LONDON CALLING

"I might try to find some pictures in one of Robert's books. I know he has some books on marine animals," Kate said. "And if that doesn't work, maybe we can take her to Sea Life Center in London sometime, and we'll show her."

"Or you can continue to let her think that Robert's cheese has slipped off its cracker because apparently now he wants to feed her bugs," Nigel shrugged.

Angus and Andrew ate their supper, and Andrew enjoyed every single bite of it. Angus tired entirely too easily, and it did concern Andrew. Angus had fallen asleep before he had finished his supper. He had eaten pretty well, bt he had just gotten too tired to eat any more. Andrew cleared away the plates and set them on the counter with the cloches.

When the dessert was cut and served, Kate took it upon herself to fix a tray with thin slices of each cheesecake and a couple of cups of coffee. She took it over to the duplex, and Robert knew exactly what she was doing. The maternal side of Kate needed to check on Angus for herself.

Andrew answered the door.

"You must be Andrew," Kate smiled, coming in with the tray. "I'm Kate Lupin--Robert's wife. I hear a lot of good things about you."

"And I have heard all about all these wonderful art pieces. Yours, I understand?"

"Yes. I tinker about a little," she smiled.

"Tinker about? You could sell any one of these pieces for thousands of dollars in any gallery in New York. You're very talented."

"Thank you. How's our boy?"

"Sound asleep," Andrew said. "Fell asleep while he was eating dinner."

"That's not like him at all," she said, frowning. She went over to Angus and touched his forehead and his cheeks, checking for fever, but she didn't find any.

"It was just a lot of activity for him today, I think," Andrew said. "I'll try to get him up to bed soon if he wakes. If he's comfortable enough to sleep straight through, I'll leave him there."

"Couldn't we just wake him and apparate him upstairs? I can help you with him."

"I don't want to put you out..."

"He's no trouble He's like my own. I'll help you. Its no problem."

"We can try if you like. He's liable to be dead weight, though."

"I don't care," Kate said. She went over and gently woke him. She and Andrew stood him up long enough to apparate him upstairs. They tucked him straight into bed and home, and Kate turned down the lights and checked the balcony doors herself and set a protection charm on them. When she turned back to look at Angus, she saw he was asleep again already. "I'll have Robert check on him before he goes in for the night," she told Andrew quietly.

"I'm sure he'll be over or Nigel will. They've been checking on him hourly since he came home," Andrew said. "I'll be with him. I won't let anything happen."

"I know," she said, "Sorry. I've gotten close to him..."

"It's a close knit bunch. I've certainly seen that," Andrew said. "He couldn't ask for a better family than this one."

"Thank you," she said. "Well, I'd better get back. I don't want to keep you from your work." She took the supper tray that Andrew had put on the counter and took it with her back to the main house to the kitchen."

"He was whipped. What's the phrase over here--knackered, I think? Fell asleep while he was eating, and I decided he needed the sleep more than the food. When Mrs. Lupin came over, she thought he needed to be up in bed for the night, so she gave me a hand, and we just apparated him upstairs. I think it sort of rattled her, but considering what sort of shape he was in yesterday morning, according to his chart, I think he's done incredibly well, really."

"I do know about the security," he told her. "I'm armed too. I actually am a trained agent myself, but I'm also certified for this position too." I have a pistol and a wand. The extra men will be arriving within the hour. One will be stationed in my room upstairs. I presume he'll be sitting in the armchair up there, and one will be down here. I'll be turning in early myself since I know you both are used to getting up early. If you need me for anything during the night, feel free to wake me."

Angus woke early since he had fallen asleep early, and it overwhelmed him to find Ruby there beside him. He was home. She was here, her body was solid and warm up against his. He hadn't thought, when he'd been at St. Mungo's that they would have even one more moment together. Nor did he know if, since Tyler wanted him dead and was an experienced hit man, if they would have many more mornings like this. He kissed her slowly, softly, feeling like they had wasted so much time. One kiss led to two, three, more, waking her, wanting her. He took off his pajama bottoms and tossed them to the foot of the bed.

"No more wasted time, Ru," he whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear, lowering her pajama bottoms, "I don't care. Not one more wasted moment."

"I missed them too," he told her. "The other morning, I didn't think there would be any more. We need more of them--we need to make up for lost time. Before you think of sending Andrew up, would you hand me my pajama bottoms, please? We probably should try to be a little discreet." He cast her a little self conscious smile.

Andrew had gotten up early and had made coffee. He had put together a bacon egg and cheese frittata, a fruit salad, and a batch of extra large lemon poppy seed muffins. He was taking the frittata out of the oven when Ruby came downstairs. The two men for the day shift were just arriving, and the night guards were just leaving when she came down.

"Morning, Ruby," Andrew said. "Breakfast is hot if you want to eat before you leave this morning. I hope it's okay that I cooked. Your pantry and fridge are well stocked, so I did what you said, and I decided to cook. How did you and Angus sleep?"

"I'm guessing he must have slept well too, then," Andrew smiled. He was glad that things apparently had gone well all night, and he was also glad that she liked the fruit salad. It didn't bother him a bit that she took Angus his breakfast.

"Thank you," Angus told her. "I have to say this is weird with me still in bed and you heading out to work." He smiled when she kissed him. "Have a good day, and keep your eyes open today." He watched her go downstairs to leave to go to work.

Nigel had come to check on Angus, carrying one of Robert's shoulder bags, and he was about to knock on the door when Ruby opened it.

"'Morning, Ruby," he said. "I told Robert that since we didn't have a night shift last night, I would come and check Angus this morning. Might as well do it early so then I'm out of his hair for awhile. I'm sure I'll see you over at the house a little later."

