Vacation to Tuscany

Bella laughed hearing that someone liked her food that she made. "Well I'm glad to hear that someone enjoys my cooking there. I'm glad that he enjoys my fish and chips there, I use an old family recipe for them." She said grinning at the thought of someone liking a meal she made.

"Well she sleeps fairly well just has a sleep walking issue. She doesn't wake up at all during it just walks about so I just put her back to bed." Bella said wondering how her daughter was doing up there but didn't want to seem edgy for asking. "I'm glad that someone will be able to catch it if she leaves the room or gets out of bed. Oh shoot I forgot to mention that when she gets up in the morning she likes having a glass of water to drink."

"I don't plan on marrying again unless I truly love them. I don't want to end up in a marriage again where I married the man but he was married to his work." Bella said smiling wryly at the thought. "My mother is old fashioned and tends to think that way. I provide fairly well for Rose and I, I love being able to have money that I earned by myself than by someone else. Well I hope that it's a while down the road before she asks again. I almost laughed at the seriousness in her voice when she asked. It was so cute, I almost lost it." Bella laughed softly at his last words. "Then you'd miss them too much if you tried that." She laughed a little more at her own words.

Her laughing stopped once she saw him move for the door. She held her breath as she listened with all her might to see who it may be there.

Bella breathed a sigh of relief that it was simply one of the body guards outside. She almost laughed at Marcus' words towards the man. She leaned back in the chair she occupied feeling relaxed and slightly sleepy. She looked towards where she knew Marcus would be when she saw Angus appear.

"Sorry I didn't mean to keep you from what you were doing Marcus." Bella said blushing slightly as she twisted slightly so she could face them better. Her back was resting on the arm rest both her legs were resting against the other arm rest but with her feet on the ground. "Thank you for talking with me Marcus, have a good evening." She said when he said he needed to get back upstairs.

Looking at Angus smiled softly, "Yes please that's if you have time." Bella said rising from her chair then turned to grab her and Rose's coats from the other arm chair. "I don't want to keep you from anything you may have to do here."

"Don't apologize," Marcus smiled. "Its no trouble. What is trouble is a slow house elf."

"I heard that," Suki called from the kitchen.

"Good. Otherwise, I'd have to decide you were deaf and slow both," he teased.

"You'd better be careful," Angus laughed.  "House elf paybacks are fearsome things."

"I know," he grinned, not willing to back down from a challenge.  He came over to Bella. "I'm going upstairs anyway. I'll take your coats and put them in your room."

"Come on. I'll take you on a quick walk through," Angus told Bella. He took her towards the kitchen when he saw the tea tray start to float, with a bit more speed than usual, out of the kitchen. "Duck!" he told Bella, not wanting her to get clocked with the tea tray. "Hey! Suki, watch the tea, would you?"

"Ok as long as it wasn't any trouble." Bella said smiling at him. She almost laughed when he mentioned a slow house elf. She wondered what Suki would do to Marcus for his words. She had never had a house elf around but she found that she liked them. "What would Suki do to get back at him?" She asked looking at Angus curiously.

"Oh thank you Marcus," Bella said as she gave him the coats making sure that they weren't dropping anything from the pockets. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of this."

Bella followed Angus towards the kitchen and quickly ducked when he said to. She giggled softly, "Oh my goodness, it must be amazing to live here. It's so lively and it certainly keeps you on your toes." She said as she stood back up from how she ducked to avoid the floating tea tray. "Everything here is so beautiful and the people here are so friendly as well. You must be really lucky to be able to live with all of them."

"He wants it fast, he'll get it fast," she said, nodding smuggly.  He was about to say something to Suki, but she apparated out of the room. He shook his head.

"I warned him," Angus said.  "There isn't a lot of 'down time' here, thats for sure.  You're right, though.  It is a unique place. And for me it reminds me of my grandfather's compound. The minister and his wife now lives here most of the time because they're great help with the kids.  They moved in here when he was injured last year.  He needed a safe place to recover with a lot of us around to help.  This was the logical fit.  

"And now that he's well again, well, we like having them here as much as they like being here.  So, most of the time, they're here now.  Khaat's kids just kind of come apart when their Papa isn't around.  Oh--Robert is Papa because they couldn't say Grandpa at the time.  And Brian is daddy. Usually its interchangeable for daddy, just not here.  The kids mean it differently.  

He took her into the large kitchen.  It had all the warmth of a large southwest kitchen, but all the efficiency of a commercial kitchen.  "You'd find your way around here as easily as you do at the Leaky. Restaurant kitchens are all pretty much the same.  The biggest difference is that Khaat was insistant that we keep the wood and the southwest decor.  She wants this to always feel like home for her family and friends. So, we just clean a little more. Come with me down to the basement."

