A Birth day

"Certainly," Angus said. "Take the day if you need. We'll be fine."

He woke a couple of times during the night to check on Anise, but Anise barely moved all night. He got up and changed her ice pack a couple of times. Unable to sleep, he got up at 4 am, made coffee, made a fruit salad, and made a quick batch of pumpkin scones with toasted pecans tucked into the dough as well and then drizzled a sugar glaze over them. While they were cooking, he made bacon, onion, and parmesan quiche for breakfast and one that was spinach, mushroom and cheddar.

At five, he poured himself a mug of coffee and went to the fireplace and opened a floo to Beauxbatons. He was put through to Madame Maxime without much trouble.

"Mr. Donohue," she sounded chipper this morning, "I did not expect to hear from you this morning. How can I help you?"

"Well, our situation here has changed a wee bit. Anise was practicing with me last night, and she fell and injured her knee...'

"Oh no!" Madame Maxime was wide eyed.

"The injury was significant to the cartilage and ligaments in her knee. Robert did an outpatient surgery on the knee a bit before midnight last night to try to advance repairs on it, and she's home. She's sleeping right now. He believes she very likely will still be able to compete, but I think he's thinking that she might need to have the leg in a brace or taped with sports tape in order to compete. However, I would ask for your understanding with her missing classes at least for today since she had surgery during the night."

"Oh, absolutely," Madame Maxime said. "Not a problem. I will tell her tutor. Will Ginger be attending today?"

"She will, so far as I know," Angus said.

"You will, please, keep me posted, at least once a day with updates on Anise's recovery? And if there is any need for her alternate to take her place you will let me know at once?"

"Of course," Angus said.

"Give her our best please and our wishes for a quick recovery."

"Certainly. thank you," Angus said. They ended their floo call.

"Dad?" Anise called sleepily.

"I'm right here," he reassured her.

"What time is it?"

"Just a little after five."

"Could I have some coffee, please?"

"Of course," he said. He handed her his untouched mug of coffee and went back and poured himself another, let Finn out, filled Finn's bowls and brought in the papers, and then started to set up the breakfast sideboard.

Ruby turned in her bed and found Angus side of the bed empty, it was now she remembered as she heard talking down below her. slipping from the bed she slipped on a gown and walked down to the kitchen " morning" she said smiling at both of them " how you feeling today Anise?" she asked walking over to her " you sleep okay?" she moved when Angus went to get some coffee for Anise.

Moving to get her own she sat back down next to Anise. " you talked to Madam Maxime i take it?" she asked Angus a she blew across the top of her mug and then took a sip from it feeling a little like her self as the coffee angus had made hit her system. " good coffee Angus" she said with a smile.

"I'm okay," Anise told Ruby. "I must have slept alright. I don't remember a thing."

"She barely moved all night," Angus said. "Yeah, I talked to Madame Maxime a little bit ago. She excused Anise from classes today. Breakfast will be ready as soon as I get it set out on the sideboard." He went to the door and let Finn back in. He saw Sam standing in the yard, looking at the duplex, and Angus knew what Sam wanted. Sam had had a long night. He was tired now, and he wanted a shower, clean clothes and breakfast and then sleep. "Ru, would you finish setting up the sideboard? There's a fresh fruit salad in the fridge, a tray full of pumpkin pecan scones, and there are two different quiches in the oven. I'll be back in a moment."

Angus took a plastic grocery sack, went upstairs, got a change of clothes for Sam, put the clothes in a sack, came back down, and went out on the porch. He held up the sack for Sam to see, put the sack on the porch and came back inside and shut the door.

"Are we going to let him in to shower and eat?" Anise asked.

"Not my problem this morning," Angus said quietly. "He's an adult, and he's finished his overnight shift. Now he has to work out with Jack if he's going to work his normal day shift or not. He'll have to figure out where he wants to shower at and where he's going to get some food. He's welcome to shower and eat here, but Jack may well be taking care of that for him."

"Are you angry with him?" Anise asked.

"No," Angus replied. "It's my job to help him grow up, and that's what I'm doing. I'm providing him with an opportunity to learn. If he asks, he can come in and shower and eat, but that's up to him to do." He looked out the kitchen window and saw Sam walk up on the porch, pick up the sack and leave again, glaring back at the house angrily. Angus didn't say a word.

Ruby smiled and looked to Anise " that's good" she said then heard Angus " oh wonderful means you get to stay in bed all day" she said smiling to Anise. Pausing she watched Angus and nodded " of course" she said and looked to Anise " I'll be back once I'm done" she said softly to her and headed to finish laying out the sideboard with what Angus had asked her to put out.

Jack stood to one side watching Sam his arms crossed over his chest he saw Angus walk out with a bag of clothes and he walked over " Hey, Sam, Breakfast, your shift is afternoon, find an empty room in the groundsman tower and rest" he said placing his hand on Sams shoulder and leading him to the tower " showers in that room on the right, I suggest showering now, before the others wake, dress and grab food before its gone" he added.

