LONDON CALLING

Abbey listened to the stories that Ruby and Jessie were telling, and their encouragement about trying the puzzle again. Fudge showed Abbey the little red line that ran as a border along the edge of the piece and showed her how Ruby had connected the red line with some other puzzles, hoping Abbey could match up the red border line. It took him a bit to get her to understand what he wanted but she finally turned the piece the right direction. Then he helped her get the piece in place by helping her push it where it went. Then he got excited for her and clapped for her.

Michael came into the kitchen, and he headed for the teapot.

"Someone certainly got on Nigel's bad side. He is not a happy camper," Michael said. He poured tea into a mug for himself. "Wait. What's that?" Michael suddenly stopped short, looking at Sam and Angus up high in one of the trees. He set his tea mug down sharply the counter. "Sam's slipped in the tree, and Angus has hold of him with one hand to keep him from falling. Jessie, come help me levitate the boy down before they both fall. Angus isn't strong enough to hold him for long." Michael apparated out of the house quickly and over to the tree.

And Angus did have hold of Sam. He had wrapped his left arm around a branch so that he had something to anchor to, and with his right hand, he had a tight hold on Sam, who had slipped off the branch he'd been on and now had nothing to anchor his feet into to stabilize himself. Angus felt the bark of the tree scraping the skin on his left arm, and the pain in his right hand of holding Sam's body weight with one hand. He wasn't sure how long he could hold the full grown teen, but he wasn't going to let go and chance Sam getting hurt. Sam was his son, and he wasn't letting go.

Jessie stood up quickly and ran out teh door to the tree he took out his wand to cushion Sam should he fall. " what are you ding up there?" he asked as he looed to Michael as he joined him " I got Sam, ANDREW YOU AROUND!" He called out hoping he'd be with in ear shot. Ruby staid with Abby trying not to worry about Angus not up the tree , where at first she thought he was playign with sam now she wonderedif it had been he was abou to fall that had made Angus climb the tree in the first place.

Jessie lowered Sam then angus to the ground safly " every one okay?" he asked checking them over as he glanced abck to teh house and nodded to Ruby who sat down relived and smile when Abby got hr puzzle peice in correctly " yay, you did it Abby" she said smiling.

Michael fired wandless magic at Angus.

"I've got you, Mate," Michael said to Angus. "Let go. Jessie's got Sam, and I've got you. Angus wasn't sure he could have hung on one more moment anyway. Michael lowered Angus to the ground, and Angus sighed, deeply relieved. Michael looked at Sam, and he saw Sam was shaking like a leaf, clearly rattled. Angus was completely drained, and Michael just sat him down on the ground.

"I'm sorry," Sam said to Angus, clearly very upset. "I'm sorry. I'll never do it again..."

"You're alright," Angus said, reaching over and laying his hand on Sam's. "Don't worry about it. We're good, you and I. It's alright." Andrew came on the run and saw Angus and Sam sitting on the ground.

"What happened? Is anyone hurt?" Andrew asked.

"No. No, we're good," Angus said. Michael looked up and saw Victor sitting on the porch, and he clearly believed that Victor had some involvement in this somehow. It took a few minutes for Sam to pull himself together, and Andrew took him into the house.

"What happened?" Michael sat down with Angus. "What the hell were you doing in a freaking tree? You're not ready for that."

"Victor dared him that he couldn't climb with his new sneakers. They're not broken in yet, and they don't have enough tread on them to be worth anything for climbing. Sam got partway up and got his foot wedged in a fork between two branches. I went up to get his foot loose, but the only way for him to regain his footing was to try to go up a branch to get himself turned around to go down. But then he slipped with those stupid shoes," Angus sighed. "He panicked and couldn't get himself anchored enough to help himself. I wasn't going to let him go because that was a heck of a distance. He'd have been hurt for sure if he'd fallen. Thanks, Michael. And thanks to you too, Jessie. I had hold of him but I wasn't sure how I was going to get us down after that."

"Well, you wouldn't have," Michael said. "Someone needs to talk to the boys."

"I will," Angus said. "And I'm sure Ruby will probably have a word for them if she finds out."

"I'm sure she knows," Michael said. "I think you've had enough exercise. I'll get your outdoor chair so we can get you off the ground."

"Thanks," Angus sighed, gathering himself, glad that Sam hadn't been hurt after all.

Jessie looekd at sam and shook his head "Dears are fun until some one gets hurt." he said softly " next time hsose truth" he said and shook his head , looking back he was releved that Andrew had come out when he called. He let Michael talk and then looekd back to Andrew " I'll help you" he said and moved the normal chair over then he moevd to Angus to help lift him into the chair. " bet thats got to feel better?" he said and looked to Andrew as he stepped back.

In the house Ruby played with Abby knowing Angus would let her know what happened if it wasn't handled by him alrady which she trusted him to do. " oh look another peice" she said and held up a puzzle peice. " seei if you can fit this one." she asked Abby

"Thanks, Jessie, and thank you, Michael," Angus said. "That's much better."

"Angus," Michael said. "I didn't raise my own son, so far be it for me to give you advice on raising yours, but, you have the makings of a good dad. You really do, but the next time your boys get into a climbing thing, do ask me to help rather than you going up, would you? This really could have gone exceptionally badly by you trying to freehand it yourself before you were ready." Angus looked at Michael.

"You're right," Angus said. "It was nothing personal--honest. I saw Sam in trouble, and I just went after him. I never gave it a thought to ask someone else to help."

"And now I really want to headslap you," Michael laughed. "Ninny."

