A Birth day

Ruby listened to them talk about the color scheme and chuckled but liked his thinking. Hearing Marcus she shook her head " I'll grab one after Angus" she said " I still have some cleaning in the kitchen to finish first." she said with a smile as she wiped down the table. Aria had heard Marcus and chuckled and nodded

"same here" she said to Marcus and chuckled again " but you and I both know it won't be a quiet day tomorrow but we can make it a semi quiet day" she said and watched as Finn walked in and settled down next to Angus and fell asleep beside the chair.

"Sounds fine," Angus said. "With them cooking in the shelterhouse, we'll only have to make coffee and tea in the morning. That'll help us get to work sooner--maybe. Or maybe not. Depending on how extensive their sideboard is."

Marcus helped him with a shower and then he took longer than expected to clean Angus's wound and to put a clean dressing on it. It really had made Angus's shoulder quite sore and painful after Marcus was finished with it.

"I know," Marcus was replying to Angus as they were coming downstairs., "but wounds from poisoned blades can get messy. Protest all you like, but you really don't want me to leave it unattended. That'll cause more problems than you want. I'll get you just a part of a dose of pain potion. That'll put that to rights." Angus went back and sat down, and Marcus went out to the kitchen. "He's a trifle irked with me because I changed his shoulder dressing. It's rather messy looking, and it needed cleaned and changed, and now it hurts. Poisoned blades can do that. Not the first time I've seen it. Just a part of a dose of pain potion should calm things down. Anyway, the shower is clean, and it's all yours. I made sure there was no seepage from his shoulder left in there. No point in leaving a mess for someone else to contend with. While you're showering, Ruby, I'll go make the security check."

He turned to see Finn heading upstairs to the nursery.

"Looks like Finn is heading to bed," Marcus laughed. "He still goes upstairs even though the minions aren't up there. He has his routine, I guess."

Ruby heard Marcus walk down and talk to Angus she pored a dose of pain potion and placed it on the counter for Marcus to take as he said the shower was free and clean " thank you" she said and smiled " and yes it need to be looked at and cleaned, how else can we see how its healing" she said to Marcus before she watched Finn head up and chuckled " yeah, guess he does and okay I'll go shower so Aria can stay with Angus.." she said and placed down two cups of coffee for Marcus and Angus while Aria looked out on to the yard watching the grounds men walk out on patrol.

Aria heard Marcus and nodded to him as he said he would do his rounds. " upstairs is all locked up" she said knowing he would want to do his own checks to add to hers in his own mind. Ruby washed and changed then as she dried her hair she sat on the bed and laid back on it feeling relived everything so far had gone good and Angus could , she hoped , get a good night sleep with out some one attacking him physically or through his dreams. Now with her hair dry she pulled back the covers ready to climb in but headed down stairs first.

"Oh, I know," Angus sighed. "He just got overly aggressive with it."

"I did not," Marcus laughed, amused. "You were a right foul mess. Better me than to let Robert do it, or even worse, Nigel."

"Nigel is a bloody barbarian," Angus grumbled.

"Well, he must have surely skipped all the coursework about Bedside Manner because he has none. I'll agree with you there," Marcus said.

"You know, if we could find that out, we might have blackmail material," Angus said.

"No we wouldn't," Marcus said. "Your theory has one problem. Nigel Sigworth has no bedside manner at all, and he doesn't give a damn. You can't blackmail a man about something he doesn't give a rip about."

"Did you ever wonder who would win a game of chess between Robert and Nigel?" Angus asked.

"No. Robert would win. Hands down," Marcus said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Nigel is up front, candid, truthful. You always know where you stand with him. He does not have Robert's ability to be sneaky. If you get right down to it, Robert is one of the sneakiest men you'll ever meet in your life. Its why he has the job he has. They can't find anyone else to out-sneak him."

"Well, you have a point there," Angus said, yawning. Marcus went to make the check on the doors and windows, and when he came back, he found Angus asleep with the potions cup still in his hand, the last little bit of the pain potion still in the cup. Marcus went upstairs to start packing up his things and Aria's in the bedroom while the house was quiet.

Aria heard the banter and chuckled " that I agree with" she said about the who would win between Robert and Nigel. Seeing Angus slowly fall asleep she smiled and looked to Marcus " I'll stay with him while you pack up our things" she said softly to him as she took the potions cup from him to take to the kitchen to wash it off and put it away for the next dose. Aria saw Ruby walk down and smiled " he just fella sleep" she said walking back to the living room.

Both sat and waited for Marcus to finish his rounds , but after a while Ruby decided to head to their room to sleep . Aria sat and waited for Marcus taking out her book she opened it and began reading the next chapter in it to keep her self occupied.

Marcus finished the packing rather quickly and he brought their boxes downstairs to take them home.

