A Birth day

Ruby had been playing with Caprice on the living room floor on her play mat when she heard Angus start to move on the bed. Placing Caprice in her bouncer chair she stood up watching Marcus and Edward talking to him. She moved to the kitchen and headed to the broth once more until it was hot enough to eat. Hearing Marcus ask about the broth she smiled "Yes, it's just right" she said and poured some into a clean cup for him to drink. Carrying it over with a cloth she let Marcus move to one side and she sat down on th edge of the bed " drink this it will do you good, its your bone broth" she said smiling at him as she gently placed thecup to his lips so he could sip the broth inside .

Once he was done she placed the cup down next to him and set a warming charm on it to keep what was left warm enough for him to drink should he want more later. " its good to see you awake" she said brushing some of his hair off his face.

He didn't question her bringing the broth. He just accepted it. His stomach accepted the broth better than the coffee.

'Thanks," he told her. He looked around, and it was beginning to look like it wasn't St Mungo's. "Looks like home," he told her, "But this is someone else's bed. Did someone hex my chair?" Marcus laughed out loud.

"Hey, Robert poured big bucks into this bed. This one is only sold to multimillionaires to recover in," Marcus laughed. "It ranks six stars out of five."

"And its a twin? There isn't a millionaire on the planet that would sleep in a twin. He's being ripped off."

"You can tell him when he gets back."

"Back? Where'd he go?"

"He went to burn down Gelding's house," Marcus said.

"Too bad you're not serious," Angus said.

"Oh, but I am. That really is where he went," Marcus said. Angus looked at him, trying not to yawn.

"Good. I hope he does some good," Angus said. He looked at Ruby. "Ru, I didn't know. I didn't know where we were going. I wouldn't have gone if I'd known..." Marcus laid a hand on his leg for a moment to interrupt Angus's thought and to anchor him a little. "I don't think she feels the same way ou do, Mate," Marcus said. "I haven't had a cigarette all day, so I"m smoking one of yours. I'll only be about three steps away, so call if you need me." Marcus excused himself back onto the deck so Angus and Ruby could talk.

Ruby sat and listened to Angus and chuckled at the comment of the bed not being his and being someone else "Your recliner is safe in the basment and we can put it back once you're recovered" she said then looked back at Marcus as he spoke of not going with Robert. " Angus you did the right thing, you trusted him and he fixed your shoulder, so no reason to apologise" she told him " even I trust Robert and you trusted Marcus to have your back and he did" she said smiling up at Marcus threw the window.

Taking Angus good hand she smiled at him " hes a good man , and if you trust him then I do too" she said to him " and Robert and the others real are on their way to burn down Geldings house for what they did to you, But as much as I would have loved to cast a fireball spell at the house myself for what they did I chose to stay here with you and Caprice, you and Caprice are my priority now." she picked up the cup again and offered it to him letting him finish the rest of the broth.

Placing the empty cup down she lent over and gently kissed him " rest now, Marcus will be close as will I." she told him softly with a gentle smile on her face.

"Thanks," he said, appreciative that she was not put off by yet another few days of the house being upset by medical equipment right in the center of everything. He wasn't debating that his shoulder had needed a repair of some sort, but how it had been done had been a bolloxed up mess. "Just so you know, it's dirty pool to muck with a man who's been potion-ed out of his senses," he told her, more teasing than not. "Bring me home and change the bloody furniture without tell me? You can confuse the heck out of somebody doing that." Angus heard Nigel snicker.

"Now that you're starting to come back into your senses, it'll be a lot harder to put one over on you, Lad," Nigel said, amused. "Personally, I think Robert should thrash you good and proper for beating the hell out of that shoulder for years and not letting him fix it as you went along. You've obviously had repeated injuries to that shoulder that you never told him about."

"What are you talking about? I've had the odd twinge from time to time, but not anything more than that," Angus said.

"See what I mean?" Nigel said to Ruby. "He's all rough and tumble. Better get used to it. Ask Jess. Her bloke is out of the same mold as yours. She's learned that part of her lot is to keep splints and tapes handy because it isn't just plasters with her husband. Its sprains, strains, and broken bones. I think that's your lot with this one too. He does the same thing, and they become far less sensitive to pain. He's going to have to be re-educated on what's important to let Robert fix and what he can just weather out. The bottom line, Angus, is that when this heals and you do the rehab for it, you're going to feel immensely better than you did before." He came over to check Angus's shoulder, and he gently uncovered the wound to look at it. "I'm going to replace the dressing and then get you an ice pack," Nigel said.

