LONDON CALLING

"Good thought, Ruby," Brian smiled at her. "Thanks. The only clothing, if you can call it clothing, Robert has stocked in this sickbay, are paper hospital gowns. I have no idea what possessed him to do that, but that's all that's here."

"Surplus from somewhere else, surely," Nigel said. "Just to avoid having nothing at all."

"I'm sure some of us here would rather have nothing at all as to have that," Brian laughed.

"Agreed but I wouldn't say that to Robert, or he really would arrange for you to have nothing at all," Nigel said, amused. He listed to the woman's apology and her introduction as Jess. "Apology accepted, and I do understand. Robert's friends all tend to be very close knit."

"How do you know him?" Brian asked, never hearing Robert mention Nigel before. Nor did he know how Robert had come to have an alarm key specifically for Nigel.

"Oh, he hasn't told you, then," Nigel said. "Perhaps it isn't for me to say."

"Nigel," Michael said, standing in the doorway, "the cat is halfway out of the bag as it is. Go on and tell them. I'll take responsibility and deal with Robert later."

"I am Robert's healer, and I have been for several years now," Nigel said.

"What?" Brian frowned. "He's never said a word."

"Did any of you, besides perhaps Kate, have a need to know? Michael knew because he helped put us in touch in the first place."

"Kate doesn't know either," Michael said. "I was the only other one who knew."

"Well, I have no idea what he was keeping it from you all for. You'll have to take that up with him, but not today."

"Maybe not," Brian said, "But I am going to take it up with you, Michael."

"Whatever," Michael said, not caring.

"Can I stay with my grandfather?" Angus asked.

"Not until we tend to you more efficiently," Nigel said.

"Huh?" Angus asked blankly. Brian pointed to Angus's bloodied shirt, which Angus had forgotten he was still wearing. "Oh, that. Ruby was kind enough to use a patch kit out in the field. It's fine."

"A patch kit is a useful thing. I'm glad you had it, but it scarcely replaces a qualified healer. No offense in any way to Ruby. Let's find someplace else and see to it, and then I'll tell you if I'm going to let you camp down here." Angus glanced over at Ruby, not frustrated with her in any way, but just frustrated in general with healers and instructions and restrictions. It annoyed him. And so far, Nigel was as bad with the instructions and restrictions as Robert was.

Ruby listened to Nigel then looked to Angus her arms crossed over her chest. Walking over to Angus she spoke softly to him " I guess I'll be waiting in our room" she said " nice to meet you Nigel." she said and left the room heading to the one she shared with Angus where she sat down accioed a pot of tea and waited.

Jess moved out the room and up to Jack who was heading out for a patrol. " can't stop the normal things." he said she smiled and kised his cheek " yes I'll watch my back." he told her then left. Jess walked over to the kitchen and to Kate.

"well, I hope we can breath for a moment" she said sitting down on a stool. poring a cup of coffee for herself feeling she needed the extra caffeine after the evening she'd had. It was now she saw she was sooted and dirtied.

"Just abandon me, then," Angus called out to Ruby teasingly as she left him in Nigel's hands. Brian stayed with Edward, and Nigel took Angus to another room and checked him. He put healing spells in place and let Angus shower and clean up and then put clean dressings on. Angus accio'd clean clothes from his duffel, and then Nigel told him to go get some breakfast and maybe a bit of sleep because Edward would likely be awhile before he was conscious.

Kate had her own cup of tea and was watching Gabe and Mira and the others finish setting things up for breakfast.

"It's been a long night, and I know everyone is tired and dirty and hungry," Kate acknowledged quietly, her mind still on Robert. "God, Jess, his hands are the most important thing a healer and a potions maker has. And they look so bad. I don't know how the hell that happened, and how Michael knew. Or how he summoned this Nigel fellow, but clearly he and Robert aren't strangers. And Edward. We almost lost Edward tonight. Brian damned near lost his house. I always thought when we finally ended up catching Gelding, we'd be celebrating with champagne, but we haven't even given that a thought. We've been after this family for almost 40 years, and we finally have him. And now, it doesn't matter. And, we still haven't heard anything from Marcus and Khaat. Where the devil are they?" She sighed heavily, exhausted and worried, and then took a sip of her tea.

"Is Edward any better?" she asked. "Is this Nigel fellow worth anything?"

"Is this a private party?" Michael asked, bringing his own mug of coffee over to join them.

Jess chuckled and nodded then heard her talk of Roberts hands " hes in good..for want of a better word, hands with Nigel" she told him " he will heal again" she paused and sighed shaking her head " I think Ruby though is overwhelmbed by all this, im leaving that to Angus tohelp her." she said then noticed Michael " nope all welcome." she said with a chuckle moving out a chair for him to sit at.

