A Birth day

Jack nodded then laughed at Angus " I wondered, for a while I thought some one slipped me a potion that did that" he said and laughed " thanks mate" he said and smiled seeing the girls running up with a bag each " hey girls, looking good" he said and stood up " well thanks for the meal, I should get back before Jess sends out a search party. He looked at Marcus and chuckled " I agree, she'll sort it out ..eventually" he said and stepped back " nice to see you again girls" he said as Angus and Marcus took hold of the girls hands ready to port to Evens .

"oh wait" Ruby said grabbing a tin " these are chocolate rolls for Even , Tara and the girls , yes there's enough for every one as I shrunk them so please ask them to resize them once they are out of the tin" she said and smiled placing them into his pocket. She quickly kissed his cheek and stepped back " see you when your back" she said watching as they left.

Jack walked back to the main house passing Aria who was on her way back. Ruby tidied up and refilled the Fae's glasses again she shrunk a pitcher so it was twice the size of the others and filled it then placed it down so they could fill it themselves for a while. Then she picked up a book as Aria entered and walked up to the bedroom. Ruby opened her book and began to read.

Angus and Marcus took the girls to Evan's, and the girls were glad to get there. Before he and Angus left, Marcus looked at them.

"I am sorry, Girls, that Aria and I ruined your evening. My apologies," Marcus said. "
We need to try hard not to do that anymore. I am really sorry."

"No problem, really," Anise said. "Angus has always said family is best when its family of the heart. We didn't get it until we moved in there. We get it now. You're part of that for us now, so, it's all good."

"Yeah?" Marcus smiled.

"Yeah," Anise hugged him, and he kissed her forehead.

"Thanks. Now, go enjoy your evening," Marcus told them. They disappeared to go find Evie and Faith. Angus and Marcus left Evan's and they took a bit of a short walk into the village, stopped at the tobacconist's and got some good cigarettes. The tobacconist knew that Angus was the heir to the Donohue fortune, so he gave Angus and Marcus each one of his best cigars. The two of them thanked him, and the ported home.

They landed in the yard and they walked around the house to the back. Angus tapped lightly on the deck door in back and waved to let her know they were home. The two of them didn't want to bring the cigars into the house in case they weren't all that aromatic. So they sat out on the deck, bit the ends off their cigars and lit them up.

Contrary to what they expected these cigars smelled quite lovely, like some roasted pecans, some fragrant smoked woods, and best quality brandy. Angus believed that it was a scent that even Ruby wouldn't have minded in the house, but still, some things were best outdoors.

"God, these are lovely," Marcus sighed.

"They are indeed. Shall we buy some?"

"If you dont't, I will," Marcus said.

"Is she going to let you smoke them when you move into the cottage?"

"I'm going to take one room, and I think I know which one, and I'm going to make it my own personal...what's the muggle phrase now...man cave?" Angus nodded. "And I'm going to my damned red plaid furniture in it. I can't do nothing but blue and green. Personally, I hate it. But if that's what she wants, she can have it, I suppose. I need bright, warm colors, so I'll have one room. I'll keep the door closed so she doesn't have to deal with it, but I know where I can get a fabulous antique humidor, and I'll fill it up with these cigars. I'll put in a bar cart--or maybe a wet bar, and we can drink whiskey and smoke cigars all damned night if we want."

"Better make your red plaid furniture some decent sofas then," Angus laughed.

"Good thought," Marcus said. The two of them saw a flash of lightning off to the west. "How far out do you think that is?"

"Oh, maybe an hour or 90 minutes. We have some time," Angus said.

"Suppose the Fae are drunk yet?"

"Not yet. I think they're professional little ale drinkers," Angus laughed.

Ruby saw the babies sleeping and picked them up one by one taking them upstairs she knocked " Aria could you watch Dimond while I put Caprice to bed please " Ruby asked and the door opened .

"sure" she said and walked down to sit by the pen. Ruby went to the bathroom washed and changed Caprice into her PJ's and placed her into her crib before returning for Dimond and doing the same. Now empty armed she walked down and sat facing Aria.

" you know Robert might kick you out and possible Marcus will never talk to you again because of this attitude you have today" she said watching Aria. " we're a team and holding things back and not telling us is not the way a team plays" she told her. Aria stood up but stopped .

"your right, today would have been my brothers birthday" she said and saw Ruby look at her.

