A Birth day

"No, they're not," Angus said quietly. "They're not covering their asses at all."

"You want to tell us why they had you so long?" Marcus inquired.

"No. Sorry, but I don't want to even hear any more questions for a little bit," Angus said. "They've badgered me nonstop for almost four hours."

"Robert just told me he thought you were being interrogated."

"I wasn't just interrogated. I was badgered, nonstop, relentlessly for all that time, flat out."

"What were they trying to get from you?" Marcus frowned.

"I'm not entirely sure, but they were going clear back to that very first night that Robert met Jessie in the alley. My entire history with the whole Tyler family. They were trying to establish a timeline of events from that first night til now, including the entire investigation in New Orleans," Angus said."

"What was their angle?"

"Not entirely sure. I sort of wonder whether Suzanne's been claiming to them that I'm responsible for her losing her entire family and that she's been pushed into doing what she's doing first because of wanting Diamond back but secondly because of all she thinks I've taken from her."

"You think she's saying you've caused her irreparable trauma and harm."

"I think that's a distinct possibility," Angus said.

"Well, so you know, Robert is going to be talking to Daniella about this whole thing," Marcus said. "He is not happy."

"Well, that makes two of us, then," Angus said. He wanted to change the subject. "Ruby, I think your lunch menu sounds good. I think I'll go change out of this suit and get into something more comfortable."

"I'll give you a hand," Marcus said. "Your shoulder is pretty darned stiff today. If I don't help you, you'll make putting on a shirt an all afternoon project." Marcus picked up the jacket and the waistcoat and the two of them went upstairs so Angus could get out of the suit.

Both Aria and Ruby sat and listened to Marcus and Angus talking about what had happened and Ruby shook her head " Jessie coming here has nothing to do with them he was assigned buy the British Ministry" she said " if anything it should have been me they looked into I came just to return some things Jessie had left behind and well never left" she said but Aria laid a hand on hers and smiled .

"don't worry abut it, the fact they decided to go that far back means they have nothing" she said " they grilled him for so long to try and trip him up on his story" Aria looked at Angus as he said he was going to go and change .

"go ahead and thank you , I wanted to do something quick and easy for every one" she added watching him head up with Marcus she smiled and nodded she understood why he was going with him" why don't you change too Marcus , might be more comfortable in normal clothing" she said Aria nodded as she saw them head up to Angus room.

Angus and Marcus both changed into jeans. Angus chose jeans and a shirt that Clive had sent for him a couple years ago but Angus hadn't had a chance to wear it. Marcus chose it because it was a buttoned shirt and not a tee shirt. It was a soft linen fabric that would be comfortable, and it was in a chili pepper red that he did not bother to tuck in. Marcus rolled the sleeves up partway to the elbows for him. Marcus paired it with a pair of Angus's soft, faded jeans and a pair of slip on canvas shoes. For himself, Marcus chose jeans, a plain tee shirt in an army green color, and his own slip on shoes.

Angus was definitely feeling more comfortable when they both came downstairs. Anise had gone to her room and she had changed too. Anise chose jeans, a tan tee shirt and one of Sam's plaid shirts over top of the tee shirt. She brought up one of her text books to read a couple chapters to try to keep up on her school work.

"Now you look more comfortable," Marcus told Anise. "Isn't that one of Sam's shirts?"

"Yeah," Anise said. "I liked the colors in it, so I borrowed it. I just haven't given it back."

"I've lost a few of my shirts that way," Angus told her. "They go from my closet to Ruby's and don't come back."

"It's all good. I just order you more shirts from Clive," Marcus said.

Ruby and Aria smiled seeing the two men return Aria whistled " wow how'd we get to hot men like that I will never know" she said and smiled to them. Ruby smiled when Angus mentioned his shirts " hey there comfortable" she said and looked to Anise " right, plus they smell of or man too." she added chuckling as she saw " and you can fetch them anytime you want Angus , I have no Skellington's in my closet" she chuckled again Aria shook her head.

Ruby still chuckled as she walked from the kitchen to the living room with two cups of coffee " keeping you too plied with coffee , to help you relax" she said seeing Minos fly in and settle on Angus shoulder " hello Minos" she said walking back and shrinking a glass of fruit juice then walking back out she handed it to Minos " enjoy" she said smiling to Minos.

Minos gestured a thank you to Ruby for the juice, and he took the little glass and went over and settled in on the arm of Angus's chair.

"Thank you," Angus said. "Coffee sounds great." Marcus got the bottle of firewhiskey and poured a shot into Angus's cup and his own.

"I think you deserve one," Marcus told him.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Angus said. "The Irish knew what they were doing when they started adding whiskey to their coffee."

"Amen to that," Marcus laughed. Minos looked at Angus and saw the stress in his face. Minos started drawing on a scratch pad on Angus's end table. Angus looked over and saw Minos was drawing a casket. He looked at Angus pointedly.

