A Birth day

"Well, I hope they don't try to come home in it," Angus said.

"They won't. Aria is too careful for that, and so is Ruby," Marcus said. "They're probably getting hula lessons right about now."

"I bet they're not," Angus laughed. "I don't honestly see that being Aria's speed. Evan probably popped the cork on a bottle of Edward's wine. It is entirely in Evan's DNA to be hospitable somehow."

Robert came downstairs.

"Did we overdo things for Elwood?" Angus asked.

"Not at all," Robert said. "That's the first he's been outside in years and years, and I couldn't have prescribed anything better for him. He got some fresh air, some sunshine, some laughter, some music, some great conversation, and a great meal. And he made some friends. For a man who thought he wanted to die a couple days ago, he at least is willing to admit he isn't sure how he feels now. And that is a half a step back away from being so determined that he wanted to just let his own clock run out. And now, he's sipping on a cup of almond tea and feeling pretty darned content at the moment. Bringing him here was a far better move for him than I thought it would be."

"I've ordered him a gift," Angus said. "I hope its here either later today or in the morning. I ordered him a chess set. The white pieces are made of selenite and the black are made of tourmaline."

"Oh, well done. I haven't seen a set like that, but it will carry all sorts of positive energies, and the selenite will keep it permanently charged with those positive energies. It will be a very handsome board, and I am sure that, intellectual as he is, he will certainly appreciate it. It was a great morning out, but I do have some things that I need to do this afternoon, so I'll take my leave and leave him in your very capable hands."

"Ruby, Aria," Evan called. "Your cappuccinos are ready out in the outdoor living room area by the pool."

Ruby and Aria laughed as the hula girl tried and failed to teach both of them how to dance each laughing hard as they heard Evan call them "Okay Evan, we're on our way up, thanks for the lesson, we got to head up to the main house now." Ruby said as together ruby and Aria walked to the house " Angus is never going to believe we tried hula dancing" Ruby said as Aria laughed

"maybe not, but it was fun" she added as together they walked up and into the kitchen. " Hi Rosaria , thanks for the coffees " Ruby said smiling as she sat down to drink hers " have to admit todays ben fun and relaxing, been a while since I did something so spontaneous."

Joseph and Jack watched as the storm raged outside Joseph watched as the lighting lit up the area and he shook his head " glad we got the animals inside early" he said and Jack nodded then walked over to Angus with his report.

"the report on how the rebuild is going thought I'd take care of it while we we're there " he said and handed it to him " seems to be only slightly behind and that's due to the suppliers, not the workers." he added

"Thank you, Jack," Angus said. "I'm glad its going well. I did try to offer to help with the cost of Evan's place and Edwards but, of course, neither of them will hear of it. I suppose the whole idea of the moral support department thing was my pushback against wanting to help and them telling me they had it all under control."

"You think?" Marcus laughed. "You're used to needing to be on top of every single little problem because that's the job you've had. And its also how you see yourself as a family man. A man who needs to be able to make sure that his entire family is alright all the time."

"Pretty much," Angus admitted.

"And you have yet to realize that sometimes you don't need to be the glue that holds it together."

"Yeah, I suppose," Angus said, as more thunder boomed outside and lightning crackled nearby. the babies immediately started to scream again. "I am not giving them any more tea. They'll pee the playpen and everywhere else. I'll go get them a couple of stuffies. I'll be right back."

Jack looked at Angus and nodded " no problem I told them to contact me if they have any more problems with deliveries , I have contacts that can and will deliver regular and on time." he added he looked back as the thunder boomed and disturbed the kids. Jack picked up Caprice while Joseph picked up Amari and held her close to him as she clung to him .

"its okay" he said softly to her gently rubbing her back as he rocked her. " I remember a woman doing this to the little ones at the orphanage before I ran away." Joseph said continuing to rock her gently as he walked around the room. Jack held Caprice who lent against him curled now against his chest.

"huh, another talent I didn't know you had" Jack said and chuckled " maybe you need to babysit?" Joseph chuckled and shook his head.

"nope , little kids are okay in small doses but I'll admit it now, I'm not good long term" he said and smiled as Amari hiccupped in his arms as he looked down at her " oh don't give me that look miss" he said.

"You're doing fine, Joseph," Marcus said. "The more time you spend with them, the more comfortable you'll get."

Angus went upstairs and got two random stuffed toys. One was a stuffed blue whale, and the other was a little red stuffed crab. He floated them down the stairs and Caprice started reaching for the whale, calling it Dada. Angus sighed.

"Fabulous. My daughter thinks I'm a whale," Angus said. "Back to the running track for me, I guess."

"I'm sure she doesn't think you're a whale," Marcus laughed. "Didn't Abbey ever use other words for things that she didn't have a word for?"

"Abbey had one word, primarily, for awhile. Anything she saw was 'Mine! Mine! Mine!'" Angus said.

