LONDON CALLING

Jess walked over and cleaned up the table and side of remaining food hearing Robert talking she smiled " it would be fine" she said " speacking for myself of course, I have no worries around livestock, so we'll take care of that for you." she told them both " and I think he just wants momentoes for when shes older and it goes from wanting mummy and daddy to wanting her space." Jess said smiling " trust me you'll look back at those photos one day and be glad you have them."

Jess and Jessie came back from their patrol and laughed as they entered the kitchen to wash up. " Im going to shower, mud is not a good look on me" Jessie said as Jack just laughed.

"he found the creek by the west border, litraly fell in it, I did warn him but he didn't watch his footing." Jack wheezzed as he tried to tell the story " flopped about like some beached whale." Jess chuckled as well as try and cover up that she too wanted to laugh " don't worry we stopped off and washed the mug off, oh I fed the hypogriffs too, there feed was low so was their water trough too." Jakc said to Kate.

"I think perhaps I should add dancing to the training schedule," Robert said thoughtfully.

"Dancing?" Khaat frowned.

"A little grace and finesse would not go amiss with our crew," Robert said. "Becoming a walking mudpie is not anyone's best look." It made Khaat laugh, thinking he was just joking. Robert looked at her, and he realized he was at least half serious.

"Ask Marcus if you don't think dancing wasn't part of his training," Robert said. She knew from experience that Marcus was a wonderful dancer, and he was as polished and suave as any man she had ever met. It did make her wonder if they had put him through lessons to become debonair.

When Brian returned with a much cleaner Abbey, he and Khaat said their goodnights and left the farm for home to get Abbey into bed. She had not mentioned the idea of some additional polishing for the team. She was sure Brian would not disagree. As for herself, she wasn't sure exactly how she felt.

"I think Kate and I are heading to bed," Robert told the others. "Morning comes early, and I really do have to get back to St. Mungos tomorrow. Goodnight, Everyone. See you in the morning." He and Kate left them to go get some sleep.

Jesie returned from his shower and sighed hearing talk of dancing. Oh please no" he said softly and walked over to Kaden who laughed at the thought of Jessie prancing around. " Jack and I are too heavy for all that light stuff" he said still drying his hair. When Khaat and Brian spoke of heading home and Robert spoke of sleep and St Mungos Kaden nodded.

"yes I agree I have a shift tomorrow morning, and you dear Jessie need to do your patrols." he said kissing him lightly " so shall we retire too." Kaden too Jessie hand and lead him back to the room.

"boy that was quick but I do agre with Jessie I have never been one for being light on my feet." Jack said as Jess headed to sleep " I'll take first watch while lover boy gets second." Jack told them with a smile " see you guys in the morning.

Next morning Jack walked in and started the ketle for coffee and tea once done he grabbed a bagle and toasted it. Sitting waiting he made a fresh pot of coffee letting the scent waft through out the house as he waited to see who would show up first.

Robert came in the back door from outside and saw that Jack was up. Robert was dressed in a pair of plain gray sweatpants and a plain gray sweatshirt, and he was wet from sweating from a longer than normal run. The injuries he had been recovering from had limited his running, but he felt like he really didn't dare go without a good run any longer. He did have some pain from running, but it wasn't as severe as it might have been from trying it sooner.

"Oh, good. You're up," Robert said, slightly out of breath. "Watch the course down near the pond. It rained overnight, and part of the bank is starting to wash out. It's really slick down there, and it would be very easy for someone to slide on the muddy bank and get dragged down into the pond. And that pond is very, very deep in places. I've always thought it gets some of it's water from an underground spring, but I haven't ever gone to the effort of trying to prove it. At any rate, I think it could be dangerous if someone went in while the water was high like it is this morning. Just be careful. Go out and around if you can. I took a detour on the way back through Kate's rose garden. It made for a little bit of a longer run, but it was certainly dryer."

"I wondered where you went," Kate said coming into the kitchen, dressed for the day in a pair of trim fitting jeans and a lovely pink spring sweater. "Morning, Jack. The coffee smells divine." She kissed Robert on the cheek. "How was your run? Any pain?" she asked Robert.

"Some, but liveable. I will survive, my sweet," he smiled.

