LONDON CALLING

Kaden listened and had to agree with Robert in what he was saying " alright , I'll go with what ever you chose, but jeffery then colarado sounds good" he sid he was not cold towards all this but he understood the nessesity of it. " I don't understand it ether, he should be happy for her and Angus, not fear he would hurt her it dosn't make any sense." Kaden sat back and sighed " when do you want to do this?" he asked " I know when they return so I can be here waiting, and all I ask is that I tel him, please" he said his voice steady as it had been through the talk.

Jess walked over and handed both men a cup of almond tea " here you go this should relax you both" she said and placed Roberts beside him. Kaden smiled and took the cup from her .

"thank you Jess" he said sipping it he smiled " one of Michaels I presume" he said " its quite delightful."

"I'll see if I can connect with Jeffrey and then with Kieran. Kieran is Brian's brother. He and Brian's sister, Fiona, run the Colorado ranch. Kieran has been through some tough road himself. He was a pretty hard core alcoholic before we sent him to Jeffrey and got him dried out and on the right track. Fiona's husband was killed years ago, and she had trouble making ends meet and taking care of her kids. She works harder than just about any woman I've ever seen, and she can squeeze a penny tighter than just about any other person I know. If she needs to, she can feed an entire crew on almost nothing at all. They do a good job with the ranch, and they don't take nay crap from anybody about anything.

"if I reach Jeffrey, he might come here to initially meet Jessie and see if he thinks he'd do well in his facility. Then he could travel back to Switzerland with Jeffrey. I'd like to do it as soon as possible because to delay it would only mean that everyone here will walk on eggshells, and Jessie isn't going to feel welcome or included. He's going to clearly know that people don't like his attitudes or behaviors. I don't have any issues with you telling him."

"Thanks, Jess," Robert said, glad to have some tea.

"Actually," Kate said. "That is Robert's own blend. No matter what other flavors he blends, this is the one that everyone seems to like the best. Supper should be ready in just a few minutes. We're having bangers and mash, Kaden, if that interests you. I'll go set up the dining room."

Kaden nodded to Robert " agreed, the sooner the better" he said " I can take his place in the meantime I have some holidays , well alot of holidays coming to me." he said then heard Kate and smiled " well it is a nice blend, I have had teas from china that didn't taste half this good, and only if its not an imposition" he said at the offer of supper.

" Jess smiled and spoke " its not Kaden Im surte Kate and Robert both agree your welcome anytime" she pored a cup for herself and Kate as they finished laying the table.

"then I would be honered to stay for supper" he said with a smile " my shift at St Mungos finshed over an hour ago but I came here becuse Jess asked for suplies for the sick bay, there over by the back door " he said and Jess nodded she'd sen them.

"thank you Kaden and I'll sort them later." she said placing down the plates as she went.

"We always have plenty, Kaden. You're always welcome," Kate said.

When the supper was all set in the dining room, Kate called everyone to supper, and Robert was realizing he was hungrier than he had thought.

In Romania, Angus took it upon himself to go to the village to pick up the capture stone. Michael offered to go with him, but Angus really wanted some fresh air alone. Sergio nodded slightly to Michael that he believed Angus just needed some fresh air. He felt Angus would be alright for the short walk to town and back.

Angus made it to Nicu's alright, and Nicu immediately noticed Angus's drastic change of mood. Nicu took him into the back and poured him a glass of some incredibly powerful home brewed spirits that he had made himself. It wasn't the sort of thing that most locals could do more than one shot of, but Nicu gave him a glass and Angus drank it while he browsed Nicu's wares. In fact, Angus had three shots of it, and when he came back, he was significantly less sober than when he went. And with considerably less in his wallet because he had bought some things impulsively from Nicu. Sergio met him on the porch, and when he saw that Angus wasn't nearly as sober as he had been, Sergio knew exactly what had happened. Angus sat down on the front porch, and Sergio took in Angus's cloth bags of packages--the capture stone, the finished stone that Jessie had ordered, the rest of the stones that Nicu hadn't used, and a whole cloth bag of impulsive buys that Angus had made.

"He's back?" Michael asked.

"Yes, he's back. He might be a bit more conversational now--for a few minutes, perhaps," Sergio said, amused. Michael didn't understand. He got up and went out on the porch and saw Angus's state.

"Oh," Michael said, seeing immediately what had happened.

"Nicu's lethal homebrew," Sergio laughed gently. "I should have warned him."

Jess looked up and nodded as Kaden acepted there hospitality " thankyou" he said and moved to the table to help lay it out with Jess. It was now Jess remebered teh apples in blankets and moved to place them on plates while heating up the sauce to pore over the top while they sat warming.