"God, I forgot about that," Marcus laughed. "She did, didn't she? You had to teach her there were other words. She just wanted everything. My twins just wore out the word 'no.' Even when they meant yes, they said no. It was no to everything. And now that they're teenagers, they've gone right back to saying no to everything."

"I am not looking forward to that," Angus said. "Hopefully by then I'll have worked out a jinx that keeps either of these girls from being able to say the word no at all."

"So they can only say yes?" Marcus laughed.

"Yup. That's the plan."

"I think I'll keep that plan hidden from Ruby. She might flatten you if she hears about that one."

Joseph looked at Marcus and chuckled " thanks but no thanks" he said " i'm good with short time stuff" he said and chuckled as he saw Caprice reach for the whale and call out Dada before she grasped it and hold it tight against herself making Jack chuckle. Jack looked at Angus and shook his head.

" oh she might be happy when she hears nothing but No all the time" he said

Joseph looked at Amari who had her toy now holding it close. When another boom came Joseph held her close and she just whimpered again but looking up at him she just held his shirt. " your safe" he said to her and she smiled up at him. " you want your dad?" he asked and she whimpered " okay okay you can stay with me" he said and sighed

"That one is into her mama," Marcus said. "And she absolutely does not like loud noises. Caprice handles them easier than that one does. But she actually is a couple months younger than Caprice, so that could have something to do with it."

Caprice was tapping the whale against Jack, and every time she did, she called it "Da. Da." Over and over. A moment later, they heard a loud sound of breaking glass. Angus got up and was going to race upstairs.

"It wasn't up there," Marcus called, running over towards Edward's side. Angus followed him, and when they went over to Edward's side, they saw the patio doors had been shattered by the limb of a tree that had been hurled through the glass.

"Simone? You okay?" Angus shouted.

"I'm up here," Simone called from the top of the stairs. "I'm fine. What was that?"

"Tree limb. Right through the french doors over here," Marcus said. "We'll get right on it before everything is ruined down here."

"Jack," Angus called. "Simone has a huge tree limb in her living room. Would you rather do this yourself or should we deal with it?"

Joseph listened and chuckled nodding as he watched Caprice with Jack. " well seems Jack is now Da" he said but then heard the crash pulling Amari closer to him he watched as Angus headed up their stairs but was called back by Marcus to the other side of the duplex. Jack with Caprice walked over to Joseph hearing Angus he handed her to Joseph who held both of them as Jack walked over to inspect the damage. Walking out into the wind and rain he began pulling the limb back.

" I'll deal with it" he said as the limb fell out of the window. Taking out his wand he cast reparo and the glass went back in its place and the door fixed. Once done he inspected it and found it as good as new.and he walked inside again. " okay fixed I'll get one of the crew to remove the limb once the storm passes but I should check the Fae" he added " if that came down they might be being battered badly." he said but saw them all fly inside Angus side of the duplex " oh okay looks like there coming inside till the storm clears." he mentioned and pointed to where Minos was directing a stream of Fae.

"Thanks, Jack," Angus said. "We told them they can always come inside, whenever they want. I'll go see to their needs." He went to the kitchen, got a dish towel and quickly cut the towel up in little pieces that were an inch and a half by 3 inches. It didn't take him more than a moment. He called the Fae to him.

"I have some towels for you lot," Angus said. "Come and get dry. I'll get you some blankets in a moment. Is everyone alright? No one hurt, is there?" Minos checked with the Fae and shook his head no. Angus understood. They were fortunate that none of the Fae were hurt. They appreciated his gesture, and they all fluttered over and grabbed one of the little pieces of towel he had cut for them. He could tell by their contended sounds that they appreciated being dry and warm. Angus took a baby blanket and cut it into a bigger shapes for blankets, so that each one could have a warm blanket. Marcus knew where the tiny mugs were, and he got them out and, using an eyedropper, he prepared each of them a tiny mug of almond tea. In a couple of minutes, each fairy was wrapped in a blanket, drinking tea, and sitting together on the kitchen table. Their contented conversation sounded like music, and that fascinated both babies.

"Have you met our Fae friends yet?" Marcus asked Joseph.

Joseph juggled the girls as Jack had pulled the limb from the doors and repaired it but as he spoke to Angus Joseph saw the Fae fly in and settle around him. Watching Marcus and Angus with them he knew they had known them now making them warm and dry and fed with warm tea. Joseph held both girls as they both wanted to be held by him . He walked over and smiled to Minos " nice to meet you, sorry about these two" he said " my names Joseph Tremaine, at the moment temp babysitter." he said with a chuckle. Joseph looked for the play pen so he could put both girls down.

Aria and Ruby both sat and sipped their cappuccinos listening to the waves and the sound of the gulls above them relaxing " wonder how the guys are coping with that storm?" Aria asked then looked at Ruby " no, your not porting home if Angus said its too dangerous then its dangerous." she saw Ruby sigh and chuckled nodding as she went back to sipping on her coffee.