"Good. Well done, then. Go hit the shower, and I'll start breakfast."

"I think you should do bacon butties for breakfast," Robert said.

"No," she said firmly. "Not good for the cholesterol. Shower--now."

"Nag," he said to her playfully, and he headed to the shower. She was about to start preparing some eggs and a big basket apparated in to the back porch on its own apparently.

"What the devil?" she frowned. She went outside and saw there was a paper tag tied to the basket handle. The tag read: "Good morning. Breakfast delivery service. Have a wonderful day! Angus." She brought the basket in. "Will you look at this, Jack? Breakfast--from Angus. "Open it up and see what he's surprised us with, will you, while I get some coffee?"

Jack chuckled at Robert but nodded " will make sure every one knows about it." he said finishing his bagel. He smiled seeing Kate " Morning Kate, just for you" he placed a cup down in front of her as she spoke to Robert. " hum wouldn't grilling reduce the fat content?" he asked then looked to the door as a sound met his ears. Jess walked out just slipping on his tee shirt his feet were bare but Kaden ran after him in a pair of Light blue silk PJs with a pair of boots.

"Don't forget these." Kaden said placing them in Jessie hand befoer kissing his cheek before heading back to the room to get ready for work. " good morning Kate, Jack and Robert." he said moving to pore some tea. "Everything was quiet last night." He watched Jack empty out the basket placing each item on the counter. " oh home made Jam, nice" he said picking up the jar and inspecting it.

"Bless you, Jack," Kate said, relieved to get a mug of coffee to start her day. "I think we should just leave it on the counter and let folks help themselves. Homemade jam? How lovely. He's gotten into the habit of growing scads and scads of all sorts of berries because of a certain toddler, and so that gives him plenty of ideas for jam. Did you know that Angus mentioned to me yesterday that he had sent Marcus several jars of jam at Christmas, and Marcus passed on a jar to a friend of his that apparently was a Minister somewhere on the continent. Well, apparently the minister offered Angus the job as his personal chef just based on the jam alone. You'd think that Angus would have leaped at it. Would have been quite the feather in his cap, but apparently, Angus didn't even consider it. Turned it down flat. I told i I thought he was barmy, but he told me in no uncertain terms that he knows where he belongs, and Khaat's is home for him. He has no intention of leaving it. I think we are all very blessed to have the people we have. I think every single member we have is a joy and a blessing to us."

"Here, here," Robert said, echoing her thoughts. "So, no bacon butties then."

"No!" she said, holding her ground with him, wanting him to eat healthier. "Angus sent breakfast over for us, and there are no bacon butties in the basket. Go get yourself something. It's on the counter."

"You're such a killjoy," he told her. He went to see what had been in the basket, and as he did, a moment later, Michael came in, up and dressed. "Hm...I must have amnesia," Robert said dryly.

"Amnesia?" Kate echoed.

"I do not remember giving Michael permission to be up or dressed either one," Robert said.

"I can't lay in that bed one more moment," Michael said. "And besides, I need coffee and breakfast."

"Its on the counter," Kate told him. "Can I get it for you?"

"Nope. I can mange," Michael said. He got partway to the counter and had to turn around and go sit at the table, his back not allowing him to stand up for one more moment.

"I wont' say I told you so..." Robert began in a sing song tone. "If you insist on being up, you'll find that better furniture is far more comfortable. The club chairs in the library or the wing chair in your room would be far better and less painful."

"And you didn't think of telling me that til now why?" Michael asked.

"Because you aren't supposed to be up yet," Robert said.

"So tell about this unholy liason between James Blood and Tom Gelding," Michael said seriously. "And what are we going to do to get 'em?"

Jack made a pt of tea and walked over with it to the table placing it down infront of Michael "Here, this should help" he said and pored a cup for him. Jessie gathered all angus's breakfast things and brought them to the table for every one to enjoy. Kaden returned wearing a suit and tie.

"I have to get going." he said grabbing a brakfast bagel and ported out to St Mungos. Jessie chuckled and shok his head.

"welp that ws a hellp and good by" he said and started to eat his breakfast " I was wondering that too." he said hearing Michaels words as he ate.

"Thank you, Jessie," Michael said. "You are a saint. No day can start off in any decent fashion without a proper cup of fuel."

