LONDON CALLING

"I think its funny that Sam has already had enough of Victor's nonsense. Actually, Victor might be starting to vent some of his anger at Reginald. Remember he's got years of rage at Reginald that he's never dealt with. I expected it to surface sooner or later, but he's just hung onto it." He took the tea mug from her. "Thanks. Of course she'll know to look over here. It'll be fine with Kate that Abbey's here." Victor's shouting continued, and Angus got up and went to the deck door. He saw Victor had lost his balance and stepped down on his injured leg, and it had hurt. Victor was holding his leg in pain, and then Angus saw Victor start to cry and knew it was the first real tears the boy had shed for losing his parents. Angus set the tea mug aside and opened the door quietly and went out. He came up behind Victor and wrapped his arms around Victor's shoulders, and Victor began to sob, finally letting some of the grief loose. They sat down on the floor of the deck, and Angus just stayed with him. He knew exactly how Victor felt. He'd been through the same thing himself. By the time Victor had gotten it out of his system, he was sitting, folded into Angus, and Angus was simply sitting with his arms around him.

"Why are you still here?" Victor asked him very quietly.

"Because I'm your dad," Angus replied calmly. "It's what a decent dad does. Come on. Let's go in. You need to finish your reading before five when Jack takes you to meet Robert." Victor got up, and Sam hurried downstairs and came out and helped Angus up to his feet. "Get his crutch please, Sam?" Angus asked. Sam fetched the crutch and gave it to Victor, and then they went in the house. "Ruby," Angus said, "is the tea still hot? I think the boys could use a cup while they finish their reading for Robert." He looked up, and he saw Kate coming across the yard with a large cloth tote. "Kate's coming, and I think she's got some sort of lunch take away with her."

Ruby could not help but smile seing Victor and Angus together as Victor let out his grief against Angus. Hearing Sam come from upstairs she watched as he went to help Angus " it is still hot, and ok" she said making two more cups for each of the boys with hot coffee inside it befoe placing a log on the fire to warm teh room up.

"ready for them" she said and smiled seeing Kate walking over "Hi Kate how was the shopping?" she asked placing a third cup down for Kate. " here have a cup and tell us all about it?" she said sitting down close to Abby to watch her while Kate spoke.

"I brought lunch back for everyone, and I figured I would find you all here," Kate said. "There is a cheeseburger, a reuben sandwich, a bacon sandwich, a fried chicken sandwich, and a fish sandwich. They all have chips with them, so you'll just have to sort out who wants what. Diagon Alley was crowded for some odd reason. It was wall to wall people, but I got what I wanted,. I think I'm finished shopping so now I can start on the sewing." Abbey bounced up from her puzzle, sticking Fudge in her pocket and she dashed over to Kate. Kate scooped her up and put her on her lap. "Hello, Pet," Kate kissed her. "Miss me?" Abbey nodded. "Well, I brought you a strawberry lollipop you can have after lunch, alright?" Abbey nodded.

Her seer's energies working overtime, Kate was picking up on a mood in the house, and she glanced around and pinpointed it to Victor and Sam. She looked at the boys and then looked back at Ruby.

"They're learning, you know," Kate said to Ruby. "They're learning that you and Angus are dependable. Consistent, even when they'd rather you not be. And they're angry--especially that one." She nodded in Victor's direction. "He's angry at his dad for not being man enough, and with their mother. They hate the sort of cheap morals she has now and that they couldn't ever depend on either of them. They're attaching, in their own way, to you and Angus as the family they've always wanted. And they're afraid. They're afraid to go back to school because they're afraid something will buggar it up and take it all away again from them while they're gone. Stay the course. Stay consistent with them, and they'll figure out your family isn't fragile and that, no matter what, you're both here for them--and that will fix the rest of their muddled thinking."

Ruby sat and listened to Kate talk about the boys and she nodded " we know " she said simply to her with a smile "  won't give up these boys at any cost." she said to her "I think I'm beginning to understand " she said " oh I'll take the Reuben sandwich please" she said " and when they go back to school we'll be in contact with them and the school, anything they need we'll not let them down" she spoke just loud enough that the boys could hear her then she looked at Angus " that's right " she said smiling at him as she unwrapped her sandwich and ate it and drank her tea.

Ruby gathered the cups and plates and placed them in the dish washer to get clean while she moved back to sit close to the fire again. " why did you say the Alley was super busy, isn't it allways busy when its close to them going back to school?" she asked

"Well, yes, it is always busy when the kids are buying school supplies, but they're all in school right now. after all, it is October. They're not due for a break until the end of the month. It shouldn't be that busy right now, not for any reason I know of," Kate said. "Well, I really should go. I should get this little one back to the house so she can eat her lunch. Thank you for taking care of her while I was out. I appreciate it." She flicked her finger at Abbey's puzzles to clean them up and to gather them up for her and sent them back to the main house, and then she picked up Abbey. "We'll see you lot later." She took Abbey back to the house.

Angus got up and took the rest of the sandwich boxes, gave the boys their choice of sandwiches, leaving Angus and Andrew to choose between the bacon sandwich and the fish. Andrew took the fish, leaving Angus with the bacon. That was fine with him. The boys were silent, finishing their readings and eating their lunch. When they finished their readings, they closed the books and Sam took them upstairs to put the books in their room and then they devoted themselves to their studies for the rest of the afternoon. It didn't appear that the boys wanted to test Angus's patience any further, and Angus was glad for that. He did not want any further issues.

