A Birth day

Jack and Joseph both chuckled and Joseph looked like he realized something " oh I have some mates who would love to give up their old socks , black ones" he said smiling I'll send them over once were back, some of the guys hate black so go for a more dark grey kind" Joseph said smiling as he moved to stand with Jack.

"okay we'll see you there" Jack said and sighed but nodded " okay Joseph lets go" he said and they headed to the door. Stepping out they made their way to Sparks and pushed open the door.

"wow this place smells wonderful" Joseph said smiling as he walked in looking at all the food and treats .

"Lizzy makes every one from scratch , so don't touch" he said and Joseph looked at him innocently.

"would I?" he said and Jack gave him a 'yes, yes you would" he looked to the counter where a woman stood smiling.

"hi Lizzy is expecting us, order of garlic bread for Kate" Jack said as Joseph almost wandered off but Jack held him back by his collar to keep him close to him as they waited.

"Got 'em right here, Jack," Lizzie smiled. "I know Angus likes each slice to have a crispy, crunchy crust and the inside of the slice to be soft and buttery, with just the right amount of garlic and salt and parsley. So, they're done, they're just the way he likes them to be, and they're wrapped in foil to keep them hot. I've also put a warming spell on them to keep them hot. I put them on Angus's account, so you're good to go. Oh, and there's a box in the bottom of the bag. That's for Angus. Ask him and Ruby to try them, and if he likes them, I'll send more around tomorrow for all of you."  She reached over the counter to hand him a big shopping bag full of bread, with a bakery box at the bottom of the bag. "I hear Angus' ribs are to die for. Maybe someday I'll get to try them. Enjoy."

Angus bit into his ice cream sandwich, and he smiled. He liked her flavorful vanilla ice cream with its smooth and creamy texture, her homemade soft and thin chocolate cookies that the ice cream was sitting between, and then, the chocolate he'd covered them in with the sanding sugar. His had a mix of tropical orange and green sanding sugars to give it a little summery feel. 

"I think they're going to like these. It'll be a perfect dessert after having the barbeque beef ribs. Oh, and before I forget. We're going to need to go over and help Simone detangle her living room. Our pint sized demolition team has her living room tangled in every skein of yarn on the estate, I think. We're going to have to detangle it and wind up all that danged yarn again. It does not sound like fun."

Jack chuckled hearing Lizzie and nodded " he sure does" he said and took the bag from the counter and passed it to Joseph " this is Joseph Tremaine, not sure about the connection before you ask." he heard her mention the box and the bottom of the bag and nodded " I'll let him know so he can send an owl and let you know how they , or what ever they are , are2 he said to her.

Ruby smiled as Angus handed her an ice cream sandwich " oh lovely not had these in ages" she said and un wrapped hers so half was exposed . Carefully she bit into it and smiled as she found the chocolate and cold of the ice cream mixing " yummy" she said smiling to Angus " just as I remember, but this is tastier, so you made this?" she asked as she bit into it again tasting the crunch of the wafer and coldness of the ice cream along with the crunch of chocolate before she moved to the other side and chuckled " nice choice she said as she continued to eat. " oh defiantly a fun desert" she said licking some of the ice cream from her fingers where it had dripped.

"Hello, Joseph. I'm Lizzie. I'm just the cook here. Khaat and Brian own the place, and Angus designs the menus these days. Oh, and Robert was just here to design new magical summer enchantments for the kids. Look, one of our servers is going to do one of the new ones." she pointed to one fo the servers, who took a moment and then cast a sparkling picture up near the ceiling. This one started with blue sparkling lights that took the shape of the ocean waves rolling in, and then, up through the waves came a mermaid with pink hair and a green tail. She leaped out of the water, splashed back down into it, and then waved before she disappeared. The little girls at the table were delighted and clapped." Robert said Abbey gave him suggestions for the new summer sparks. She had some great ideas, I think. Anyway, enjoy. I have to get back to the kitchen. Have a good evening, you two."

"No, she made them," Angus said to Ruby, "She made the cookies and the ice cream and made the sandwiches. All I did was dip each one in milk and dark chocolate and added some sanding sugars to dress them up a bit. You know, I'm going to miss having Marcus right here all the time, but I know I'll get used to it. Did they specify, when they start the new schedule, who's working the first shift and who's working second shift? I think I just assumed Aria would be working first shift because she could help with the babies at the same time, and I presumed Marcus would work second, but I didn't know for sure what they decided."

