Someone was watching him. The sounds in the library transformed from soft books fluttering as their readers turned pages, to harsh scraping of paper, the tapping of computer keys to an ominous cacophony. Ash lifted his head up, listening. His shoulders stiffened. Someone—

Hands clamped over his eyes. "Guess who!" shrieked a voice.

"Shh!" hissed a dozen people.

Ash tried to bite down a laugh. He reached up, grasping the tiny wrists and removing them from his head. "Mm... Griffin?" he offered, despise knowing it was not.

"Nope!" crowed his daughter. "Me!" She threw her arms around him, jumping onto his lap.

"Quiet!" snapped the librarian.

"Sorry," Ash said. "We have to be quiet in a library, Aurora." He held his finger to his lips.

Her dark eyes shone as she looked up at him, putting her finger to her lips and giggling. Aurora could not be quiet if her life depended on it, so Ash's current goal was to get out of the library before he got a lifetime ban. "How'd you get here?"

"Akira and Michael said we were waiting for you outside, so I snuck away," Aurora announced proudly.

"Oh, so they're probably terrified." Ash lifted her up and deposited her on her feet. He took her hand as he rose. Ibe's niece Akira was in the US for college, and for dating Jessica and Max's son. They'd met when she first came to visit New York at thirteen, right after Ash and Eiji had adopted Aurora.

"Why'd they be terrified?" asked Aurora, beaming up at him.

Ash's breath caught in his throat. Sometimes it slipped his mind just how innocent Aurora and Griffin were. His kids had no idea that the world was anything but Eiji's cooking and a host of uncles who weren't actually related to them.

"Ooh!" She hopped. "Guess what? Griffin's mad at me because he—"

"Sir, please leave," requested the librarian, rubbing her temples.

"We're going," Ash promised, ushering Aurora out. "What did you do to your brother now?"

Aurora giggled. "He has a crush on Mingyu!"

Ash froze. "What?"

"He said she was pretty." Aurora laughed. "So then I told—"

Ash was willing to bet Yut-Lung would probably be texting him within the hour demanding to know why his son had a crush on his daughter. Then again, Sing probably would be laughing his head off.

"Sir!" hissed the librarian's voice. Ash winced, turning around. "There are three rules here: no eating or drinking, no sleeping, and: no loud talking!" She might have been whispering, but the disgust in her voice raged.

Ash arched his eyebrows. "We are leaving."

"Don't be mean to my dad," said Aurora.

Yikes! "We are leaving right now," Ash clarified. "Don't talk back to people like that, Aurora!"

"You do it all the time," she protested as he tugged her ahead.

Ash groaned. He led Aurora down the steps, towards the lion statues that had scared Griffin when he was three, scared him so badly Ash and Eiji couldn't bring him to the library again until he was six.

Akira let out a shriek, running towards them. "You scared me!"

"I did?" Aurora's eyes widened.

"Apologize to Akira," Ash said, crouching down. "She thought something bad must've happened to you. Don't sneak away away without permission."

"Something bad? Like what?"

"Like that aliens made you vanish," Ash chose to say.

Aurora turned to Akira, lip trembling. "Sorry, Akira."

"It's okay," Akira said, breathing hard. "I'm just glad you're all right." She pulled out her phone to text Michael.

"Thanks for watching her," Ash added. Eiji had to go Christmas shopping even though the holiday was a month away, and Ash had to catch up on an article he was supposed to be writing for Max.

"No problem." Akira grinned. "Eiji already took Griffin home, but this one wanted to surprise you, so. We didn't think she meant sneaking in, though."

"Sneak is Aurora's middle name," Ash said.

"No, it's Akemi!" Aurora protested.

Ash rolled his eyes. His daughter was five, but already a complete handful. Eiji kept teasing that she was just like he must have been. Max had once mumbled something about "karma." Griffin was nine and loved books and cooking and his best friend, Mingyu, who apparently he was now crushing on and this was a whole new battle Ash was not looking forward to. Could crushes wait another ten years? Or at least until middle school?

Michael raced around the corner, face sagging in relief when he saw Aurora. "Shit, I thought my mom was going to skewer me!" His hand flew to his mouth. "Sorry, Aurora!"

"Dad says it all the time," said Aurora, looking up at Ash.

Akira dissolved into giggles. Ash's face burned.

"No, for real, my mom would have my head if we lost you," Michael said, flicking the numerous braids that Cain's girlfriend did for Aurora. "You're too valuable."

Aurora tugged at Ash's arm. "Yes?"