Ruby finished her tea and walked down to the kitchen to put it in the washer. Jess looked up at her and smiled "Hey Ruby, join us its an after fight tea party." Jess said " soot included" she joked but saw Ruby shake her head.

"Sorry but..Angus is with Nigel and well I need to shower." she said and quickly left the room. Jess looked at Kate then Michael.

"She should have never been exposed to all that," Kate said, feeling for Ruby. "She hasn't had a speck of training, and for as well as she's held up so far, that was a nightmare last night."

"Yes," Michael acknowledged. "Yes, it was. She could use a dose of a nerve tonic. It isn't like we all haven't had to do that from time to time after something particularly harrowing. That's why Robert leaves it in the kitchen, isn't it?"

"It is. I'll pour her one and see if Angus won't take it to her when he's done with Nigel," she said. Kate got up and poured a dose of it and set it beside her on the table. "Michael," Kate asked, "how did Robert get hooked up with Nigel Sigworth? And who exactly is he?"

"Nigel Sigworth is one of the best wizard healers on the planet," Michael said. "Do you remember a few years ago when Robert's insomnia got so bad the first time?"

"Of course. He got really sick from exhaustion and nothing helped."

"Right. Well, he had been talking to Lee Shepherd about some ministry things, and when Robert got sick, I talked to Lee to cancel a meeting he was supposed to have with Robert. Lee arranged for an appointment with Nigel, and I took him to the appointment."

"But, as I recall, you and Robert were gone for 4 or 5 days," Kate frowned.

"Yes. We were--because Nigel admitted Robert to a highly classified clinic for high ranking wizarding officials in New York. I'm not supposed to know it even exists. He kept Robert and provided him some pretty intense treatment that got him turned around in very short order."

"He was in a hospital in New York for almost a week and no one thought I deserved to know?" Kate was beyond livid. "How often does he see this Nigel?"

"Once a year, if all goes well, for the same physical he requires of all of us," Michael said.

"And a couple months ago, when he hadn't slept for days and you took him on an overnight..." Kate said.

"Yes. I took him to see Nigel. Nigel kept him only overnight to adjust his sleep potion, and then we came straight back home. Robert's kept his word to you, Kate. He did not want to frighten you or alarm you in any way..."

"Like this isn't alarming?" she asked. She caught herself, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I'm going to kill him" she said under her breath, infuriated. "It's a good thing he isn't going to die because I'm going to kill him." Michael looked at Jess.

"I think she's taking it rather well, don't you?" Michael said, having expected Kate to be a whole lot angrier than she was.

Owens came into the kitchen and looked at them. "Breakfast is ready. Come fix your plates. I'll try to find everyone else and tell them. And I just saw Khaat and Marcus apparate in. They're outside, and they're on their way. They're chasing some sort of a little dog they brought in with them."

"Dog?" Michael asked.

Jess looked at Micahel as he spoke of the tonic then chuckled " oh thats perfect, I remebr I had to have that too." she said then listened to them talk. when Michael spoke to her about Kate being angry she looked at Kate then abck to Michael " I think I see green." she said softly " um..one thing to know when a woman is this quie , there realy realy not inside" she told him taking a sip of her coffee.

Ruby had showered and now sat in the room thinking hard about that night her mind racing over what had happened. She was glad Angus had been there but now she started to wonder if she was good enough, she ahd no job and had been placed with Robert under sneaky cercomstances. Now she felt like she didn't belong with them.

"I need some air," Kate said, taking a deep breath. "I'll be back in a moment. Go eat, you two. Before Jessie and Jack get back." She took a look out the kitchen window and saw a little labrador pup racing through the yard. "Well, shit. Abbey's a dog, and it looks like she's running to China and has absolutely no intention of stopping."

"What's with that little crazy dog?" Nigel asked, coming into the kitchen. "Got any coffee?"

"Fresh coffee in the dining room, along with breakfast." She pointed the way into the dining room. AndThat little crazy dog is my three year old metamorphamgus granddaughter." Kate sighed. "And its bloody difficult for anyone but Robert to change her back. She can shift into a dog but she can't shift back."

"Because she's too bloody little for that," Nigel frowned. "She's not supposed to
be able to do that for another ten years at least. Why am I not surprised there would be such a rare bird in this family? Shall I have a go?"

"By all means," Kate said, too exasperated to take on one more battle. "Where's Angus?"

"Dressing. He'll be here for a caffeine fix momentarily, I think," Nigel said. "I made him shower off the stench."  Nigel stepped out onto the porch, drew his wand and fired at the puppy.

"Come here, you ornery little shit," Nigel said. The spell lifted the dog into the air and brought her straight into Nigel's hands, while Khaat was half a breath from a panic attack because someone had fired a wand at her child. Marcus had a tight hold on her, wanting her to just hold a moment.

