LONDON CALLING

Jess nodded and fixed a plate and a cup of strong black coffee to take out to Kate. Walking over she pushed open the door and called softly to Kate. " I brought you some food, oh and fresh raw meat for Archangel." she said moving to sit close enough she could see him but not too close hed be disturbed by her presance. " how is he?" she asked.


Jack and Jessie went around several shiops and tailors gathering a lot of clothes that were practical and easily replaceable. Several tailors had said just all they had to do was to send word and they would have replacments with in an hour to Roberts Farm. That was something Jessie was greatful for and thanked them emensly.

Jack hellped carry most of the bags as they entered Sparks " hey any one around?" he called out much to Jessie embaresment. He apologised to the other customers.

"Sorry hes exsitable" he said and saw jack turn to him.

"Hey, you wanted to try the food so park you butt, and its lunch time." Jack said grabbing a booth and two menus thought Jessie gathered he knew what he wanted.

Jessie ordered a burger with a side salad and a coffee to go with it. He didn't kneed anything else.

Jack ordered his food and a soda to drink knowing Jess could not stop him, not that she did as did as she understood the werewolf metabolisum was higher.

"so, you got a girl?" Jack asked making conversation.

"Nope." was all Jessie said but the look on Jacks face said he wanted to know more " never had time what with Marines, VA hospital and all this" He motioned with his hands to around him.

"You have time to find one, your still young" Jack said smiling " and with work, Robert pretty much keeps us on our toes, your more likly to end up in the mud that some fance dinner and dance." It was now the waitress brought their order and Jessie chuckled at the sheer amount Jack had ordered.

"I'll put this on Khaat's Tab." the waitress looked over at Jessie and smiled at him. He just gave a quick smile back and paid no mind to her as he ate.

"Bless you, Jess," Kate said. "I've been wanting coffee for the last couple hours but i didn't want to disturb Archangel while he's sleeping. If I move, he wakes. He's doing much better. The new vet in Diagon Alley seems to know her stuff, but we were able to do a few things too that, although they were unconventional, it seems like they helped. I think he's going to be alright. if he stays stable, I might be able to leave him for a little tis afternoon. Either that or I'll levitate his nest and bring it into the house and put it in my studio so I can work while he sleeps."

Michael had finally perfected his chocolate orange cheesecake. It had a chocolate crust, with a generous layer of dark chocolate ganache on top of creamy, rich chocolate cheesecake filling. He had made his own candied orange rinds and dipped them in chocolate. To add them to the cheesecake he cut them in slices so paper thin that he could see through them like glass. He had added the little slices into the cheesecake filling and then meticulously decorated the top with pieces of candied orange rind. He had brought several of them in to Sparks to sell, and the Sparks staff were already in love with it.

Having finished with his business with the kitchen, he came out from the back and poured himself a cup of tea. He looked up and happened to see Jack and Jessie, and he had the waitress take over two slices of the new cheesecake. He knew Jack couldn't resist a sweet treat, so he felt they would be appreciated.

Jess nodded and smiled at Kate " might be a good idea to do that, Oh Roberts gone for a sleep, looked about ready to fall aslep on his feet." she said watching the bird and how gentel Kate was with him.

Jacks eyes went wide at the sight of the Cheesecake as it was placed infront of them " compliments of the cook" the waitress said smiling at Jessie.

"tell him thankyou" Jessie said taking a bite and tasting the flavours melt in his mouth. " Michael is a great chef, and this is my favorate dish." Jessie finished the cheese cake slice and sat back holding his coffee cup finally feeling like he'd eaten. He watched as Jack finished his and wiped his moth clean of the chocolate.

"we should get back, Robert might need us, though he ushaly sends down a signal if its urgant" he gave a sigh" thought I need to talk to those darnm wolves again, find out what they know or if they hurt Archangel and why, hey wanna come with?" Jack asked Jessie " oh and that pretty waitress has been eyeing you up since we got here" Jessie chuckled and lent closer to Jack.

"Well she can keep looking, im not intrested." He told him as he picked up the bill and stood up to go pay so they could head back. Jack stood up and stopped him.

"It goes on Roberts account." He told him and Jessie nodded" I know you don't like owing any one , nether did I but get use to it, you pay him with your time, blood sweat and tears." he chuckled again " and you will shed tears."

"I'm glad," Kate said to Jess. "He hasn't slept well for awhile now. He goes through insomnia stretches. Mind you, it isn't like he couldn't make himself a sleeping potion, but he wants no part of that. Last night was his fifth in a row that he either didn't sleep at all or not enough to make a bloody difference. I bet he hasn't actually slept more than about 9 hours total in the last five nights. Sometimes its because he has something on his mind, but sometimes there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. A few years ago, one of the St. Mungo's healers evidently thought they were doing him a favor when they found out h wasn't sleeping. They diagnosed him with insomnia. Bloody useless git. Robert already knew he couldn't sleep. How on earth did their diagnosis of insomnia help him one little particle? Robert was about as livid as I've seen him be, and now he just doesn't talk about it. It is getting to him, though, because he's gone through two packs of cigarettes in the past five or six days, and that's more than what he'd normally smoke in a year. Leave it to the bloody chief of staff to not take care of himself." She sighed heavily, frustrated that she couldn't do more to help him.

Archangel woke and looked at her, seemingly rousted by sensing Kate's edginess.

