LONDON CALLING

Ruby could not stop smiling to have Angus back home safe. She smiled at Kate as she kissed Angus on the cheek as they moved to the dinning room to get some food for supper. " you know, I think I'll try the sweet red tonight since its red meat and a welcome back supper." she said to Michael and looked to Angus her right hand taking his as she smiled at him the ring he had given her flashing gently as she moved. She dished up her own super as she saw and ignored Jess as he return to the table.

"This is realy nice simone." she said then glanced at Abby and laughed slightly "yeah I agree, she is, but she will with time learn the diference" she said nothing to her brother and just moved with Angus down the line till she took a glass of wine. moving back to the table she sat down to eat. She ate quietly but enjoyed every bite. She glanced over at Angus " heres to having the boys home safe, relitivly" she said with a chuckle as she raised her glass in a toast.

"Here, here," Edward agreed, raising his glass to Ruby's toast. "A job well done, Gentlemen. We look forward to seeing the stones since that was what you went for."

"They're in my bag," Michael said. "I'll get them out after supper and we can do a proper show and tell. They laughed at Michael bringing up an activity many of them had not don since nursery school.

"So how was the climbing?" Gabe asked.

"No one had any problem at all," Michael said. "We left Angus behind because he had had a rather sticky bit of business in Budapest..."

"Yeah, we heard about that," Robert said.

"Anyway, he stayed behind, and Sergio went along. The climb went as smooth as silk, we were treated like royalty by the miners, and we made some good friends there. Came back down in the morning just as easily. Couldn't have asked for better," Michael said

"Wonderful," Gabe said. "Sounds like your change of plans allowed you to get the upper hand and keep it."

"Yes," Brian said. "It worked really well for us. We still have to get a hand on whoever is our mole, though."

"We will," Robert said, "But I got word last night from Sergio. The shapeshifters attempted to attack the mine last night. The miners took care of the shapeshifters and eliminated them. Gelding's operation won't be happy at losing two more operatives because of us, so keep your wits about you at all times." He looked at Edward and Simone and Ruby and Angus. "If you four are going to stay in the duplex, do take proper security precautions to protect yourselves."

"Absolutely," Edward said.

"Simone," Angus said, "your Wellington is some of the best I've ever had. Well done. And thank you all for a wonderful dinner to come home to."

"It was our pleasure," Simone said.

"We made one of your recipes for dessert, Michael, so feel free to critique me if it doesn't measure up," Kate said.

"I am not in the least bit afraid. I'm sure you did it beautifully," Michael said.

"We've made Michaels' Tiramisu. Does anyone want coffee with that?" Kate asked. Almost everyone wanted coffee, so when it came time for dessert, Kate cut pieces of Tiramisu for everyone and served coffee for those who wanted it.

"This meal was well worth the all day wait," Jeffrey said. "Sarah is going to be sorry she missed it. It was just superb."

"You're going to have to visit more often," Robert smiled.

"We might," Jeffrey agreed.

"Is there any reason why I can't postpone our usual debriefings until the morning?" Robert asked. "I'll meet with you individually then. Jessie, if there's something we need to talk about that you can think of, let's do that tonight so that you can rest easy with a cleared slate tonight."

Jessie finished eating and looked up at Robert " I don't think there is, everything is and went as Brian and Michael said" he said to him as he finished. " I'll take mine in my room if thats okay simone" he said " I still have some packing to do." he spoke softly. Ruby looked at Angus as Robert spoke of protection spells but she knew Angus was going to do that anyway.

"oh I'll have some coffee with mine, as nice as the red wine is I think its made my hed spin a little" she said with a giggle and smile. " but I couldn't agree more , superb supper." she looked over at Abby " do you agree Abby?" she asked

"Yummy," Abbey nodded. Simone sent Jessie's dessert and coffee upstairs, and Kate made sure everyone who wanted coffee with the dessert had some.

"Kate, you did the Tiramisu perfectly," Michael said. "I'll just take the rest of the pan and a fork, please." They all laughed and Michael's willingness to eat the whole pan. "This is a great welcome home. You know, if I'd been home in my cottage, the kettle would have made me a cup of tea, and Snidely would have beat me in a hand or two of poker. That would have been about it. Nothing against Snidely, but this is better by leaps and bounds."

"Who's Snidely?" Jeffrey asked.

"His hat rack," Robert said.

"Wait. What?" Jeffrey frowned.

"No, Michael isn't imagining it," Robert laughed. "Several years ago, my lovely daughter buggared up a spell, and now everything in Michael's house is sentient. Snidely is the hat rack and he plays poker."

"So, is this hat rack any good?" Jeffrey asked.

"He cheats," Robert said, laughing. That made Jeffrey laugh.

"I really want to meet this hat rack," Jeffrey said.

"And the dogs. You need to meet the dogs," Kate said. "They're adorable."

"What are they? A pair of trainers?"

"No. Footstools. You should take Sarah a puppy. She'd love it."

"Wait. The footstools had puppies?"

"They're really well behaved once you get the housebroken."

"Somebody's cheese is about halfway off its cracker, I think" Jeffrey said, trying to wrap his mind around it all."

"Yours, perhaps?" Michael teased. They all laughed. Angus had finished his dinner, having been hungry. Now, though, he had a full stomach, and he was tired. He wanted to get away from everyone else and just be alone with Ruby. He had been social about long enough.

Ruby laughed as they spoke of the hat rack and foot stools " oh yes but hes such a gentelman too" she said rembering when she ahd to fetch something from michels home once" she saw Angus finish and place her hand gently on his " all right I think Angus and I will retire for the night." she said as Jack took their plates to the kitchen. " its been a long day for these boys and I realy want to see this suprise of Edward and Simones, so I'm saying good night." Ruby stood up " shall I meet you there?" she asked him softly " or will you walk with me?" she hoped he would walk with her back to the duplex.

