LONDON CALLING

Ruby finished her dinner and began cleaning up after every one else had eaten each man had placed there plate on the counter ready to go in teh washer , thankfully Ruby was okay to just put it in and let it go. Jess had given Owens some food and now sat with him sorting out his energies that shrinking had messed up. " good dinner Ruby thanks" Jack said as he walked to the back door " send a thank you to the sparks chef for me" he smiled and hede back out but before he did he spotted Robert and soke to him " those alarm spells , didn't hold past an hour " he told him " gonna need something, maybe an old fashioned can and bell alarms?" he chuckled making Ruby chuckle too.

Ruby focused on cleaning the kitchen and starting somethng for supper, she thought about making a cheese cake with berrys ontop as a sweet desert, but as for savory she found a recipy called Omelette wedges which sounded good for the others, but she would stay off it she also decided on a Soy salmon & broccoli traybake as she ould make it and place it in the fridge. She got together 4 skin-on salmon fillets, 1 head of broccoli, broken into florets, lemon juice, half a lemon cut into quarters, a small bunch spring onions and two tablespoons of soy sauce to start putting it together.

"We'll make do as we always have," Robert said. "Michael got an invitation to spend a couple days with Daphne at a little cottage on the French Riviera. I can't blame him for wanting to go. A couple days of fun in the sun with a stunningly gorgeous woman who's crazy about him? I told him he should certainly go. We'll be fine. We'll do our best to stay alert. If Angus really did wound Tyler, then maybe Tyler won't be around for a couple days. That would be lovely."

Over at the duplex, there was a knock on the door between Edward's and Angus's, and Andrew opened the door to find Edward there.

"You're back earlier than I thought you'd be," Angus said. "

"We found that a friend of the vicar's was looking to move into the village, and was looking for a place. It is apparently a retired pastor and his wife. So we were able to leave much of the furniture and things just as they were and only needed to box up her personal things and move them. The church helped us, and we moved them into our cellar here. So, she is officially moved in now with me--for good, I think."

"Congratulations," Angus said. "You seem happy."

"Ridiculously so," Edward smiled.

"Well, this might not be much news for you, but it does seem that Ruby and I are expecting our first--to be born sometime in April," Angus told him.

"How did that happen?" Edward frowned. "Did Robert's spell fail?"

"Well, it apparently failed at some point, but we don't know exactly how it failed. That's still a mystery. She had a spell too, and she just had that removed, so I can only guess that they both failed."

"That is not like Robert's spells to fail but at any rate, congratulations. Are you happy?"

"Shellshocked is more like it," Angus said. "We knew we wanted kids, but I didn't quite expect it yet. I'm sure we'll adjust, though."

"You'll be fine, Lad. You're more ready to be a dad than you think," Edward said.

"Could I talk to you about something else, though?"

"Anything. You know that."

"We have another issue. Ruby's father. There's a whole story there, and its bigger than Ruby. I need him eliminated. And I don't have anyone that I think would partner with me."

"I will partner with you any day, any time, any odds. You know that. Tell me everything you know," Edward said. "And we'll look at it together."

Ruby nodded she understood that Micahel had taken time for himself. " Robert , I think I've asked before but what could make two anti pregnacy spell fail?" she asked " Im trying to wrap my head around how I could have become pregnat with both of us having charms on?" she asked " Im not dismising it , nor will I ever get rid of this child but its some what confusing, could it be something in the eviroment or some one do something to cancel it temparerily so when we thought we were covered we wern't." she looked at him " could some one have cast a counter spell with out us knowing, but its your spell they'd have to know it." she sat down and took out a book on charms.

Jess waoked over to her and closed the book looking at Robert " Ruby it dosn't matter, whats done is done, stressing isn't good for you." she said making Ruby relax again.

"your right, sorry Robert" she said " I think I have supper ready to just go" she told him

"I don't have an answer for you, Ruby," Robert said. "I've never had my spells fail. I don't ever cast them without double checking that they're effective before I finish with the patient. I won't say someone might not have tinkered with them, but that makes no sense at all. If you're thinking your father might have tinkered with it, that makes no sense at all. Your father is a contract killer. That's how he earns his pay. If he were going to do anything, he would have just killed Angus and been done with it--like we're suspecting he's trying to do now. I don't have any answers for you, but I wish I did. I'm sorry."

