckled " not like its not a full house every night" she said " besides you need to stay at least one night in your new home" she said smiling " what better time that having all of your family under one roof."besides if we need you we can just call for you. not like your miles away"

"I'll get on the grocery order and set a fire under the suppliers," Angus said. "You two go do whatever you think you need to do to get the house ready for them. If Aria can't get immediately on a team to guard Honeydukes to keep it from being looted, I'll do it." He got up and went out the door of the duplex and walked across the yard.

"Now where is that little shit going?" Marcus sighed, heading out the door to follow him. 

"Jack?" Angus walked into the barn, "Situation has changed at my house. Do you have a couple guys that can get that damned bed out of my living room and get my chair back? On the double, please?" 

"Angus,..." Marcus started.

"I still outrank you here," Angus looked at Marcus. "This is my call when Robert isn't here. If they can't get to it, I'll shrink the damned thing and move it myself. We have things to do."  Marcus sighed, rolling his eyes.

Aria looked at Marcus and nodded " I'll get to it right away" she said writing a note quickly and sent it out " two guys I know at the ministry will not let you down, Johansson and Thomson" she said and got an immediate response . She took the note and opened it reading it aloud " ah, seems they were already there and will stay out front and then will arrange two more men to switch shifts."

Ruby looked at Angus as he left to find Jack and chuckled " oh well , Aria we should open the cottage and put clean bedding on the beds for your guests" she said smiling a she took Aria hand and they walked over to the cottage " be back soon."

Jack was just finishing changing the hay in the Thestral stall when he had Angus and chuckled , placing down the fork he walked out placing his towel over his shoulder " yeah yeah keep you boxers on, I got a few good men or I can come and do it for you" he said looking at Angus " anxious to be up and around hey" he said an chuckled " know that feeling." he said as he closed the barn up " okay let go and move that bed to a chair" he said smiling.

"No, there was a fire at Honeydukes," Angus said, "All the Belbys are displaced until further notice. They're coming here asap to stay at Marcus's, but they're going to need some help and some support because Marcus and Aria aren't even in there yet. We have seven displaced people that are going to need our help and support. And the kids are going to be starting their summer with their dad earlier than expected by several days. I know how my house works. They have a big house of their own, but everyone gathers in mine. So, I need the bed out of the way asap."

"Angus,..." Marcus began.

"I could zip you shut, you know," Angus said, turning around and heading out of the barn. 

"Don't make me take you down a peg," Marcus said.

"You don't stand a chance. I still fire faster than you," Angus said, heading back to the duplex, with Marcus on his heels. Angus opened a floo channel to the suppliers and had a similar conversation with them to get them to stop faffing around and get the groceries here straight off. They promised it would be there in the next couple hours. Satisfied for the moment, he looked at Marcus.

"Go tell Poppy that the rest of her family should be here any minute, will you?" Angus said. 

"Yeah, but..."

"Go," Angus said. He whistled for Pip, and then got out a big galvanized washtub, filled it with ice and loaded it with bottles of soda, iced tea, lemonade, water, and a few beers. Then he got out a basket and made up a big batch of quick ham and cheese sandwiches, added some fresh fruit, some little bags of crisps, some chocolate chip cookies, and set that beside the washtub. 

When Pip came, Angus wrote a note to Ruby. "Got cold drinks and a light lunch ready for them. Will send it over. I'm going to have Kate get into the mission supplies and get some of the blue packages. If you give one to each of them, that will buy you some time. However, I suggest you get their clothes as soon as they get there and put it through the laundry because after they rest, they're all going to want showers and clean clothes. The blue packages will give them clothing temporarily until their own clothes are clean and dry." Then he sent the note to Ruby.  While Pip was gone, he wrote a note to Kate asking for her to send six blue packages to Marcus's house. Then he sent Pip with that note too.

By that time, Marcus was coming back in.

"What's a blue package?" Marcus asked, seeing the note before Pip left with it.

"Emergency clothing--It has a white French terry bathrobe and a pair of mule style slippers in each package. They're basically one size fits all. But at least they won't be naked while their laundry is being cleaned."

"Oh. Good thinking."

"Can you take the basket over to your porch? I'll ask Jack's men if they'll take the cold drinks over there. Your family is going to need cold drinks to wash the smoke and ash out of their mouths and throats. That should hold them til supper. I'll have that for them by then...."

"You could unwind yourself a tad bit, you know."

"No, not when they're going to need to come, cool off, de-stress, and get something to drink...Now, get a move on. They'll be here in about fifteen minutes."

Marcus picked up the big basket and took it over and put it on the kitchen island.

"I've been given my marching orders," he told Aria. "I've seen him do this a million times and I still don't know how he does it. One minute he's sleeping, and the next, he's running the entire estate at warp speed. So, there's lunch for them, and he's already got fresh clothes coming for them, and an emormous washtub full of cold drinks and ice."

Jack listened to Angus and chuckled " ah got it" he said whistling for his men and they walked with him to the duplex , two men moved the bed back down into storage after stripping it then bringing up the chair and placing it in place by the window " there done" he said then heard Angus giving out orders to the two men " go get the sodas he's asked for " he said and they ran to the main house returning with the sodas and big galvanized washtub one man carried a large basket with sandwiches and other goodies in " thought they might need this too." he said lacing it on the counter.

Ruby looked at it and nodded to the men " thank you" she said as the blue packages she was informed about arrived and were placed on the counter too. Now she was ready for the arrivals. Aria moved and walked over to Poppy smiling .