Joseph smiled to her " nice to meet you Lizzy, and this place is amazing" he said then heard her talk of the magical summer enchantments. He stood and watched one as it was triggered and smiled " that's certainly magical Lizzy" he said with a smile." if that's one of her ideas , she certainly has a good eye" he gave her a wave as she went back to the kitchen and Jack and he walked out of sparks. Porting back to the main house Joseph walked into the main house looking for Kate but remembering she was by the grill he headed around to it " Kate, Ma'am, got those Garlic breads from Sparks plus an added extra box, Lizzy said to ask angus to let her know if he liked them, didn't way what they were though, Sparks is certainly an amazing place, very homily, like some place you'd want to return to." he said placing the bread down on a table next to the grill for her. Jack headed to the barn again " oops got to run" he said then took off after him.

Ruby smiled as Angus told her Simone had made them he had just embellished them a bit. " well they are tasty I'll give you both that" she said " as for who is taking first shift , not sure they have talked about it but your suggestion works well , i'll let Aria know so they can talk about it at the grill." she said taking the wrapper to the bin and placing it in " its certainly going to be quieter around her with out Marcus and Aria around" she said then chuckled " be like having our home back with extra space." she added and then moved to sit back down next to Angus.

"Oh, thank you," Kate said to Joseph. "I'll make sure he gets the box. She sends him tasting boxes for his approval frequently because he's actually trained as an executive chef, and he helps with the menu and the recipes." She smelled something that smelled heavenly, so she glanced over at Nicky and saw he was starting to baste the ribs with Angus's sauce. She was smelling the tomato and the muscovado sugar and the vinegar and all the rest of the ingredients.

"God, Nicky, that smells incredible," Kate said. 

"If you think it smells good now, just wait until we've gotten several layers of sauce on them. Then they're really going to be a treat. And, I've added more racks of ribs so we can feed everyone tonight," Nicky said. 

"Joseph," Kate said, "while you're getting the games out, since there will be enough for everyone, can you ask Jack if they can get out all our long folding tables and the folding chairs, please? We can set them up so that everyone has a place to sit tonight for supper. It started out relatively small, but this has very quickly become an estate wide supper. Hopefully, the next time we do this, our big shelterhouse will be finished so we can use it. Tonight, though, it looks like we're going to be eating under the stars, and that's not a bad plan either, actually."

Joseph listened to Kate and nodded " sure and I agree , those ribs smell good" he said as his stomach rumbled " sorry missed breakfast this morning, and lunch" he said and chuckled " managed to grab a sandwich at Sparks" he looked to Jack " yes I paid" saw Jack nod as he opened a shed close by them . Joseph walked over and grabbed some lawn toys to set out together they put up a net across part of the lawn and paced some rackets down along with shuttlecocks.

Joseph herd Kate and nodded he had heard her " on it" he said and went back into the shed taking out several fold out tables and started them out with Jack. Soon six tables in two rows of three lay out close to Kate and the grill. " okay , are they in the right place , could use some table clothes "he suggested looking at the plain white of the tables.

"We have plenty in the pantry in the main house," Nicky said.

"Do we have tablecloth clips?" Kate asked. 

"Only about 200 of them," Nicky laughed. "Angus has you well supplied. There's a box on the bottom shelf below the bins of flour and sugar. The box is labeled 'Outdoor Tables,' and he's got a dozen vinyl red and white checked tablecloths, plenty of tablecloth clips, and about two dozen citronella candles to keep the bugs away."

"If you boys want to fetch it, I'll help you finish the table set up, and then we'll have to set up an outdoor sideboard so people can fix their plates," Kate told them. 

"Angus has that sorted as well. He has two boxes labeled 'Outdoor Plates,'' Nicky said, "And he's got 25 place settings of white melamine plates, salad bowls, dessert plates, coffee mugs, outdoor cutlery, and some clear plastic glasses. So, with both boxes, that's 50.'

"Yes, and there are two more boxes just like it downstairs in storage if we ever host a hundred," Kate laughed. "Plus there are two full boxes of outdoor serving bowls, serving spoons, tongs, the whole bit. There's one upstairs in the pantry and one in the basement. I think they're labeled 'O Sideboards' for outdoor sideboards."

"The man has organization down to a fine science," Nicky laughed.