"Sorry, my big boy," she soothed him, petting him. "Go back to sleep. I won't disturb you anymore. I promise." He made a soft little sound, almost like singing. She smiled, and he settled again. She waited a moment, and he went back to sleep. "He likes making noise and I like when he sings like that. He's done that from the time he was little. Anyway, thank you for the coffee and the breakfast. I hope Robert really does get some sleep."


At Sparks, Michael was glad they had seemed to enjoy the cheesecake. The staff had said there were some customers wanting to see a lemon cheesecake for Easter, so Michael had decided to oblige them and bring some in. He finished his tea and went over to Jessie and Jack.

"Well, you boys aren't any worse for wear today. Good. I just found out about a new spot for what is supposed to be some prime cliff climbing. I thought I'd go on Saturday because the weather is supposed to be marvelous for it. Either of you interested in coming along for a climb?"

Jess looked at Michael walked over to them and he smiled " that cheese cake was superb Michael." he said Jack nodded. Listening to Michael he smiled " I'd be up for that, fresh air and some climbing, just the thing to work off that cheese cake."

Jack shook his head "Sorry mate, I got wolves to sort out, but you could be good for Jessie to see more of the grounds, get the lay of the land type of thing." Jack sugested patting Jessies shoulder as he spoke.

"Oh, they're not around here, Mate," Michael said. "Thought I'd pop over to Ireland and try a cliff site I haven't tried there, just for the fun of it, really. I'll toss in a bite of lunch for the top, providing we reach the top. And when we get back down, we can go round to the pub and quench our thirsts. Incidently, I did find out where Brian buggared off to yesterday. He got a tip from Paris about a handover of some 'valuable merchandise' that was supposed to happen at just about the same time we were at Gelding's. Thomas Gelding has been a very naughty boy.  And not merchandise they should be taking--belonging to Lee's second in command."

He was deliberately not telling Jessie what Gelding was involved in, but the information was all but out to him anyway. Still, Sparks was not the place to be telling him what really happened in Paris and why they were spending so much time there. If Jessie wanted to know, they would have to go somewhere more private than Sparks at the height of the noon rush. Still, he was sure Jack would understand the rather cryptic comment he had made, even if it still did go over Jessie's head.

Jessie looked curious at Michael as he listened to him" oh, not been there myself,It still sounds intresting." He told him Jack still shook his head at the thought.

"Still not my thing , and good coz I think Robert will be less worried now we know where he went." Jack said and nodded he understood Michaels lack of information. " you'd think he'd learn by now" Jack commented as he saw Jessie looking out the window at the people passing by.

Jess turned to face both of them again and looked from one to the other "so when do you want to go?" he asked Michael." as long as its fine with Robert, i'm okay to go any time." It was now the waitress walked over and placed soemthing into his hand then smiling left to go into the kitchen. Opening his hand he saw a peice of paper with a name and number on. He rolled his eyes and pushed it into his pocket intending to dipose of it later.

"Let's go tomorrow," Michael said. "If we go early in the morning, I think we can make it to the top by about noon. That gives us time for lunch and then the climb down. We should be able to get home in time for one of Kate or Angus's wonderful dinners. I'll come around to Robert's farm in the morning by about 8, and that will still give us plenty of time. Do you have climbing gear? If not, I can bring a set for you. And you might want to bring a fleece jacket if you have one. The air is chilly early in the mornings there and probably moreso with the sea air. If not, say the word. I have several."

Michael took a moment and looked at Jack. "We really do need to take him to the office in Paris. If you're going to go talk to the canines, I might take it upon myself to read him in on the rest of the operation. If he thinks that simply guarding Khaat and Abbey is the full of it, then it really isn't fair to not tell him the rest of it. What do you think?"

Jessie grinned and nodded " sure and I can get some we're getting gear right now." he told Michael " so we'll grab some to." Jack listened to Michael and chuckled nodding as Michael spoke.

"Good idea , he needs to know All of it" Jack said and stressed the word 'all' so he'd know. Jessie looked at them both.

"you do know I know theres more to just garding Khaat and Abby, I was there with Ge...him last night." Jessie said " Im not that new, but I guess refresher won't hurt." Jack shook his head at Jessie.

"Kid you got a lot to learn about what we do, and I don't just mean as Aurors." he told him. " Michael please educate him." Jack sighed " I got to run , Jessie you got your port key." Jessie took them out to show Jack " bronse one" he told him " use it and I'll catch you later." Jack turned and walked out the door leaving Jessie with Michael.

"all right, guess I'll see you tomorrow, early." Jessie said " um..whitch dirction is the shop that sells the climbing gear?" he asked turning ina full cercle where he stood.

"Let's go. Its down the next block. They sell mainly quidditch gear, but they have a small amount of climbing gear because I pestered them to start carrying it. They don't understand why any wizard would want to climb up a cliff with a rope when he could simply apparate up to the top and be done with it. Some wizards have no sport about them at all."

He walked Jessie down to the quidditch store and took him to the back wall of merchandise, where they kept quidditch accessories like gloves and boots and other nonsense. In one little section of shelves, was an array of climbing gear, not very neatly arranged simply because they didn't have any understanding of what it was. Michael looked through it but he was going to let Jessie make his own selections and wasn't going to presume he didn't know about climbing. He was going to presume he knew unless Jessie said otherwise.

What was on Michael's mind was telling Jessie about Paris and perhaps taking him to the operations HQ there. He really didn't have a plan on how to tell him, though. The only one that really came to mind was taking him to Hogsmeade where Michael could take him to his house and then tell him properly.

"Are you a fan of chocolate fudge?" he asked, feeling a need to stop by Honeydukes on the way and swipe some fudge for old times sake.