A Birth day

Aria watched Angus and heard heard him bid them good night " night Angus" she said then she heard Marcus she smiled at him and shook her head " never" she said " I know your history and am willing to wait for as long as you want, even if its years, i'm going no where." she told him chuckling as she saw Finn with his bone walk with them inside. She heard him talk to Finn and chuckled " yeah" she said as she watched him start his rounds " I'll do the upstairs" she said and headed with fin to the nursery where she saw hims settle between the cots.

Ruby had showered and changed and now sat on the bed waiting for Angus to join her. she picked up her book and opened it seeing her wedding band she looked at it before opening the book and reading her next chapter as she waited for Angus to join her.

Angus showered, spending one extra minute under the water, taking a moment to feel the sensation of the water on his skin and hearing the roaring of the water in his ears. There were no damned words involved here. And for the moment, he liked the idea of no more freaking words today. God, he was tired. He was tired, and his head pounded. He didn't know if it was the bump on the head from earlier or if it was just freaking stress. And in the chaos of the day, he hadn't gotten to give the girls the necklaces he had bought for them. If they wanted to move out, though, maybe they really were done wanting diamond jewelry from him too. He just didn't know much of anything anymore tonight.

He shut off the water, squeezed the excess water out of his hair, and dried off, tossing the wet towel in the hamper. He didn't even attempt to comb out his wet hair tonight but ran his fingers through it instead, brushed his teeth, and put on his pajama trousers. He turned off the light, went into the bedroom and got into bed.

"I'll handle the kids," he told her. "Maybe what I told Anise will be enough. Sorry. I'm just overly tired, I think." He turned out the light, hoping the babies would sleep all night. Sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn't.

Ruby saw Angus come from the bathroom and climb into bed next to her hearing his words she nodded " okay" she said softly as he lay down next to him laying her arm over his chest she sighed and closed her eyes " sweet dreams " she said softly as she drifted to sleep.

Aria finished her checks and went to their room showering and changing she sat on the bed cross legged waiting for Marcus to appear once his checks were done. she looked out the window at the night sky and chuckled shaking her head at all the excitement and drama that had happened and she hoped the next day would be quieter and calmer.

Angus hadn't actually wanted to sleep, despite his fatigue, but it overtook him almost the very instant his head hit the pillow.

"God, what a day," Marcus told Aria as he got into bed and turned out the light. "I don't know if the Donohues can handle many more like this one. You know this made me feel like an absolute traitor to my friendship with him. I felt like I should have outted them to him before he got roped into anything. I mean, so far anyone knows, Edward is healthy and has no reason to think he won't last another fifty years. Angus is healthy, and I mean to keep him that way. Ruby wanted to be married, and sometimes she sort of looked like she wasn't going to feel complete until they were married. And I sort of get that, I think, but there was absolutely no reason that I could see for tricking him and trapping him. I don't know whose plan it was--Edward's or Ruby's, and part of me doesn't really care. I won't do anything again that makes me feel like I'm dishonoring his trust in me though, so I really hope that nothing like this ever happens again." He looked at her. "We will genuinely build our relationship on openness and honesty. And no games. Ever. Neither of us have a need for them." 

And then he had a new thought.

"Oh. Change of subject--sorry. I will be up extra early. I promised Ginger I would make sure they were up in plenty of time for them to get their eyes open and get dressed. Evan will be picking them up 90 minutes earlier than usual to take them to breakfast. You don't need to be up anywhere near that early, so I'll make the coffee and the tea when I wake the girls. Those two are going to need it to function. I'd take advantage of it if I were you and sleep in just a wee bit. Night, Aria."

Aria listened to Marcus and chuckled and shook her head " that's something only Edward can answer and unless there is a nother wedding phobic Donohue hiding around , I don't think it will happen again" she said to Marcus " but I do agree though about not doing it again and feeling like you betrayed him, I do know Ruby agreed because she wanted it over with so they could carry on. and you didn't betray him, your still his best friend and yes honesty is and always will be the foundation of this family." she added hearing him paus and change subjects she smiled .