"Wait til the shelterhouse is finished. He's got all sorts of storage for that stuff so we don't have to keep hauling things in and out," Kate said. "It'll all be right at our fingertips in the outdoor kitchen."

"I am anxious to see it and to cook in it," Nicky beamed.

Angus looked at the clock.

"The girls should be home from school any time now," Angus told Ruby, "unless they're hanging around to do their homework with Evie and Faith. They haven't been doing it because they've been hurrying home to Poppy. It's going to be different for them now that Poppy's living at the other house. I think she took the voles with her. I almost expect our kids to all be sleeping at Marcus's tonight so they can get to know his kids. 

"Oh, by the way, I have heard Sam and Victor talking about maybe getting their own apartments in the apartment building here before the end of the summer. They haven't asked me about it, but I guess I'm not opposed to it. They are going to be 19 by the end of summer. They're working full time now, and we've not asked them for rent or groceries. And to the best of my knowledge, they haven't spent much of what they've earned, so I can't see that they'd struggle with rent and utilities. If they do move out, I suppose the decent thing is to offer the girls to move into Sam and Victor's old room. I know we actually have Marcus and Aria's room back as a guest room, so we could offer them their own rooms, but I'd rather have one room as a guest room in case we need it. What do you think?"

Joseph likened to Kate and the placement of the table clothes and cutlery he chuckled as she mentioned another two boxes if they should host more than fifty people. " well being organised is prepared , to a point " he sid and smiled at her " I'll fetch the table clothes " he said ass Jack chuckled and walked with him.

"I'll fetch the boxes of crockery and cutlery" he said . Both headed down to the store room and Joseph found the flour. Kneeling down he pulled the boxes out from below the shelf.

"okay these are what we need" he said seeing the 'O' Sideboards on it. Picking it up he brushed off the dust and watched while Jack got the two boxes of cutlery and crockery one on each shoulder " show off" he said with a smirk as they both made their way back up to the grill area Joseph placed the box down on the ground . taking out the first cloth he spread it out then a second adding the clips to them as Jack laid the tables

Soon Joseph was done and looked at his clothes " sorry I got to go change" he said motioning to the dust on his trousers. He looked to Jack who nodded and he headed to the guard house to wash and changed. As he passed the training grounds he saw a familiar green hue coming from it and walked over seeing one of the guards aim at another " Hey , pause that thought, no unforgeable spells here" he called out as the man grinned and cast at him he side stepped it and it hit the ground behind him " dark magic is forbidden" he said walking over and taking the mans wand with out the man even knowing.

"what you going to do?" the man laughter." report me, every one used them , we're here for protection, and maybe the money" this made Joseph scowl and step closer to the man .

"if that what your hear for , then your out of luck." Joseph said not noticing Jack walk up behind him.

Jack finished laying the table and heard the bang and green light tint the sky " excuse me for a moment , I think this needs tending to" he said walking over and standing on the outer rim of the training grounds listening to Joseph tell the other man off.

Robert had just managed to get home from work, and because of his own lack of sleep, he was more than a little tired. He had just apparated home, when he heard the protection charms being triggered by the use of dark magic. Looking outside, he saw they were triggered from the obstacle course. He apparated straight to the source of the issues and saw the encounter Jack had with an employee who fired an unforgiveable spell. 

At the same exact moment, Angus felt a big burst of dark magic. He stood up and apparated to the obstacle course and saw some a grounds worker, Jack, and Robert, and they appeared to be facing off with someone who was pretty insistant on doing dark magic.

"Really? You need all these people for a little training? Then evidently, you lot aren't as tough as you say you are," the trainee said. He cast a wandless obscurus spell and fired it, intent on having the obscurus take over Joseph. Angus saw that the man intended to cast a powerful dark spell on Joseph. Angus could feel how much power this man was trying to summon. Not seeing Angus arrive, Robert apparated himself in front of Joseph and cast a protego to shield Joseph, Jack and himself.. 

"I call bullshit!" Angus shouted. He began slashing at the trainee, to distract him enough that the spell could not be cast effectively. The man spun around and began slashing at Angus--except that Angus was sharper, faster, more accurate, and just plain better. 

"Who the eff are you??" The trainee shouted at Angus.

"I am your undoing," Angus said in low, fierce tone.

"He doesn't have to report you," Robert said. 'I know exactly what happened, and its me you have to deal with."