By 4 pm, the boys closed their books and changed clothes to some good looking dark jeans, with some respectable button downs with pullover sweaters over top and dark sneakers. They were ready to go with Jack to meet Robert at St. Mungos' by 4:45. They came downstairs together and looked at Ruby.

"We're not sure exactly how to dress to meet Robert much of anywhere. Will this do, do you think?" Sam asked her. "I don't know where this lab is and whether we'll be running into a lot of people or not. Do you know?"

Andrew took Angus over to the gym in the main house for a bit to work on some rehabilitation things. It was bothering Angus that he hadn't cooked for a few days, so he had Andrew take him upstairs, and Angus started to work on a large chicken stir fry. He made a pilaf with fried brown rice and quinoa, stirring in some onions, and some small diced vegetables. While the rice and quinoa were cooking, he and Andrew made very quick work of preparing the vegetables and the chicken for the stir fry. Cooking the stir fry itself only took a few minutes. Andrew followed Angus's directions to make both a sweet and sour sauce and a teriyaki sauce. Angus made some chinese almond cookies, and a sweet almond ice cream for dessert and he made a large pot of chinese tea for anyone that wanted some. It was all ready by about 5. He set some aside for the boys and for Robert, and Andrew set out the supper for everyone in the dining room.

Ruby smiled at Kate as she put away and sent over Abbys puzzles back to the main house " it was a pleasure" she said smiling to Abby " see you tomorrow Abby" she said watching them head back. Looking at Angus she relaxed at the quiet that now surounded them both.

Soon she heard Sam walk down and stand infront of her she lookd at him and listened " that should be good" she said tucking his shirt collar down. Jack walked n and looked at both of them smiling.

"you ready Sam" he asked walking over to him. " Hey Angus , enjoy the quiet" he said and took hold of Sam's wrist gently as they ported to St Mungos to where they would meet up with Robert for his potion lesson.

Robert was just finishing a tough case in the emergency department that he had been called in on. A young man had splinched himself and had nearly lost his arm in the process. Robert had had to rush him into surgery and he had spent nearly 3 hours working to save the arm. The surgery now looked like it would be successful, and Robert had admitted the young man and had him sent to a room to recover. Then Robert had gone and showered and changed because he himself had become quite a mess in the process.

Clean and showered, he was actually looking forward to meeting the boys, and he found them in the lobby with Jack.

"Right on time," Robert smiled. "Good. Hello, Jack. I think Jess should be here any minute. Thanks for dropping them off. I think you'll enjoy the restaurant. I took Kate their for her birthday this year, so we can both vouch for the quality of the steaks. You boys ready to see our potions lab here and to see if you can manage a proper potion?"

"Sure," Sam said.

"Then come with me, and we'll take the lift down to the basement to the lab. See you later, Jack," Robert said. He took the boys and headed off to the lifts.

Andrew sent a paper bird to Ruby to tell her that Angus had fixed an early dinner and said it was ready if she was hungry. Then Andrew summoned everyone else in the main house to the dining room.

Jack smiled seeing Robert arrive he let them both go to Robert then waited for Jess who was not too far behind him. " hey hun" Jack said and kissed Jess " time to go home?" Jess nodded.


"oh Robert that young gentelmen is resting well and his vitals are strone." she said handing him the report before taking Jacks hand in hers and together they ported back to the main house. Ruby got the note and ported to the main house.

"Smells great." she said smiling at Angus as she apeared in the living room.

"Thank you, Jess," Robert said. "Enjoy the restaurant tonight."

Just a chicken stir fry," Angus said to Ruby. "I was hungry for chinese. Help yourself." Abbey dashed into the kitchen by herself

"Aggie, I hungee!" she said.

"You're hungry?" he asked, and she nodded. "That's good, because I made supper. Do you want some?" She nodded. He picked her up and put her in her chair and fixed her a plate. He put a bit of sweet and sour sauce on part of her stir fry and teriyaki on the other part. He was trying to do away with the sippy cups, so he gave her a plastic pink kitty toddler sized mug with milk. He believed that, at 3 1/2, she didn't need to be using a sippy cup anymore. She was used to not getting a sippy cup from Angus, even if some of the other adults still gave her one. for the most part, she did alright with her little kitty cup and rarely spilled.

"Wassit, Aggie?"

"Chicken," he told her.

"Chicky?"

"Yeah..." As he was speaking, Fudge poked up his head from her pocket. "Oh, hi, Fudge. Let me put you back in your tree." He took the bowtruckle and put it in his tree, and Andrew gave Fudge a food cube.

"Sit, Angus," Andrew said, knowing Angus was tired from largely being active all day. "I'll get your plate for you."

"Thanks," Angus said. Kate and the others came into the kitchen and they seemed pleased to see Chinese food. They wasted no time in tucking in to it. Angus noticed that Lee and Nigel weren't there, and Kate said that Lee and Nigel had both gone back to New York.

Ruby smiled as she moved to get a plate just as Abby ran in she chukled as she too was given a bowl and cup then taken back to the table " tastes divine Angus" she said eating more and finding her stomach aproved as well of the stir fry. She heard Abby ask what it was and Angus reply it was chicken. She saw Fudge pop up from Abbys pocket she was going to take him back to the tree when Angus did just that. Ruby smiled as Rowan and Jessie appeared and smelt the food.

"oh food , smells divine." Jessie said moving to the kitchen and taking a plate as did Rowan who nodded to Angus as he passed.

"thank you for making dinner Angus" he said moving to grab a plate and a galss of milk to wash it down.