A Birth day

Jess and Jack both smiled hearing Kate was up and awake and that Robert was taking the day off " I'll send word to shift his patients to myself" she said smiling " so he won't be over whelmed when he returns" she added just as an itinery flew threw the floo to land on her lap " ah seems some one is using their brains and has already moved things to give him the day off" she said looking over the list before signing it off and sending it back as she then walked over and grabbed some breakfast.

Jack chuckled and nodded as Michael told them of Kate " that's good" he said as he finished his food and sat with a cup of coffee in his hand. " well the alpaca's are settled so are the goats and were getting a lot of milk from them too for cheese. " he added " I'm going to add a cheese house to the area where they are kept so we'll have fresh home made cheese." he added as Jess finished her food.

Ruby smiled seeing the food and made a plate for herself just as Aria entered with Marcus and Andrew . "breakfast smells wonderful" Aria said a she took a plate and started to eat.

"A cheesehouse is a fantastic idea," michael said. "Why don't you simply add a big room or two onto the summer kitchen building? It already has the commercial strength water and electric infrastructure in place that the cheese making can just tie onto if you add it there. And there's plenty of land around that. It is a bit of a distance from the sheep and the goats, but I think it would be cheaper than starting from scratch up by the sheep pen. And, if we were wise, we would use some of that sheep milk and goats milk to make some first quality soaps and lotions. That milk can create some of the best moisturizing soaps and lotions you'll find anywhere. It can be quite healing. That would probably be best to add a smaller room that someone could use to make soap, lotions, candles perfumes, cleansers, and all sorts of related products."

"Angus is going to be alright with all of that?" Zoe asked, bringing in fresh coffee to add to the sideboard.

"Absolutely," michael said. "When they decided we needed to be self sufficient, he's tried to run with it, but he has also always welcomed any sort of expansion we have ever suggested. He'll love it."

"Then if you are going to do a farm market, it had better be a big one," Zoe teased.

"I'm sure it will be," michael laughed.

Victor and Sam ported Ginger and Anise to Evan's, and when Jada went to clear the table, Angus stopped her.

"You cooked, and you did it beautifully. I'll clear and wash up," Angus said. "Besides, minos seems to be waiting for you. Is he helping you learn to sign?" Jada nodded. "Then don't keep His Majesty waiting. Go. It's fine. We'll get it." She smiled and ran to catch up with minos.

"Have you noticed something?" marcus asked Angus.

"What's that?"

"She had a really flat affect when we first brought her here. Now, she's constantly smiling. She's already figured out she's safe here, and that, for the first time probably, she's wanted and accepted."

"Of course she is," Angus said. "But you're right. She does smile more. I hadn't really noticed."

Jack listened to Michael suggestion and thought about it then nodded " good idea" he said " I'll get the guys on it right away" he said now drawing out the room he was going to add with shelving to hold the cheese. Jess chuckled and finished her food and carried her plate to the kitchen.

" well I'm off to work " she said kissing Jack as she looked to Michael " anything happens call me" she said then once she had her jacket she ported to St Mungo's and her office. Jack chuckled as she left.

"that is jess speech for if Kate has any problems I want to know " he said chuckling.

Aria saw the boys port Anise and Ginger to Evens and then saw Jada turn to clean up the dinning room Aria stood up and began to clear it as Angus caught Jada and told her she cooked so didn't have to clean up. " hes right, so go" she said smiling a she gathered the plates and slipped them into the washer while Ruby wiped down the table and sie board ready for dinner that day.

"I rather thought as much," michael said. At that moment, Abbey came dashing downstairs, and she was dragging one of her mother's tote bags that was actually bigger than she could handle. And it was stuffed full of stuff. She dragged it through the kitchen and towards the back kitchen door. michael whistled at her.

"Yo! Shortstuff! Just where do you think you're going?" he called. "Are you running away from home?" She giggled, thinking it was funny.

"No," she replied. "I be back." She dragged the bag out the back door and, trying to close the door as she went outside with her bag, she accidently slammed the door.

"Now where the hell is she off to? And does her parents or her papa know what she's up to?" Michael sighed. He got up and went to the kitchen door to see where she was heading. She headed across the back porch and dragged the bag down the steps and headed across the yard towards the duplex.  "Ah. I think she might be intending to invite herself to the duplex for the day. And she's either packed for a holiday away from home, or she's chucked a bunch of toys in there."

Jack nodded and chuckled then paused seeing Abby and a large bag that she dragged behind her towards the back door and out pausing only to let Michael know she was coming back. " oh okay " Jack said and shook his head.

Ruby had finished doing the washing when she glanced out the window and saw Abby walking across with a large bag. " we have a visitor Angus " she said opening the door for her " hey Abby come to visit?" she asked moving towards her " here let me get that for you" she said picking up the bag. she saw Michael and waved to him to show Abby was safe.

"Hi, Rooby!" Abbey beamed. "Sanks!" She dashed ahead and flew to Angus and leaped up into his ars, just trusting he would catch her. "Aggie!" He caught her, laughing.

"Abs!" He was surprised. "What brings you here?"

"They no love me today, so I come live here," she said.

