LONDON CALLING

Ruby listened to Michae and ndoded " I'll talk to him first, Kate can we leave it for today , until I've spoken to Angus about if thers anything he wants to keep or he can sit in as we go threw it." she said " thank you, I know I keep forgetting its not just me any more but we, us and need a nudge every so often" she said to him smiling " I will learn trust me" sh said chuckling as she readied the tray " thank you Marcus that would be a great help, I've still got to get Abby dressed and bring her down for breakfast." she said finishing the rolls to then wash her hands.

She headed up the stairs
 but stopped seeing Abby running across teh front to the duplex and she chuckled hearing Brian talking " ho boy" she said and walked abck down to the door " okay I'll go and talk to her" she said softly and walked over to the duplex. Puching open the door she smiled at Abby " Hey Abby" she said walking to sit facing her  " so..no pancakes huh" she said " Brian told me you wanted pancakes and they wouldn't make them for you becuse ot was to early" she glanced at Angus as she finished what she'd heard " and that why she ran away from home and came here" she told him gently.

"I live wich you, Aggie," she insisted. She looked at Ruby. "I live here now."

"Because of pancakes?" Angus asked.

"Mama mean to me. She no feed me," Abbey said.

"And so you came over here," he said. She nodded. "So what do you think I'm going to have for breakfast?"

"Pancakes!" she said.

"What if that isn't what we're having? What if we have something you don't like?"

"Like what?"

"Broccoli," Angus said, teasing. "What if Papa sends me broccoli today?"

"He mean too. We no eat nasty broccoli," she scowled. A moment later, Marcus came over with the breakfast tray.

"You take that back," Abbey ordered Marcus. He looked at her, curious.

"But it's Aggie's breakfast," Marcus said.

"We no eat no broccoli here," she told him.

"Abs, Abs," Angus laughed. "I was teasing. I don't think there's probably any broccoli there. If you lived here, though, your mama would miss you."

"No, she not. She no like me. She no give me pancakes."

'Well, Aggie isn't having pancakes either this morning," Marcus told her.

"But I'll share it with you, if you want," Angus told her. "And then maybe you could help Ruby with whatever she's doing this morning." Angus was noticing some of her clothes were on inside out and her shoes were on the wrong feet again. "You got dressed all by yourself. Good job! What do you think, Ruby, could she help you with something this morning? I think Gam is bringing over that little owl so he can stay here at our house, Abbey. Maybe you and Ruby can get him settled in. What's in your suitcase?"

"My stuff," she said, opening the suitcase. It had a little stuffed toy, a pajama top, a left shoe, and a pink crayon.

"You did a good job packing," he smiled. "Are you hungry?" She nodded. He looked up at Ruby. "Give her some of my breakfast, please?"

Ruby smiled and listened " oh I forgot your my cheif helper in sorting the clothes and things for the baby" she said "was tehre anything you wanted to kep?" she asked Angus as Marcus walked in she could not help but smile as Abby scolded him for bringing broccili then she ehard Angus offer some of his breakfast " of course " she said and took the tray from Marcus to to place between her and Abby. " see no Braoccili just a brakfast caserol and cinimon rolls" she said handing her a peice of roll" and I know theres no brokily in these as I made them, of course to Angus's recipy" 

While Abby ate Ruby switched her shoes to th right feet and turned her clothes the right way around " you did a good job Abby but I needed tofix some things" she said as the last peice of clothing went back on the right way around. "there much beter" she said poring soem juice into a small cup she had found and handed it to her.

Abbey nodded, always ready to spend time with Ruby. She ate breakfast with Angus, and then she cuddled into him.

"Are you done being angry with your mama?" Angus asked her quietly, just holding her.

"No,' she said softly, curling tighter into him. She had missed him. "I stay wich you and ROOby, Aggie. You no like my house no more?"

"I'm sorry, Abs," he said gently. This was her, grieving, missing him, missing having him in the kitchen, missing all the ways he took care of her. He couldn't do those things anymore, and it bothered her. It bothered him too. "I hope that I'm going to be able to still do some of those things. I've missed you too." He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "Marcus, is there any reason why she can't stay with us over here today?"

"No reason, except you're going to need a boatload of toys to keep her happy," Marcus said.

"Abs, I have to go out for just a little bit. Ruby, can she stay with you for a bit?" Angus asked. "I guess I don't have anything in particular that I bought specifically for ours. You will probably noticed a bit of a theme, though. I was thinking about the woods here and all the magical creatures and our log cabin. so now that its here, maybe we could find a way to do the baby's room in sort of a rustic woodland theme and use some of the stuffed magical creatures--like a magical forest them. I don't know. At least that way, you might not need to start from scratch again, and it would work for a boy or a girl either one.