Jessie sat inside when he heard Angus was back he glanced over but seing Michael moving he staid put. knowing he angus would not want him near him. Hearing Strgio laughing he still staid and looked at the lit fire watching the flames dance inside of it.

They tucked into Kate's bangers and mash, and the old fashioned comfort food seemed to bring out the best in them all. It became a bonding point. They all had memories of having the simple dish when they were children. Kate hadn't made it very often since Brian and Khaat had grown but they all seemed to have fond memories of childhood that the dish reminded them of.

Over the peach cobbler and coffee, they discussed putting a concentrated effort into finishing the duplex so that it put some space between Angus and Jessie. They all saw it is a very necessary thing, and as much as they had liked Jessie, they could not allow him to continue mistreating Ruby and Angus and trying to control them. They agreed with Kaden's choices for Jessie's health and wellbeing. They suggested that Robert invite Jeffrey to come and introduce himself to Kaden and Jessie and see what he thought of Jessie before any decision to take him to Switzerland was reached. That would allow Kaden and Jessie to reach a decision together. Robert agreed to reach out to Jeffrey after supper.

"So," Sergio asked Angus, "what did you think of Nicu's homebrew?"

"A little bit like drinking fire," Angus said.

"Yeah, that's pretty accurate," Sergio agreed.

"Those are the stones?" Michael asked, going over to the bags. Angus nodded. Michael found the stones and then a number of other packages, including a small ring box. Michael picked up the ring box and opened it, and saw that Nicu had polished four small small peacock colored stones and had set them into two plain bands. He hadn't just polished a stone. He had polished four and had set them into gold bands. For a moment, Michael wanted to lob the bands right at Jessie, but he resisted.

And then he saw something else, another little box. He opened the box and saw a white gold pendant. On the front. was a wizarding photo of a twinkling night sky full of stars and a magnificent view of the milky way with vibrant shades of teal and purple, and on the back was a crescent moon and stars and a simple inscription--Love Conquers All

"Did you have Nicu make this for you?" Michael asked.

"Did he finish it?" Angus asked.

"Yes," Michael said. "I think she's going to like it."

"We were drinking some shots of his brew, and he asked me if I had someone back home. I told him about Ru, and how much we like star gazing and looking at the Milky Way. And we talked about a piece of jewelry. He said he had an idea, and I gave him a free hand with it. It only took him two or three drinks to do it, then.

"I think she's going to like it a lot," Michael said. "I'm going to go talk to Edward for a moment. Want to come and say hello?"

"Why not?" Angus said. He was going to go, but he was having trouble getting to his feet now.

"Edward might need to wait til he gets home," Sergio laughed.

"I think so. Maybe we can just haul him upstairs to bed instead," Michael said. The two of them apparated Angus upstairs and tucked him into bed. Then Michael went back down, picked up the two cloth sacks of wares that Angus had picked up and he took the ring box into Jessie and gave it to him, not saying much.

Michael went into his own room and opened the floo and got Edward right away.

"Well, clearly, I am not Angus," Michael said.

"I never would have guessed. You look so much alike," Edward teased.

"I don't think there is going to be any conversation tonight. He went down to Nicu's to retrieve the stones, and Nicu gave him some of his homebrew."

"Uh oh. I've had that stuff. It has a wicked kick to it."

"Especially after three shots of it," Michael said. Edward laughed out loud.

"Oh, no," Edward said. "He's completely smashed then."

"Pretty much. Sleeping it off at the moment. Sergio and I just put him to bed."

"Well, actually, it might have done him some good, in its own way. Are you alone?"

"Yes," Michael said.

"Are you able to put some distance between Angus and Jessie until you get home?"

"Well, that is absolutely the plan," Michael said. "I think Jessie gets that he has overstepped himself and that he is now Persona Non Grata amongst the four of us. At this point, I have no tolerance for him, and that is exceptionally rare for me. I like everybody, but I have reached the point where I cannot abide him. So, I am going to keep Angus with me. I intend to contact the railroad to see if I can get our compartments moved to two entirely different cars, and Angus and I will share one compartment while Brian and Jessie take the other."

"Would you like me to try to get the compartments changed for you?"

"Could you?"

"Certainly," Edward said.

"Not sure what we're going to do when we get home, though."

"We've got that settled. Not to worry," Edward said. "Robert has already put a tentative plan into place."

"I thought he probably would."

"Indeed."

"How is Ruby with it?"

"She's exceptionally angry. She said she's been trying to get Jessie to stop trying to control her for years and years and he just won't stop. She's fed up with it, and she is determined she is not going to lose Angus over it. Her mind is made up."

"I think Angus'll be relieved to know that. He doesn't know that you all know yet."

"He might be off his game a little, then."

"He is. He knows he's off his game, and that has him feeling quite stressed."

"I think once he gets home and back into his own element he'll feel better."