"Can you give me a piggyback ride?"

Ash bit back a moan. He now regretted ever mocking Jessica and Max for being old in their early thirties. "Sure." He knelt down for her to get on.

"See you, Ash!" called Akira, slipping her hand into Michael's. "We're going to a movie." Christmas carols sounded in the distance. Ash and Eiji had already agreed to spend the holiday with Jessica, Max, and Michael.

It really felt like a family.

"Bye!" called Aurora. "Thanks!"

Ash staggered home through the flurries of snow dancing on their way towards the ground. Aurora kept trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, twisting wildly on his back so that Ash was afraid she'd lean too far back and fall off. He made it to their apartment, kicking on the door because he couldn't exactly fetch his keys with his daughter on his back.

Eiji heard a thud against the door and rolled his eyes. He opened the door. "You rang?"

"I think I have a squirrel attached to my back," Ash said seriously. "I can't get it off."

Eiji laughed, pulling a chortling Aurora off his husband. Griffin was sprawled on the floor, coloring a picture of flowers and birds. Buddy the dog lay next to Griffin, tail flopping lazily against the wooden floor.

"Is that for Mingyu?" crooned Aurora, dropping down next to the brother she idolized even if she would never admit it to him. "Ooh, it's pretty!"

"Stop, Aurora!" yelped Griffin, face turning red. Eiji arched his eyebrows, looking to Ash.

"He likes her," Aurora announced.

"I do not!"

"Don't say that in front of her; that'd hurt her feelings!"

Wait… Eiji's brain put the pieces together. He crouched down. "We don't tease people about their feelings here, Aurora."

Her eyes widened. She stuck her thumb in her mouth. "Oh. Sorry, Griffin."

Griffin was still scowling.

"Want to help me cook?" Eiji invited his son. Griffin nodded, leaping to his feet instantly. Griffin liked to cook, to study, and to paint. Eiji always teased Ash that Griffin clearly had Ash's brain even if he was adopted. "How's the article, Ash?"

"It goes." Ash leaned against the wall, sighing. "I thought someone was watching me in the library today, but it turned out to be Aurora." His voice stayed hesitant.

Eiji started boiling water for rice, Griffin pulling up a stool and helping Eiji measure out spices. Eiji glanced at Ash. Were you actually worried? Do you think there's a reason to be?

Ash shrugged in response to his unspoken questions. And then that familiar shame creased his brow, the shame that spelled out how worried he was that he was still affected, still burdened.

But you aren't in so many ways. Eiji squeezed Ash's hand.

"The librarian yelled at us," announced Aurora, patting Buddy. "'Cause I was loud."

Griffin snorted. "You don't say," Eiji said patiently.

"I told her not to yell at Dad, though," Aurora added.

"Oh, yes, that reminds me," Ash said, pointing at her. "We don't talk back to adults, either, unless they are being scary."

"She was being scary. She was mean to you."

"That'd be scary for me," Griffin said, pushing his glasses up his nose. Last year the doctors made him get him glasses for things like reading and coloring, and Griffin had cried, saying he'd look ugly and get teased, and all Eiji could remember was how terrified he was of the same thing, how Ibe bought him contacts in the end. But glasses didn't make Griffin ugly, or anything other than what he was: Eiji's son, Ash's son. And Eiji loved every bit of his son and daughter, their hilarity, Griffin's sensitivity and Aurora's mischievousness. Freckles dotted Griffin's nose, and a shy smile was almost always present on his lips.

"Scary as in—" Ash stopped. He looked to Eiji.

Not today, Eiji understood. "Griffin, Buddy's probably hungry," he cut in.

Griffin hopped down from the stool to feed Buddy, their dog. The dog licked his face. Griffin grinned.

"I don't know what I was supposed to say," Ash muttered later, after the kids were in bed, Aurora having regaled them all with the tale of playing tag with Akira and Michael all day. "'Unless someone's trying to abduct you? Hurt you? Makes you uncomfortable?'"

"I don't know." Eiji sighed. It wasn't easy, trying to protect their kids, trying to keep them wise but innocent, never knowing when they might tilt too far off the tightrope, hoping they didn't fall.

At least they had each other to reach for the other's hand if one of them leaned too far one way, if they started to fall. Eiji rubbed his thumb over Ash's knuckles.

"Does Griffin really have a crush on Mingyu?" whispered Eiji, changing the subject.

Ash arched his eyebrows. "Ask him."

"It's cute." Eiji smiled.

