A Birth day

"It's not all sorted," Angus said, "but he thinks we're safe enough for tonight. I'm sure I'll talk to him in the morning. You can wish she'll leave us alone, but I don't see that happening right now. I'll handle her, though. I am not afraid of her. She doesn't have the fighting skills or the brains to defeat me. I will be more concerned if she has time to get Priscilla out of jail or find some other witch or wizard to help her. Marcus is staying. He's downstairs. Get some sleep. I'll fill you in, in the morning. Goodnight, Ru." He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Andrew was in the kitchen bright and early. He had made some scones before bed and brought them this morning. He made tea and coffee, let the dog out, and he made two quiche lorraines and put them in the oven to bake. He knew there was still fruit salad from yesterday in the fridge, so he figured that was breakfast managed. He let the dog back in and fed him and brought in the papers and then put a load of laundry in the washer.

Marcus got up, went upstairs, showered, shaved, changed to fresh clothes, and came back down, bringing his laundry so he could run it through the wash when Andrew's load of Elwood's clothes were done.

"Whatever you're making smells great," Marcus said, pouring himself coffee.

"Quiche Lorraine. I made some lemon blueberry scones last night, and I set out the fruit salad that was left from yesterdays' breakfast. The quiche should be done shortly," Andrew told him.

"Good. I'm hungry," Marcus replied, picking up the Daily Prophet.

"Who are those people?" Andrew asked.

"Which people?"

"The ones walking towards the main house. They look familiar," Andrew said, looking out the window.

"That's because they're mates of Angus's. Sergio and Ana. They're good people," Marcus said. "I'm betting Robert asked them to come this morning. This could be interesting."

Ruby sighed hearing Angus and smiled up at him " all right good night Angus." she said softly as she felt him drift to sleep. Aria smelt the food and chuckled , she smiled seeing Marcus walk down refreshed.

"Smells good, all quiet last night Marcus?" she asked then turned to see who Andrew was talking about and smiled " yeah long time friends of his." she said and sipped her coffee while she took a scone and buttered it then added jam before eating it and smiling. She smiled seeing Ana and Sergio walk in " morning guys" she said happily to them " hes not up yet , Andrew has made breakfast if your hungry." she sipped her coffee and finished her scone while they all waited for Angus and ruby to come from upstairs.

Ruby woke and heard Caprice shouting from the nursery, slipping from the bed she quickly went to see what the fuss was. Opening the door she saw Caprice yelling at her toy that was on the floor now. Picking it up she sighed and gave her it back" do not throw it again" she told her as Caprice sat back down and hugged the teddy.

"It was," Marcus said, taking his first sip of coffee. "What the hell did I ever try to start my day with tea for? I have to admit it. Coffee is so much better first thing in the morning."

"No thanks," Sergio said. "We just wanted to tell you that we're here. We're supposed to meet with Robert in a few minutes but we couldn't come without at least letting you know we're here. Angus still asleep?"

"Yeah, but he'll be up shortly," Marcus said. "Stop back when you finish with him, won't you? Angus will be up by them."

"We'll do that, if Robert permits," Sergio said. "We'll see you in a short bit." They headed out the door and over to the main house.

"Was there an incident last night?" Andrew asked.

"Well, in a way," Marcus said. "Suzanne attacked my ex wife in Switzerland, and now Suzanne is on the lam."

"Oh for heaven's sake," Andrew sighed, taking the quiches out of the oven, cutting them into wedges and setting them on the sideboard with the scones and the fruit salad. "I'm surprised you aren't out to find her."

"Well, we would be, but there's a possibility that Suzanne might be trying to hunt the money that she thinks Pearl had," Marcus said. He explained Robert's knew information on how Suzanne lost her magical abilities and how Suzanne's father, Gideon, protected her from Pearl. It made sense to Marcus that Suzanne probably felt that Pearl owed her.

"So she might be looking for an inheritance then," Andrew said.

"Well, yes. I presume she thinks Elwood is dead too, like we presumed," Marcus said. "However the problem for Suzanne is that while Elwood is still alive, there is no inheritance for Suzanne--if, in fact, there ever was at all."

"How do you lot get into these screwball things?"

"We seem to be gifted that way," Marcus sighed.

Aria chuckled as Marcus said he liked coffee in the morning over tea " I know right, " she said and chuckled as she sipped her coffee smiling as she heard Sergio and ana talk and mention they would call back once they had spoken to Robert. " well your welcome here anytime, Angus would have our heads if you didn't and we'll keep you updated on the Suzzanne issue, hopefully she doesn't come here."

Ruby woke and headed down to the kitchen carful to not wake Angus since she felt he needed the sleep. " morning , oh Sergio, Ana its good to see you again" she said smiling as she walked over and hugged both of them. " what brings you here, I hope not this Suzzanne stuff" she said stepping back, well what ever it is its always good to see you both."

"We don't know yet," Sergio said. "We only know he asked if we could come for at least a few days. We're supposed to report in to Robert, and once we're done, if he doesn't have us porting off elsewhere, I'm sure we could come back and spend a little before we head off to whatever he has for us. We'll see you shortly. We'd better head off to see Robert so we aren't late." They headed to the main building.

"I'll tell you what I think they're here for," Marcus said. "They're here to help add some additional security here at the duplex somehow. We have potentially two targets now, so it makes sense to have more security. And, Sergio and Ana would be additional fighters that would certainly be welcome here any time, and that Angus would never give any static about if they were around. And, I have no doubt that if Angus felt he had to go chasing after Suzanne, Sergio would not have any more trouble keeping up with Angus than I would. In Robert's way of thinking, Sergio and Ana takes care of several birds with one stone."