"What do you mean they don't love you?" he frowned.

"mama say papa and gam no want me today. She say I no bother people. they no love me today."

"Oh, no, no. Let me explain."

"Nobody esplain anything because they think I too little, but I not. I big girl now. I almost this many," she said, showing him four fingers.

"Abs," he said, sitting down and putting her on his lap, "Bad doggies tried to hurt Gam last night...."

"I know. I seed them in here." She put her finger against her head.

"Did you? Well, we fought them and brought her home. She has a bad headache today. Papa says she needs to rest today because the doggies tried to hurt her. But you can come visit us anytime. Do they know where you are?"

"They no care," she muttered.

"Hm. No, huh? I figured as much."

"I bringed toys and jammas and BooBoo Kitty and my magic crayons and all kinds of things," she said.

"Okay. Well, it sounds like you're prepared. So did you have something in mind you wanted to do today?"

"Make Christmas Kitty cookies!" she said, excited. Angus smiled. He hadn't made Christmas kitty cookies with her, so he didn't honestly know what she had in mind.

Ruby smiled to Abby and chuckled as she ran to Angus as Ruby placed the bag next to his chair. " I saw Michael looking out so they know" she said to Angus with a smile as she listened to Abby talking about why she had come over " your welcome any time" Ruby said as Aria brought Caprice and Amari down from the nursery.

"found these two talking to each other and throwing stuffed animals at each other so I thought it was time they got up" she said placing both girls in the play pen where Caprice stood up and started calling out "ab, ab" and pointing to Abby Amari looked over and giggled as Ruby smiled giving both a piece of toast to chew on for the moment.

Hearing about Christmas cookies Ruby smiled " that's a fabulous idea , Aria and I can find a tree and get Jack if hes not busy to cut it read for decorating" Ruby said " unless you had one in mind already?" she asked Angus hoping he would know so they would not have to go trapsing threw the woods to find one.

"You know," Angus said, "we could certainly do that, and I'm not opposed to that. However, marcus and I are better suited to do the physical muscling of cutting a tree and dragging it back. If we did it, you wouldn't need to interrupt Jack at his work. And, honestly, Abbey just wants to cook. She likes being in the kitchen. If we got the tree, you two could design some sort of Christmas kitty cookie and bake with her. She doesn't have a preference of who cooks with her. She's just really hurting today."

"I'll go over next door and find out what the deal is," marcus said. "I think something got lost in translation. Kate has Abbey during the day, which isn't possible today, and I can see where Khaat wanted Abbey to give Kate some space, but Robert would not want Abbey to feel he was rejecting her too. Something isn't quite right there. How about I figure that out?"

"You can. But she's fine here today if they're good with it too," Angus said. "In the meantime, could you give Abbey some breakfast, Ru? She left early enough, I'm sure she's probably hungry."

Ruby heard Angus and smiled " all right , you guys o the hard work we'll make Christmas kitty cookies" she said smiling to Abby. Hearing Marcus she nodded " yeah , might need some clarification but yeah Abby is certainly okay to stay today" she said as Aria fixed a plate for Abby and walked over to her.

"all ready on it" Aria said placing the plate on the table close to Abby with a drink to wash it down " here you go Abby, breakfast" she said smiling as Ruby headed to the kitchen to look for a cat cookie cutter to make cookies that they could decorate with Abby. Aria chuckled and looked at Marcus as he spoke " might as well, might be Kate is feeling still off and Robert wants to focus on her " she said .

marcus grabbed his coat and headed next door. He headed upstairs, and as he got to the second floor, he spotted Robert coming out of Abbey's room.

"If you're looking for Abbey," marcus went up to Robert, "we have her. She dragged a big bag of toys over to the duplex."

"What?" Robert frowned. "Why?"

"She said Khaat told her that she couldn't see either you or Kate today, so she got the idea that you both stopped loving her. So, she and Aria and Ruby are going to bake cookies."

"Oh, that isn't what Khaat told her," Robert sighed. "I overheard Khaat talking to Abbey outside our door really early this morning. She told Abbey that she couldn't come in and bother us yet. The fact was that it was entirely too early for anybody to be up yet. Khaat probably doesn't realize, though, that Abbey comes in and gets in bed with us at all hours if she's had a bad dream. That's a relatively recent thing, and I haven't told her or Brian about that yet. Frankly, it doesn't bother us, so I figured they didn't need to know. It isnt' hurting a thing. I'll go over and talk to her myself in a bit. I think Kate's going to go back to sleep after she finishes her breakfast. I'm sure I could get michael to sit with her for a bit while I went over there. So Angus is baking cookies, is he?"

"No, no. That's the girls' doing. Angus and I have Christmas tree duty. We're going to go cut our tree."

"Well, that's another task I haven't gotten to."

"How about Angus and I find a tree for this house too while we're out."

"You don't want to wrestle two trees, do you?"

"Why not? We'll take care of it, and then later today, Abbey can help with the decorating."

"Thanks. I appreciate it. I'll be over shortly."

marcus went back over to the duplex and explained the mix up to everyone there. He and Angus put their cold weather gear on, grabbed a saw and a rope and headed off to find a couple of trees.