"okay I'll be okay with that" she said " oh coffee made by your fair hands , I'm homered" she teased as she chuckled as she lay down next to him smiling " night Marcus" she said and moved to kiss his cheek as she lay back down and slowly fell asleep against him.

"Well, personally, I don't buy that," Marcus told her quietly. "And I realize that's just my opinion. But Ruby isn't stupid, and she's proven she has a mind of her own. Regardless of what Edward might have told her, she went along with it for some reason. She could have told him no, but she didn't. Personally, I can't imagine going along with any scheme or idea that might try to pin you into doing anything that you had the least little hesitancy about, unless it was perhaps a life and death emergency. I might take the chance in it if it were to save your life, or maybe the lives of my children. But to try to set someone up to marry me? Not a chance. And I would find it hard to believe that someone would honestly love me if they're willing to do that. Oh well, I guess it really irked me, and I'm disappointed in both Edward and Ruby. But that's just me. Anyway, time to set that aside. Nothing I can do about it." He sighed. "Sorry. Its a poor subject right before bed. Anyway, goodnight."  He settled, and a few minutes later, he fell asleep.


He woke a couple of times during the night, just not settled or relaxed, and he finally got up about 4:30. He dressed silently, leaving Aria to sleep in, and he left the bedroom. He found Finn was asleep, sprawled out in the middle of the nursery floor, on his back, all four feet up in the air, and the bone laying a few inches away. Marcus left him sleep. 

Going downstairs, Marcus put on a pot of coffee to brew, and then he went downstairs and woke the girls. He came back up, filled Finn's bowls with fresh food and water, and brought the morning papers in. He poured himself a cup of coffee and opened some of the windows to get some of the fresh morning air in. Then he ordered an assortment of different flavors of scones--a total of two dozen. 

It wasn't more than about ten minutes and the order arrived, with some beautiful looking scones, and some of Lizzie's new breakfast ideas for htem to try. One item was a new summer citrus fruit salad that had blood oranges, grapefruit, Italian lemons, and kumquats, in a honey-cardamom dressing.

She had come up with a really new idea for a savory breakfast cannoli. The shell was made from some thin, crispy hashbrown potatoes, and the fillings were assorted. Some had scrambled eggs, some had bacon and cheese, some had sausage, bell peppers and onions, some had sour cream and chives.

Then, she had invented a sweet breakfast lasagna. She had made a pasta dough that had a bit of sugar in it to make it sweet. She had used a cheesecake flavored ricotta cheese, along with a lovely peach pie filling, and some crispy candied pecans and had layered it as a lasagna and had topped it with a streusel topping and baked it.

Her last sampling for them was a freshly made breakfast ravoli that had each little ravioli stuffed with a little bit of scrambled egg, bacon, and onion. She had made a zesty cheddar cheese sauce to top the ravioli with. 

Marcus thought all the ideas were truly creative, and he was looking forward to trying them. He got some jam and cream from the fridge to put with the scones and cast warming spells on the hot dishes so they didn't get cold while everyone else was still sleeping. 

The girls came dragging upstairs, dressed and ready to go, but since they had some time, they did pour themselves some coffee and they split one of the breakfast cannoli's, not wanting to spoil their appetites before Evan picked them up.

Aria had felt Marcus move from the bed and stayed in it for a few moment s but decided to get up feeling the bed too empty when he wasn't there and she grew twitchy at the new day. Dressing casual she headed down seeing Marcus outside picking up a box that had arrived. As he entered she smelt something delicious " they smell divine, sparks I'm guessing" she said taking it from him as she saw the girls walk up "Morning, I'll set these out." she said placing them on a tray and placing them on the side board along with the ravioli and breakfast cannoli. The shell she saw was made from some thin, crispy hashbrown potatoes, and the fillings she smelt were assorted. But she could smell scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese, sausage, bell peppers and onions, she smelt sour cream and chives. her favourite combination.

