"Abel Carter Gabriel!"

The four year old ignored him, running headlong across the open field and disappearing into the tree line, Cain right behind him. It seemed the boy had decided upon a new game: avoid going home at all costs. Cain slowed as he reached the line of trees as well, wishing he had been closer to his nephew before announcing it was time to leave the park.

"Your mother is going to kill me!" he called into the trees, trying to catch a glimpse of red hair or blue jeans. "Come back here, Abel, right now!" No response.

The trees were thin, forming a small copse along the bike path that ran around the whole park. But it was muddy and twiggy and this shirt had been expensive-

There was a surprised shout, and a very loud noise, and what sounded exactly like Abel crying. Cain tore through the woods, cursing the whole way, to stumble out onto the edge of the paved path. His nephew was sitting on the concrete, perfectly okay, aside from the fact that he was sobbing and his hands were skinned. Cain caught him up immediately, his own heart still racing, and inspected the scrapes.

"No big deal, Abel… Hush, shh, it's okay. You're all right, it'll be okay…" Oh, he hated crying kids… he never really knew how to help. Cain stroked Abel's hair gently, trying to remember what Merry did. He pulled one hand up and pressed his lips to the scrapes, deliberately not thinking about how unsanitary it was. "See? Better."

Abel hiccoughed and presented the other hand, tears in his eyes. Cain dutifully kissed it as well. He took the opportunity to wipe his mouth off when Abel buried his face in his neck, still trembling. Scared, but safe. They were in the same boat, then…

Now that Cain knew Abel was all right, he allowed himself the luxury of annoyance with the whole situation. Yes, Merry, it's a wonderful idea to leave your four year old son with your brother for a week while you go traipsing off to the Bahamas with the bloke you married. Your extremely single, bachelor brother who has no children, will never willingly have children, and will have absolutely no idea what to do when things go wrong with said children. Really. Don't worry about the fact that your brother is terrified he'll do something wrong and break him or make him hate him or anything like that, let alone the fact that-

"Is he all right?"

Cain tore his attention away from his string of internal complaints to finally notice there was a bike in the ditch along the path, its rider having opted to crash into it as opposed to his nephew. The helmet had been discarded, hair was sticking up everywhere, but he was tall and delicious and hitting several of Cain's tick marks for what was required in an attractive man. Dammit. He had such a problem for blonds. "Yeah," Cain reassured him, shifting Abel onto one hip, and offered a hand up out of the ditch. "He'll be fine, just a little scared…"

The man declined the help with a shake of his head, clambering out of the ditch. "That's a relief. He tripped over the edge of the pavement just as I came around the bend up there. I think I was as scared as he was," he admitted, straightening carefully.

"You're the one who rode into a ditch," Cain pointed out with a smile. He wasn't flirting. He wasn't. Not in front of his four year old nephew. Nope. Not at all. Merry would murder him. They'd never find the body.

The blond stretched his wrists carefully. "I was winded for a couple of minutes, but I've got my breath back." He glanced back up at Cain and gestured towards his liberally grass stained T-shirt. "Nothing laundry day won't fix. I cannot, however," he added, glancing back towards the ditch. "Say as much for the bike."

Cain reached for his wallet. "Compensation…?" he started. The man had just wrecked his bike for him, in a roundabout way. And was really attractive. Dammit, not flirting!

He laughed, bending to brush dirt off his knees. Irrationally, Cain wanted to make him laugh again. Damn it. "That not what I meant at all. It's a pretty cheap bike, and it's my brother's anyway." He shrugged. "I'm just borrowing it while I'm in town."

Attractive, well spoken, open, and nice. Why couldn't he have run into him at a bar or something when he didn't have Abel attached to his shoulder and watching his every move? Hell, even the grocery store… "Visiting, hm? Where are you usually from?" Abel was wriggling and making the small, protesting little noises that usually meant he was getting bored. Cain put him down, but kept one hand tight on the back of his jacket, giving him a warning look. They were still leaving, and he did not want a repeat of this incident.

"London, I'm afraid. I'm only here for the weekend. My mother insisted… She lives nearby."

Cain laughed, delighted. His main offices were in London. "That's brilliant! I'm-"

Abel made another bid for freedom, slipping his arms out of his jacket. His uncle caught him up by the middle and held him under one arm, scowling down at him. The redhead scowled right back up.

"Play."

Why did he have to inherit Merry's hardheadedness? "Abel, I already told you, we've got to go home. Dinner time."

The stranger laughed again. "Don't let me keep the two of you, then." He directed a gentler smile at the redhead. "And don't give your dad anymore trouble, hm?"

Oh. Oh, dear. Cain supposed it was a logical assumption to make, but… Still… Luckily, he was saved the further humiliation of having to correct the man by Abel.

"He's not my dad," the little terror informed him, with all the sage patience of a child stating an obvious fact. "He's my uncle. Dad's a lot bigger."

Shockingly, the blond didn't even crack a smile, only nodded seriously. "Ah, of course. My mistake, little sir." He glanced back towards Cain, allowing the brunet to see both the amusement and the apology in his eyes.

And good with kids. That made the decision for Cain. "Besides," he declared, shifting enough to put Abel down again with another serious warning look. "I'm not letting you leave without at least a name. Or without giving you my number."

Yes, Cain decided, this was in fact a good idea. He looked adorable when he was taken by surprise. The brunet fought down a smirk. He was very good at surprising people.

"Um… Riffael. Raffit. Riff, usually."

"Cain," he offered in return, keeping the last name back for the moment, on the off chance Riffael Raffit-the alliteration was endearing-read Forbes or knew much about economics. "Don't look so shocked. You wrecked your brother's bike after nearly running my nephew down. I figure one of us owes the other lunch, at least. I've offices in London, but my sister left Abel with me for a week. Say, next Friday?"

"Er-"

"Do you have a pen?" Cain continued, miming a signature. "For my number," he prompted, as Riff still looked a bit lost.

"Ah, no. No, I-" He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, dislodging a loose leaf neither of them had noticed. Cain laughed quietly, and the blond focused again. "Here, my phone," he offered instead, sliding it out of one shorts pocket and pulling up the contact list.

Cain tapped the number into the list and hit save. "There you are. Call me for time and place, hm?" He really shouldn't be doing this at all, but Riff was far too much fun to throw off balance and Cain really wanted to get to know the collarbones just barely visible under his T-shirt. He gave the man one last winning smile, before gathering Abel up again to head back towards the parking lot.

"Shouldn't 'a done that," his nephew informed him as Cain buckled him into the booster seat Merry had leant him. "He was nice."

"Yes," Cain agreed, making sure the strap was going in the right place this time. "That's precisely why I did it."

Abel scowled at him, apparently not liking this explanation. "You're mean to nice people?"

"You're very nice and I'm not mean to you, am I?" Cain pointed out, tapping him affectionately on the nose. "Besides, Abel, I wasn't being mean. I was flirting." He was in far too good a mood to fully consider what he was saying, and closed the door to walk around the car and buckle himself in.

The little redhead, however, frowned at the unfamiliar word, and met his uncle with another question as soon as he was in the car. "What's flirting?"

"It's a way of making friends," Cain decided, glancing up at him in the rearview mirror. "Do you want to get a candy bar on the way home?" he added before Abel could contest this, or ask another question.

"Chocolate?"

God bless four year old attention spans…

A/N: Currently completed, though other scenes in this continuity may occur if people are interested enough. Read and Review.