A Birth day

Jack chuckled " no problem , one father to another, we stick together" he said and chuckled as he grabbed some food from the section. Back at the duplex Ruby and Aria sat reading and sipping on coffee as they then saw Marcus return with food for himself and Angus. Aria smiled a she him as they could go and fetch food while he watched Angus " oh love you, and shrimp 'n' grits, I'm so there." Aria blurted out and smiled as she walked over and kissed his cheek making Ruby chuckled too as together they headed to the shelter house.

Ruby watched as Aria headed out then looked to Marcus "seems you made her day" she said and smiled " we'll be back soon, hes still sleeping, That's a good thing after everything stopping him being able, I hope." she said with a smile as she then headed out to grab a plate. Arriving she heard the chatter and saw Aria taking a bowl of shrimp and grits along with Jack who was on his second bowl, now with food in hand they walked back.

Marcus finished his breakfast, poured himself a tall mug of coffee and went upstairs. He disassembled the bed, and he took the bed to the basement, admittedly shrinking some of the pieces so he could carry them alone. Then he did the same and moved all the other pieces out as well. Jonathan came back with the cans of paint and then he headed off to take Ezra to see Robert.

Simone took the girls and they went shopping at Harrods, and just as Marcus was going to go find some tarps and paint brushes, Angus finally woke.

When Angus did wake, he looked at the clock and saw it was almost nine am. It so startled him that he jolted out of bed and threw on his clothes and raced downstairs.\

"Wait a second," Marcus said. "Is the bedroom on fire?"

"What?" Angus looked at him. "No. Is it supposed to be?"

"Just wondering. Why the rush?"

"It's nine am!"

"I'm aware. What's the hurry?"

"I have 12 hours of work to do at least and now I only have only 7 hours to do it in," Angus said.

"Calm," Marcus said, pouring Angus a cup of coffee. "You also have about 200 people or so on this estate. We'll have this room in top shape by the time we go get Elwood. Now, take that shirt off."

"I just put it on," Angus frowned.

"Clearly. Yes, but its inside out and backwards both."

"Shit."

"Here," Marcus sighed. He helped him get the shirt right, and then he looked at him. "Fuel. Drink it--before you try to paint Elwood's room on the outside of the house. I'll go fix your plate. Don't do anything before I get back. It'll take you that long to get your brain fueled up properly." Marcus went outside to fix Angus a breakfast plate.

Ruby and Aria walked back with their plates in hand and an extra one they began walking back meeting up with Marcus " here an extra for Angus" she said and chuckled as they walked back to the duplex as three men walked up each holding paint cans, rollers and brushes in their hands.and wore painting overalls .

"we're here to paint the room" they said and Ruby motioned for them to enter " Angus dear your painting party is here" she said and smiled setting her plate down on the table a she sat down to eat .

"3these grits are great, she really is a good chef." she said as she smiled eating her breakfast as she also accioed a drink for herself to wash it down.

"Thanks for bringing him a plate," Marcus said, "I was just going to get him one. If you'd have seen him three minutes ago, you'd have understood clearly why he needs me as his keeper. Angus, in a hurry while his eyes are still shut, is not a pretty sight."

"That's right. Go tell everybody," Angus said.

"Come on, Lads. I'll take you up to the bedroom," Marcus said, motioning to the painters. "It's this way." Marcus led them upstairs.

"Zoe's mother's family is cajun," Angus told Ruby and Aria. "When I interviewed her way back when I hired her, she was specific to tell me they aren't creole. They're cajun. Her father's side is French and from the West Indies area, so she knows all sorts of Louisiana cuisine. We just haven't ever mentioned that we liked Lousiana style food. So, this was sort of a test on her part. Now that she knows we like it, she'll probably do it a little more often if we like. Nicky's family is pure Jamaican. And Shannon's family is Irish and Welsh. So our kitchen crew is sort of a hodgepodge."