Aria took a cannelloni and some ravioli and sat down with a cup of Coffee. " these are great" she said with a smile . It was now she saw Finn trot down the stairs carrying the bone in his mouth " still?" she asked " that thing will rot before you finish it." she added but Finn just kept going to the out side where he lay down and went back to gnawing on the bone.

The girls heard Evan arrive. 

"We're out of here. See you later," Anise said, as they both bounced up, grabbed their bags and dashed out the door. A moment later, the sound of porting meant that Evan had taken them and gone.

"I think they were excited to go," Marcus said. "I heard them talking to each other. I think Evan was taking them just across the Italian border to a restaurant in southern Switzerland. There are some really great little places in that region. I'm sure they'll have a veritable feast before school today." 

Marcus went over and took one of the scones, a white chocolate raspberry one, and he topped it with cream and jam, and then warmed up his coffee. 

"Aria," he said, "you do realize that whole 'the-bed-is-too-empty is an anxiety response, right? I really didn't go anywhere, just to the kitchen. There's nothing for you to be anxious about. Not to change subjects, but I think you and I could perhaps lend Ruby and Angus a bit of moral support. I think I'll ask Angus to go for a short run, just a half course. Its' been too long to overtax him with a full course. And you know how Ruby values your friendship. You should take her for maybe a full course when she gets up. Angus and I can watch the babies while you two go, unless the Fae want to do that, and you both could return the favor for Angus and me. What do you think?"

Aria heard the girls and waved " have a good day" she called after them chuckling as they dove out to Even then chuckled again as Marcus told her where they were headed " oh there are, so I'm told." she said as she sipped her coffee " yeah I know" she admitted " But couldn't exactly say I missed your company, as much as I love spreading out once your out the bed, its no fun when I don't have you to kick out." she said chuckling then she listened to him talk again and nodded " sure, I can do that , I need a run anyway, and repay?" she said raising her eye brows teasingly with a chuckle "You have my interest but I'll hold you to that for another time." she said smiling to him.

Ruby woke and smiled seeing Angus next to her slipping from the bed she went and showered changing and drying her head as she sat on the bed. Now dressed she walked passed the Nursery seeing the babies sleeping still and was grateful for the moment before chaos when they would awake. Heading down she saw Aria and Marcus and smiled to them " the girls get off okay?" shea sked as she poured some coffee for herself.

"hey Ruby want to see if you can beat me on the track?" Aria said and heard Ruby chuckle but nod " nice finish that coffee and we'll get going, Marcus can mind the babies while they are sleeping" she said smiling to him as she changed her clothing to running gear as she waited for Ruby to ready herself.

Marcus picked up the Daily Prophet, and he started to read. He sighed heavily. 

"Lucian still has a leak. And he'd better get the hell on it," Marcus said. "There are two articles in the paper, and these have accurate or semi-accurate information, and they're in the Prophet, not in the Quibbler. He has a problem. There's an article that says that Angus has come into a huge pot of money from some dark arts criminals--and it has the exact money amount that was found in the cabin. And it is suggesting that Angus is a crook because, surely, only a crook gets money from a crook. Well, that's the part of it that isn't so accurate, but the fact that they know about the money, the exact amount, where it came from and who got it? That had to have come from Lucian's team.

"And that's not the end of it," Marcus continued.  "There's another article, buried on one of the inside "pages, that says that when you left the ministry, Aria, Lucian took over your team but that he only got that position because he was sleeping with you. Again, somewhat truthful information about Lucian getting his own team, but the rest of it is crap. I suggest while Ruby's drinking her coffee, you let yourself have one moment of satisfation for all of us by rousting Lucian out of bed, since almost no auror gets up at 4:30, and tell him he needs to get his ass in gear and get the moles out of his team and the rest of the ministry while he's at it. Clearly, he's not got them all. And then you should go for your run."