LONDON CALLING

Jessie listened and laughed too at the responce "okay big family of men one girl , yep Ruby would simpathise with you on that shes my older and only sis to three boys" he said to Ana smiling " so you feeling any better now?" he asked " apart from the probable head ache that should come with that." he motioned again to the bruise.

"hearing him say hea had a hard head Jessie chuckled " good thing too." he added sipping his coffee " so we head back to the train in the morning?" he asked Michael hoping to be back home in two days time.

"I am better than I was," Angus answered Jessie. "But you're right. I do have a bloody fierce headache. Anyway, yeah, Robert figured we'd be heading bright and early for Budapest to catch the train tomorrow, but I suppose it depends on how quick Nicu can finish the work on the stone. Raw stones take time to cut and polish. Muggles can't do take a raw stone to a finished polished and cut stone in less than a week or two because tumbling and polishing takes time. From what Edward has told me, we can cut that time significantly but it still isn't instantaneous," Angus said.

"Nicu has managed to cut that down to a matter of hours, not days," Ana said. "If you want a raw stone to a gem in a hurry, Nicu's your man."

"And, Robert has said I can offer you and Sergio membership, if you want it," Angus said. "The pay is good, the benefits are tremendous, and the danger is insane."

"Insane danger?" Ana asked, beaming from ear to ear, as if someone just handed her a treasure chest. "We're in!"

"Her brothers twisted her brain inside out," Angus said.

"She's gonna fit right in." Michael laughed. "So is Sergio. Wanna move to England?" Ana just laughed.

"I'll go see if I can find anything for lunch."

"Maybe I can give you a hand," Michael said.

"He didn't go to culinary school but he is very talented in the kitchen," Angus told her.

"You all must eat gourmet all the time, then," Ana frowned.

"Not quite," Michael laughed. He went with her to the kitchen.

Jessie listened andnodded " good to know will have to find a wizard jewler to do the ring for Kaden." he said " not wanting to wait weeks for it from a muggle jewler." he watche as Ana smiled at the offer and he chuckled too " yep definatly" he said in jest knowing and having seen the same look on his sisters face when offerd to work for Robert that and Angus too.

He listened to Angus mention the itiniory and breathed out that hopfully the worst was behind them and once they had the stone they could catch the train. not that he wouldn't mind living in the village but his socks one day would get up and walk if he didn't wash them soon.

"Go ask Nicu if he can polish and cut the stone," Brian shrugged. "Since the stone is local, he may know more about how to handle this type of rock properly than the jewelers back home. Seems like the logical choice to me, anyway."

Michael found some leftover chicken that Ana wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it. He asked her if he could use it for lunch, and she readily agreed. He made a fabulous chicken salad and then took some of the vegetables that were just picked from her garden and made an incredible salad that was loaded with all sorts of colorful vegetables. He made a fresh strawberry vinaigrette for on the salad and used some of her homemade bread to make some homemade croutons. He made a hasty version of a french onion soup and melted some fresh gruyer cheese on the top used more bread for a large slice of toasted bread on the top of each individual crock of soup. He improvised some crepes for dessert with some of her blackberries and some of her blackberry jam, and whipped up some of her cream to dollop on top of the crepes. It was simple, but, Michael believed it would be tasty.

"Well, such as it is, it's ready," Michael called. Ana looked over the elegant lunch he had seemed to turn out of her humble little kitchen in no time.

"My lord," she said, stunned. "I watched you, and I still don't know how you did it."

"How gourmet it is isn't important. What is important is that you take simple ingredients and use them well," Michael said. "And you have absolutely stellar ingredients to work with. Hopefully it's edible."

"Michael has never made anything that wasn't delicious," Angus said. "Tuck in and enjoy it."

Jessie agreed " I will do that would save some time in the long run, and kill time while we wait too" he said standing up to leave just as foo was served and he smiled " I'll go after food." he said and sat back down " all smels delishious" he said as he took a bit of everything and sat down. He ate every bit then placed the dish in the sink " pk aiam going to go ask Nicu if he could polish the stone for Kadens ring." he said waling down to the village. It didn't take him long to reatch it and he found the shop. pushing open the door he called out " um Nicu , its Jessie "he said waiting for a responce and hoping he wa in the right place.

"Come on through," Nicu called. "You know the way." When Jessie got to the back, he saw Nicu was going through the bag of stones carefully checking each one to see which one would work best for his purposes. "Stone's not finished yet," he said, presuming Jessie was hoping for instant results. That was the request he got the most, and he got it from virtually everybody. Everybody wanted everything now, not like the old days when people had patience. The truth was Nicu was still sizing up the stones to see which one would work best to make a capture stone.

After lunch, Angus was going to help Ana do the washing up, and Michael stopped him.

