LONDON CALLING

"Coffee, please," Marcus said. "And I'll tell Angus. We'll let you know before we go. They won't be gone long, you know. Its only a little over seven weeks before Christmas. It'll fly by for both you and them. Trust me. My kids are all there too, so I know."

"And I'll have tea, please," Kate said.

Andrew had found the bottle of energy potion, and now he set it down on the table in front of Angus so he could tuck it in his pocket if he wanted it. Sam immediately snatched it up and read the label.

"Thanks, Yulong," Andrew said. "I think they boys are looking forward to seeing their friends again.

"What's this?" Sam scowled hard at Angus, holding the bottle in his fist. "When did you get this? What is it, and how long have you been taking it?"

"You're welcome to read it. it's an energy potion," Angus said quietly. "Robert helped me buy it, so, yes, I am following his direction with it."

"Why do you need it?"

"Because the fatigue is still a problem, and I'm going back to work," Angus said.

"You're not ready to work yet, are you?" Victor demanded, sitting at the table.

"It isn't a choice," Angus said. "It's my job. It's what I have to do."

"Well, who said? That's bullcrap," Sam said defiantly. "No. We're family. You've been telling us that since you met us. You taught us family stays together, and we stand on it together. If that's what we do, then we're not going. We're staying right here. We'll help you. I don't know what we're helping you with, but you wouldn't abandon us, so we're not abandoning you. We'll do it together. Screw school, screw all of it. If we're family, then we're not going to let you be alone."

"We finally have a decent dad, and we're not going to let you buggar that up," Victor told Angus angrily. "We're not going to just dash back to Scotland to do whatever this is by yourself."

"I'm not alone," Angus replied, not wanting to show them his quickly building frustration. One dose of an energy potion, and the boys were treating him like an addict. He wanted to bean them both. He held the bottle up to the light to show them how very little was out of it. "Look. One dose. I really don't have to justify myself here, but one dose does not make me an addict."

"Yeah, well, our other dad, and our mom? They did all kinds of stuff. Ruby never knew, and neither did Jessie. That happened after they both left us there with them. So you might need to just get a clue that we aren't going to support you doing it," Victor said sharply and bitterly, leaving the house, slamming the door.

"I'm not going back, and you can't make me," Sam said, equally as angry, and now he stormed out of the house too.

"Sorry," Andrew told him. "I had no idea it was going to set them off."

"No problem. I didn't either," Angus said. "And I don't have the energy to go after them."

"Nobody questions whether they should go back or not, Ru," Angus said calmly, trying to reel in his frustration. "You can't get so anxious about teen boys having a temper tantrum. Stop and think before you spazz. Just because they said they aren't going back, it doesn't mean they're going to get their own way. Parenting is not a personality contest. It isn't about making them happy all the time. It's about doing the right thing. I really don't care if they're pissed at me or not. They can diagnose me as an addict when they get their medical degrees, but until that happens, they're going to shut, or they're going to learn very quickly how determined a Donohue can be."

"You don't get it," Sam said to Yulong. "Our real parents were crooks. Our dad was a man who killed people and got paid for doing it. He was a hired assassin. Our mom 'entertained' dark wizards for money. They weren't worth the oxygen they breathed. And they did all sorts of potions--all the stinking time. Vic and I are not putting up with another dad that does the same thing."

"Dude," Victor looked at Sam after considering Yulong's word, "maybe we didn't ask the right question. If he feels pushed into going back to work too soon, what we don't know is why. He wasn't like this a few days ago. All he said was that he has no choice. That doesn't sound like he wants to go back to work. It sounds like he feels forced. Is somebody telling him he has to go back before he's well, or..."

"Or is somebody not pulling their weight?" Sam asked, finishing Victor's statement.

"Exactly. And I don't think he's the kind to toss somebody under the bus by telling us who is forcing him to go back to work or who isn't doing their job. Even if we did know, what would we do?"

"Throttle them," Sam said bitterly.

"I'd like to, yes," Victor replied. "Maybe we need to write a letter to Edward, and let Edward handle it when he gets back."

"Maybe."

"Hey," Victor looked at Yulong, "who really is his boss? It's Brian's house but Robert seems to be the big cheese around here. If we wanted to talk to someone, who would that be?"

"I really don't care either way as long as they get on the damned train," Angus replied.

"Why would they think that they have any other option?" Robert asked, finally arriving in the kitchen.

"My sons are outside having a meltdown because they saw my energy potion, and now they think I'm a potions addict like Suzanne and Reginald," Angus said.

"Well, one of two things are happening, then," Robert said. "It brought up a painful memory for them that they don't know what to do with. Or--they're idjits."

"Idjits," Angus said, simply venting because he was irked at them for the moment.

"Have you tried to talk to them?" Robert asked Ruby. "I could try to dispel that notion for them, but that might not get to the real root of the problem, whatever that is."

"What's your plan for getting them on the train?" Marcus asked Angus.

"I'm gonna find one of you that will cast a petrificus totalus on their little behinds, and then I'm going to shrink them and toss them in their own packing trunks and stick the trunks on the damned train," Angus said.

"Oh, they did rile your temper, didn't they?" Robert cast Angus an amused look.

"Did you know that our fantastic parents did mammoth amounts of potions, and they always had a stinking excuse? Mom's was, 'You don't know what I have to do for a living to feed you and clothe you.' Dad's excuse was that he was a grown man and he could do whatever he wanted," Sam said, unable to hide his bitterness. "So our loving mother blamed her addiction on the fact that her children needed food and shelter and clothing. And even then she didn't provide it. Angus needs to knock that crap off. He's supposed to be a better dad than that. He's not supposed to do that."

"I don't understand you, Ruby. What does your pregnancy tonic have to do with Angus' potion," Victor said. "Nobody said you didn't have a reason but he's been doing fine. Hasn't taken anything, and now all of a sudden he just has to do this? Says he has no choice? That makes no sense. He's making on bloody sense. Why is it that he doesn't think he has no choice but to go back to work before he's able to do it?  And why all of a sudden does he have no choice now? What the hell has him doing any of this?"

"So what have you told them?" Robert asked Angus.

"Nothing. They wouldn't get it. Sometimes your kids don't need to know every stinking little thing," Angus said angrily.

"These boys know something's changed, and they're not blind. Telling them nothing will not do," Robert told him.

"It's none of their business," Angus replied.

"And that isn't going to cut it either, my boy," Robert said gently. "Let's see how Ruby does."