LONDON CALLING

Ruby laughed out loud at the mention of the mission wear " oh I can see her now running around all im going to get that doggie, or witch " Ruby said with a slight chuckle at the thought " I do hope you do that for our kids Kate " Ruby chuckled again. now the cottage pier was on cooking she placed the salad on the counter and took out her book waiting for it to cook " oh if you see Micahel could you ask him if and when we could do some climbing trainning please " she asked Kate " best to learn the basics from an expert." 

Taking out teh dishes she made them lay themselves on teh table ready for dinner as she brushed the top of the cottage pie with egg wasj to brown it and make it crisp. " okay desert, hum how about a nice apple cruble with home made custard?" she sugested " or an apple pie?"

"He's around here somewhere, Ruby," Kate said. "Remember he was outside with us when he showed us what Angus had done with the pictures of James? Not sure where he's at, but if he'd have left the estate, he'd have told us."

"Ruby, why don't you focus on some physical conditioning for now?" Angus suggested. "There's the pool outside--you could swim. There are the obstacle courses, the running tracks, the gym downstairs. There are all sorts of things you can do. Besides, climbing is easier if you have build up your upper body strength, your core, and certainly your leg muscles. It pretty much takes your whole body to do that."

"The courses are all well marked and, after dark, well lit," Kate told her. "They're color coded. Blues and greens are running or walking trails, and most of them are paved. Reds, oranges, and those sorts of colors are obstacle courses. The trails that are marked black or white are riding trails."

"Do not go up into the northwestern section of the ranch by yourself--ever, not if you can help it," Angus said. "It's very rocky, with a lot of sharp cliffs and drop offs, and that's where a lot of those wolf packs live. It isn't a safe place for anyone to go alone, and it's easy to get lost up there and to end up in trouble."

"I think an apple crumble sounds fine.

Ruby listened to them all and nodded "allright pool it is" she said as she began to make the apple crumble for supper be fore she lightly kissed Angus before heading to the pool area and transphigured her clothes to a swim suit slipping into the ater she begn to swim lengths. She swum back and forth till she felt her arms burn then swum a bit more to lengthen how long she could continue for beore climbing out and drying herself with the towel. Walking back into the ktchen she smiled " Im going up to shower be right back." she said.

True to her word she didn't stay up in the room long and returned in a fresh pair of cotton slacks and one of Angus button up shirts with teh sleeves rolled up. "Okay on to supper" she said taking everything out , the cottage pie was placed at the top where the crumble was placed in teh midle of the oven to cook. " How is she?" Ruby asked " she feel any better?"

Angus had been diligent on feeding cold fluids to Abbey, and he had fed her most of the slushie Kate had brought back for her. Angus believed it had helped. And he was starting to think that Nigel's medicine was helping. He had started to notice that he was wet. He checked Abbey and saw that her fever was breaking finally.

"Kate," Angus said, "her fever is breaking finally."

"Is it?" Kate came over and checked her for herself. "Thank goodness. I'll try to find Robert and let him know. I'm sure he's going to want to check her for himself." It took Kate a moment to find him, but when she relayed the message, he to the kitchen, and he checked her.

"Much better," Robert said. "Her temperature is down already by two full degrees. She's still got some fever, but it certainly is better. Maybe we can get her to eat a little something tonight."

"She drank the slushie that Kate brought her and ate a piece of toast earlier," Angus said.

"For as sick as she's been, you've done exceptionally well with her," Robert said. "Well done. Thank you. You've hung in with her all day. Aren't you tired of holding her yet?"

"No. Not at all," Angus said. "She's no trouble."

Angus had noticed when Ruby came in and went to change from her time in the pool.

"That's a pretty great pool in the summer, isn't it?" he asked her. When she asked about Abbey, Kate smiled.

"She's doing better. Her fever is breaking at last. Robert, do you think it's Nigel's potion that helped?" Kate asked.

"Possibly, but she's also had other potions, and we've been pushing cold drinks and other things too, so it could be a combination of things. When she wakes next, we need to try to get her something to eat."

"I've got a container of a really nice chicken stock in the freezer and in the pantry I have a couple packages of little tiny pasta stars that we could add. It would be a really simple chicken and noodle soup, but i think she would really like it because it would be probably comforting to her," Angus said. "Her tummy might not be up to cottage pie, but she would like the soup."

Ruby smiled and nodded " yeah it is " she said then heard Kate and Angus talking as Kate went to find Robert who came quickly she watched and smiled in relife that Abby was going to be fine " I have some Ice cream too if she wants that rather than soup." she said taking out eh chicken broth and heating it for Abby untill it was hot but not toohot she couldn't handle it. Placing it in a bowl she placed it next to Angus and smiled " Hey Abby theres some soup here for you, please try a little for me." she said softly to her " if you do I have some Ice cream for desert." she lightly brushed the hair off Abbys face but left Angus to feed her. " don't forget to drink your tea too " she told him softly.