"not to be disrespectful, but so what, he's gone your here, and the guy that died he knew the job, stop morning those who don't need it." she said walking over she pored some of the fire whisky from the bottle that was left beside Angus chair then handed a glass to Aria " like this drink once gone its forgotten, leave the past in the past, remember him, but do not jeopardize your relationship with Marcus because I will side with him over you as will Angus every time." she said and downed the shot. " now you need to decide you want to be with Angus, good , then understand as Jack probably told you , he is a trained man highly trained and skilled fighter as we all are some at different levels, do not go rouge, do not think they want to leave us behind as they don't and for god sake give the man his red plaid couches to keep him happy." she said smirking. Aria downed the shot and nodded.

" all right, and he can deck the whole house in red plaid if it makes him happy." she said hearing the distant rumbles of thunder both women looked at the night sky before Aria went to the back door and closed it calling Finn back in before he was caught in the storm. Now she went around each window and checked they were locked even the ones in the girls room finding it all closed and locked. Ruby took the first floor and found Marcus room window open she found that to be strange as it was always closed and locked at night.

"Did they just lock us out?" Marcus asked, laughing.

"Yup," Angus laughed. "She probably didn't see we were out here."

"Well, I could just blast that door off the frame," Marcus teased.

"You could, but then I'd make you be the one to scramble around to find some plastic to cover the hole to keep the storm out."

"Point taken," Marcus said. Angus flicked his fingers at the door to cast a nonverbal alohamora and got up, stamping out the last of his cigar before tossing the end of it in the trash. Marcus did the same, and they went in. Marcus closed the door and locked it again. and Angus put his cigarettes in the desk drawer. Angus went over to make sure the Fae were good for the night, but he saw one topple off the cheeseboard, falling towards the floor, and he put his hand down to catch the tiny fairy. When he brought his hand up, he saw that this little one was completely blotto. Angus resisted the temptation to laugh, and simply put him on one of the tiny beds. The other Fae were not so well behaved, and they laughed and laughed. Angus picked up the empty beer glasses and pitchers and took the to the kitchen and washed them and set them with the other tiny dishes.

Marcus made a last check for the night, still needing to know he had checked things himself, and he grabbed a quick shower, and came back downstairs, picked up a book he'd been meaning to read, and sat down with it.

Angus finished the tiny dishes and saw Marcus involved in a book.

"Is that that new book on codes?"

"Yeah," Marcus said. "Contemporary Cryptology. It's supposed to be one of the most involved books on new codewriting and code breaking, both. You're welcome to borrow it when I'm through."

"I have it somewhere. Did you buy the workbook too?"

"Workbook? There's a workbook?"

"Yeah. That just came out a couple weeks ago. Its supposed to help you get the hang of these new codes."

"I'll have to order one," Marcus said. "Maybe we can study it together."

"Sure. Sounds like a plan," Angus said, and just then a huge blast of lightning caused all the lights in the house to go out. "Looks like that'll have to wait. I've got to go down and replace the crystals to get our power back."

"Might as well go with you, as opposed to sitting in the dark," Marcus said. They both lit their wands and headed do the basement.

Aria saw Marcus walk in the room and head to the bathroom she said nothing but stayed sat with her book in the room. Once he left she returned to sitting beside the now lit fire but it wasn't llong that the lights were on for once the storm hit. One flash of lightning and it all went dark except for the light from teh fire. Aria looked up and closed her book marking the page she was on. Placing it down she ehard foot steps heading to the nursary but reatching the door she saw Ruby enter. Following behind she looked in " they will be fine . Babies can sleep through a lot." she said then turned to head back down to light the living room fire not seeing ether men in it and a bunch of drunk sleeping fae.

Ruby left the door open and walked down behind Aria into the living room " might as well make myself busy , I'll make some hot coco since were all still awake." she said heading to the kitchen and tool out several mugs and marshmallows. Aria knelt by the fire and lit it making sure it was good and bright for every one.

Angus and Marcus went downstairs, and Marcus fetched a couple new crystals to put into the system to restart the power. Just as he went to reach to open the small metal door to the crystal power bank, Angus saw his gran, standing in front of the power bank.

"Wait!" Angus said. "Hold up. Something isn't right. Don't touch it."

"Huh?" Marcus looked at him, clueless.

"My gran. She's standing in front of you, trying to block you from touching it."

"Lumos maxima!" Marcus cast a larger light. "There. Right there."

"Where?"

"There," Marcus pointed at a dirt smudge under the cellar window. "Someone came in through that window, and I didn't notice the smudge when I checked the windows tonight."

"Was the window unlocked?"

"No. Cribbed shut from the inside, and I didn't find any other windows unlocked. But see? There's a little puddle of something on the floor in front of the crystal converter."

