LONDON CALLING

"You're very welcome, but I think Jess cooked this morning. At any rate, the tailor is a perfect idea for clothes, Ruby," Kate said. "Angus knows the place in his sleep. Maybe you can make a stop on the way. It's generally one stop shopping that way." She refilled her own cup and sat down with them at the table. She was just about ready to take a sip of her tea when Abbey came dashing in the door with her hands cupped, holding something.

"Gam! Gam! He's hurted!" Abbey ran up to Kate.

"What have you got?" Kate asked.

"Birdie!" she said.

"Let me see," Kate said. Abbey opened her hands, and Kate gasped at the little bird in her hands. "Oh my word. It's a baby northern pygmy owl! They don't live around here. They live in Canada and in the Americas. Some wizard must obviously have an adult, but how we got a baby, I don't have any idea." The little own screeched and tried to flap his wings, but one wing didn't move. "Oh, dear. There's the trouble. He's broken his wing. And he's very grouchy because he's very, very hungry." She showed the tiny owlet to Ruby and Simone.

"What will he eat?" Simone asked.

"He's a lot like Jack. He's a bottomless pit meat eater," Kate teased. "He won't get very big. Maybe six inches tall when he's grown."

Ruby smiled and looked at Jess " thank you " Jess just smiled back and nodded her head. It was now Ruby saw Abby walk in closly followed by Jessie.

"ho boy, shes quick" he said to Kate slightly ut of breath. " she spotted something then took off." he paused leaned on his knees and caught his breath loooking at Abby with Kate. " a north american owl?" he said " what the hek would they be doing this far north?" He said and walked over to Kate " awe hes cute." Jesie said reatching into his ocket he brought out some worms " will these be enough to feed him, I was in the middle of feeding the owls in the barn." he explained Ruby finished her tea and placed her cup into the sink.

"She is very quick," Kate laughed. "I have wondered if she sees things so quickly because of her Labrador tendencies. I'll have to ask Robert. As best as I can guess, though, some wizard must have smuggled a pair of pygmy owls to England. And how this little boy got here, I have no idea. Abbey, where did you find him?"

"He falled out of a tree and go'd boom!" she said. Kate fed the owl one of the worms Jessie had, and that seemed to solve part of the problem.

"His tummy is pretty tiny at this age," Kate said, as Angus came into the kitchen.

"Where's that come from?" Angus frowned.

"I finded him, Aggie!' Abbey piped up. "He's hurted."

"Well, if he's hurt, then your gam is the best person to fix him. Did you see his mum?"

"No. But I see'd a kitty watching him. I think he wanted to eat him."

"Well, you were probably right," Angus told her.

"I did good?" she asked him.

"Yes, you did a very good thing by bringing him to your gam."

"Wait, what did she bring to..." Robert came in, looking for tea and heard the discussion. He looked over to see what Kate had. "Oh, no. It's another food sack with eyes." Kate laughed.

"Huh?" Angus looked at Robert.

"At this stage, that's about all baby owls are. Constantly empty food sacks with great big eyes. They don't really ever seem to get enough food at this age. I think I'm going to name this little bloke Jackie--for obvious reasons," Kate replied, and Robert laughed out loud.

"Very fitting," Robert agreed. "Except he isn't going to be a very big owl."

"No, he's going to be quite tiny indeed," Kate said. "But he seems to be an intelligent little boy, so he would make a fine little companion for someone when he gets older. He'll be just the right size to sit on someone's shoulder. How'd your check up go with Nigel, Dear?"

"Pretty good. Bandages are gone, and he's gone to sports tape to give more support to the shoulder," Angus said.

"That is good news indeed. So now, swimming, cooking and a few of the lighter chores are back on your list and some of the other things you love. No weight training or rock climbing, though. And you might not be running a sailboat by yourself, but there are a lot of other things you can do again now," Robert said.

"Robert, Jackie here has a broken wing. Help me get the bones just right?" Kate asked.

"Of course," he told her. "Let's go see to him and get him a room at the inn."