Ash made a gagging noise.

"You love Mingyu!"

"Sure, but do you not believe Yut-Lung will poison us if they ever go out?"

"They're in third grade, Ash."

Ash scowled.

"Akira and Michael seem to be doing well."

"Yep." Ash pushed his hair back.

Eiji leaned against Ash, both of them sitting on the couch. They had matching rings, white gold, the words forever engraved on the inside of the bands. "What's the article about?"

"Mm, the way veterans are treated." Ash sighed. "Aurora doesn't get it. When she vanished, she scared Akira and Michael, but she was just sneaking around trying to find me. I always—she reminds me of how I was hiding in the woods to surprise Griffin that Halloween when I was a kid. She doesn't have anything to be afraid of other than imaginary monsters. And Griffin's just in awe of Mingyu, instead of afraid that someone will harm her. And I'm still afraid the next shoe will drop."

"That doesn't make you broken," said Eiji. "You don't have to think it's bad to worry about that, Ash. It's understandable."

Ash leaned his head against Eiji's. "They really like me, though." His voice sounded bewildered, amazed. "Aurora told the librarian off for me. Which probably made things worse, but still. My kids like me."

"They love you," Eiji pointed out.

"I'm afraid of losing them. Aurora reminds me of Skip—spunky, and—"

"I'm afraid of that, too," Eiji said softly.

"Huh?" Ash blinked.

"I've always been afraid of that," Eiji said. "You slipping away. One of them now, too. It's scary." We're both afraid, in some ways. "I don't want to lose any of you. You're—they're not going to hate you, Ash. No matter what." You worry that one day they'll know, they'll see, right?

Ash snuggled back against Eiji. He liked this, when Ash demanded closeness, liked the warmth of Ash against him.

Eiji heard a soft footstep in the hallway. "Yes?" he called.

"I need water," said Griffin, heading to the sink.

"Are you reading by flashlight again?" questioned Ash.

"No."

"Turn it off by 9:30, okay?"

Griffin turned around, smiling. "'Kay."

Ash swallowed. He closed his eyes. Griffin headed back to his room, shutting the door. And then his phone rang. He snorted and held it up.

Yut-Lung.

Eiji smirked. "Guess Xiaoli or Jingwei tattled."

"You should call them," Sing said, biting his lip. The kids were all in bed, though knowing Xiaoli, she'd be up again in an hour or so. Trying to get Xiaoli to stay in bed was like an exercise in patience, which thankfully Sing had lots of, because Yut-Lung did not and frequently found himself in tears wondering what God he needed to pray to to get the kid to sleep.

Yut-Lung paced back and forth. "I don't want to worry them if it's nothing."

His husband peered at him from where he sat at the foot of their bed. "You're worried, though."

Yut-Lung exhaled, nodding. He eyed Sing, wondering if the word "irrational" would emerge.

"Call them," Sing said, instead of judging.

Thank you. Yut-Lung dropped down next to Sing, dialing Ash's number.

"Yes?" came Ash's dry voice.

"Yo, Ash," called Sing.

"We were expecting your call. Is Yut-Lung about to blow a gasket? Because I'll have to take my son's side in this."

Eiji chuckled in the background. Sing's eyebrows drew together.

"Besides, hasn't Bones been planning Griffin and Mingyu's wedding since—"

"What are you talking about?" Yut-Lung snapped. "Unfortunately, Ash, I have some unfortunate news that isn't for laughing." He drew in his breath, squeezing his fists together. Sing put his hand on his shoulder, reassuring him. Yut-Lung looked up into Sing's face. Gone were the days where Yut-Lung used to look down at him, and instead now, he looked up to Sing physically as well as in every other aspect.

But Sing never looked down at him. Not in any way other than physical.

"I'm listening." Ash's voice darkened.

"Eiji too?"

"I'm here," said Eiji.

"Good." Yut-Lung exhaled. "I got a phone call today from a reporter. And they were asking questions about you."

"Me," Ash said, voice flat.

"You," Yut-Lung confirmed. "And—Banana Fish."

Silence. And then— "What do you mean?"

"They asked me some questions about you, saying they were working on a story about you. I said it was true I was your friend, but I wasn't answering questions about friends, and they didn't answer questions about the story when I asked. They then said that they'd heard we didn't start as friends, but rather as enemies who fought on opposite sides over something called Banana Fish, and they asked me to tell them about it." Yut-Lung gulped. "I told them I had no idea what they were talking about, and that I wouldn't give a story on a friend, and that surely they understood, and then I hung up."