"Good morning, Andrew," Nigel said.

"Good morning, Dr. Sigworth," Andrew said.

"Anything to report with Angus?"

"He fell asleep about halfway through supper last night, so Kate and I put him to bed, and I didn't hear a peep all night. I haven't been up to see him yet because Ruby took his breakfast tray to him herself just now before she left."

"Well, sit and enjoy your coffee. I'll go up and see him and come back and talk to you afterwards."

"Alright," Andrew said. Nigel made a check and then, while Angus ate what he wanted of breakfast, Nigel talked with Angus about the situation with Tyler and whether he was worried or concerned. Angus told Nigel that he trusted Lee's men, trusted his fellow team members, trusted Edward and Robert both, but if Tyler came, Angus wasn't going to run from a fight.

"So here's what I think," Nigel told Angus. "You're a good deal better than you were. You have no temp now. The rash is almost completely gone, so you've weathered that. I think you should do as much as you feel up to doing, for fairly short periods and then no more for a bit. You need to rest in between those periods to avoid getting overtired if you can help it. I'll talk to Andrew about helping you learn to pace yourself a bit better. Your appetite is either off a bit or you just get too tired when you're eating, so I think you would do better if you went to six small meals rather than 3 larger ones. Andrew can help make that switch for you, and he can talk to the kitchen at the main house. I can talk to the cooks over there too. I see no problem with you being up in your chair today, and being inside or outdoors, whatever you like."

"I need to know I can stand and walk, Nigel," Angus replied.

"Well, I can understand that, but the reality is that you are not going to have that kind of strength. Structurally, you know the bones and muscles and nerves are all intact, but your magical system is almost completely destroyed, and it is affecting everything else. Your body is going to divert all available energies to rebuilding that, and that's why you're not going to be able to push yourself to do more physically. It just isn't going to be there."

"I need to try," he insisted.

"I can't stop you from trying, but you will end up on the floor--guaranteed, but if you really need to see if you can, I'll call Andrew up, and we can give it a go." Angus tossed back the covers, ready to go already. Nigel called Andrew upstairs while he let Angus figure out how to get himself to the edge of the bed. By the time Andrew got upstairs, Angus was sitting on the edge of the bed but he was tired already. "You can change your mind about going further with this," Nigel told him, seeing clearly that it had taken a lot from him to do that much. "No," Angus said. "I'm gonna do this." Nigel and Andrew stood on each side of Angus, and when Angus tried to get himself to his feet, they each took hold of him, knowing it wasn't going to work. Angus's body didn't begin to hold him up and went almost entirely limp. They gave him a moment, but when it didn't get better, they sat him back down on the bed. Angus pounded his fist on the mattress, angry and frustrated. This wasn't what he wanted for himself, and it was no sort of a life for Ru. Nigel and Andrew tucked him back into bed.

"When he rests a bit, then you can help him wash up," Nigel told Andrew. "And you're going to have to teach him how to pace himself. That, and I'd like to try six smaller meals rather than 3 standard sized meals. Let's see if he gets better nutrition that way rather than falling asleep during his meals. I'll talk to the cooks at the main house about that, and I'll send a message to Lily to have her adapt the meal plan so that they have not only the three meal program but also the six meal program."

"That might well work better for him," Andrew said, noticing Angus was starting to doze again because of the effort of trying to get up.

"I'm going to let him go a bit longer between checks today, but call me if there's any change," Nigel said.

"Of course," Andrew replied. Nigel repacked his bag and went back to the main house.

While Ruby was out running, Nigel went over to the main house and had spoken with Michael about trying Angus with six small meals instead of three larger ones. Then Nigel sent a note to Lily, and Lily sent back a revised meal plan within the hour. Michael took Lily's ideas and made some small meal ideas for some nutritious snacks that Andrew could keep on hand at the duplex to make things a lot easier for everyone. He packaged up half a dozen small snacks and took them over to Andrew for Angus. He had thinks like greek yogurt and granola, mini bagels with almond butter and jam, some whole grain savory biscuits and cheeses, some small baby spinach salads with chicken and fresh fruit and a vinagrette dressing, and some smoothie fixings. Andrew thought that would keep Angus satisfied for quite awhile.

When Angus woke, Andrew helped him get a shower--and Angus had to admit that a real shower felt amazing. After helping Angus dress, Andrew brought the wheelchair and helped Angus into it He took Angus outside, out the back door, to the back terrace overlooking the garden where he wouldn't be visible from the main house so it would give him a little privacy. He took Angus a cold drink and the morning newspaper in case Angus wanted something to do. From here, Angus could see the garden, and he saw Edward and Simone doing some weeding. They waved at him but didn't come over simply because they wanted to finish their chores. Nor did they want Angus to think that he couldn't go out without someone coming over and checking on him.

When Ruby was done with her workout and had come back into the kitchen, she told Michael she was almost through the books that they'd give her to read. Then she asked about the climbing.

"I suggest we perhaps start with some trees," Michael said. "It's not a bad place to start. It has a lot of the same sorts of motor movements, and requires the same sort of coordination and concentration. We can and should use harnesses and ropes to get you into the practice of doing it right and getting used to the equipment. I know there are some harnesses and ropes in the smaller equipment room here left from the Romania trip. We can use those so we don't have to go over to the large equipment room at the farm. Maybe after lunch. I'm making some grilled salmon with a fresh fruit chutney and a pilaf with quinoa and fresh vegetables, and spinach salad made with some baby spinach and that warm bacon dressing that everyone loves."