A Birth day

Aria nodded and smiled " thought it would be better than a sponge or fruit cake" she said smiling as each took a slice. Now sat talking she felt the air was now lighter as every one laughed and talked before they finished and Dennis said he had to go. Aria gathered an extra slice for him and placed it into a box " here, in case you get hungry later2 she said smiling as she handed it to him leaving Anise and Ginger to talk to him before he ported out. Walking back into the kitchen she helped clean up.

Ruby smiled seeing every one finally relax about what had happened during the day. she finished her cake and smiled at how the house relaxed around her finally and she breathed out. Picking up several plates she carried them into the kitchen and placed them into the washer. " might sound bad but I'm happy the days gone the way it has but i'm glad today is finally done with" she said " there's been a lot happen"

"Yes," Marcus said watching Angus take Finn and go outside. "It was a very busy day. I think everyone's tired tonight. I think Angus is letting Finn out for his last trip of the night. If I don't miss my guess, I think this is another night when people will go to bed early." The truth was he believed Angus was probably going for a cigarette. He didn't smoke in the house, not usually. He was courteous enough to go outside to smoke. He looked out the window and saw Angus lighting up a cigarette.  

"Yep. I was right. Cigarette break," Marcus said. "I could use one myself. I'll go out with him and then I'll start locking it down when I come back in."

Marcus followed Angus outside, and he lit up his own cigarette.

"How are you doing?" Marcus asked Angus.

"Tired," Angus said. "And I've got a headache."

"Well, the header you took off the hippogriff surely didn't help that," Marcus said.

"God, that was still today, wasn't it?"

"Certainly was," Marcus said. "A good night's sleep will remedy a lot, though. Would you prefer Aria and I sleep over on Edward's side tonight?"

"No. I'd prefer you closer in case Suzanne's new goons do something to the house or the kids during the night. Ruby and I decided to postpone a honeymoon, so I think we need to stay the course we've had in focusing on keeping the family safe. And I think she would probably agree with that."

"You're probably right," Marcus said.

Aria looked at Marcus then to the window he was looking out of and nodded " okay" she said clearing up the last of the cake and placing it into the fridge for any on who wanted a midnight snack. Ruby helped and soon they had the dinning area clean and ready for the next morning. " so you and Angus taking a honeymoon?" Aria asked and Ruby chuckled and shook her head.

"no we decided to postpone it for when my mother isn't being so nuts" she said " once Angus is comfortable then we'll think about that" she said with a smile. " right now its all about making sure our family is safe , mother might be locked away but her minions aren't" she said to Aria. Both watched Marcus and Angus outside with Finn and Ruby smiled seeing Angus with a cigarette in his hand " he needs that after today" she said softly.

Fresh from her shower, Anise was in her pajamas. She put on her robe and tied it shut, slipped on her slippers and went upstairs. Not seeing Angus, she looked outside and saw him with Marcus. She had a question, and she believed that she could read him, seer to seer, probably more accurately than she could read Ruby. If she didn't get the answer she wanted, though, she'd try Ruby. And, in all fairness, she believed Ruby would be far more traditional than Angus would

She went outside, and as she approached Angus and Marcus, Marcus looked at Angus, looked behind him and nodded, cueing Angus that someone was approaching. Angus turned around and saw Anise coming out.

"I am so sorry we spoiled your day," Angus said to her, wrapping her in a hug. "I wanted this to be so good for you...."

"Me? We are the ones that owe you an apology," she frowned. "This was your wedding day. And I'm sure that there is, somehow, a story behind it. However, we buggared this up royally. And the fact is that we need to be pulling our own weight. Ginger and I and Victor and Sam want to get a place and share expenses. We thought maybe there's an apartment here we could make work. Or maybe rent the poolhouse in Tuscany so Ginger and I could finish school. Sam and Victor could maybe get jobs in the village or something..."

"No, no, no," Angus shook his head. "You four are not a problem...."
 
"Then what the heck happened? We don't understand..." she began. Angus sighed heavily, at a real loss for words. He did not want to ruin their relationship with Edward or with Ruby either one but clearly they both had worked together to set him up for this. And someone had to explain it to the kids in a way that made sense. Angus wasn't sure he had any sort of words that would make what happened today okay. 

"Anise," Marcus said, "it's so complicated, but let me see if I can help. It isn't about whether Ruby and Angus love each other. You already know where that stands. However, because of the money found in the cabin, and Diamond's custody situation needing finalized, and also the Donohue family assets needing to be firmed up. Things were getting hugely complex. The way it stands is that if anything happens to Edward, Angus inherits it all. And, if something happens to Angus, then not only does Ruby have a much bigger role, but, very likely Evan will too. And, if that were to ever happen, Ruby needs to have dual citizenship with not only England but Italy as well. And because she doesn't have any Italian blood, the only way for her to get Italian citizenship is for her to get married. Because of how goofy Suzanne is getting, that needed to be done sooner rather than later. So, when it came up in a meeting today with Robert and Edward, Ruby and Angus got married in order to solve a number of legal issues. It was far more impulsive than planned, I promise." 

Anise studied Marcus's face for a moment. Her own seers' powers told her there was some truth in it but it was not exactly as Marcus had put it forward. She looked at Angus. She still didn't believe he had had an active part in it. 

"Is that the line you're sticking to, too?" she asked Angus pointedly.

"For tonight. I'm honestly very tired tonight," he told her. That, she saw, had the ring of truth to it.
"As for moving out, you and Ginger are not legal age. I cannot let you do that. As I said, you're not the problem. It's just been one really bolloxed up day. That's all it is. and we all have that periodically. You four don't realize just how big of a help you are." He hugged her again and kissed her forehead. "I want you here because this is your home. It'll look better in the morning. I promise."