Jonathan came back an hour later, without Ezra. He came straight to the duplex.

"Hey, just thought you should know," Jonathan told Marcus, "undoing the spell that these candies causes is a very complicated matter, and because of the damage it causes, Robert needs to keep Ezra a couple of days. Your mother and I will cancel our trip..."

"No, now, wait minute. Finish what you were saying," Marcus said. "So, my so-very-mature sons caused their little brother to need to be hospitalized over a prank. I'm going to kill them both."

"I'm sure they didn't mean for it to go this far," Jonathan said. "They're good boys who did something incredibly stupid, but, nevertheless, it apparently takes awhile to neutralize the jinx that the candy causes, and even more to put the physical body back to rights. It is not at all pleasant, Robert said, and Ezra is going to be one sick boy in the process. Robert has assured me that he'll be back to his normal self when he's released. Your mother and I are not going to leave him like this..."

"Go," Marcus said. "I don't know of anyone better than Robert for things like this, And I'm sure Jess will be there with him to help get him through. I'll go as often as I can. We have plenty of people here to help. If I need you home, I'll send for you. You've been planning this trip for months and months. By all means, go."

"I'll go talk to your mother again, but she is not going to want to leave him like this," Angus said.

Aria chuckled hearing Marcus thank them for bringing an extra plate " would't want him to starve but yeah , brain still sleeping until caffeine infusion right?" Ruby said with a chuckle " I know some one else like that " she said and motioned to Aria who just chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

Return9ing to the duplex Marcus showed the men down to the basement room and returned to find Jonathan entering then talking to Marcus as Aria walked over. She stood and listened nodding when Marcus said they should still go on their break. " hes right we'll be here for him , if he needs anything, anything at all we'll be right there with it an for him too" she said smiling as she moved and took Marcus hand.

Ruby placed down the plate for Angus and walked over to Marcus and Aria. " I couldn't help but over hear , Aria is right , those boys are like our family too, he is in good hands with Robert and he'll not want for anything, I promise" she added smiling to Jonathon " go on your vacation, from what Marcus has told me about you you have had this a long time coming" she said with a smile and a chuckle." but we will notify you should it be needed." she reassured him.

(No, not down to the basement. They should be going up to the bedroom that aria and marcus had. that's the room that elwood is going to be using. angus is only thinking about adding another guest room in the basement. that hasn't actually been added yet.)

"I appreciate it, you lot. I do, and so does Claire," Jonathan said. " I'll talk to your mother, Marcus, but don't be surprised if she agrees with me and we postpone it. Those Egyptian mummies have been there a long time. Another year or two won't make them any difference. The kids do matter," Jonathan said. "And so does Honeydukes, for that matter. We'll let you know."

"Fair enough," Marcus nodded.

As Angus was finishing his breakfast, Simone and the girls returned home, and they were excited. They were all loaded down with packages.

"You're going to love what we got," Simone told Angus.

"We did have a little help," Anise said.

"From whom?" Angus frowned.

"From Brian, as a matter of fact. We ran into him in Herrod's of all places. Apparently Khaat ordered some designer shoes..."

"God, more stilettos," Marcus groaned. "David's gonna kill her."

"Anyway," Simone continued, "we told him what we were looking for, and he said we couldn't be farther off track trying to find southwest bedding in Herrod's. So, he took us to Colorado, called a couple friends, and they met us at their shop in town. I think you're going to love this." She opened the biggest bag and got a beautiful, soft, thick comforter in an elegant brown paisley chenille. It had matching pillow shams and throw pillows. There were soft sheets, some in brown and some in cream. And there were matching brown paisley drapes.

"Perfect," Angus said. "He's going to love those. They're rich looking, and rugged and feathery soft. And not a speck of red. I couldn't have done better."

"And we have western towels, we have rugs, we have lamps, artwork, vases, sculptures, all sorts of things."

