It starts like this: the wizard known as Lord Voldemort attacks a house in the magical settlement of Godric's Hollow, and perishes in his attempt to defeat death. An animagus chooses vengeance over his duties as a dogfather, and entrusts his charge to the care of schoolteacher. Dumbledore, with under ten minutes in total spent on the issue, makes a number of dubious decisions from a child safety viewpoint, and goes on to compound the matter by failing to follow up on the child for the entirety of the next decade.

It starts like this: Root finds a kid on a doorstep, at 2:30 in the morning in a suburb that would make other self-respecting suburbs break out in hives. Being a not entirely terrible being – despite what Shaw might say whenever Root steals her food (it's not like she doesn't take her out as compensation, and offering eating out as an alternative is too good to pass up) – she does something about it. She also steals a jet.

It starts like this: Bear returns from walking the perimeter of one of his dens to find a kid in his bed, right next to a juicy new bone. He doesn't mind the presence of either, and quickly curls up around both to sleep until breakfast.

Finch finds himself a namesake via the arrival of a postcard with a picture of Bear, a baby and a blue blanket on it. It's a boy is scribbled on the back. He's touched, and orders a copy of the Velveteen Rabbit. The destination fills itself in. When Grace later remarks on the card's prominent position on the mantelpiece, he smiles. "Just someone I used to know. An old friend."
The webcam flashes twice and goes dark.

It starts like this: hair in her face and Root's voice in her ear at an ungodly (and quite frankly undemonic hour too) after a stakeout that was concluded with far too little steak and not enough people to shoot either. It starts with absolutely no coffee, but there is a box of donuts waiting for her on the counter in the kitchen next to a smirking Rott. It's not the only surprise waiting for her, but Bear's on top of the situation for now and she needs food to face whatever this is.
"Morning Sweetie, hope you did paediatrics."
"What."

It starts like this: Carter is not surprised when John shows up with a baby. She should be, because who would entrust an infant to a man who blows kneecaps up as a hobby, but this isn't even the first time he's done this. It's a good thing Fusco has no need for sleep, because her son is a teenager and she has absolutely no supplies beyond what has of yet proved to be an inexhaustible spring of patience.

It starts when the Machine finds aberrations that disrupt her predictions of otherwise routine simulations – Primary Asset Shaw traversing the city instead of retiring after raiding the cookie stash, for one, which very nearly started a gang war – and, after she gathers enough evidence to support a previously inconceivable conclusion, begins an investigation into reality warping of the type that allows toddlers who have not yet managed consistently sustained locomotion to fly.