"I don't believe you," she said. "Your energy doesn't believe that, and neither do I, but I do see that you're tired. So I'll let you off the hook for tonight. I won't do it forever, though. Just so you know."

"Understood," Angus said. "Now go get some sleep. You're leaving extra early in the morning with Evan, remember?"

"Yeah. We remember. Goodnight," she said. She turned and went back inside, shutting the door. Then she sighed. She didn't believe him. Sooner or later, she believed, he would figure out that trying to lie to a seer was stupid.

Ruby and Aria finished cleaning and made several cups of Irish coffee carrying them out side Aria handed Marcus one as Ruby handed Angus one. " cleanings done and I made several boxes for the girls to take as snacks if they wanted at school." Aria said smiling as Ruby moved to stand with Angus. " so how'd Anise take your explanation?" she asked

Ruby looked at Angus and sighed " you know she'll see right threw anything you tell her if its not the truth but , today was needed" she said softly then lent against him " I love you, my swashbuckling husband and tomorrow will be better," she said softly as she sipped her coffee as she looked up at the sky seeing a shooting star " oh make a wish" she said as Aria saw it too smiling she made her wish as Ruby did the same.

'I honestly didn't have an explanation to give her," Angus said. "Not one that made sense."

"I did give her one," Marcus said, "but she didn't buy a word of it. I've spent far too much time around Khaat and Abbey and Kate to not know that look a seer gets when they know that the line you gave them was pure codswallop."

"This threw the kids today," Angus said. "They want to move out--all four of them. I told them no. And I'll keep telling them no as long as the girls aren't legal age. When they turn 18, though, they can tell me where to stick it."

"She accepted it for the moment because Angus told her he was tired and didn't want to discuss it any more tonight, but the kids aren't going to accept that forever," Marcus said. "I basically did tell her the truth but it didn't make any sense to her."

When Ruby said she loved him and that tomorrow would be better, Angus smiled. "I hope you're right. I don't want to lose the kids over this."

"Those kids aren't going to go very far, I promise you," Marcus said. "They're too attached. Regardless of what they say, this is home."

Ruby listened to Marcus and Angus she stood quiet next to Angus hearing him say the girls wanted to move out made her take hold of his hand but she let him finish and relaxed a little but was some what shaken that because of what had happened they wanted to move out. "I don't want them to not think of this place as their home," she said " because it is, I'm , I hope not making them feel I'm pushing them out, because I would never ever do that"

Aria looked at Marcus and sipped her drink and shook her head " they will come around and good for you Angus" she said " I'm sure Dennis would have said the same if he had been here" she added and looked at Ruby " stop panicking, they will settle back down, teens don't do well with change, you should know." she chuckled and finished her coffee " okay let me take these empty cups inside and make my checks" she smiled and headed in with the four empty cups.

"Sorry, Ru," Angus said. "I'll try to make more sense to them tomorrow. I just honestly came up empty tonight."

"Everybody's confused tonight," Marcus said. "I think if you two take the time, at some point, to clear the air between you and try to get back on the same page, the kids will probably feel better about it. They're not used to seeing you at odds with each other. You two are largely in agreement, but today, of all days, when you should have been, you weren't. And right now, you're tired. I think you should both turn in, get some sleep, and look at it with fresh eyes after the kids are on their way to work and school in the morning."

"I don't have one logical thought left in my head," Angus said. "I'm spent."

"See? Told you. Go turn in. I'll lock things up, and I'm sure that Aria and I will be turning in too," Marcus said.

Ruby listened to Marcus and nodded " your right and thank you for trying at least" she said and looked at Angus as he said he was spent " lets sleep on all this" she said " I'll see you up stairs" she said and kissed his cheek before letting go of his hand and heading up to their room with a pause to check on Caprice and Amari in the nursery . She smile seeing Finn now curled up between both cots.

Aria waved to Ruby as she headed up the stairs to her room and saw her wave back smiling to Marcus and patted his hand as she spoke" we will soon" she said as she returned from putting the cups in the kitchen. " Angus go rest, Ruby's already gone up" she said softly to him.

Angus nodded when Ruby said she was heading upstairs. 

"I'll be there in a minute," Angus replied to her.  He took one last long drag on his cigarette, leaving nothing left on it but the filter. "Yeah, I know," Angus said quietly to Aria when she said Ruby had gone in. Angus knew perfectly well where Ruby had gone. He dropped the smoldering cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it with his shoe. He started to the house. "Goodnight," he said quietly, not looking back at Marcus and Aria.

"I've still got you, Mate," Marcus told him as he watched Angus walk back to the house. Angus stopped for a moment.

"I know," Angus said, still quiet. He walked inside. 

"He's really stressed," Marcus said. "Promise me you won't do that to us. And you know I won't do anything like that. He'll be better if he can understand Edward and understand her. Right now, he can't begin to understand either of them. Edward was the one who rescued him from lies and from people who put their own needs ahead of Angus. So for Angus, Edward's actions make no sense. And, he doesn't understand Ruby going along with it at all. He believes they resolved that they would have no secrets and would have nothing but openness and truth, and mutual respect. I don't think he believes that this looked anything like love and openness and honesty today. I'm sure they'll work it out, but tonight, he's struggling to understand, and he's too tired to get into it with her. Hopefully, they can talk sometime soon and try to get past it." He sighed. "Oh, come on. This isn't getting the house locked up." He whistled for Finn. "Come on, Finn, or you'll be outside all night." 

Finn came running with his steak bone in his mouth.

"You can bring that in if you don't leave a grease slick on the rug. Got it?" Marcus told the dog. He headed for the house with Finn on his heels. "And don't wake up the babies gnawing on it all night. Nothing worse than a cranky baby--except maybe 2 cranky babies."