"Do put the charms book away, would you?" Robert asked. "I realize you want to find answers, but do let me be the medical specialist, would you please? I have asked Nigel, and he has no more answers than I do. And I really do think you would have a hard time finding someone who has more credentials than we have, but you certainly are within your right to get a second opinion, whether its from Nigel or anybody else.

"I do think I should point out something to you. The remarks you've said to me about this child, last night and today, you've phrased your remarks in terms of 'I,' 'me,' 'my.' You might want to consider if you intend to raise this child by yourself or with Angus. If you intend to co-parent this child with Angus, you might really want to do some sort of shift in your thinking and in your words and stop making your choices independently, saying what you will and won't do, and start talking about things in terms of 'we,' 'us,' ours.' Every time you say what you will do and you don't include Angus in that, he is going to hear that he isn't going to be included in this. If you're going to parent this child alone, that's fine. That's your choice, but do be woman enough to let him know that before long, won't you? If you want him involved, then I'd stop making your choices without him if I were you."

Ruby looked at Robert , had she been doing that as she sat she thought back to the past times she had spoken and realized she ahd " Im sorry , It was unintenshonal and no I would never think of leaving Angus and raising our child alone" she said " this child is both of ours , part me and part him." she said " your right , I'll think of the posative and we will raise this child together, boy or girl , he or she wll have both their perants." Jess nodded and looked to Robert.

"don't worry I'll make sure she stays on the right track I think for now she needs to talk to Angus." she loed down at Ruby and saw her nod " well go and do it, remember aperate not walk until we get the all clear." Ruby stood up and looked at Robert,

"thank you, for listening and well giving me that kick in the butt I needed." she said and aperated to the duplex as she appeared she saw Edward and paused. " Hi, everything okay?" she asked as she moved to sit with them. " I'm glad your here Edward becuse I need to ask Angus something.." she paused and took a deep breath " what kind of wedding do you want, but please don't say fruffru and fancy becuse I know thats not us." she asked pausing so he could talk.

"Everything is fine," Edward told her. "We're just catching up." That wasn't exactly the entire story, but Angus had told Edward what a space cadet Ruby had been since finding out she was pregnant, so Edward wasn't going to add to it. For now, he was just going to listen to see for himself where her head was at. The moment she asked Angus what sort of wedding he wanted, Angus looked at her for a moment as if he wanted to say, "Who are you and what did you do with Ruby?" But he didn't.

"I can't do fru fru, Ru. I just can't. Nor do I want to do Evan's nude beach. Can't we do something sensible? It doesn't make us less married. Everybody that we know that we would invite are already here, aren't they? Do either of us have anybody that we would invite that aren't living on this property? I don't. My aunts and uncles and siblings don't give a flying fig. I don't need them and all my nieces and nephews--all 57 of them. I don't need the hundreds of Donohues I don't see any other time. They wouldn't walk across the street to push me out of the way of a speeding bus. I'm all for it looking nice. But can't we just be simple? It can be pretty. That's fine. But I don't want to do a stinking tux if I don't have to. Let's find a midground where people can be comfortable to be themselves and just be happy. We need to know for sure my situation really is temporary. I know Robert says its temporary, but I need to know that for sure. I do not want to force you into a legal tie if this doesn't go away. What if it isn't temporary? you wake up someday and you hate me because of what I've become? Right now, that possibility does exist, and I don't want to buggar life up for both of us. You deserve better than that."

Ruby sat and listened to Angus, realy listened she smile when he said he didn't do fancy, she knew that then he spoke of him being stuck in a wheel chair and she nodded " all right, firstly we do simple and quick, your right everyone, minus my brother are already here, so what about suits no tux's and we could do a simple lunch to your menu style, what do you think?" she asked but heard him talk about his pradicament at that moment. She lent over and took his hand in hers  "Roberts never let us down yet, if he says this is temporary then it will be, besides as you said Donohues stick together, we will get threw this together." She looked at him and Edward as she spoke again " and I apologise for my ditzy behaviour of late, I have no clue where my heads been." she chuckled " also Robert made me realize I had been realy self absorbed, now thought its we all the way, you, I and the little one." she smiled at him, " also Edward and Simone and Robert and kate...." she chuckled hoping he would know she was joking at the last part.

