A Birth day

Ruby walked down in the dress Angus and Marcus had chosen and smiled seeing Angus in his whites " looking handsome there chef" she said as she walked over to them " so will I do?" she asked turning on the spot in front of them. Aria had gone up to change and now she too walked down in the skirt and blouse her hair was swept back and up in a ponytail.

" I think the skirts a bit short" she said never having worn a skirt that stopped jus above her knee. She tugged it to try and get it a bit lower but sighed giving up. Ruby walked over to her and took her hands from the skirt.

" you look fine" she said smiling " and the skirt isn't too short you just not use to it." she looked at Marcus.

"Thank you," Angus said. "You're looking sharp too. Stop tugging at your skirt. It isn't even a full inch above your knee. It looks perfectly appropriate. Now, according to the pastry chef, we have three servers in the dining room, and two more tending to a private party in the event room. I don't think you'll have to do much wiht the event room but it would help me if you'd just look in from time to time to make sure they're still good there. Your dining room servers are Bridget, and according to the pastry chef, she's been a waitress for twenty years. She's fast, and she knows her stuff. She tends to work the bigger tables and parties because she knows how to do that. She memorizes the orders and comes back to the kitchen and writes up her ticket. That tends to impress folks, so she gets huge tips. If you need experienced help, she's your gal. There's Lila, and she's a reliable worker and a conscientous server. She is very well liked, but she's less experienced, and she's a bit slow because she takes her job of satisfying her customers so seriously. She tends to work smaller tables.. And then there's Megan. She is a top notch barista, so if you get coffee orders, she can turn them out fast, but she's also able to do small and average size tables in between. Does that help you?"

Ruby listened to Angus as Aria nodded next to her. " Bridget and Lila" she said " so I know whose to send people to the right table" she said smiling " large parties go to Bridget and small or single go to Lila" she said as Aria shifted in shoes next to Ruby.

" and I guess I'm just shadowing Ruby while they do the work?" she asked and Ruby nodded to her.

"you stand behind me at the desk and watch those coming in " she said and looked to Angus " since he will be busy in the kitchen were front of house and need to make sure there's no trouble makers, Karen's or dine and dashers get in" she added and chuckled looking to Marcus and Angus.

"She's right," Angus told her. "You could also assist the waitresses if they need it by refilling coffee and tea or bread baskets, that sort of thing." He finished his sandwich and looked at Marcus. "We should go."

"You need to wear a coat. Its cold, and its going to get colder," marcus told him.

"I'm going to be either in a hot kitchen or out at a hot grill."

"Take your bloody coat," Marcus repeated.

"Oh, fine," Angus sighed. He glanced at Edward who was putting on his black wool topcoat. Angus got up and got into the closet and got a black quilted jacket he hadn't worn in years. It had some embroidery on the front where a chest pocket might have been. White embroiderhad the logo of Angus's culinary school and said Alumnus, and above that was gold embroidery that said, in larger letters, Chef.

"And now, you're complete, are you?" marcus asked.

"For now, yes," Angus said.

"Are you two good for now?" Marcus asked Aria and Ruby. "Do you need anything before Angus and Edward and I go?"

"I will be back in just a few minutes," Edward told Ruby and Aria. "I'm going to get their grill moved and started, and then I'll be right back."

Ruby looked at Angus and smiled as she watched him slip on his coat feeling proud to be his wife as she looked at him. Now she heard Marcus and Elwood and smiled " nope we're good " she said to Marcus as he asked if they would be okay. " we'll see you Elwood when you come back" she added as Aria went and sat down on the couch to wait for them while Ruby went to make an addition to lunch in the kitchen.

Aria watched them leave and picked up her Book and opened it while she sat waiting for them to return. Checking the babies found them just playing quietly in the play pen close by her.

They left, taking Jada with them and arrived at Sparks and went in the kitchen door where the bistro staff welcomed him. They knew Angus had been the creative mind for the menu at Sparks from the very beginning. they had never had the chance to see him in the kitchen or to work under him. And they were looking forward to seeing for themselves what he was like. After making sure the place was as secure as it could get, marcus went to the basement with Edward. They brought up the grill and then several bags of charcoal, and they got the grill filled and lit. With his job done, Edward headed for home.