Angrily, Sam hurled the bag across the yard and apparated out. Angus sighed, not having a good feeling about this. He wasn't going to show Anise that he was concerned about Sam's simply apparating out. She didn't need that sort of stress. Instead, he took a clean chef's knife and cut the two quiches.

"Shall I fix you a plate, Anise?" he asked her.

"That would be great. Thanks. I'm starving," she said. He put a slice of the bacon quiche on her plate, a scone and a generous spoonful of the fruit salad and he took it to her. "That looks awesome. Thanks."

"You're very welcome," Angus said as Ginger and Victor came to the kitchen and fixed their plates.

"How are you doing?" Ginger asked Anise.

"I'm good," Anise smiled. "Starving."

"Me too," Ginger grinned.

"Anise is going to be here today," Angus said, "but one of us will take you to Evan's as usual, Ginger."

"I can take her," Victor said. "Where's Sam?"

"I don't know, exactly," Angus said. "He did an overnight shift with Jack and then apparated out."

"Out?" Victor frowned. "What's gotten into him?"

"I don't have any idea," Angus replied, going to fix his own plate. "Come fix your plate, Ru."

Jack sighed as Sam threw a tantrum and threw his bag on the floor. Once Sam was gone Jack picked it up as Joseph walked over " please put this into a spare room for Sam" he asked Joseph who nodded and took the bag inside.

Ruby saw Sam leave and sighed shaking her head. She also heard Angus and nodded turning back into the room and walking over to the side bard to make a plate for herself but as she sat down she heard the toddlers start and stood back up " I'll fetch them" she said heading up and returning with both girls in their PJ's but diaper changed setting them down in their highchairs she grabbed some food for them and set it in front of them they happily ate the food while she ate.

Victor and Ginger finished breakfast, and Ginger gathered up her bag to go to Evan's.

"I'll take her to Evan's and then I'll come straight back and go ahead to work. Jack may be a little shorthanded without Sam, so I'll see if he needs me to start a little early," Victor said.

"Thank you, Victor," Angus sighed. "I appreciate that, and I'm sure Jack will too."

"I'll update Evan and Tara about Anise when I get there," Ginger said.

"Thanks. Oh, I didn't get you a lunch today..." Angus said, feeling like he should have given her a bit of extra focus and attention in all of this.

"It's fine," Ginger waved off his concern. "Tara is always glad to cook us something if we forget to take a lunch along. She always says she's glad to be useful."

"I'll go and get her when she gets done with her classes today. Jack is always good about letting us go get them if we come straight back," Victor said.

"If it's inconvenient, you let us know, and we'll go," Angus said. Victor nodded, and then he ported out with Ginger.

"How he and Ginger and Anise can be so mature, and how Sam can be so completely off the rails frustrates me to no end," Angus sighed. Andrew arrived, and he came in, bringing a couple loaves of fresh pumpkin bread.

"That looks great," Angus told Andrew.

"I had to go into London for a bit last night after work, and I found a little bakery selling these. They were giving samples, and it was so tasty, I bought a loaf for myself and a couple loaves for you lot."

"I appreciate it. They look great and they smell even better. There's breakfast if you're hungry," Angus said.

"I'll take a plate and some coffee up to Elwood. He's probably awake by now, and then I'll fix myself a plate," Andrew said. "After I eat, I can help you freshen up if you like, Anise."

"That would be great," she said.

Angus went upstairs, showered, shaved and dressed and came back downstairs. He sent a message to the jewelers to make sure the necklace for Anise was going to be ready, and then he headed out to the garden to see what might be ripe and needed to be used. He was delighted to find some of the smaller sugar pumpkins were ready, so he brought in four of the small ones to use. He cut them in half, scooped out the seeds, put them on baking sheets and put them in the oven to roast so he could use the pumpkin later.

Midway into the morning, Angus' medallion sounded. Just his. That was odd indeed. He looked at Ruby, drawing his wand.

"I need to go," he told her. "Robert's paging me somewhere. If he's just paging me, this can't be a truly big deal, so I wouldn't worry if I were you. I'll either be right back, or I'll let you know." He clutched onto the medallion to activate it to have the medallion apparate him to wherever Robert was paging him to, and it apparated him out.

He found himself standing in the midst of the A&E in St. Mungo's. He wasn't alone for long, when Robert came over to him.

"What's up?" Angus frowned.

"We've got Sam here," Robert said quietly. "Apparently, he went into the Hogs Head with a chip on his shoulder, had several rapid firewhiskeys and then picked a fight with the wrong crowd entirely. And they responded by thrashing the daylights out of him. The aurors were called, and Sam's been placed under arrest for it. At the moment, he's been handcuffed to a gurney. He's not very sober, but he's crying like a baby and asking for you. He's pretty insistent he wants his dad.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Angus rolled his eyes. "And he's drunk?"