"Jessie, will you get one of the small bird of prey cages fixed up for this little one? He can't fly yet, so he doesn't need a big one. He'll need soft warm bedding and water, of course, and he'll need one of those artificial tree trunk nests." Kate had fashioned some artificial nests for some birds by making some fake tree trunks with a hole in them for putting some soft feathers and nesting material inside of, much like a natural hole in a tree that a bird might find.

Edward finally made it downstairs, clean and refreshed. He poured himself some coffee and saw the baby owl.

"Oh, I see the Lupin Veterinary Clinic is open for business. He's a handsome little fellow," Edward said.

"He's Jacky!" Abbey nodded.

"Someone named him Jack?" Edward laughed.

"Jackie because he's a bottomless pit--like someone else we know," Kate said.

Ruby smirked as did Jess and Jessie. " I think that name is perfect for him " Jess said chukaling more. Ruby listened to Angus tell them of his visit with Nigel and smiled "Thats wonderful and Edward did say we could have crew if we needed, so all you have to so is relax and enjoy the trip." she said she listened to Robert and Abby talk about the owl just as Jack walked in and looked around. " who?" he said then chuckled " got ya I saw the owl" he smiled walking over to the owl " awe hes a cutie, whats his name?" he asked.

Jess chuckled again " his name is Jackie" she said and watched as he looked at Kate and then to Abby again.

" hum, good choice" he said then thought more about it and rubbed his noce " is this got anything to do with the amount I eat again?" he asked seeing the look on Jess's face he could not help but chuckle himself as she burst out laughing. "all right all right, I do think the name ssuits him though. Jessie nodded as he heard Kates words and headed to the barn to get the small cage ready, he made a warm soft nest with feathers and grass and put it in a quiet place so it could rest and heal. before returning back to the kitchen.

"okay his nest is rerady, Abby you want to put him in his bed?" he asked seeing this as part of her expiriance for when she grew up.

"Abbey, Papa and I need to fix his wing first and then you and Jessie can put him in his new bed. Why don't you feed Fudge while we do that?" Kate asked. Abbey fairly bounded to try to get the jar of new Bowtruckle bites that Kate had formulated but she couldn't reach the jar. She immediately decided to pull out the kitchen drawers to use as a ladder to climb up to the counter to get the jar.

"Abigail, that isn't your best idea," Robert warned.

"But...Stickee's food, Papa!"

"And when you want something you can't reach, is that what you're supposed to do?" he asked. She nodded. "Really? You think so?" Robert gave her a bit of a reprimanding look. Angus picked up the jar and looked at her, as Kate and Robert went out to the barn to fix the owlet's wing.

"What do you say?" Angus asked her.

"Pweeze?" she asked.

"Much better," Angus said, handing her the jar. "Now, take the jar to Jessie, and he'll help you read the feeding instructions on the jar and then you two can feed Fudge."

"You're going to be an excellent father someday, Angus," Simone told him. "You're wonderful with her."

"I've known her from the day she was born," Angus said. "And I think I was the one who actually changed some of her very first diapers.  Abbey came home to Brian's house the next morning after she was born--long before Khaat was released from St. Mungo's, so I've spent most of my time taking care of Abbey in some form or another. Somewhere Brian has pictures of Abbey's bassinet in the kitchen so I could work, and I'm sure he snuck a few pictures of me wearing Khaat's pink baby sling with Abbey inside. Not my most flattering look."

"Well, if you ask me, any man who will step up and put on a baby sling and take care of a newborn, I think that is a very handsome, very sexy look," Simone said. He looked at her, unbelieving, as if she had just sprouted two extra heads. "Look. A woman doesn't need a man to be some fancy, magazine perfect looking fellow. She sees his heart. That's what is truly sexy to a woman. I still think you're going to be an outstanding dad someday."

"Well, thanks," he said.

"Sounds like I need to buy a baby sling," Edward teased.

