A Birth day

"For the moment, anyway," Marcus laughed. "If they're like any other red blooded teen, it won't last long."

Andrew cut the cheesecake into slivers so everyone could have half a slice of each. Sam served mugs of coffee, and Ginger and Anise cleared the supper dishes off the table and put the leftovers away. Andrew took dessert and coffee up to Elwood then before he ate his own dessert.

Andrew's favorite was the chocolate, and Angus' favorite, by far, was the orange cardamom. Marcus favored the cardamom too. He liked the orange cardamom with the mug of coffee. The kids like both the cheesecakes. They ate, and then they went to shower. Angus made sure that Sergio and Ana got supper and dessert for their work in babysitting the minions, and Sergio and Ana were beaming, quick to tell them how much fun it was. In fact, the babies had already been bathed, fed, put into their pajamas and tucked safely in their new beds. They had taken good care of Caprice with her broken nose, and she was sleeping very comfortably now.

Sergio and Ana had their supper and then they went to tackle the running course and the obstacle course.

"Do you two mind if Marcus and I go run with Sergio and Ana?" Angus asked Ruby and Aria. "I don't get to do much with Sergio these days, and I miss it."

Aria chuckled and nodded at Marcus words then she and Ruby both liked both deserts and ate them both smiling. as they finished their desert. Ruby and Aria both heard Angus and smiled " go ahead its okay" Ruby said to Angus kissing his cheek " just don't break anything, and thank them for looking after the babies for me, please. " she teased as she helped clean up after the desert.

Aria chuckled and looked to Marcus " you going with him or staying here " she asked him " he is right its been awhile since hes spent any time with his friends." she admitted " and they are safe" she added as she picked up his empty plate and carried it to the kitchen and placed it in the washer.

"Already did," Angus told Ruby when she told him to thank them.

"Well, of course," Marcus told Aria, transfiguring his clothes to running clothes. "Someone has to even the odds. Otherwise its two against one, and Sergio will beat his arse. Come on, Slowpoke. We have to catch up to them."

"I'd still beat Sergio," Angus laughed, transfiguring his clothes into running clothes. Marcus and Angus apparated to the running course, and when he got there, he saw Sergio and Ana had already gotten a small headstart. Angus kicked up the difficulty level of the course a notch, and then, Angus and Marcus took off like they had been shot out of a gun to try to catch up with Sergio and Ana.

Sergio and Ana figured out immediately that someone had changed the difficulty level, and that meant the gloves were off. All four of them were out to beat the others. It was a lot of personal pranking, playful insulting, and endless hysterical laughter.

Angus had forgotten to tell them about the new section on the obstacle course, though, so when they got there, Sergio and Ana were both blindsided by it. They were both hit with stun spells by the training dummies, and Angus raced in front of them and took on the dummies by himself while Marcus stayed back to cover Sergio and Ana with a protego to protect them until they regained themselves. By that time, Angus had somewhat forgotten to use a training level spell. Just as Ana and Sergio were getting to their feet, Angus accidently blew up the training dummies. The dummies disintegrated into pieces and collapsed on the ground in flames and smoke. Things got quiet, except for the crackle of flames.

"Oops," Angus said quietly.

"Oh, way to go, Tex. Robert isn't going to be happy with you," Marcus said. "What are you going to tell him?"

"I'm going to tell him I deserve a damned raise because I blew his so-called indestructible training dummies to smithereens. I'm good," Angus grinned.

"That's one excuse that's going to crash and burn like the Hindenburg," Marcus shook his head.

Ruby and Aria both smiled at Marcus and Angus " okay Marcus , you go and beat there butts" Aria said teasingly knowing it was all in good fun. Ruby chuckled and looked to Angus " okay, enjoy your run" she said smiling to him as she saw him transfigure his clothes to running gear and smiled " still look hot in those" she said smiling as she watched him and Marcus run off. "ah we have two of the hottest men around" Ruby said making Aria chukle but nod her head .

"oh yeah, mine has a butt to die for" she said and both woman laughed as they continued to clean up the desert plates. Once done both sat down to read. Jack had ben out on patrol when he heard an explosion from the assault course and saw and smelt smoke " oh hell no" he said and ran over coming to a halt he looked at the smoldering pile that use to be the dummies and who had done it , this made him rub his noise.

"Let me guess, Angus?" he asked looking to wards both men.

"Wasn't my fault," Angus shrugged.

"The real story is that he got carried away and took all of them out by himself," Marcus laughed.

"I've never seen one fighter completely take out a whole squad of dummies," Sergio laughed.

"Is that really what he does now when he's unleashed?" Ana asked.

"Nah," Marcus said.

"Oh, thank goodness," Ana said.

"No, that was a little tame for him," Marcus laughed.

"Cabbage," Ana scowled at Angus.