"hey poppy, thought you should know the others are coming here today" she said as she sat down next to her " now don't worry, there was a small fire at the shop and there coming to stay for a while, every one is fine, its just temporary but we're moving to the cottage and I was wondering if you wanted to start sleeping in your own room tonight, you could have a sleep over" she said smiling knowing she'd want Ginger and Anise over for one night at least.

Poppy was a bit anxious about sleeping at Marcus's house because she had become so attached to Anise and Ginger and Minos and the rest of the Fae. But when Aria suggested that Anise and Ginger might be able to stay too, she nodded.

"That's fine, I guess. But the Fae don't come over that far, do they? I mean, I suppose they can fly that far, but...I guess I'm being silly," she said. 

With lunch handled, Angus headed straight to the kitchen to start to work on a big supper--supper for a minimum of 17 people. He went to the main house and started rooting in the freezer.

"What can I help you find?" Nicky asked.

"Spare ribs," Angus said.

"How many racks do you need?"

"Eight to ten," Angus said. 

"You feeding an army?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Angus said.

"You're going to need one of the big grills, then. Which one do you want, and I'll get it out and load it and fire it up for you."

"The Argentinian with the crank handle."

"Good call. They're the best for ribs. YOu want it out near your place?"

"That'll work for now, I guess," Angus said, thinking about making sauce. He knew he was going to need, minimally, a half a gallon or more. "Could I make my sauce over here and trim the silverskin off the ribs here?"

"What's going on? Can I help?" Kate asked.

"Fire at Honeydukes. Marcus's family's been displaced. I'm going to start some spare ribs on the grill to slow cook. Nicky's going to start the grill for me, but I need to make sauce and trim the ribs," Angus said.

"I'll get the silverskin," Kate said, taking a boning knife to trim the ribs. "I can't make sauce like you do, but I know how to trim a rack of ribs. How about we put a baked potato bar with it? You can wrap the potatoes in foil, tuck them onto the grill, and then we'll put out a lot of toppings, like crumbled bacon, butter, sour cream, scallions, cheese, and they can put what they want on it."

"Good idea," he said. 

"I'll get those too. Maybe Simone would make a salad and a dessert if you ask her. Or if she does the dessert, maybe Ruby can do a triple sized, enormous salad," she suggested. "And we could use another side."

"I'll roast some ears of corn on the grill. I bet they've never had corn on the cob. And grilled corn on the cob is incredible," Angus said.

"Sounds perfect," she said. Angus sent Pip with a couple more notes. He sent one to Ruby asking if she would go back to the duplex and make a triple sized, huge salad for supper and maybe a couple different salad dressings and said that since he didn't figure that Aria would have time, he would ask Simone to make some desserts. He told Ruby he had supper preparations already under way because what he was fixing was going to take a few hours to slow cook.

Smiling as she looked to Poppy seeing how anxious she was she spoke again " they are welcome over at anytime and you can spend your days off with them if they are not busy" she said softly to her.
she heard her mention the Fae and smiled " yes they do, they sit on the balcony over looking the lake" she said pointing to where two young Fae sat swinging their legs "and they too can come and go as they please, they are our friends after all" she said smiling.

Ruby had just finished her second bed when the note came to her and she said it " okay I have to leave I have a super sized salad to make" she said and Aria smiled nodding she understood.

"I can handle it from here." she said casting a spell and it made all the beds and opened the windows wide to let in the fresh air. Once she had checked all rooms were ready for the kids and occupants she smiled heading down to find a large box of groceries on the counter. " next task " she said rolling up her sleeves and opened it to start filling up the fridge and freezer with goods and humming softly as she moved happy to be doing something in their home.

Angus made a huge container of a sweet honey barbeque sauce while Kate trimmed the ribs. Simone was pleased to help. She made a huge batch of homemade ice cream sandwiches, with homemade vanilla ice cream and freshly baked thin, soft chocolate cookies, each one wrapped carefully in parchment paper and taped with a colorful piece of rainbow printed washi tape. She put them in the freezer to harden. And, then, for something that the adults might consider more to their liking, she made an old fashioned bread pudding with an old fashioned whiskey sauce. 

By then, Angus was wearing out, and he was feeling quite a lot of pain.

"You," Kate looked at him. "You're overdoing it. Robert will have both our heads if you don't take a break. Nicky can put the ribs on. You've made the sauce. I think we know how to wrap potatoes and prepare them for the grill. You sit. When did you have any pain potion last?"

"It's been two or three days, at least," Angus said.

"If you didn't already hurt, I'd headslap you," she scowled. "You boys. All of you. Never know how to quit, do you? Sit down this minute, before I hex that chair to stick to your behind. Now, sit!" he sat, reluctantly, knowing Kate had certainly done that hex before. He'd seen her do it. He said, and she brought him some pain potion. "Idiots. Why do men have fewer common sense cells than women? Now take that, and don't give me sass about it."

"I have things to do, Kate," he told her. 

"You're going to look funny doing them with a chair stuck to your trousers," she told him firmly. "I didn't give you leave to get up yet, so I suggest you just cool it for a few minutes, and then we'll see. There are a lot of people here to help. I think we can all lend a hand if we need to. It's what this family does."

"My mother is dead, Kate," Angus said. She looked at him, her eyes narrowed.

"When you stop needing a mum, then I'll stop needing to be one for you. Until then, I'm your mum. Got it?" He saw how fierce she looked, and it struck him funny. He started to laugh. She had planned on being fierce until he started to laugh. His laugh was so contagious it made her laugh too.

"What am I gonna do with you?" She shook her head. She and Nicky took the ribs out and put them on the grill on a low fire so they cooked very slowly so they would be tender and juicy and flavorful hours later when supper was served.