"How do they know about that?" Ash whispered.

"I haven't the slightest clue. I haven't—I've tried not to think about it, and—"

"Max and Jessica wouldn't, and neither would my friends, or Cain—we saw him just last weekend. Aurora wanted her hair braided."

"I haven't asked Blanca, but secrets are kind of his thing," Yut-Lung said. "Still, I'll call him."

"Thanks."

"Her name was Rebecca Wiley. I looked into her. Didn't find much; she's a freelancer. Some published articles about nursing home safety and local school science fairs and other such topics." Yut-Lung swallowed. "Nothing strange has happened? You had no idea of this story?"

"No idea," Ash confirmed. "Today… I was telling Eiji I felt like someone was watching me in the library, though. But then Aurora had snuck away and surprised me, so it was probably just her."

Sing met Yut-Lung's gaze. "You don't think it was just her," Sing cut in. "I can hear it in your voice. Your instincts have seldom been wrong since I've known you."

Ash groaned. "Do you have the number for this woman?"

"Yep. I'll send you everything I have." Yut-Lung closed his eyes. If Ash and Eiji were worried too…

This wasn't like last time. They weren't criminals now, not exactly. They had a lot on their side.

And we have kids.

Please. Not again.

Yut-Lung remembered how he'd called loved ones a weakness for Ash. They weren't. And yet—and yet—

No matter what, he had to protect them.

"Hey, what were you thinking we were calling about in the first place?" Sing asked.

"Oh." Eiji laughed. "Griffin has a crush on Mingyu."

"What?" screeched Yut-Lung.

He'd never really thought about having kids. He hadn't planned to live long, and then when Sing opened up a path to living for him, helping him stumble along, he was focused just on the immediate tasks, like getting Chinatown under control and figuring out how to best wriggle his way out of the organized crime world. And he and Sing were just kids, at first.

Mingyu was born eight years ago to one of his servants. Yut-Lung didn't know the woman very well, but he'd told her to take as much time off as she needed when she announced that she was expecting. Except once she had her kid, Sing insisted on taking her food. And then chaos erupted to the point where Sing called and begged him to come to her quarters. The woman screamed and sobbed about how the father had left her, how he never wanted a baby, how he had moved across the country, how he wanted her to come with him but not with a baby.

And she said she was going. That she was leaving her daughter, whom she hadn't even named. She handed Yut-Lung a resignation and said she'd already signed away rights to her child.

And he remembered standing there, shocked that a woman could walk away from her child like that when his mother loved him, died screaming his name. Ash's own story about his mother echoed and echoed in Yut-Lung's brain, and his heart broke.

Get back here!

Your daughter needs you!

But they didn't want her.

Why? How?

It was a day later that Yut-Lung arrived home, sober and with his shoulders slumped, to find Sing singing a horribly off-key lullaby to a newborn baby girl cradled in his arms. Yut-Lung had stopped still, his briefcase clattering to the floor as he gawped.

"Oh hi," Sing had called. "I just went to check up on her, and they said—I mean—she was crying, and I picked her up, and she stopped crying, and I—"

"She's crying now, Sing," Yut-Lung had pointed out.

"But she'll calm down!"

"What are you thinking? You're still a college student!" Because Yut-Lung knew the look in Sing's eyes, that determination, that stupid faith in humanity that Yut-Lung possessed not a shred of by himself, but occasionally decided to borrow from his boyfriend.

"You're rich; it's fine." Sing got to his feet and deposited the baby in Yut-Lung's arms.

"Sing, you can't just—" Yut-Lung had begun, but then the baby stopped crying and looked up at him with her sweet eyes, and Yut-Lung couldn't say anything but: "Oh."

And then Sing had trouble taking her from Yut-Lung's arms. Yut-Lung carried her around everywhere. He bought one of those things to wear your baby, and he wore her any time he left the house. His money, that stupid Lee family money, went to finalizing the adoption. And he'd never forget when they asked Ash and Eiji and Blanca to come over for dinner a week after they'd taken her in, and Eiji started laughing when he saw Yut-Lung holding the infant, and Ash looked as terrified as Yut-Lung felt sometimes, and Blanca spluttered the same kinds of things Yut-Lung had initially said to Sing: you're too young what are you thinking how is this going to work you really want to?

"I want her," Yut-Lung finally interrupted. "Her parents don't. Shouldn't she feel wanted? Shouldn't all kids?"