"Even an antique humid drawer," Ginger said.

"A what?" he frowned.

"A humidor--for his pipes and cigarettes," Simone laughed.

"Oh. A humidor. Perfect. You've thought of everything. I can't thank you enough," Angus said.

"We were happy to do it, and by the way, I bought the ingredients to make Tequila Lime Chicken for lunch with Spanish rice and I bought some flans at Herrods, so we don't have to make those. And the girls can help me in the kitchen if you don't need them."

"Sounds like we'll have a great lunch," Angus said. "Thanks, Ladies. You did great."

The women started unpacking their purchases, and Andrew arrived. He had a list of things that he wanted to bring for Elwood's room, and although Angus had some of those things, he didn't have all of them. Angus gave Andrew free reign to add whatever he believed they would need and to store things wherever it made the most sense for him. Angus knew the place was going to be very busy, so he sent a few messages out. He sent one to Flourish and Blotts to order a stack of current magazines and newspapers for Elwood to read, and he also ordered some picture frames so they could frame the drawings that Cris and Poppy were doing.

Ruby caught the men and told them the room was upstairs and chuckled showing them where the room was , each man placed down a sheet and covered what was still remaining pushing each item to the middle of the room before starting removing some pictures and other items on the walls. Once the rooms walls were clear they began mixing the paint and began painting. Ruby left them to it as she saw Joseph and Jack return and sit down Joseph looking like he'd run a mile.

Aria went to the kitchen and brought out some broth for Joseph who sipped it and smiled " thank you" he said as he removed several furniture pieces from his pocket along with Jack as Jessie walked in with a box in his arms.

"We found some good pieces there was a double bed that the head can be raised up, south western style among other things." he said and placed it down " oh and there was a chaise too." he added as Jack looked to Ruby.

"the men turn up?" he asked and she nodded .

"yes there up in the room right as we speak" she said as Jack headed up to make sure they were doing it right.

"Sounds fine," Angus said. Marcus heard a knock on the door and answered it to find the order of books and magazines that Angus had ordered, along with a different order with several picture frames. He brought them in, and he and Angus worked on framing the kids' artwork. Simone took a couple of the vases and put fresh flower arrangements in them. She had purchased a bedside water carafe and glass, and Angus charmed them to stay cold and washed them so they would be ready for use.

The kids asked Angus about doing a sign for the bedroom door. They wanted something that simply said, "Granddad's Room," and they wanted it to match the decor in the room. They asked Angus to design something. Angus did one, and used calligraphy to give it some extra shape and dimension. Then he showed it to the kids. They loved it. He framed it to be able to let the kids hang it on the door later as the last finishing touch.

Simone called the girls to come help her make the Tex Mex lunch of Tequila Lime Chicken.

"I'm glad we don't do this every day," Angus told Ruby. "I should make some limeade to go with Simone's Tequila Lime Chicken for lunch."

Ruby and Aria both listened and watched as Simone cleaned and made fresh arrangement for the bedroom. It was about two hours later the men returned and smiled .

"all done?" Jack asked them and the nodded and Jack looked to Angus and nodded " maybe an hour to let the paint dry"jack told him. Taking out the items they had found in the wear house he let Angus look at it and confirm that's what they wanted for Elwood. Joseph looked at Angus and Marcus as he took out some of the items , a comfortable chair and the over bed table.

"Give me one minute," Angus said. He went upstairs and steam cleaned the carpet so that the room was sparkling clean, and then he came back downstairs. Angus looked at the furniture and approved of it. "I like it. Great work, Guys. Andrew knows what the best arrangement is for Elwood, so I'm going to let him suggest how and where that should be."

"Come on, Guys," Andrew said. "This is going to be pretty straight forward. I'll show you where this should go, and then I'll let you work at your leisure." He went upstairs and told them where he wanted the bed, the nightstands, and all the rest of the furniture. "If you get the big pieces in, we'll get the rest."