Entering she smiled " we finished it all so now all you need to do is relax, I say we, as Edward and Simone helped a lot." she moved to the kitchen " I hope everything is where you want it." she moved to hold him around his waist her head resting on his chest as she sighed " they all pitched into give you a place to relax in, well us, our sactuary away from ..well" she paused waving her hand to close the door and flick the lock. " shall we set the spells and sleep?"

"I'll go with you," Angus said. "Forgive us, All, but I'm tired. I really just want an early night of it."

"Completely understandable and well earned," Robert said. "Good night, Lad. Sleep in tomorrow."

"Yes, by all means," Kate said. "We'll take care of breakfast one more morning here."

"Thank you," Angus said, wondering what it would be like to have breakfast alone with Ruby in their own home. He took Ruby's hand and they walked over to the duplex. He walked in, turned on the lights, and it looked better than he had imagined. "God, Ru, it's amazing. I could see bits and pieces of it in my head, but I hadn't been able to see it all put together. This is amazing--and its ours."

He flicked his fingers to cast a wandless spell to make sure all the windows and the doors were locked. Then he drew his wand and set three different layers of protection spells around the entire duplex so that both halves were well protected. Edward would detect it, of course, but it was easier to wrap a protection spell and seal it well if it were wrapped around the entire building, like wrapping a package, than to just wrap half of it.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that you all worked so hard and put this together. I really just wanted to step away from all of that. Well, you know why. I don't intend to go over to the house until Jessie's gone. Not sure how I'll know that, but I'll figure it out somehow. I'm not afraid of him, but, Ru, I promise you if he ever tries to hurt you again, it'll be his last. I'm tired of his games, and I don't buy a one of his excuses." He led her upstairs to the bedroom, his fatigue driving him more than anything else. When they went in to the bedroom and he flicked on the lights, he immediately saw the leaded glass ceiling in the center of the room.

"Ru! Look! Someone put in a glass ceiling above the bed." He went over to get a closer look. "That's not just any glass. That's a leaded glass art piece of Kate's. That's a Navajo star , and its been placed inside a medicine wheel. I've never seen anything like it. And it's done in leaded glass. The medicine wheel means healing--physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing. That's incredible. So, now, we can lay in bed at night, and star gaze, every night if we want."

Ruby followed him up the stairs her hand still in his "yes its ours, Kate helped a lot with the design and I know how you feel, he won't, like I told you he's leaving with a shinner as I slapped him hard enough to make his head spin for what he did, and I agree Im tired of it too , he has to stop, he leaves at  seven thirty in the morning so I think he'll be long gone by the time were up." she said "Anyway we wanted you to have this like your office its our space, a place we can do what we want, and can in the future raise our kids." she followed him to the bed room and watched as he turned on the light , she gasped " wow thats amazing, beautiful and ..well amazing" she said and chuckled " we can make love under the stars but safe at home too." she moved him to the bed " now rest" she said softly as she slipped off his shoes placing them at the foot of the bed.

Moving to the en-suit she changed into her J's her necklace still around her neck and the ring still on her fingeras she walked abck out to him. pulling back the covers she climbed inand curled against him smiling. " sweet dreams my love" she said softly as she held him to slowly drift into sleep.

This felt like home already. This was the first home he had had that didn't belong to somebody else. It wasn't Edward's or his parents' or Brian's. This was his--his and Ruby's. This was where they would hopefully start a family. He could actually come home to a home at the end of the day.

But tonight, he was tired. He simply laid his clothes on the floor beside the bed, got into bed and turned out the light. He was amazed at how much light filled the room from the not-quite-full moon and all the stars as it flooded in through the skylight. Ruby got into bed with him and cuddled close to him. How had he slept alone all these years? He kissed her forehead as she laid against him.

"You have no idea how glad I am to be home," he yawned, feeling sleepy already. "Goodnight, my dear." Another moment, and he felt himself slipping away into a deep, exhausted sleep.

Ruby woke to the wark sun on her back and her arm over a warm body, turning she smiled as she saw Angus sleeping next to her. For a second she thought the nights events had been a dream then she looked upward and saw the sky light and its colors shining down on them. Leaning over him slightly she kissed his cheek gently " morning" she said softly " I'll make us breakfast."

Slipping from the bed she slipped on a robe and headed down to the kitchen. She made pancakes, once they were done she cooked bacon, scrambled eggs, tomatoes  mostly a full english breakfast with fresh toast and a pot of coffee and tea fresly made. Now she placed it on a  tray and walked back up to their room.

"I thought you could have breakfast in bed this morning" she smiled placing it down in the night stand on his side of the bed.

"Oh my goodness. You're spoiling me," he smiled. "Thank you. Looks like there's plenty here--come eat with me. But first, look what else I found that I didn't see last night. Remember we put in floor to ceiling windows on that side of the room over there so we could catch the morning sun?" He pointed to the wall to the right of the bed. "Well, go pull those back and look. Someone edited our design."

Behind the drapes, Angus had found that there weren't just floor to ceiling windows anymore. There was a set of beautiful leaded glass french doors that repeated the same pattern as the skylight. And the french doors opened up onto a beautiful balcony. The furniture was southwestern style with beautiful, bright serape fabric upholstery. It would be a perfect place for morning coffee or sunset tea. And it didn't face the main house, so it gave the feeling of a great deal of privacy.

"Someone took our design and made it even better," Angus said. "Ru, could you see us raising our kids here and growing old together in this house? Do you think we could still be here years from now?"