"We're naming her Mingyu," said Sing, plopping down next to Yut-Lung and taking Mingyu from his arms. Yut-Lung scowled. "It means 'bright jade.'"

"It's not for you though, Ash," said Yut-Lung.

"Yes, it is," said Sing.

"I suggested it!"

"Well, that's partially why I agreed!"

The baby had spit up then, and far from being annoyed, Yut-Lung could only shake his head and wipe her face. Ash's eyebrows had almost lifted clear off his forehead in shock.

They seldom used the nannies they could have afforded. Yut-Lung wanted to raise her. Mingyu liked coming with Yut-Lung to his meetings. And that first Christmas, Sing asked Yut-Lung to marry him, saying Mingyu ought to have two married parents, and leaving her with Blanca for their honeymoon a few months later gave Yut-Lung massive anxiety. It had all turned out all right, though.

And a few years later, when they traveled to Hong Kong and Sing visited an orphanage and came back begging to give Mingyu siblings, specifically two biological siblings aged two and one, whose parents had been killed in a factory accident, Yut-Lung feared that he wouldn't love any other kids as much as he loved Mingyu.

He was so wrong. Xiaoli was now six and Jingwei five. Jingwei had been born with a cleft palate and lip, though now all that remained of that was a lisp, and Xiaoli was said to be a boy but seemed to copy all things Mingyu did and insisted she was a girl, so now Yut-Lung and Sing had two daughters and one son.

And he was not going to let anything happen to them. Mingyu was already eight and still asked him to read to her every night until she fell asleep. Xiaoli was the age he was when they murdered his mother and abused him. He couldn't fathom anyone hurting a child that small, who still looked up at him with big eyes every morning, who also loved his stories. Jingwei was younger, so trusting in his life with his parents and siblings, happy, changing what he wanted to grow up to be every other day, because he had a world of possibilities for him, instead of a world of dragons.

"Their son has a crush on my daughter," Yut-Lung mumbled, staring up at the ceiling.

"I mean, Mingyu's had a crush on him for ages. She follows him around like—"

"What?" Yut-Lung turned over, staring at Sing. "They're just friends!"

"Obviously, they're in elementary school. But they also have a case of puppy love. It's cute."

Yut-Lung scowled.

"Don't you dare say anything to Mingyu about it," Sing warned.

Yut-Lung buried his face in his pillow, mumbling.

"They'll be all right," Sing said. "Whatever's going on, Yut-Lung, with the reporter. They'll all be all right."

"Are you implying I'm going to channel my stress over this onto them having a crush—"

"You already are—"

Yut-Lung rolled over again, meeting Sing's eyes. "I never had a crush as a kid. I have no idea what that's like. They're so innocent." I want to protect that.

"I had lots of them," Sing said, reaching down and running his fingers through Yut-Lung's hair. "Mostly on guys, but I think I told myself it was just admiration for the longest time."

"Yeah, since I met you I picked up on the Shorter, Ash, and Cain ones."

"But it took you forever to pick up on the you one?"

"I mean, we're married, I'd say I've realized. And I kissed you first, so—"

Sing pressed his lips against Yut-Lung's, pressing all the stress and words out of Yut-Lung. He cupped Yut-Lung's face. "They're going to be okay, Yut-Lung. I promise."

Yut-Lung exhaled. I don't know, Sing. I'm scared.

I trust you, though.

"Daddy?" Xiaoli.

Yut-Lung and Sing both sat up. "Yes?" Yut-Lung hoped she hadn't overheard.

"Can I have another story?"

"If you fall asleep, your brain will tell you a nice dream that's like another story," Sing offered in desperation.

Well, as of the next morning it became clear she'd heard some of it, since Mingyu sauntered into the kitchen, hands on her hips, and immediately demanded to know why they didn't like that she had a crush on Griffin and he had one on her.

"I like it very much!" Sing eked out.

I really was born under an unlucky star. Yut-Lung forced a smile.

"She is totally your daughter," mumbled Sing as Mingyu flipped her long onyx hair over her shoulder.

Yut-Lung watched as Mingyu pulled out chairs for Jingwei, Xiaoli, and Jingwei's imaginary friend Evie who had to share Jingwei's food every day.

"She's not real," grumbled Xiaoli.

"Yes, she is," said Mingyu patiently, cutting off Jingwei from sobbing and defending the honor of Evie's existence. "She's just shy, so you can't see her."

"She's just as much your daughter." Yut-Lung smiled. Mingyu's kindness and thoughtfulness—she reminded him of his mother, and even more of Sing.