"What kind of a spell is that? 'Come here you ornery little shit'?" Michael asked. "Not a spell Minerva McGonnegal would ever have approved of."

"Seems like it worked for him, though," Kate said watching.

Nigel caught the puppy easily and looked at her face to face.

"You are a cute little booger, but let's change you back, shall we?" Nigel asked. He used wandless magic and in a twinkling, she was back to human form. Nigel looked at her and smiled. "Hello. I'm Nigel. Who are you?"

"Abbey," she replied "I this many..." She held up three fingers.

"You're very smart for three years old," he said. She nodded.

"Papa says I big girl now," She nodded proudly.

"Yes you are. Are you hungry? You're just in time for breakfast."

"Aun' Jess!" Abbey dashed into the house, "Berries! Marky no had no berries!"

"You are apparently keeper of the berries today," Michael looked at Jess, laughing. Kate got up and took the potion and went upstairs and knocked on the door of the bedroom she had assigned to Angus and Ruby.

Jess laughed as Abby ran to her asking for berrys, picking her up she walked to the fridge " Looks like it, I think there is a bowl in the back" she whispered to her. Reatching into it she pulled out a small bowl. " okay here we are." chuckaling she walked to her high chair and placed her down in it. "Here you are." she told her "and after how about we do some drawing?" she asked her.

Jack walked back and laughed seeing Khaat and Brian chaceing Abby he also saw Nigel change Abby back to a little girl. " Hey Brian, Khaat, intresting spell." he said as Jessie joined him to watch the scene unfold.

Abbey was thrilled to see berries and to see Aunt Jess. They had only been gone overnight, but for a three year old, it felt like forever. And then Jess asked about drawing. Abbey nodded.

"Magic crayons?" she asked Jess. The truth was there were no magic crayons. Brian had just let her believe there were. He let her scribble all over the walls at home and then, when Abbey wasn't around, he used magic to get rid of the crayon marks. Khaat hated it but Brian had no intention of stopping it.

"I've never seen it quite done like that, but it does look effective," Marcus laughed. "Morning, Jack. It's good to be home. Certainly has been a long night, and I presume it didn't get any shorter for you lot, did it?" Marcus looked at Khaat. "Better now? Take a breath. She's fine." Khaat took a breath. "She's in pretty good shape but she's in that awkward overreacting phase that I'm sure we've all gone through after an ordeal. Ran out of nerve tonic. The bottle I snatched up when we left last night was all but empty."

"Who is that? He looks familiar," Khaat said.

"Nigel Elliot Sigworth," Marcus recited the facts from memory as if he were reading a dossier, "age 74, renowned healer and potionsmaker, born in London, Sorted to Ravenclaw in his Hogwarts years, and was a particular favorite student of Horace Slughorn's. Wife, Sybil, deceased, two children--Francine, at 52, living in Dorchester. And son, Neville, age 54, living in Blackheath. Sigworth now residing in New York, and currently standing on your mother's back porch."

"Sigworth. Now I know. He was at one of Slughorn's Slug Club's Christmas parties when I was there. But that's been a long time ago," she said.

"Then let's introduce ourselves," Marcus said.

"Good lord, is that Khaat?" Nigel said.

"You remember me?" Khaat asked, going up and shaking hands with him. For a mere instant, she thought she saw deep concern on his face.

"Of course. You're the little freckle faced blonde I met at Slughorn's party. What a gorgeous woman you've turned out to be, and not a bit of resemblance, to your father, thank goodness." He teased. They laughed.

"Thank you," she said.

"I won't keep you from breakfast. Come see me afterwards. Let's have a chat, shall we?" Khaat and Brian went inside and saw the chaos all around.

"Go get some coffee," Marcus told her, "I'll catch up." Michael motioned to Marcus, and when Marcus went over, Michael briefed him on the nights events, including the fire and the conditions of Edward and Robert, along with the capture of Tom Gelding at long last. Marcus immediately went into the dining room, took her aside and told her the barest of the facts.

Kate had knocked on Ruby's door but got no answer. She opened the door just a crack and called out.

"Ruby? You there? Its' Kate."

Ruby looked up from where she was sat and awnsered " yes Im here." she said standing up to see Kate. "Sorry, I was lost in my own thoughts, you know, I found out that my boss used me to find Brians place and she was sleeping with the enemy, I have no job now, no apartment as they were providing me accomidation." she looked at Kate " whats Angus going to think about me now he knows that I worked for th person who harmed his grand father." she paced back and forth as she spoke panic now rising from inside her. She wanted to run but also stay at the same time, she felt she had betrayed them and now didn't deserve to belong in their home.