"Abs," Angus told her, "I have some news for you. Sometime around your fourth birthday, Ruby and I are going to have a baby."

"I get a brofur or a siser?" she asked.

"Yeah," he smiled.

"Which one?"

"I don't know yet.'

"They play wich me?"

"When they get older, yes. I think they might."

"I wanna girl. I no wanna boy."

"Okay," he laughed. "Why not a boy?"

"I no like blue," she said. He laughed out loud.

Ruby smiled and nodded " of course she can, she ahs to help me chose the babys clothes and things and oh you can help choose the nursary, and your idea is perfect Angus, its already given me ideas." she said smiling knowing it would all be covered eventualy anyway" I belive Kate is coming to help too" she listened as Angus explained they were going to have a baby and she chuckled at Abby saying she wanted a girl becuse she didn't like the color blue. " okay so Abby stays with me and helps out in the nursary but Angus I would love for you to put your touch in it too." she smiled not wanting to take everything from Angus, this was his child too and she wanted the nursary to have his mark among hers showing they both love the cild equaly as perents should.

Ruby chuckled and looked at Angus " how many was it we decided to have?" she asked with a grin and a chuckle " was it ten?" she smiled to Angus " could you imagine ten girls running around or ten boys?" she said unable to stop the smile growing the more she thought about it.

"Khaat was the one who wanted ten," Angus laughed. "We didn't build a big enough house for ten, I don't think. There is a lot of land here, though. I suppose we could build a bigger place if we had to. Could you see the Christmases around here if we had our ten, plus Khaat's ten? That might be a little chaotic."

"I'll tell them that she's going to be here with you, then, Ruby, and I'll be back to get Angus so we can go," Marcus said. He went back over and relayed the message that Abbey was going to help Ruby. Kate and Simone said they would both be over to help Ruby go through the baby things. Then Marcus came back over.

"We need to go soon or you'll be late," Marcus told Angus.

"Abs, I have to go out for just a little bit, but Ruby needs your help anyway, okay?" Angus asked. "And then I'll be back." She nodded and hugged him as if he wasn't coming back. "I'll be right back." Angus set Abbey on the floor because he knew if he didn't, she'd not have gotten up from his lap. And as he did, Kate and Simone arrived.

"So that's where you got off to," Kate told Abbey.

"I live wich Aggie and ROOby," Abbey told Kate.

"Okay," Kate said, deciding to not make a big deal of it. "So, Ruby, show us where all this baby stuff is. Let's get started, shall we?"

Ruby heard Marcus and nodded " thank you" she said and looekd abck to Abby. When Angus said he had to head out but would be back she saw the look on Abbys face and moved to take her hand in her own. "If we get done soon enough I'll make sugare cookies for you" she said " with berries" she whspered the last part as if a secret to Abby but she knew Angus could totaly hear it and smiled at him. " stay safe okay" she told Angus befre leaning down and kissing him " I love you" she said softly to him then brushed her hand across his cheek.

Turning she saw Simone and Kate walk in and smiled thankful they would take her mind off Angus being out of the duplex but she also knew men would bea round to help him. " its this way " she said and headed to teh stairs that once she placed a foot on it started to move like an escilator making her chuckle at it " Andrew did this for Angus so he could get around, I might keep it for when Im as big as a whale" she chuckled as she stepped off and moved to a room next to their room.

"opening the door she saw the room filled with boxes piled high " well here it is." she said letting the door swing open. THe room its self was bright but the stark white walls screamed out for colour " So Abby my degner what do you think?" she asked her " should we start with teh boxes or color?" she asked knowing boxes held more delights than color right at that moment.

"I love you too. I won't be long," he told her as she kissed him and then stroked his cheek. Then he looked at Andrew and Marcus. "Let's go."

"Boxes!" Abbey told Ruby excitedly, feeling it was going to be more like opening presents

Their first stop was at Ruby's parents' house. Marcus picked the lock, and they went in. They could tell that Suzanne had given very little thought to what the house looked like. There were closet doors and cabinet doors standing open all over the place.

"Marcus, let's get a crew to pack up everything that belongs to Sam and Victor and put it into storage in our basement. They can pick what they want to bring up to their room later," Angus said.

"I'll get someone on it," Marcus said. "And perhaps to clear out the food, particularly the perishables? Maybe the houseplants too?