She looked from one to the other waiting for them to say something as she still held his hand. She knew all she wanted was right there and she'd not do anything to upset the balance ever again. They were partners in both their relasonship and keeping children from being used and abused like the one she now carried.

"You know," Edward teased, "Evan probably actually would push you out of the way of that bus. However, I do think you're very wise not to invite the whole clan. Do you realize how many that is, just on the Donohue side? That's over 130 people. And that doesn't include your Grandmother Caprice's family and all those relatives, and your mother's side and all her relatives. I really don't think you want or need to do all that. I think you should avoid the whole hassle with them and tell them you eloped. Some of your relatives actually did elope, so no one is going to give you any grief about it."

"My mother's family never came around. I don't know those people, so they don't deserve my time or attention. But--if I had my wish, we'd all take a few minutes in between the ceremony and the reception so that everyone could put their jeans on and just be comfortable," Angus said. "And I'd have one of my chef buddies from the states come and do some classic American barbeque ribs and brisket and chicken with all the traditional fixings, maybe with a couple kegs of icy cold Mexican beer with lime, and let people just hang out and eat and have a good time," Angus said.

Edward laughed. "That could be a decent compromise. She gets the ceremony she wants and you get the reception you want."

"I don't mind you being ditzy once in awhile, but I'm glad you're ending it," Angus told Ruby. "I like your usual self better."

Ruby listened to them taking and smiled as she liked how it was going then she heard Angus speak to her " yeah, I'm thinking it was just everything rolled together but, I do like your idea, simple and comfortable, you think we can do it that way?" she asked then looked at Edward with a smile " no frills or frufru stuff, we're going simple" she said smiling " The one thing we would need to make it offical is a pastor, or justice of the peace." she said " and if you wanted we could have it down by the pond, nature as our backdrop, what do you think, wouldn't take any preperation." she looked down then back up at Angus " but would you want it before this one is born or wait till after?" she asked now holding a cold cup of coffee in her hands that she'd picked up from the table. rewarming it she took a sip."I still would like it if you could walk me to Angus, if thats okay with you." she said to Edward.

Ruby sat and listened to them talking patiantly listening to them both, she liked their ideas. Not flash or fancy but simple, out in nature, just as she had dreamed it would be.

"We don't need a pastor or a justice of the peace," Angus said. "We have a former minister of magic. I believe he is still recognized as being legal to do such things, although I don't think he's been asked since he's left office. We'd have to ask him to be sure, but I think we're a bit different from muggles in that respect."

"I think you may be right," Edward told him, "but he would know for certain. Still, if he's legally allowed to do it, I think he would be honored to do it."

"I'll talk to him," Angus said. He listened to her thoughts about the location, and that wasn't anything he'd really given thought to yet. "Well, it would certainly be the most convenient. The prettiest place is Remus's favorite spot over at Robert's but it makes more sense to do it here."

"That really is a nice spot," Edward said. "Why would it make more sense to do it here?"

"Because we're all already here," Angus shrugged.

"And we're all capable of apparating to Robert's," Edward replied.

"Not all of us," Angus said. Edward looked at him seriously, realizing how much this completely haunted Angus.

"Give it time," Edward said.

"We don't have time, do we?" Angus sighed. "If the baby is going to look legit..."

"Stop," Edward said. "What the hell does that matter? This isn't the 1950's. Your son or daughter will have both her parents, and will know they are loved. The rest of it doesn't bloody matter, and anyway, when did you start caring about that? What did I teach you? I didn't teach you that convention mattered. I taught you that, if you were to be a parent, what mattered was love. You should know that. Did your parents being married ever matter one jot to you, even one time when you were a kid?"

"No. Not at all," Angus replied.

"And why not?"

"Because I was with you," Angus said.

"It was because you were loved. Get your priorities straight, Lad," Edward said.

"Yeah," Angus said, looking at Ruby. "We really do need to wait until I can stand on my own two feet."