"Makes sense when you put it like that," Andrew said. The kids came to fix their breakfast plates, and Angus came downstairs, more asleep than awake, still in his pajama trousers, and poured himself a mug of coffee.

"You barely have your eyes open," Marcus said.

"Why did I have children?" Angus yawned.

"What?"

"Minions. Screeching. Impatient little twerps. They are not getting my attention until I have a sip of two of coffee," Angus yawned again. Marcus actually felt a bit sorry for him.

Rub listened to Marcus and nodded "my thoughts too" she said then saw Angus walk down hearing him mention the babies she chuckled " I'll get them" she said as Aria joined her as they headed up to the nursery. Once there they bathed them and dressed them ready for the day then carried then both down to the breakfast table.

Aria went to make up two plates for the babies. Now with food both babies went quiet as they ate. Ruby made two Sippy cups for the girls and set them down in front of them.

Jack walked down to breakfast seeing Sergio and Ana walk in he nodded " morning" he said " here to see Robert?" he asked as he picked up a cup of tea.

Angus was almost dozing off over his coffee when Ruby and Aria arrived with the babies, who were still loud and impatient. Angus groaned.

"Dear God," Angus sighed. He got up, took his cup and went outside. Marcus followed him.

"You sleep alright Mate?"

"Off and on. More off than on," he replied. "Dreaming of Pearl. She was attacking Suzanne, and I actually was feeling sorry for Suzanne because she was so damned outmatched. That woke me up. Not very reassuring to feel sorry to the nice crazy woman who is trying to kill you."

"Well, it only proves you still have a heart," Marcus said.

"Shh. You'll ruin my reputation," Angus said.

"Well, maybe you'll have a quiet day. So you know, Sergio and Ana arrived a little bit ago for a meeting with Robert."

"God," Angus sighed. "He's actually bright in more security. Do you feel threatened?"

"No. Should I?"

"No," Angus said. "Perhaps they're here for Elwood. Hard to say."

"Well, that's my bet too," Marcus said.

"I need to go get dressed. We still need to have answers about where Suzanne is. God, even with a commitment to Jeffrey's, and I'm still looking over my shoulder."

"Finish your coffee. Go get breakfast. Then get dressed. It'll be fine. I'll hold them off that long if I must," Marcus smiled.

"You're right, of course," Angus said. He went inside and fixed a plate, and Marcus followed, fixing himself a plate as well, while Andrew took a breakfast tray up to Elwood.

Ruby and Aria fed the girls breakfast and ate their own food before placing the babies in their play pen and Aria sat down to watch them. Ruby has seen Angus walk outside and looked to Marcus worried.

"he is okay right?" she asked " I don't want pearl or Suzzanne messing with his sleep again" she added " still annoys be that she did that after already dealing with that Priscilla woman for so long." she looked at the babies and placed a picture book in it that was for babies. She hoped they would stay quiet " if they go for their nap I'm going to go on a run, would you mind looking after them?" she asked Aria who nodded.

"sure , just go we'll be okay" aria said to Ruby who smiled and nodded.

"I will eventually" Ruby said seeing Angus stood on the porch with his cup. Standing up she walked out and stood quietly next to him before she spoke to him. " your worried, I can tell" she said looking out over the yard and the people coming and going.

"Well, something is. I don't know if they're messing with him or if it was just his own disconcering dream," Marcus told her. "He'll be okay. I think he just honestly was in a deep sleep, and the minions squawking woke him up before he was ready. He's fine. It just got him off to a bumpy start today.

"I'm not as worried as it might seem," Angus said. "I just didn't expect the minions to be awake quite this early. I dreamed of Pearl attacking Suzanne and taking her magic from her. Suzanne was just a child. Probably a first year, by the size of her. Nobody deserved that. not even Suzanne. I don't think she was always bad. And I'm quite sure she was already bad when I met her. I also know that I made her worse when I came into her life. I want us to find her before she goes any further off the rails. that's all. That, and before she can harm one little hair on Elwood's head. I do not want him to meet her at all. I will do whatever it takes to protect him. I'll ask him after breakfast about any money he and Pearl had and where it is, and the rest of it. I don't want Suzanne robbing him. Elwood's lost enough already."

Edward stepped out to get his newspapers and saw Angus and Ruby there.

"Oh. Good morning," Edward said. "So you know, Rosaria and Carlo are back full time in the main house in Tuscany, and Evan and his family are going to stay in the main house too for awhile. It's liveable, and that puts them right there to advise the contractors as they start to work on their new house. That will give Sergio and Ana one of the guest rooms at our place."

"Oh, so you know about that, do you?" Angus asked.

"We do. Robert asked us this morning," Edward said. "We knew your rooms were all full."

"They are," Angus said. "I'm still planning on perhaps adding a room to the basement. I just haven't done it yet."

"Well, take your time. We have plenty of room. Simone is changing the sheets and refreshing the rooms as we speak. It'll be fine," Edward said. He took his newspapers and went back inside.

Ruby listened to both Marcus and Angus talk about what had happened and she nodded " we'll stop her if she even gets a hair close to him" she said to both of them " hes our family, she gave up being that when she attacked you" she said her arms folded across her chest. It was now she heard Edward and smiled to him. "Morning " she said then listened to him talk of the renovations of the main house in Tuscany. " oh that great news" she said " Rosaria will be feeling at home now."

Aria was watching the girls when she pulled out her book and began reading seeing both girls turning pages she picked them up and opened the baby book they had " this is a cat." she said pointing to a picture of a cat then she turned it and pointed to the picture of a dog " this is a dog." she saw Caprice giggle and point to Finn.

"doe doe" Caprice said and giggled making Aria chuckle.

"yes Fin is a dog" she said seeing Finn head for the door again to get away from the babies. " okay settle down" she said softly and they sat quiet as she read the rest of the book.