Ray turned in a circle, instant anxiety in his voice.

"Celia?"

From between two skirts, a blond head popped out, followed by two arms and two legs and Ray's heart started beating again. The supermarket wasn't busy but the magazine aisle backed onto the greetings card aisle and there was a noticeable gaggle of people around a stand covered in hearts.

Rather than scolding her for disappearing, he took a deep breath, reminded himself that he was trying to strengthen his relationship with her, and gave her a smile instead. "What have you got?"

Clutched to her chest was a bright red envelope, the card's face hidden. "Something!" When Daniel tried to take a peek, she twisted from side to side to stop him.

Ray's smile slowly became a more natural one, tinged with good humor. When a gap appeared near the stand, he watched as Daniel sneaked in, pawing at a card of his own. "Someone's a lucky guy. Who are you gonna give that to?"

"Daddy," she replied matter-of-factly, like it should have been obvious, eliciting a low laugh from Ray.

"You're gonna show me up, kid," he commented, joining Daniel at the display.

"You're not allowed to give Daddy one! I'm only allowed to give Daddy one!"

"I'm giving Daddy this one," Daniel announced, showing his sister his choice, undeterred (for once) by the pout on his sister's face. Ray couldn't help feeling a little proud and he turned to pluck out the first card he saw. "And I'm giving him this one."

A little finger waved in his direction. "You can give him that one but none others, okay?" Celia stepped in close to her brother then, wrapping an arm over his shoulders and pressing a finger to his card. It was both intimidating and sweet. "Daniel, you can give him that one but I'm giving mine first. I'll tell you when you can give it to Danny but I get to go first."

It was only after Ray had paid for everything that he looked at the front of the card he'd chosen.

I love every inch of you.

Aw, crap.

Later that evening, after supervising the twins writing theirs, he uncapped a pen and scrawled inside his card.

But some more than others.

Ray x

“Throw me the stick,” Ray shouted, pushing himself up slowly, grunting with the pain. “We’re playing.”

Sure enough, Daniel threw him the baton but Ray certainly wasn’t playing. He was too preoccupied with the ninja-like attacker to praise the boy properly. Clearly those basketball sessions were paying off.

***

“Let me see,” he prompted, leant back against a wall an hour later and attempting to tend to the cut on his own arm. He lifted his gaze briefly to see an obedient Daniel twist in a circle to show Ray that he still had his disc on his back. Ray wasn’t sure of their purpose exactly but the people they had watched, both from afar and at close quarters, went to great lengths to keep hold of theirs, so they were doing the same.

“Good.”

Daniel went back to playing with imaginary toys, puffing air through his teeth to make the appropriate noises. For what, Ray didn’t know – the boy’s gestures gave nothing away. He watched fondly for a long moment before he noticed the wolf staring at him and licking his chops. Begrudgingly, Ray’s attention turned back to his arm and he yanked the makeshift bandage tighter, wincing a little.

***

“Stay with the wolf, Daniel. Right here. If you need me, you shout for me, okay? D’you understand? Shout as loud as you can and I’ll come back.”

***

He felt a poke on his shoulder and suddenly mismatched eyes were looking at him intently.

“Can we go home now?”

It was the first time Daniel had asked that outright. Ray had been expecting to hear it every moment they had been gone but it was like Daniel had a sixth sense, he knew it wasn’t possible right away, he knew he had to be patient. It made sense that his patience was wearing thin now – Ray had lost his a while ago.

“Yeah… Soon.” He reached up and pushed some messy hair off his forehead, showing the kind of affection he couldn’t show towards Asher, even if he wanted to sometimes. Unlike his father, Daniel didn’t glare at him like he wished him dead on the spot. “Your dad and your ma are gonna be so happy when they see you.”

“And you too?”

Ray had to laugh quietly. “Yeah, I’m gonna be happy when I see you. I always am.”