He led her downstairs and saw all the lights already on downstairs.  That meant someone was most likely down here. He expected the pool to be in use.  But the large basement pool area was empty. 

"Perfect for a dip, any time of the year," he said.  "All of us swim, even the kids.  Brian and Khaat taught them when they were babies. Of any of the sports she misses, I think Khaat misses swimming the most. We're hoping Robert can restore functioning to her arm at some point.  

"There's a full gym down here with a training room for more 'aggressive' stuff, a couple of offices, and..."  He heard the distinctive click of a slide of a revolver being snapped into place. 

"Robert! That you?" he called out.  

"In here," Robert called from one of the rooms on the far side of the pool.

"Great," Angus sighed. "We have a weapons locker--which is protected by some strong age line spells and other things to keep anyone not authorized to be in there out. And thats exactly where he is.  Robert is a collector of muggle weapons, and we've found some of them to actually be useful here too. So we brought some of them over from his place.  Sounds like he's cleaning guns. Obviously, storytime is quite over."

He walked over to the office and saw Robert had torn down three identical semi-automatic pistols and had them laid out on white towels, cleaning them.

"They can't be dirty, you know.  We haven't used them," Angus said to him.

"You'd be surprised," Robert said.  "Who's your friend?"

"Bella, this is Robert Lupin--our Minister of Magic..."

"Amongst other things," Robert smiled at her.

"Indeed," Angus said.  "This is Bella Watson.  You're also a fan of her fish and chips. You've had your fair share of them.  She's the one who makes them at the Leaky. "

"My fair share of them?" Robert echoed. "Mine and someone else's fair share, most likely. Hello, Bella."

"She and her daughter Rose are staying the night and then coming with me to Edward's in the morning."

"Now, that's a spot for a vacation," Robert said.  "You'll have a great time, I'm sure. Nice to meet you. Make yourself at home here. Any friend of Angus, as they say,..."

Bella laughed at Suki's words, "Well he did say that he knew what house elves could have fearsome payback." She grinned as she looked at Angus again. "Do you miss being near your grandfather?" Bella said as she wondered what the minister was like. "Sounds like a good thing that he was able to recover here. It got him closer to family and kept him protected while he recovered. I'm glad that the kids could have their grandfather around."

"Well that makes things a lot easier when it comes to navigating the kitchen." Bella said as she looked around it. "I think the southwest decor and the wood makes this kitchen look amazing. I love the look of everything in here, it really does feel like home. I would love to have a kitchen like this if I found a house I wanted to buy." She loved the look of the kitchen and really wanted one this size. "Lead the way," She said with a smile.

Bella followed him down to the basement and couldn't believe how big this house was. "My goodness now I know I'm gonna end up getting lost if I don't have a map." She said as she looked around the pool area. "That sounds amazing to be able to swim whenever you want. I know Rose would love the idea of that in the house. She's a fish when it comes to water, it's like she's a dolphin in the water." When she heard about Khaat's arm she felt bad. "I hope that he can so she can enjoy swimming again."

When Angus cut off his sentence she also heard a click but couldn't figure out what it was. Hearing that the minister of magic was in the basement she became very curious of what it was.

"A weapons locker? Oh muggle weapons, well he would get along with my father quite well. He loves everything muggle and it has several guns but they are fairly large." Bella said as she followed him towards the office where the minister was.

Bella smiled at Robert softly, "Hello Mr. Lupin it's a pleasure to meet you." She said not knowing what really to say to the minister of magic. Bella giggled softly when he said that he wasn't the only one. "Well I'm glad that you enjoy the fish and chips that I make. Though I'm sure I don't have anything on Angus' cooking skills."

"I'm excited to be going on vacation for once and it's going to be nice to see how Rose reacts." Bella said smiling softly. "Thank you Mr. Lupin I truly appreciate your family for everything. Khaat is a wonderful person and I'm glad that I have her as a friend as well as everyone else here."

"My grandfather visits here often, and I try to port to his place every few days to pick up fresh seafood. My family has some boats. Some of them are fishing boats, and my brothers get some lovely seafood. Nothing like getting some of the morning catch as soon as the ship docks.  But, I haven't spent any time there for a year or two. I do miss it. And I miss the family," Angus said. "Although its about as crazy there as it is here."

"You'll enjoy Edward's," Robert said. "Incredible, incredible food and wine. Pristine white sandy beach just steps from the compound, warm Mediterranean waters. And the sunrises and sunsets are like nowhere else.

"Did you tell her she's welcome to join us before breakfast for exercise?" Robert asked.

"No," Angus laughed. "We're going on vacation. Who, in their right mind wants to get up at 4 am to exercise before breakfast if they don't need to."