"I'll go get an eyedropper, and maybe we can get a sample of it." Angus went back upstairs and got an eyedropper and a small glass bottle that had once held a single dose of a potion. He took it downstairs, and he and Marcus got a sample of the fluid on the floor. It was a cloudy liquid, but it didn't seem to have any smell. Angus cleaned the floor then so they could put a new crystal in the converter. Once that was one, Angus was able to restart the converter so they had power. "I'll get it to Robert in the morning."

"In the meantime, I'm going to make another security check," Marcus said. "One much more thorough this time."

"I'll come with you."

"No, Go see if either of the girls found any of the doors or windows unlocked at any point today. Anything out of the norm. I won't be long," Marcus said. Angus went back upstairs.

"Hey," Angus asked. "Either of you find anything unusual in the house this evening?"

Aria looked up as Angus returned from down stairs as the lights came on and asked about anything unusual " yes, the double doors in the bedroom was wide open, its not now as I locked it again but I know we never open those , especially before a storm" she said to him. Ruby looked at them both and shook her head at Angus. " why you find something?" she asked then paused " stupid , you wouldn't be asking if you didn't find something." she added picking up her book again.

Ruby brought four mugs of Hot coco into the living room and sprinkled chocolate over the top and placed the tray down on the table beside the chair. " you think Pricilla or some one working for her was in this house?" she asked  glancing up at the babies still in the nursery.

(it was angus asking. Marcus is making another, more thorough check of the house)

"We're not sure," Angus said. "Found a puddle of some sort of goo on the floor in front of the crystal converter. Could be nothing. Neither Marcus or I are experts on converters, but I got a sample, and I'll take it to Robert in the morning and see if he can make something of it. Marcus is going through the house making sure he checks absolutely everything just to be on the safe side." Angus went upstairs to look at the bedroom doors for himself. He looked very carefully, and he saw a miniscule dirt smudge near the doors leading out to the balcony in the master bedroom. He checked the closets, under the beds, and in every other space that someone might be able to hide in. He found absolutely nothing.

"Find anything?" Marcus asked suddenly behind him. Angus jumped.

"Make some bloody noise next time, damn you," Angus said, trying to catch his breath.

"Sorry," Marcus laughed.

"No. Nothing but a tiny dirt smudge," Angus replied.

"Where. Show me exactly where," Marcus said.

"Its still there. I didn't touch it," Angus said. He took Marcus to the doors and showed him.

"Exit print. Clearly," Marcus said. "Came in through the cellar, and left up here. Not sure why, but that's the path they took." Angus nodded, his mind racing. He went back to the nursery and picked up Diamond from her crib without waking her. Marcus followed and picked up Caprice, not waking her either.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking, aren't you?"

"Uh huh," Marcus said. "Let's get them downstairs. We can put them in the playpen for now." Marcus flicked his finger, to change the babies' clothes into warmer onesies so they didn't need blankets downstairs. They took the babies downstairs and laid them in the playpen. "Before you ask, we didn't find any evidence that there's anybody in the house who shouldn't be. But I believe someone came in and might have tinkered with our converter and then left by the upstairs doors. I've checked the house thoroughly. We're clear for the moment, but Angus and I neither one want to leave the babies unguarded tonight. We'll keep them downstairs here with us. When you two are ready to go to bed, do us a favor and go so you can relieve us in the morning. Angus and I will catch some shut eye then after breakfast. Fair enough?"

Aria saw Marcus and Angus with the girls in their arms, Ruby listened to Angus and nodded as she watched him place a still sleeping Caprice into the crib. " I for own will be happy to know they are being watched over" she said Aria looked at Marcus.

" we'll relive you at one am" she said then looked back at her book to continue reading since it wasn't that late yet. " there's hot coco for you both, Ruby made it" she said and motioned to the table where the tray sat " its rather good" she said taking a drink of her own.as she saw the girls settle in the play pen close to Angus and the Fae. She also saw Finn come running down from the nursery and settle beside the play pen his nose pressed against the side and Dimond's hand pressed against it as if looking for comfort and protection from Finn.

"Good cocoa, but I have a way to kick this up just a wee bit," Angus said, with a grin. He went to the kitchen, got a bottle of Irish cream, and poured a shot into his mug and into Marcus's. Marcus took a sip.

"Oh, God, that's good," Marcus said. "Now, where has this been all my life?"

"It's a dark chocolate Irish cream," Angus said. "One of our suppliers is trying it now to see if it'll sell."

"We just need to buy all of it, so he keeps it coming," Marcus teased.

"Aria? Ruby? You want a shot of it in your cocoa?" Angus offered.