"And you would be well within your rights," Angus replied. "I do need to do something about Victor putting Sam up to it. Victor was wrong to dare him, and Sam was just as wrong to take him up on it."

"Yes. You do, but they're not going anywhere. I think it really should be alright to take a few moments for yourself and then go talk to them."

"Yeah, I think I will," Angus said. Angus pushed his chair over towards the porch and he looked at Victor. Victor just looked back at him, unsure of how Angus was going to react. This was the first real misstep the boys had made, and they were waiting to see how Angus was going to respond. "Victor, we will discuss this, all of us, but I don't want to do that right at the moment. I want to give it some thought, so, if I don't get back to you and Sam before bedtime tomorrow night, then you'll know I'm not going to do anything. Fair enough?" Victor just nodded. Angus turned his chair around and was going to head into the house to go talk to Ruby, so Michael pushed Angus's chair over to the main house and helped Angus get to his regular chair and into the house. He saw Abbey sitting on the floor with puzzles and with Fudge.

"Abbey, could I borrow Ruby for just a moment, please?" Angus asked her quietly. Abbey nodded, watching Fudge working to turn a puzzle piece the right direction. "We need to talk about the boys for just a moment, please," he said quietly to Ruby, not wanting to make a crisis out of it. The crisis was over now, so, now it was just about making sure that they could teach the boys to make better decisions.

Ruby had helped Abby put several pieces in place. As she glancing out the window she saw Angus and Sam on the ground and she breathed out in relief  she made no move to go to him as she could see Mihael and Jessie had it all in hand. But she did look up as Angus came in the back door. She looked down at Abby and smiled " I won't be long, keep working on that you almost got it." she said and moved to Angus's side.

Listening to him she sighed and nodded her head. " I thought you might, what happened?" she asked " why was Sam up that tre..no let me guess Victor dared him?" she said shaking her head gently. " so what do you want to do?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, that's exactly what happened," Angus said. "Sam had his new sneakers on, and they are not at all safe to climb in. They don't have a tread for that. Well, he got his foot stuck between the trunk and a branch, and then he slipped. I went up to get him unstuck, but then he really slipped. He didn't have anything to get his feet up against to brace himself. I just reacted. I grabbed hold of him because I knew if he had fallen, he'd have gotten seriously hurt. So I had hold of the tree with one hand, and I had Sam by the other. I am very, very grateful for Jessie and Michael for lending a hand. I think it scared the daylights out of Sam. I told Victor I didn't know what I was going to do right now.

"I want to think about it a little. Grounding won't work. They go back to school in a few days, and, frankly, there's not much place to go here. So there's nothing to ground them from. What we could do, though, is to take up some of their free time. if they can't be trusted to use their free time safely, then they might not get some of their free time for a bit. I think they could get up early and exercise. Victor is going to need to be able to walk anyway. I think they could do some extra chores. They could muck out some stalls, and clean some small animal pens and feed animals. They could do some washing up because there is never a shortage of dirty dishes. They could learn how to weed the gardens. They could do kitchen work. There is no shortage of extra chores. They could work on their spellcasting. they could do some extra assignments for some of the classes they're struggling with. I don't know. It's not the best idea, but maybe somebody else has some better ideas. What are your thoughts?"

Ruby listened to Angus and gasped as he explained why he and Sam were up the tree. " oh dear lord, even I know those shoes don't have any tread" she said softly her hand partly covering her mouth.She heard him talk of his thoughts for punishment and she sighed and thought about it herself " I agree, and any of those should sufice also with a firm talking to, to not do that again or at least us the right shoes. " she told him " extra chorse just so they know were firm but not a push over to" she said glancing back at Abby.

"I have to say Im glad your both okay though, it could have been so dofferent." she said taking his hand in hers

"Yes, it certainly could have been. Michael was very quick to remind me that I could have asked him for help to get Sam down, and he was right. Frankly, I never gave it a thought. All I thought about was that Sam needed help, and I wanted to get to him. That was the only thought in my head. Michael was entirely right. I do know better, but I did exactly what I've tried to train others not to do by letting their emotions dash off with them. if there's a good thing in their going back to school, its that cold weather is coming, and they won't be doing a lot of tree climbing for a few months, but when the weather breaks, I think I'm going to see if Michael will teach them to use proper climbing techniques."

He listened to Ruby's reaction about the missteps the boys had taken.

"I can get them better shoes, but that's hardly the point. You do realize, don't you, I have never been accused of being a pushover," he laughed. "So if that's what's in their heads, then they are going to find out they are sadly mistaken. Yes, it could have gone entirely differently, and, honestly, I'm sick of this stupid chair. I'm not lookin to spend one minute more in it than I absolutely have to. You want to come with me to talk to them? We can take Abbey with us, I'm sure. Or we could wait til after lunch and let them think about this for a bit. They've not had to deal with us consequencing them yet, so I'm sure they're wondering if we're going to respond like their parents did or if we're going to be different. I think it's okay to let them stew a little, not long, but maybe just for a little."

Ruby listened to Angus and nodded " I know the soes were not the issue" she said softly then smiled " its becuse you went into dad mod" she said smiling " and yes we should do it together so hey both know we stand together on the punishment." she said "but sould we wait till Kate gets back , I'm minding Abby so can't leave just yet." she said smiling as she saw her put another peice in its right place " nice Abby, weldone" she said and smiled as she looked down at Fudge " you too fudge.

She looked back at Angus and smiled " when Kate returns we can talk to them, oh I asked Kate to pick up a baby name book, but I was wondering what you thought of the name caprice?" she asked as she looked at him.