***

Daniel couldn’t have looked more relieved to see Ray when he had finally come back. Ray was holding his arm to his side but when the boy ran over to him, he leaned down and wrapped the uninjured arm around him instead.

“I didn’t shout.”

“I know. We’re okay…”

***

“You were so good.” Ray’s voice broke a little when he said it and he swallowed hard, blinking quickly. “You were really, really good, Daniel.”

The boy definitely had a sixth sense, a sensitivity beyond his years. He reached out and wrapped short arms awkwardly around Ray’s neck, pressing his cheek against Ray’s shoulder and patting him on the back, mouth pressed into a thoughtful line.

Daniel might not have said it but Ray at least knew what this gesture meant.

They were okay.

Ray had bitched and bitched and bitched in his head when that damned wolf had insisted on following them to the arcade. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Delirium had sent it because she didn’t trust him to take care of Daniel on his own.

With hindsight, perhaps she wasn’t totally wrong.

He wasn’t sure where letting himself and the boy get run through by a laser and ending up in an alien world ranked on the Worst Things To Do To Someone Else’s Kid list, but he was eternally grateful that the wolf was there with him to share the blame.

Having Daniel with him kept him calmer, meant he had to think beyond just himself. It wasn’t easy to keep to the darkness when everywhere they looked, intense neon lights shone back at them. But if Ray had learned anything over the past day, it was that they had to keep a low profile.

He wasn’t sure what the time was – no sun, no moon, no watch – but judging by the way Daniel was asleep on his shoulder, a deep troubled furrow between his eyes – Ray figured they had to have been here more than 24 hours, at least. Too long for a little boy to keep his eyes open.

Crouched, wolf just in front, Ray held his breath as the ominous sound grew louder. A giant machine hovered over the ground with two huge pylon legs and a crew of men more menacing than their plane. He tried to block out the memory from hours before, when he’d seen a man captured against his will and flown away, screaming in terror about some games.

“That’s not gonna be us, okay,” he whispered, once the machine had passed. Daniel wasn’t listening but Ray said it anyway, hoping it gave him some comfort. “I’m gonna figure out a way home.”

He just didn’t know how or when.

“Animal attack?” Danica echoed, quirking her eyebrow with a smirk. “Is that what he’s calling it?”

“You know something different?”

She knew the cop hadn’t believed them when she and Asher had claimed animal attack back when her brother had gotten trigger happy, and it was clear he wasn’t fooled this time either.

“Me?” Innocence never washed well with Danica but it was fun pretending. “Why would I know anything?”

“You haven’t had those long, have you.” Ray nodded at her, eyes on her fangs.

Her gaze darkened and she cocked an impatient hip. “Far longer than you can imagine.”

“The new set,” he corrected, lifting his hands to his waist. “How long have you had those?”

As amusing as this was for the first few minutes, Danica was quickly becoming bored. “Not long enough.”

“Y’know, it would really work in your favor if you co-operated,” Ray stressed, emphasising his no-nonsense tone when he saw Danica roll her eyes, “and answered my questions.”

“I didn’t bite him,” she replied on a sigh, wanting to cut to the chase. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m human. Blood doesn’t interest me anymore.”

“Same go for your brother?”

That brought the smirk back to Danica’s face. “Same goes for him.”

“Huh.” Ray folded his arms across his chest. “Has he bitten anyone on the island?”

“Oh, detective.” The word dripped with sarcasm. “You already know the answer to that.” Danica held Ray’s gaze for longer than was strictly necessary before mimicking his stance. “You’re talking to the wrong Talos. I’m busy. Go bug Asher.” He'd been born to clean up her messes. She turned to make her exit, having already decided to pay Fitch a visit to congratulate him on his lame cover-up.

“Why would he bite Cooper?!” Ray called out at her retreating figure, all his jigsaw pieces hanging in the air.

“I spent the night with the doctor,” Danica called back, a laugh caught in amongst her words. “He gets awfully jealous.”

And the pieces dropped to the ground, complete in front of Vecchio’s eyes.