Angus went to work to tell his kitchen staff what he was going to offer on the specials menu. They believed it was an ambitious menu, but it was do-able. He told them what he needed prep, and he introduced them to Jada as a mute prep helper for the night. They welcomed her and promised to get her started. they took her underwing and introduced her to the kitchen and where to find things while Angus wrote up the menu on a chalkboard that he took out front to hang on the wall behind the hostess station so that everyone could see what the specials for the evening would be. When he went back to the kitchen, he saw the crew working on prepping the fruit and vegetables, so he got out the venison and began to prep it himself by hand. Things were going to be ridiculously busy from now til supper time.

Ruby and Aria saw Elwood return and both grabbed their jackets slipping them on both ported to Sparks and entered, Ruby went to the stand she would be at and began tiding up Aria went to find Markus and Angus to let them know they had arrived, finding Marcus she saw Angus prepping and didn't disturb him while cutting " Ruby's at the hostess place , just wanted to let you know we're here2 she said as she hung up her jacket with the others.

Ruby found old orders and place setting shoved to the hostess podium , taking them out she placed them into a draw close by and took out a fresh piece of paper drawing the lay out she marked how mane were on each table so she would know where people could sit. Once done she walke dover to Bridget and Lila and introduced herself explain about Aria at the same time, both seemed happy about the arrangement as was Ruby.

"Glad you're here," Angus told Aria as instructions were coming and going all around the kitchen. They weren't directed at him, so he wasn't focused on him. He had heard most of them, and it help helped him to know where the kitchen was at with the preparations. "So far, so good. Jada's been very ambitious. She's got my bread pudding recipe, and she's taken it on by herself. So far, it looks to me to be spot on. I'm proud of her. She sees to be loving every minute of this insanity. She doesn't have a clue yet that its going to get worse."

"We've warned her, Angus. She thinks its funny," one of the chefs said to him. Angus laughed. "Oh. And Aria. You have a party of four that has a reservation at seven. That has now become a party of ten, arriving at 6. I know we're tight, so do ask Ruby if she can find a way to accommodate that please and let me know?"

Aria smiled as she heard Angus and nodded as he spoke of Jada " I'm glad shes doing okay " she said then looked at the other chef as he mentioned a party of ten due at six " I'll let her know" she said and nodded to both men as she moved back to Ruby " hey Ruby just been told that party of four at seven is now a party of ten at six" she said as Ruby looked at the floor plan

"okay push the two tables of five together for that and place a reserved tab on the table." she said and Aria did just that remaking it as a table of ten with two flower center pieces ready for the party. " okay Bridget, your table of four is a table of ten and there coming for six not seven now" she told her " Aria if she needs help please help" Aria nodded she understood but Bridget was happy to do it alone.

As Angus was getting portions of venison weighed and cut for the evening, he heard a horrible crash down in the cellar. He and Marcus both flew to the basement and saw a young kitchen staffer sitting on the floor in a big pool of broken glass and wine spilt all over the brick cellar floor. And she was crying.

"Hold still. Don't move," Angus said, "Not till we can get you out of all that glass safely. Are you hurt?"

"But Angus, that was the red wine we were pairing with the venison for tonight," she was upset. "The whole case of merlot. Gone. I'm such a klutz...."

"Stop. Stop and look at me. I'm not concerned about the wine. Are you hurt?"

"She has at least one cut," Marcus said, noticing a little pool of blood on the brick.

"Ok. First things first, then," Angus said. He cast a cleaning spell on the floor, and when there was a path, he made his way to her and found she had a deep cut from the palm of her hand up the inside of her forearm. That was going to need tending to so she didn't bleed out.

"Marcus, would you see if Aria will take her over to St Mungos so they can take care of this properly, and then, in the meantime, do see if you can reach Evan and see if he can have a case of merlot delivered here immediately. We'll leave it upstairs and bring the leftovers downstairs when we close up for the night."

Angus took the young cook upstairs, knowing he had to get ahold of Evan, but he also knew this was going to put them behind in the kitchen by leaving them short one more cook tonight. He was going to have to run twice as fast to try to compensate for it. Marcus headed upstairs and went out to the dining room and went over to Aria and spoke quietly to her so the patrons wouldn't overhear.

"Aria," Marcus said, "one of our prep cooks took a fall in the cellar and she's got a long deep cut in her hand and her arm. We need to get her to St Mungos asap. Can you take her please and then make sure she has someone who will pick her up there when she's done and take her home? I need to get a\ahold of Evan and get a case of red wine because we just lost a whole case of merlot for tonight's supper service."