"You mean I won't find you training in the morning?" he teased.

"Do I get holiday pay?" Angus returned the teasing.

"At double pay? No. But I might pay you double pay if you make cinnamon rolls before you go. Triple if you actually make breakfast."

"Triple pay?" He frowned. "For breakfast? Are you serious?"

"Am I laughing?" Robert asked. "Unless of course, you can't manage it on short notice. And having breakfast on the table by six as usual?"

Angus looked at Bella.  He was being dared and he knew it. He hated to turn down such an easy dare just on sheer principle.  "I think I should take that dare, don't you?"

"Well that's good that you get to see him when he comes to visit." Bella said smiling softly, "That must be great to get fresh seafood right off the boat. Well I'm glad that you'll be able to go and visit with family. Please let me know if either Rose or I am interfering on anything." She was worried that she might interfere with him spending quality time with his family.

"It sounds wonderful, I'm really looking forward to going." She said with a smile and just thought about all the beauty that Tuscany held. "I can't wait to see the sunsets, I bought a camera just to take pictures of everything. I'm hoping that Rose will love it just as much as everything else."

"You exercise before breakfast?" Bella asked as she looked at him. "What kind of exercising do you do at 4 am?" She was genuinely curious about what they get up to at 4 am.

She smiled at the teasing they were doing back and forth. Then she laughed at Robert's words about not laughing about triple pay for breakfast. "Sorry I couldn't help myself." Bella said grinning as she looked at them banter back and forth. "Well I wouldn't back from a dare, I think you should take him up on that." Her mouth then decided to yawn, she covered her mouth. She blushed softly and said, "Sorry guess today wore me out."

"I'll let you know," Angus smiled, "but I can't see that you're going to be a problem with anything. He's right, though. There are some of us who train at 4 am. That's because it gives those who work time to go up and shower and dress for the day and get downstairs and have breakfast with the family and still be to work by 8. And, I have time to cook while they're showering and dressing. Makes for a couple of busy hours in the morning."

He saw her laughing about the dare Robert posed to him. "It's just too easy isn't it?" He laughed. "He's just aiming for the cinnamon rolls, I think. Alright, Robert. You're on."

"And you'd better get Bella upstairs before she falls asleep," Robert said.

"Agreed," Angus said. "See you in the morning, Robert. Shall we, Bella?" He motioned to her and led her back upstairs. He decided to short cut part of the house tour and let her rest. She was right. It had been a long day. "Let me show you to your room."

"Okay," Bella said as she smiled back at him. "Well I'm not really early morning person. I usually am up around six but I don't know about four am. Well it's a good thing sometimes to get up that early if you have to work so early in the morning. I know I usually go for a run in the morning with Rose, she a stroller she sits in while I run with it. Do you mind if I sit in the kitchen while you cook? I'll make sure I'm not in the way, it will give me an excuse to get up early." Bella wondered what it would be like to see him work in the kitchen here. Her's was small but this one was huge and he was cooking for a lot more people. She wanted to see what it was like to work with that much ease in the kitchen.

"You know Mr. Lupin if it's just cinnamon rolls I think you should add something else too. It does seem a bit too easy to make just the cinnamon rolls." Bella said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Yes, oh goodnight Mr. Lupin," Bella said as she followed Angus out of the room hoping that she would fall right to sleep. "That sounds like a good idea, I may not even need anything to help me sleep. I didn't realize I was this tired until now, guess I just was just running on the energy from earlier." She yawned again at the end of her words covering her mouth once again.

"You don't have to get up at four. Really," he laughed. "That's just really an ungodly hour. If you want to join me in the kitchen, I'll be there by 5:30 or six.  And if you want to run or walk, we can do it in Tuscany later in the day.  Trust me, there is no one more suffocatingly nurturing to little kids than my family. Rose will have more women looking after her that they're going to be begging you for time with her. You'll have time to run if you want--with or without Rose. Either way."

When they got to the second floor, they went down the hallway several doors, and he opened a door on the left to show her a room decorated in pink and purple, and it was lit with dim nightlights. The ceiling sparkled with glittery enchantments of animals that happily danced with colorful light. The kids were all peacefully sleeping.

"Rose is there," he pointed to the first bed on the right.  "She's fine. And you,..." he turned and opened the door right across the hall, "are in here tonight."  

The room, like all the others, was done in southwest decor, but had white eyelet lace linens, a white lace duvet, and was done to be a unique blend of the west and of the feminine.  There was a fire in the stone fireplace.  

"You should have plenty of towels in the bathroom," he said, "And your bags are in the closet. Don't be surprised if you find a tea tray here in the morning. The house elves send some up every morning. Actually, its a nice way to wake up with a cup of tea before your feet hit the floor. Anything else you need?"