"Varza Murata," Angus teased her.

"She calls him cabbage, and he calls her sauerkraut," Sergio shook his head. "Some things never change, and that's always followed by..." Sergio began, and Angus kissed Ana on the forehead to show it was all in fun, with no hard feelings. Ana laughed. "...that," Sergio laughed. "They act like siblings."

"What the hell did you juvenile delinquents do?" Robert arrived, in jeans and a white western style shirt.

"Did you or did you not want us to prove we could take them?" Angus asked.

"I did not mean for you to blow them up before I had fully paid for them," Robert scowled.

"But just think how efficient that makes me on missions," Angus said.

"If you're going against training dummies, yes," Robert sighed. "Clean this mess up, would you?"

"Doesn't he have to pay for them?" Marcus asked.

"Would do no good. He wouldn't learn a damned thing. He'd write a check and that would be that," Robert sighed. "I'll get him, in my own way, when I'm damned good and ready. Just remember, Angus, paybacks are hell." He turned and walked back to the house.

"What do you suppose he's going to do?" Ana asked.

"No idea," Angus said. "He'll get over it in a day or two."

"It was a good workout, all the same," Sergio said. "Jack, can we help clean up the mess?"

jack looked at Angus and shook his head as Robert walked over to them and spoke to Angus about the dummies and chuckled " we have spares" he said but could not help look at the charcoal remains of the dummies.in front of him. Hearing Sergio ask if they could help clean up the remains he shook his head " no your good, I'll get some of the groundsmen to clean it, and replace the dummies but for now the assault course is closed" he said waving over four men who had a metal bucket and spade to scoop up the blackened wood parts and hot metal.

Once done others carried new dummies over that were just ordinary ones . " these won't stand full force magic attacks but they'll do as a stand in " Jack said as the last dummy as put in place. He looked at Angus and frowned " please do not blow these up as e don't have spares for our spares" he said looking to Marcus.

"He's done for the night anyway," Marcus said. "I'll try to keep him out of trouble. Thanks, Jack. We'll tell the kids to continue to avoid the obstacle course."

"The kids don't like the obstacle course as it is, so they won't be broken hearted to avoid it for a day or so," Angus said. "They're still, comparatively, beginners. So the obstacle course is sometimes way too hard for them. I need to work with them more. And, that reminds me. Anise has been chosen to represent Beauxbatons in an international dueling championship, and that's coming up in a week or two. So, anything we all can do to help her polish up different skills and techniques, I'm sure she would appreciate it. She's extremely nervous. I honestly don't care if she wins or loses because it's an honor to be chosen to represent the whole school. I just want her to go and do her best and have a good time. She feels she has to win. Any ideas you have would be appreciated, Jack."

Jack heard Marcus and chuckled then he listened to Angus and nodded " the course should be fine for beginners" he said then listened more to Angus talk of Anises competition " not that I know of " he admitted , my kids just did as they needed and well accepted when her said they are great even if they aren't top" he said " oh, maybe sparing with her might help?" he suggested to Angus . " Jacobs free tomorrow he could help spar with her?" he suggested just as Jacob waked up with a dummy in his arms

" last one " he said placing it down and looking to Jack " sure might help us both in our dueling" he admitted " would also show her that i'm here and not that good, nether does she have to be"

"We'll mention it to her. I think she'll probably be up for it. She's taken some pointers from her dad," Marcus said. "She's quick, damned quick, and she's been working on accuracy."

"I think she's a little weak on her footwork," Angus said. "She needs to not have to pay attention to her feet, but, by the same token, she needs to be aware if there's a tree root or a rock that she's at risk of falling over. That whole full-body awareness thing is going to take her a little polishing, but I think she'll get it. I might have to bring Pascal back, my fencing instructor, and see if he'll work with her to help her work on the footwork thing."

"You could ask Kate too," Marcus said. "She seems to do that footwork thing really well."

"Did you ever go look at the trophies in the trophy room at Hogwarts?" Angus asked.

"Can't say that I did," Marcus said.

"Well, if you ever get the chance again, you should. Look at the dance club trophies. You'll see Katherine Fawcett on a couple. That's our Kate," Angus said. "She did really well in dance club. I think that's where she gets some of that."

"Would make sense," Marcus agreed.

Jack stood and listened to Angus talking and smiled nodding 2 yep hes right I have seen it myself" Jack said " and if its foot work no one better than a dance master" he said as Joseph looked to Jack who sent him on his way to continue his patrol. Joseph left and headed to the patrol area.

Jack looked at Angus and Marcus , Sergio and Ana as he stood in front of him. Now with the new dummy's in place he looked at them and chuckled " okay I'll let you guys continue but yeah Kate is the best for foot work training with Anise" he said and waved to them as he headed back to the barn to finish feeding and string the animals they had.