"Yes, please," Angus said. Andrew got out a scratch pad and started to make notes. They went through the house and finally into the master bedroom. Angus particularly wanted to get one of Reginald's suits for the funeral home. He picked the nicest one, along with a dress shirt and a tie, and then Marcus found, hidden in Reginald's closet, a man's jewelry box loaded with men's jewelry. Angus guessed that either Suzanne hadn't found it or hadn't looked for it. They went through it, and they picked out a pair of plan gold cufflinks for him and a tie bar for his tie. Angus wanted to keep the jewelry for Jessie and Sam and Victor. Marcus also found another jewelry box, and it looked like Suzanne's, with the jewelry that she apparently didn't want to take with her. Most of it was costume jewelry, but there were a few good pieces in it that Marcus believed had some value. Marcus's guess was that Suzanne didn't really know what she had. There weren't many photographs, but Angus took what he did find. Marcus found a safe, and he managed to get it open, and found some bank books. Angus took them. Suzanne appeared to be leaving this house and this family and taking precious little with her.

Marcus shrank what he could, and he and Andrew tucked it into their pockets. When they left the house, Marcus secured it again and used a couple protective charms on it to keep it from being burgled. Then they went to the funeral home. Angus made all the arrangements for a quiet burial for Reginald, and he picked out a rather nice plot under a large elm tree in the cemetery. He did not make any arrangements for a reception or a memorial service. Just a burial and some decent flowers. He didn't know if the boys would want to attend any sort of calling hours to say good bye, but he was going to make sure to notify the school when those would be, if Suzanne didn't claim Reginald.

The whole process, from start to finish had taken nearly two and a half hours, and Angus was getting very tired. Andrew and Marcus told Angus firmly that he needed to stop and go home. He had done enough, more than Reginald Tyler deserved, and more than Ruby was going to expect him to do. But he had handled it all for them. It was as complete as it could be for now. Andrew said he thought the letter to the school in regards to calling hours could wait until they saw whether Suzanne stepped up or not.

Andrew and Marcus brought Angus back home and helped him into the recliner. Angus had had no intention of going to sleep, but he slept quickly, falling asleep before he had realized he had done it.

Ruby smile at Abby and nodded " okay boxes it is" she said opening the first to find baby clothing she placed it to one side and found the furniture. shifting it she found two blue changingtables and looked at Kate " I'll send these back there not gender nutral and well we don't know what were having yet" she said letting Kate send it back. soon she found a nice yellow changing table with matching oval crib and she smiled " these are perfect" she looekd at Kate " you think Angus will liek them?" she stopepd and laughed " what am I saying he chose them to begin with" she said pausing as she ehard aperateing from downstairs.

"Sounds liek there back" she said to Simone, you want to continue or see how they did?" she asked as she sent several sleeper suits in mint and yellow and a pale pink to a set of draws with yellow handles on. She looked at the walls and smiled , taking out her wand she looked at Abby " Abby watch this " she said and focused on what she wanted on the walls, there infront of their eyes a magial forest scene appeared with tiny fairy lights making it look like fire flies dances in the room " you think its too much?" she asked Simone as she saw Abby move to sit inside a now empty box an play in it as if it was her own house. This made her chuckle and she opened a box filled with baby safe teddy bears and unicorns again she was suprised by how much thought he'd put into it " you know theres  box of blankets around here someplace" she said pushing the exspencive pram to one side.

Marcus and Andrew got the shrunken things out of their pockets and, for now, Andrew got an empty wooden box he'd found in Angus's closet and tucked the things, as they were, still shrunken, in the box and tucked them away in one of the drawers in the end table by Angus's recliner. Marcus went upstairs and found them still going through baby things.

"Thought I'd let you know we're back," Marcus told them. "Angus was pretty active, so he's catching a few winks. He's fine, but it was a busy outing. Ruby, so you know, we went to your parents house, and he took one of your dad's suits to the funeral home. He made all the arrangements for a casket, flowers, a plot, a headstone, and one afternoon of calling hours for whoever wanted to go. Angus paid for the whole thing, in case your mom doesn't step up. He brought back a few things from their house that your mom left behind that he thought you all might find valuable later, but he's asked us to go and get all of Sam and Victor's things and store them here in your basement so the boys can decide what they want to keep, if anything. I secured the house for now so that no one can get in. Angus has even got a letter that he's sending to the school to alert the boys that there will be calling hours in case they want to see their father once more before he's buried, and he's put together an update for Jessie too. You should be proud of him, Ruby. I can't think of a thing Angus left undone with that."

knew that Angus hadn't even done those things for his own family when Benjamin and Eileen died. Edward had taken care of those things, but Angus hadn't. Angus had created a grave site with a tombstone so that the muggles would quit asking questions, but he hadn't done more than that. Edward had taken care of the rest. Marcus knew, though, that Angus's devotion to Ruby was more important to him than the emotion he'd felt about his parents, and Marcus believed it spoke volumes about the kind of man Angus was. It also told him the kind of father he would be. Angus's kids were going to be lucky enough to have two very devoted parents.