"Oh. You know about that, do you?" Angus asked. Angus had seen clearly that Minos had some seers' abilities of his own. Minos had seen that part of the interrogation that Angus had had to deal with was an indepth recounting of the incident in the swamp in New Orleans where he had been buried alive and had been dug up and found to be in a full cardiac arrest when they had gotten him up. It had been such a near death experience that it had given him seers' abilities that he actually had never wanted. It was that incident that he was being grilled heatedly about when Robert had come in and had interrupted and terminated the interview. Minos had evidently known somehow that the subject had been brought up in the interview.

Minos nodded. Yes. He knew. He'd seen it with his own seers' energies. Minos gestured firmly now to Angus. Minos had very strong opinions on the matter, and he wanted Angus to get the message loud and clear. Minos strongly advised him to not help the French ministry of magic anymore, not go to anymore interviews with them. Minos advised him to let the French aurors gather their own evidence.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I need to draw a boundary somewhere, and maybe the cooperation needs to be over if they're going to take so many liberties," Angus said. Minos nodded emphatically. Minos didn't believe Angus owed Daniella anything.

"He might have a point, Mate," Marcus said.

Ruby chuckled as Marcus added the whisky to the coffee as she sat with hr own to read her book on magical wizards threw the ages. She saw Minos gesturing and just listened as they spoke to each other . When Angus spoke of not helping the French Aurors she nodded " I agree with Minos." you've given them enough, now its time for you to relax" she said .

Aria looked to Marcus but stayed quiet as they spoke she watched the babies as they settled on one toy each to play with but Caprice kept standing up in the pen and moving around it with the toy in her hand waving it before she sat back down." if anything you've done there work for them as far as I see it" Aria said looking to Angus.

Minos made some quick notes that he thought that there was a possibility that there might be a less than ethical auror at work that might be trying to assist Suzanne by trying to incriminate Angus.

"Minos thinks that it's possible that there is a crooked auror that might be on Suzannes payroll and could be trying to twist the evidence to set Angus up to be charged with some sort of crime against the Geldings," Marcus told Ruby and Aria. "He thinks Angus needs to stop doing anything at all to help the French until we see what they're up to."

"Well, you know," Angus said, "we could always tip off Lucian about the sketchy behaviors of the aurors today, and we could give him the names of the ones Anise and I saw today and let Lucian see if he can very quietly do some investigating on his own, if he can do it without them knowing he's doing it. If there's a crook in their ministry, Daniella deserves to know about it. She's a good woman, but in an organization that big, she can't be on top of everyone."

Aria sat and listened to then talking and nodded " I was about to suggest Lucian he could look into it from the inside with out raising suspicion." she said sipping her coffee and looking threw her word search. Putting it down she looked at them as they talked more. Ruby looked to Marcus worried that what he had said was right and Suzzanne was trying a different angle to get to Angus , she felt he didn't need any more stress after what Pricilla had put him threw.

Ruby stood up and walked over to the fridge and took out the cake " any one want cake, I forgot I made it for you all while you were out" she said showing them it . It had white and pick frosting with strawberries on top , whipped cream in the centre with strawberry compote to give it added flavour.

"We could get in touch with Lucian after lunch and see if he's available to come and talk with us," Marcus said. "Honestly, if I were in his shoes, I'd want someone to give me a heads up too if there was a crook amongst my coworkers.

"Good thought. Your cake looks perfect, Ruby," Angus said. "See? I'm not going to have to cook anymore. You've got it mastered."

"She is not going to let you off the hook that easily," Marcus teased Angus. "I think that cake is a perfect way to end lunch."

"I'm starving," Anise said.

"I'm sure it'll be ready soon," Angus said.

"I hope so. I can't focus on my reading because my stomach keeps growling."

"Poor deprived child," Marcus teased. "We never feed her, do we?"

"Well, at least she doesn't try to sell us the I-Have-A-Faster-Metabolism excuse that Jack used to try to use. The only reason Jack doesn't have a dad bod is because Jess keeps tabs on what he eats," Angus said.

"You mean like Kate tries to do for Robert?"

"Tries is the operative word there," Angus said. "Robert still eats what he wants to eat, and he exercises off the extra calories."

"Well, sometimes he has a good excuse. I wouldn't drink that green swill she thought she was going to get him to drink for breakfast either. That looked and smelled just completely nasty. Like chewy swamp water," Marcus said.

"Yeah, not one of her best efforts," Angus said.

Ruby chuckled and nodded " not getting out of it that easily besides I know you love to cook too" she said smiling as she placed the cake on the counter. Hearing Anise she chuckled " help you self if you want a piece" she said cutting it and sending a plate over for Marcus and Angus " just leave some for the boys , im sure they would pout if they missed out" she added.

Aria wrote anote and sent it out , five minutes later aperating was heard and a knock on the back door.

" any one home?" came Lucians voice as he pushed open the door and stepped inside. " got your note Aria came after I clocked out, so you think some one is dirty in the French Aurors, do tell?" he asked walking over and taking a piece of cake as he passed " yum good cake, you make?" he asked Angus as he looked from Marcus to Angus and back.