"Oh, yeah. The boy is wasted. I'm supposed to try to patch him up so they can toss him in the nick, but I'm not sure I want to release him to the nick. Someone bashed him over the head with a chair, so he's taken a hard knock to the head, and someone else punched him in the ribs and broke two of them. And that doesn't even cover half of it."

"I'm gonna kill him," Angus sighed, furious with Sam.

"Give me a few more minutes and then you can see him."

"Fine," Angus sighed. He walked over to the floos and opened a floo connection to Ruby. "Ru, you there?" he called. When she answered, he said,"Robert paged me to St. Mungo's. Sam apparently went to the Hogs Head this morning, got drunk, and then started a bar room brawl that he lost. Robert's got him here in A&E to patch him up. He's also been placed under arrest for his shenanigans, and they're hoping to haul him off to the nick. Not sure if Robert's going to let him be chucked in a cll, but Sam's pretty blotto right now, Robert says. Just thought you'd like to know."

Ruby smiled and nodded at Angus remark. Seeing Andrew enter and the smell that wafted from him she nodded " they smell wonderful" she said smelling the pumpkin bread she took it from Andrew and placed it in the kitchen where she then pored some coffee and handed it to him when she walked back out . " here " she said and went back top feeding the babies. She saw Angus leave and she continued feeding them that was until the floo opened.

On having the floo open and hearing Angus talk about what Robert had told him she sighed " okay, I leave him to you dear." she said and looked to Anise a little disappointed in her brother over excessive drinking especially at the hogs head. " he could have chosen a better place to drink and get into a fight" she said softly to her " but I'm leaving him to Angus to deal with since hes in a right pickle now." finishing with the babies she wiped their faces and placed both in their play pen.

"Yeah, I know you could deal with this. I know you could. I just don't want you to have to," Angus told her. "I'll do what I can and be straight back."

"If he wants me in his life, he'd better never do this again," Anise said. "I am not going to deal with his inability to be reasonable. He needs to grow up."

Angus closed the floo, and he started to hear loud wailing that sounded an awful lot like a cow panicking over getting her foot stuck in the mud. It was just loud, moaning and wailing. And then Angus recognized the sound. It was Sam, in his drunken stupor, wailing and calling for Dad. Angus was frustrated with him. He followed the sound to the door where Sam clearly had to be. Some of the healers and nurses were rolling their eyes, not having much patience for someone drunk out of their minds. Angus opened the door without invitation and went in.

Sam was black and blue all over, and he had a lot of bleeding cuts and scrapes. He was whining and crying and calling for his daddy in a slurred voice while Robert and a couple nurses tended to him. Angus just wanted him to stop shouting. He went over to the bed.

"I'm here, Sam," Angus said. Sam grasped onto Angus's wrist with an iron grip and started to apologize, repeating his 'I'm sorry"'s about a million times in a row, begging Angus not to leave him here and to let him come home and some other gibberish he didn't even understand.

Robert reached up and touched Sam's forehead, casting a sleep spell

"Shut it, Sam," Robert said as Sam fell asleep because of Robert's spell. "Angus, I am perfectly prepared to leave him right where he is until he sobers up. I can postpone him being tossed in the nick at least that long. Depending on how he is when he wakes, we can look at whether we want him off the hook or whether he needs a bit more of a life lesson."

"Fair enough," Angus sighed.

"I expect him to sleep for several hours," Robert said. "If you like, and you don't mind signing the papers for him as next of kin, we can continue to treat him and then we can call you when he's starting to wake up. That will give you and Ruby a chance to re-assess him when he's a bit more sober. I'm sure she can't be happy with him being in this state."

"I'm sure not," Angus said. "Obviously, we haven't discussed it, but we should. Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I should go home and talk to her." Angus signed the consent for Sam's treatment and then he apparated home.

"He's still in A&E and he's sleeping," Angus told Ruby. "Robert will let us know when he starts to show signs of waking. He thought we might like to discuss what we want to have happen with him between now and then."

Ruby heard Anise and nodded " yeah but I'm disappointed in him, he knows our father was a drunk , a mean drunk" she said softly but then saw Angus return from the hospital and she moved to face him as she listened to him talk and nodded " what can we do with him, we already told him to live at the guards house, you think they would send him to jail?" she asked " or we could ask for a home arrest." she paused and sighed as she slowly sat down " I don't know what we can do about him" she said looking worried at Angus.

Aria walked in and saw the look on everyone's face " okay who died?" she asked and Ruby explained what had happened " wow okay, hogs head bad neighborhood there." she said as she grabbed some coffee for herself and walked back to the living room. " so you going to let him come home?" she asked as she sipped her coffee.