Ruby smiled at Angus with Abby she heard Simone and could not have a greed more " I agree with you a hundred percent there Simone a marrage is a partnership and each should respect the other." she said smiling at Angus " but I am glad he knows how to change a diaper." she chuckled as she heard Edward enter " not yet, not until were both ready." she said and looked lovingly at Angus but knew now was not the right time, she would be ready only when he was and she was willing to wait.

Jessie moved to Abby and ready the lable on the jar, Taking one treat he gave it to Abby then lifted her up so she was level with Fudge. " al right hes waiting, now gently hols outthe treat in your palm he'll take it from you." he said and smiled when Fudge clambered over and took the treat and after sniffing it he ate hapily. " he likes the new treats." Jesie said " Im guessing he gave some imput on what flaore to make it?" Jessie asked smiling at Kate.

"Fudge told me what bugs he prefers," Simone replied, "and then it was easy for someone with Kate's experience to make his food in convenient little cubes. Easy for him to take from us, and easy for us to handle." Fudge made a little chattering sound, and Simone nodded. "And he says this new food has some lovely crunch. He approves. Abbey, he would like to ride on your shirt pocket today, but your shirt has no pockets.

"I might have just the thing," Angus said. "One moment." He went to Kate's closet and found mint green blouse of Kate's that she had splattered paint on recently when she had been in her studio. The paint had not come out, and so Kate had considered the blouse a total loss. Angus brought the blouse out and put it on Abbey, resized it so that it looked more like a painter's smock on her, and then he rolled up the sleeves up just about to her elbows. Then he put Fudge in her pocket. Abbey and Fudge both seemed delighted.

"Who's shirt is that?" Simone asked.

"One of Kate's that she said she was going to throw away. It's Abbey's now for whenever she wants to take Fudge with her," Angus said. Nigel came into the kitchen and took full advantage of Angus being busy with Abbey to make sure he handed the package of travel medicines to Ruby, and he deliberately pointed to a folded piece of paper in an external pocket on the back of the med kit. He wanted her to read the medication instructions so that she would know that Nigel wanted Angus on a dose of the nerve tonic every four hours while they were gone. He knew that if it were left entirely to Angus, Angus would say he agreed to take it and then not take it at all, and Nigel did not want any chance of that happening.

Ruby sat and watched as Angus took out a shirt and shrunk it down to Abbys size she smiled at how good he was with her. She felt Nigel next to her and looked at the kit he gave her, then the note in a pocket. She slipped it into her own shirt pocket nodding to him she understood what he wanted her to do while they were away. " Well i think she looks cute in it" Ruby said " now you can take him where every you go for the day." she smiled at Abby.

"Jess smiled as he continued to bake buscuits watching them Jack sat watching them and smiling. " shouldn't you too be thinking of heading out?" Jess said finishing her buscits and slipping them into the oven.

"Not before that one eats," Nigel said, pointing to Angus. Angus picked up one of Jess's biscuits.

"Can we go now, please?" Angus said, not wanting to be forced to sit down with a full breakfast. Nigel rolled his eyes at Angus.

"I'll make sure I feed him. I've been feeding him since he came out of the shoot. He hasn't ever gone hungry," Edward said in an attempt to get Nigel off Angus's back. He got up and shouldered the one bag that he and Simone were going to share. Angus picked up the bag for him and Ruby and motioned to Ruby. The quicker they were off, the less Angus believed his stress would be.

"Can we make a quick diversion to the tailor in Venice?" Angus asked Edward.

"Certainly," Edward said. "Have a portkey there?"

"Absolutely," Angus said.

"Then we're going with you. Simone, take hold of Angus, and I'll take hold of you and Ruby so we don't get separated," Edward said.

Ruby chuckled seeing the slight defiance in Angus's eyes as she moved from her stool to stand with Angus. She took hold of Edwards hand then held Angus hand in her own. " alright lets go" she said waiting for Edward to port them away for several days. She knew this was just what they all needed.

Jess chuckled seing Angus pick up one of her busicuits " Im sure Edward will certaily make him eat along with Ruby." she told Nigel. Jessie took Abby and looked at Kate " so hows robert going to fix such a small bone?" he asked her knowing the birds bones were very very thin even more so since it was a baby.