Now the cottage pie was almost ready she sent the table wear to the table while she brought out cups for sodas or fruit juices she carried to the table. " Okay a few moe minuets and verything should be rady , Kate hows the salad coming?" she asked

"Well, I knew I had thought about salad, but I didn't know I was the one making it. So there isn't one yet. Give me a second," Kate said. She went to the fridge and got out a head of lettuce and a package of shredded carrots, a package of presliced radishes, a sweet onion a cucumber, a couple bell peppers and a container of cherry tomatoes. She hastily put together a salad, added some croutons to it, got out some of the dressings that Angus had already made up and stored in the fridge, and she set it all out in the dining room.

Kate took the insulated cup that Angus had been giving Abbey fluid from, and she dumped out the contents, put ice in the cup and some fresh lemonade. Then she made another slice of toast for Abbey, add butter to it for Abbey and cut into little bite sized pieces for Abbey and set the insulated glass and the toast where Angus could reach it.

Angus didn't know Ruby was actually going to wake Abbey up, but when she did, he fed Abbey some of the soup, some of the toast and some of the lemonade. He believed she was doing very well, all things considered. She had cuddled back into him and fallen back to sleep when her stomach had gotten full. Angus figured she would probably be more in the mood for ice cream in an hour or two, once her supper settled.

"Do you want me to take her so you can eat?" Kate offered to Angus.

"She's holding on pretty tight," Angus said. "And I'm not really hungry right now anyway, but thanks. When I get hungry, I'll let you know."

"If it continues to go so well, she'll be past the worst of it by morning, I think," Robert said.

Ruby smiled seeing Abby eating she felt much better now seeing that Abby had food inside her. Hearing Kate she smiled " it would be apreiciated so much" she said as she sent the bread rolld to the table too. Now she took out the golden brown shepards pie and along with the salad she sent it over to the table for every one to tuck in to. Walking over to Angus she spoke softly " I know your not hungry right now but I'll put some of the cottage pie away for later if you want it" she siad " you've gone all day with littie to eat your self and thats not right, what if you get sick." she touched his hand gentely to show she was concerned for his health too.

Threw dinner she could not help glance back at Abby and worry alittle about her even though Robert had said she would be fine by the next day. If this was what mother hood felt like she knew she was in for a long hall when her time came, but she knew he would be good with their children.

"Thanks," he told her. "I appreciate it, but I am hardly undernourished." he laughed. While everyone else was eating, Abbey woke and whispered in his ear. ''Oh. Okay," he told her. "Yeah, we can take care of that." He picked her up and left the kitchen with her.

"Where are they going?" Kate frowned.

"She's had a lot of fluid today, Kate," Robert laughed. "Fluid in, fluid out."

"Oh," Kate said. "That never entered my head."

"Well, not to worry. 'Aggie's' got it," Robert said.

Angus decided to put Abbey into a lukewarm bath to help her fever come down a bit further and to help her refresh herself a bit. He helped her into clean pajamas, combed out her clean wet hair for her, and found her a clean blanket to cover her with. He offered to take her into her room, but she didn't want to, fearing he wouldn't stay with her. He relented and brought her back downstairs to the rocking chair. She cuddled tightly to him. He reassured her softly that she was getting better and that he wasn't going anywhere.

After supper, Brian came over to Angus and Abbey.

"I think she's dominated you about long enough," Brian said gently. Whether Angus really wanted it or not, Brian took her from Angus, despite Abbey's tearful protests. Brian started to reassure her right away, and it took a couple minutes to soothe her. It made Angus just want to take her back from Brian, but Angus knew his place. She was Brian's daughter, not his. Angus stepped out on the back porch, wanting a breath of cool evening air and wanting to stretch a bit. He was getting very stiff and sore from sitting all day.

Ruby finished her food then brought out a hot cup of tea for Angus " here this will help those aces and pains, You did realy well today" she said smiling" Abby's getting better now" she smiled as ahe looked up at the night sky " you know if we have our own, nobody could take him or her from you." she said softly " but I know they will be a daddys boy or girl." she chuckled leanign her had on his side " for what its worth I think you'd make a wonderful father." she said kjissing his cheek before returnng inside to clean up the supper dishes.

Working around the kitchen she made sure everything was clean and put back in its place ready to be used again. She refreshed Abbys drink and took it to Brian " here this is her drink." she said still smiling as she brushed hair off her face so she could see her face.

"Thank you," he told her, glad for a cup of fresh tea now. "You know why she's attached to me, right? Khaat and Brian work five days a week, and Khaat pulls a lot of overtime. When Brian's here, he frequently has ranch duties or stuff to do for the Paris office. I bet they each work 60-70 hours a week or more. They're wonderful parents, but they work during her waking hours. When they have time, she's already in bed. They are great parents. They love her fiercely, and they're staunch protectors. She knows how much they love her, but she also knows who she spends her time with.

"I'm the one that's here with her during her waking hours. I've been the one that gets her dressed, feeds her three meals a day, potty trains her, bathes her, works with her to know her alphabet, her colors, her numbers,..." He cut himself off. "Why wouldn't she come to me first? I sound like I'm blaming them, but I'm not. Not like that. I guess I just see it the way she sees it." he sighed heavily. "You're right. When they're ours, we don't have to give them back. And we won't." He looked at her. "I really, really want to go on a run, but there aren't enough hours in the day. Maybe I'll get one in early in the morning. Guess I'd better get on with breakfast prep or I'll have another sleepless night."