"I'm not sure what clothes you want to leave here and which ones you want to go home," Marcus told Aria, "I figured you'd rather make your own decisions about your clothes, but I put a box of my things on the floor near the doorway up there. That box is the stuff I'm going to put in the nursery as a stash of things. I have a pair of jeans, a pair of sweats for jogging, a polo, a pullover, a set of mission wear and a few toiletries. Oh, and I put one of my suits in the nursery closet, just in case. You're welcome to add your things to the box I left near the bedroom door. I'll put the box in the nursery when you get your own clothes sorted. And I left a couple empty boxes for you to put in anything else that needs to go home. I'll either take the boxes home or have Zane and Kai come and get them." He looked at Angus. "If he sleeps in that position, he's going to have one stiff neck in the morning. I probably should wake him and send him upstairs. I think he's probably extra tired because he finally can breathe a wee bit easier without Pearl haunting him. Now we're just back to Priscilla like we've been for the last several months."

"Angus," Marcus woke him. "You're going to end up stiff and sore sitting like that all night. We've got things under control. Go up and get a proper night's rest for a change." Angus simply got up sleepily, and he went upstairs to bed. "He'll feel better for it in the morning," Marcus told Aria.

Aria saw Marcus return with a box and explain there was a box for the things she wanted to take home while leaving some things in the nursery closet for in case moments. Aria nodded and chuckled as he woke Angus but moved upstairs to the room taking out the things she didn't want to keep there she left two white shirts of Marcus she had borrowed and a pair of jeans. She also left a pair of trainers. Moving them to the nursery closet she placed everything else into the box , but left some jewellery in a small wooden box placing it with her clothing in the closet she carried the box down and placed it by the stairs " all done" she said " we can take the box back ourselves , save disturbing the boys" she said smiling as she saw Angus wake and head up " still half asleep that one" she said with a smile " so whose on first shift?" she asked " are you taking the night and I'm on days still?" she asked him.

Ruby had just settled into bed when she saw a rather sleepy Angus enter the room , gently she steered him to his side and pulled back the covers she gently sat him down then lay him down " sleep well dear" she said softly a she kissed his cheek then drew the covers over him before she returned to her side and lay down her arm resting gently over his waist as she smiled feeling him laid next to her again.

"That's fine," Marcus said. "If you want to take first shift, that's fine, Aria. I think, if he isn't disturbed, he's going to not be up extra early. He'll be up at his normal time. He's going to want me to go to the hardware with him as soon as the first one he can find is open. I doubt we'll find anything open before eight, so we'll have time for breakfast before we go, I'm quite sure. I doubt very much that he'll try to get me to help him paint. I mean, I would if he asked, but I think he'll ask the boys to give him a hand. If he's smart, with that shoulder, he'll have the boys do it. Well, wait a minute. Sam and Victor? Doing a painting job on their own? That might not be wise. And I don't know if Ruby's done any room painting. I might see if either Jack has a couple lads that could knock it out quickly for us or I'll ask Jessie and Yu if they want to do it. That is, if Ruby doesn't prefer to deal with that herself. i just don't want Angus to think his shoulder is going to be up for it.

" As for sleeping," Marcus said, "I'll try to get a little shut eye when we get back. So as long as you're up and ready to take over by eight, we'll be fine. Are you sleeping upstairs or heading home?

Aria listened to Marcus and chuckled " yeah they might not be the best choice, there not exactly painters, maybe Jessie and Jack could help " she said then nodded as he spoke of the shifts " I'll sleep here tonight2 she said smiling a she kissed his cheek " I'll be up at eight to relive you" she said as she headed up to their room once showered and changed into PJ's she slipped into bed and fella sleep read for the next morning.

Ruby was up early the next morning starting breakfast before any one was up , she made fresh coffee and tea placing the pots where every one could grab a cup before they headed out knowing Marcus and Angus were going to leave early, She also remembered not to make food since food was being made by the others celebrating the finishing of the new building.

Marcus went up and showered and dressed and shaved and came back downstairs. he checked on Angus, laid out clothes for him, and then headed downstairs. He put his own dirty clothes in a bag and put them on top of the boxes that needed to go over to the cottage.

"Angus is still out like a light. I think we should just let him sleep," Marcus told Ruby. "He's been disturbed enough by Pearl that if he can sleep a little longer, I think we should let him have it." He heard some shouting, and he looked out the front door to see Finn was outside. He had something bright red in his mouth, and he was running like the wind across the yard, and then he saw his boys--all three of them--Zane, Kai and Ezra--running behind the dog trying to catch him.

"Get 'im!" Kai was shouting.

"How? He's running to China!" Ezra was shouting. Robert and Michael were standing by the pool, on their way in from a run, and they were stopped in their tracks, laughing.

"What's he got?" Marcus called.

"My knickers!" Kai shouted. Marcus burst into laughter.

"You're never gonna catch him like that," Marcus called. "Would you like me to port you to Shanghai?"

"Shang..who's that?" Ezra asked, looking at his father.

"Stop chasing the dog, you little idiots," Jonathan was walking across the yard.