"I can do one better," Andrew said. "I ordered some magic wraps."

"Did you? Bless you," Nigel smiled. "Robert is going to buy stock in the company when he sees those. They're so new, I'm sure he hasn't even seen those yet. Did you get single or double enchantment?"

"Ah, they have some new ones. These are quints," Andrew said, and Nigel frowned, never having heard of these. Andrew nodded. "Not only do these do the cold, and the alternating cold, but they can also do heat, alternating heat, and alternating ice to heat. And--they're breathable. Much less binding."

"Okay, now I'm buying stock in them too," Nigel said, changing the dressing. He got out one of the new magic wraps and formed it around Angus's shoulder, and Andrew set it to alternate to be cold for twenty minutes and then off for twenty minutes and to repeat until they removed it. "We need to send to the other building for any other healers that are going to help, and we'll need to do an instruction on these wraps," Nigel told Andrew.

"I can send a paper bird and either go over there to teach it, or they can come here," Andrew replied. "You and Edward and Simone should learn this too, Ruby, in case you need to apply one for him because it is not a one handed process. This is one thing he's not going to be able to do for himself. It isn't hard, but it needs to be precise, and it does take both hands."

The fire Robert had caused in Paris had been something that Gelding had responded to immediately, and Robert hadn't given in. He had simply poured more on, and the dance had continued over and over. Finally, Gelding had shouted out to Robert.

"What the hell, Lupin! What is your problem!" Gelding had shouted.

"If you ever, ever touch one of mine again, I will not just burn your house to the ground, I will find you, and I will kill you...."

"What are you talking about? I didn't go after any of yours..."

"Your wife did. You'd better get her under control because if she ever bothers one of mine again for any reason, your next residence and hers won't be in your house, it'll be in your family plot..."

"I just talked with your boy about that..."

"Yes, and you already let her violate that..."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Gelding said. "Stop the fire spells for one minute and tell me what's happened." He ordered his men to open the gates and let Robert, Kate, Michael, and Simone in. Robert walked through with the stride of a general, and Gelding walked down his drive towards Robert. They met halfway.

"What the hell is the matter?" Gelding asked.

"Your woman," Robert said, still furious. "Her harassment of my boy has been nonstop for days and weeks, and I am not having it for one more moment. Do you understand me? I have not one more moment's patience with her. She takes even one more swipe at one of mine, and I won't just have her, I'll have you too..."

"She's been right here at home..."

"She bloody has not! You'd better learn to keep better tabs on her. Keep her at home, take away those damned dark arts toys, and keep better tabs on her shady punters...."

"That's not fair, Lupin..." Gelding scowled.

"Fair! Of course its fair. It's what she is. She's using those to go after my boy right under your roof. So if you can't stop her, I bloody well will, and I won't play. It'll be once and for all."

"Alright. Alright, I'll handle it. Just get out of here, and leave my house alone!" Robert stood for a moment, not moving, glaring at Gelding. "I'll make her stop. You have my word..."

"Your word doesn't mean..."

"Alright. Fair enough. Just go, and I'll stop her," Gelding said. Robert turned and walked down the driveway, and Robert was sure he heard him ask one of his men, "Where the hell is she? Find her and bring her to me. Right now!"

Ruby smiled at Angus as he spoke to her " its fine, if it makes you comfortable Im all for it" she aid chukaling as Nigel spoke to him too and proceeded to check tehn change Angus's wound then place down a new wrap on it, something called a magic wrap on it then Angus explained what it did and she smiled watching as Nigel set it to what he needed and looked to her as she watched.

"I got it alternate to be cold for twenty minutes and then off for twenty minutes and repeat ill changed, that right" she asked " I can write the note and send it over to Jess." she stood up and took a note pad , writing down the instructions she made it fly over to Jess reciving a small post it note with 'Thank you, will let the others know.' written on it. she walked over and smiled showing Nigel " she understands " she said " now would you like some coffee or a fresh lemonade" she offered to Nigel "oh I have cinimon rolls, fresh made" she said with a smile.

"You have to know the spell, though, Ruby, and you have to know how to apply the wrap the right way because of the way it has to cling to the patient in order to be effective," Andrew said. "I am glad watched, though. I will try to teach the others as they come over, Nigel."

"Good," Nigel replied. "Coffee sounds lovely, Ruby. Thank you." Nigel saw Angus was tiring quickly now. "How is the pain?"

"Coming back, I'm afraid,' Angus admitted.