"Seems to me that one of the best courses of action might well be to try to find a way to break up that unholy alliance, as you put it, Michael," Kate said. "We're pretty good at keeping them both at a low roar while they're separate, but together, well, that could be decidedly more difficult."

"Indeed," Robert said. "You are quite correct on that account."

"So, they both have the same capital weakness--their ego," she said. "We could use that as a wedge. Drive one against the other somehow."

"Now, that is indeed worthy of a truly devious mind," Michael laughed.

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Obviously, we'd have to know how to do that, but it might work. And, if we're lucky, they might destroy each other and eliminate two birds with one stone," Robert said.

"But we would need a worthy catalyst," Michael said.

"You want a truly devious twist to an already devious idea?" Edward asked, coming in. "Morning, All."

"Good morning, Edward," Kate said. "I didn't hear you arrive."

"I thought we'd be planning this morning, and it seems I'm just in time," he said.

"Yes, you are. Tea?" Robert asked.

"Coffee, please," Edward said. "Too many years in Italy to start the day with tea, I suppose." Kate poured him a mug of coffee and handed it to him.

"So what's your idea?" Robert asked.

"If you want a worthy catalyst, I think I can suggest one. Let's fire up Fenrir, and get him to bust up James and Tom's little lovefest. Fenrir has an ego bigger than both James' and Tom's put together. A territorial feud might well get them to end their alliance."

"But we don't want Fenrir to win either," Kate said.

"Fenrir would walk away from Tom Gelding quickly," Robert said. "He has no use for humans except to exploit them. He'd focus on James and James' drive to take over Fenrir's pack. That's an old unsettled feud that is a sore spot with Fenrir."

"If Fenrir could put James in his place, he'd defeat James, chase him either deeper underground or off to a different area. And then he would walk away from Tom Gelding. Then Fenrir, as the old man he is, would likely retreat back to his pack," Edward theorized.

"What do the rest of you think?" Robert asked.

Jessie saw Edward port in and he nodded as he asked for a coffee. Poring a cup he walked over and handed it to Edward. " here you go." he said " freshly made." he returned to the kitchen and tidied up. Jack sat listening to them talking and huffed " sounds like James always was a bit up himself." Jack said sipping his coffee as he sat back waiting for Jess to join them.

Jess walked in and sat next to Jack Jessie brought over some tea for her and she smiled " feeling better today?" she asked him and he nodded.

"yes thanks" he told her as he too sat down to listen to them talk " I like that idea." he said as did Jack and Jess.

"It is definitely a dangerous plan, though," Robert said. "The risk is high because we're working not with just one dangerous madman. We'd be working with three."

"We have two as it is, and not by choice," Kate said. "So what's one more?"

"One more is a risk of two out of three who can turn any of our team members if they get caught. And I think they jolly well might just do it," Robert replied. "We know what Remus and Jack and Jessie have been through because of the curse. Are the rest of you ready to risk it?"

"That's the job, Robert," Kate said flatly.

"I've had that risk for years as it is. It does not raise the risk for me or for Angus one iota," Edward said. "As I see it, the highest risk is for Khaat since James is such a fruitbat. He still thinks Khaat already belongs to him, so he would believe that the sooner he turns her, the sooner he can prove his claim."

"Bloody big dingbat," Michael muttered. "So, perhaps we will need to shift gears, then."

"How so?" Robert asked.

"Put Marcus back on Khaat to protect her from James, and let the rest of us go with you. We can take our turns to make sure that James or Gelding or Fenrir can't get to you."

"The only one big enough to handle that by himself is Jack," Robert said. "And if we're to do this properly, we'd need Jessie to be able to flex between mission tasks to go with the offensive maneuvers to make sure everyone can get safely in and out. We need a werewolf to defeat a werewolf. So if Jack is with me when I go out somewhere, then we will desperately need Jessie to go with the mission team. Kaden will need to help keep the teams well fed and, if there are injuries, patched up. Jess is a fine fighter, and she will be needed to help with the mission teams. And I'm not going to deny that we will likely need every other body we can get. Unless somebody has a better idea? Now is the time to speak. What do you all see as your strengths, and what would you like to be assigned to in this project? And for the record, no harm, no foul to anyone who does not want to take this on."