"I made the mess, I'll clean it up, Lad," Michael said. "Go let Brian see how you weren't killed by your shenanigans last night."

"I don't need..." Angus began.

"Do it anyway," Brian said. "Come on. You know, it could be worse. I could be as invasive as Nigel." Angus groaned, not wanting to be bothered with, not by Brian and certainly not by Nigel either. Brain didn't do any more than just the most minimum check he could under the circumstances, knowing that when they got back Robert would demand that Angus allow him to do a much more thorough check anyway. He mixed a dose of a couple of potions together and gave it to him. "That will help," he told him.

"You lot go bring your laundry down, and I'll get it washed up so you start out tomorrow with clean knickers," Ana told them. "And bring Jessie's too. He doesn't need to start out tomorrow in nasty knickers either. Hurry it up, now." It made Brian laugh. She reminded him of Kate when he and Khaat were small, telling them to go put their laundry in the hamper so she could do all the laundry at once.

"We'd best do it, or I have a feeling she'll ground us," Brian teased Michael. "You're going to need to sit a moment after that potion I gave you, Angus. I'll get your laundry for you, and Michael can root around for Jessie's." Brian and Michael went upstairs to bring all the laundry down, and Angus sat down in the recliner.

Jessie heard avoice and moved to the back room he saw him sifting threw the stones " um.. no I know it takes time, I came to ask if you could polish another stone , a smalller one." he took it out of his pocket and showed him " its going to go into a promise ring for my boyfreind." he told him hoping he would not judge him. He placed it down on the table " I am going to get a simple gold band and put this in the middle, simple but to his tastes, hes a nurse so he can't wear anything too big." Jessie told him sitting and watching him with teh larger stones.

" I have a small amount of gold if that will do as payment for the polishing." he said taking some gold coins from his pocket to show him.

"Keep your money, Boy," Nicu said. "We all know you were sent here by the child finders. None of us have much money to pay you to find our children. All we can offer is ourselves and the work of our hands. So, no, I don't want your money. Just ask the child finder to find our children. That's all we ask."

He picked up the little stone fragment and looked at it. Compared to taking a much larger stone and making it into a capture stone, Jessie's request was mere child's play. "I can polish it when I see to the larger stone. This one isn't a big deal. I'll have it ready when the capture stone is ready. You can pick them up together."

Angus found himself getting groggy from Brian's concoction. But he was definitely calmer. The frustration and the anxiety had quieted for the moment. He slipped into a very light doze. Brian and Michael took the laundry down to Ana, and Brian could see she had noticed Angus had gone to sleep. She looked at Brian as if he had played some sort of dirty trick on Angus. She didn't approve.

"He's alright," Brian told her quietly. "My potion wasn't strong enough to do that on it's own. It just reduced his pain and calmed him. The sleep is his own from the fact tht he isn't 100 percent yet. He's my best made. I wouldn't hurt him, not like you're thinking, anyway."

Jessie smiled and nodded " that is underway already, we spoke to Robert and hes agreed to help and Sergio and Ana will be part of our team." he told him as he stood up " I'll come with the others when their all ready." he said " see you soon" he said and left the shop heading to Sergio and Ana's home he entered the back. Seeing Angus sleeping he chuckled then hear Brian and Ana talking " yeah hes like a brother to us all, well for me brother in law but no one here would harm him" he said taking off his jacket and hanging it up.

" I'll watch sleeping beauty, you go do whats neccisary" he said sitting back to watch over Angus as he pulled out the guide book Michael had lent him to read.

"Sorry," Ana said. "Angus and I were a couple for a long time. He came here with Edward during his summers off school, and when he finally graduated from Hogwarts, he came here that summer, and...we got very close. The long distance thing didn't work well for us, though, so when we decided to end things, he deliberately introduced me to Sergio because he blamed himself for our breakup and he didn't think I deserved to be left alone. Don't misunderstand me. I love my husband with all my heart, and I would never leave him. I love Angus, and I always will. And I know he will always love me in his own way. But we are not in love with each other, if that makes any sense. Sergio knows all about the years Angus and I spent. I have no secrets from him, and he well knows Angus is no threat. But I will always care deeply about Angus."

"I think he was very blessed to have had such a love like you two had," Brian said.

"He seems happy with his new love, and I am happy for him. He has been alone far too long," she said.

"Agreed," Brian said. "And yes, he is happy. At least by everything I see, he seems happy. A bit indecisive, but happy."

"Indecisive about not wanting to hurt her by any mistakes he might make. That's just him. It's just who he is. His indecision is never about self protection. It's about wanting to protect the ones he loves from whatever screw ups he feels they will be doomed to by being with him. If she is with him very long, she'll figure that out for herself and find her way."

"I'm sure she will," Brian smiled.