"Well, yes. We deliberately didn't give you much pain potion because the strength you're going to need will make you want to sleep until we can step it down. You are well overdue for more, though." Nigel went over to the cart and found the blend that Robert had formulated for Angus. He had formulated one for daytime and a different one for nighttime. Nigel poured him some of the daytime blend and helped him with it. "Try to rest now if you can."

When Angus slipped back into a sleep, Nigel motioned to Marcus, who came in from outside on the deck.

"He's going to sleep a bit now again," Nigel told him. "I'd take advantage of it if I were you. We're right here so he's not alone."

"How long before he has any chance of waking?"

"Oh, at least an hour, I'd say," Nigel said.

"I've got time for a run, then," Marcus said.

"Absolutely," Nigel nodded.

"Feel like coming along, Ruby?" Marcus asked her. "We could take Anise too. Since we have nigh onto a herd here, there are plenty to take care of Angus and the baby, and some fresh air might do us all a little good."

Ruby looked to Angus and nodded " I know, I heard Nigel cast the spell and watched him apply the magic wrap" she said softly and looekd at Nigel " okay I'll make some right now" she walked to the kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee before poring three mugs and sending them over, one for Nigel , one for Marcus and one for Angus. Then she made one for herself as she then walked over to him and sat down clsoe to him siping her coffee.

Hearing Nigel and Marcus's offer of the run she nodded " I'd love to, maybe some air will do me good, but let me let Ginger where we're going " she said and stood up. Walking to the back garden she smiled seeing them with Caprice " okay, Angus is settled and Im going to go for a run , Anise if you want to come too that would be great" she looked to Ginger. "I'll feed Caprice when I get back or..heres a bottle, if you want to feed her , it would be apriciated" she said smiling as he handed Ginger the bottle " shes due soon, and I'll cook dinner when I finish my run too, any preferances?" she asked and smiled to the two girls.

Andrew didn't reply when she said she'd watched.

"Thank you," Nigel said. When Ruby asked Anise if she wanted to go, Anise looked at Ginger.

"It's fine. We'll be alright," Ginger said. "Oh, by the way, that little bloke up in the tree has been there all afternoon. Do we know him?" Anise looked up in the tree to see Pip sitting up in the branches, eating the last of a beetle.

"Oh. Yeah. His name is Pip. He's an excellent little message owl," Anise said. "And he just seems to be happy all the time."

"I did notice that," Ginger said. "He's been singing little owlsongs all afternoon."

"Do you know they're owlsong?" Anise asked.

"I can hear it. Can't you?"

"I hear owl noise, yes, but I can't say they're songs," Anise said.

"You can't ever hear it," Ginger sounded disappointed, taking the bottle from Ruby. "That means I could use Pip if I needed to send a message to the house, couldn't I?"

"Probably," Anise shrugged. "I'd love a run, Ruby. Whatever you decide to cook for supper, I'm sure it will be delicious. Can we go now? I could use a good run."

Ruby looked up at Pip and chuckled "Yes he is a clever bird, sometimes a bit too clever" she said then looked to Ginger " That must be a good thing to hear animals" she said then looked to Anise " Yes we can go now" she said " okay I leave Caprice in your hands, Ginger, see you when we get back." she said and smiled at her walking back into the house as she transfigured her clothes to her running clothes and walked over to Marcus " we're ready" she said and smiled at Nigel as she then lent over and gently kissed Angus on his forehead.

Marcus was glad to be able to run a little. He did like being with Angus, and he did feel that he and Angus were becoming good, solid mates. As they were going over to the trail, Marcus picked up on the sound of porting. Robert, Michael, Kate, and Simone ported in. and they had arrived in almost exactly the same spot that Anise was walking in. She was startled, and Marcus grabbed her and drew her back a couple steps so that nobody was splinched. Michael and Kate and Simone all had large food delivery totes in their hands.

"Sorry if we startled you," Robert said to them. "Mission accomplished--the message got to Tom loud and clear, but unfortunately, I agreed to lave his house--for now."

"And, we twisted Robert's arm into buying supper for everyone," Kate said.
"Steak Au Poivre with all the trimmings, and lemon tart with a vanilla glace for dessert."

"That would be steak, potatoes, green beans, lemon pie, and vanilla ice cream to us Brits," Simone said, translating to Anise.

"Yum! Sounds delicious," she said. "Should we put off our run?"

"No, go ahead. In fact, I'll come along," Robert said. "They can divide the food and send some to your house and some to ours. How's Angus doing, Ruby? Is he still sleeping?"