"Well, we have the stones, and Nicu made us a containment stone. So we're bringing back several nice raw stones and the capture stone. I see no reason why we can't make the 10 am train in Budapest. I'm sure we'll be up by first light and we'll be on our way there, probably with plenty of time to spare."

"Take your time, be safe, and we'll see you when you get home," Edward told him.

Jessie was out side again as he heard Michael talking he stayed out side not wating to do more harm than he already had. he'd took the box from Michael and put it in his pocket but said nothing fearing he'd say something that wouyld upset every one even more. Hearing evry one knew he now stood up and walked to the end of the path. Thinking he could disapear into the forest he knew better and just gave out a very loud howl in frustration of his own stupidaty. He didn't know why he was like this and he didn't want to stay this way.

Sitting on the ground he could not help but let everything out he swiped at trees in anger then burst into tears before returning to anger. Fialy he lay on the grass and looked at the stars abouve him. " I need help" he said to himself.

Brian was very aware that Jessie was outside and was taking time for himself to reflect. He had heard the howl. Heck, probably the whole blooming village had heard it. It wasn't that Brian didn't care. He did, but Jessie needed some space to think. Brian planned to give him a little space to try to decide for himself what he wanted.

When Michael finished his conversation in the floo, he made sure everything was packed to head home. He added the stones, etc. that they'd gotten from the mines and the packages that Angus had sporadically bought from Nicu and just tossed it all in his pack for convenience's sake. After all, it was all going home. It didn't really matter who's bag in went in. Then he headed to bed, taking time to read a chapter of his book and smoke a cigarette before turning out the light.

Brian packed his things too, and then he gave Ana a hand in folding up the laundry that she had done up for them. He separated what belonged to whom and used a spell to deliver the clean clothes to everyone's rooms so they could include all the clean clothes in their bags. He and Sergio and Ana talked at some length about what being a member of the organization meant and told them about the operation, the headquarters in Paris, the ranch in Colorado, and his own estate in England. That seemed to impress them that they were so well organized. Brian took off his own medallion and gave it to Sergio, as Robert had requested. After all, that still left the team with three more if they needed them.

Sergio and Ana went to bed, and Brian gave a whistle to call Jessie. He certainly wasn't going to yell for him at that late hour and wake up everyone in town. He wanted Jessie to at least come into the house and try to get a little shut eye before they headed out to Budapest at first light.

Jessie heard Michael whistle for him and he sat up pausing for amoment as the thought of he was not a dog came to mind , but he oushed it away knowing it was late. Standing he walked silently to the house and past Micheal with out a word and up to the bed he'd been given but he knew he would not sleep, being an ex marine he needed very little. He saw the clean clothes and placed them into his duffel bag placing it at the foot of the bed ready for the early start.

He woke early and headed out the door his bag placed by the door ready. Again he sat out side on the steps waiting now for them all to wake.

Michael and Brian were actually up before they heard either Jessie or Angus stirring. They had both showered and shaved and dressed and packed the last of their things up in their bags. Brian got out a potion to remedy the hangover he knew Angus would surely have this morning and he poured a dose of it and took it to Angus's room. He woke Angus and before Angus could even begin to think, he gave him the potion and told him quietly to drink it. It didn't even enter Angus's mind to question Brian. While Brian waited for the potion to work, he got out clean clothes for Angus to wear.

The potion did significantly reduce the hangover, and Brian got him through the shower and through dressing. They went downstairs together where Ana had made coffee and had put together a quick breakfast of eggs and toast for them. She knew they were apparating quite a distance with repeated short hops, and some people didn't handle that sort of traveling. So she had kept breakfast light. She also knew they would get an excellent brunch on the train in a few hours.

Angus had had to talk himself out of simply skipping breakfast and coffee not because he wasn't hungry, but rather he just simply didn't want to bother with Jessie. He wasn't angry with him, not like Michael was. Angus was just done with him. He had nothing to say to him. At the moment, he didn't feel anything at all about Jessie, except that if he did one more thing to bring one more fraction of a second of pain to Ruby, Angus had made up his mind he very well might unleash an unforgiveable curse on him. He silently did hope that Jessie didn't give him one more reason to fire upon him. It wasn't Jessie's job to protect Ruby. It was Ruby's, and, as Angus saw it, it was his too.

Michael was cheerful as he always was in the morning, and he and Brian were talking about hoping that Sergio and Ana brought the children and came soon to England. Sergio and Ana certainly knew what had happened under their roof, and they didn't want to get into a family feud, so they simply side stepped the whole thing by saying they would eagerly await Robert's invitation and whatever time worked well for everyone in England.

Brian and Michael and Angus joined Sergio and Ana at the breakfast table, and they talked about the trip back to England that the team was going to make shortly.