It had been a long day, although a fairly uneventful one. Perhaps that was what had made it seem so long. Just an ordinary day of patrols, a few calls here and there, though nothing exciting, just overzealous nosy neighbors. It didn't matter though. You got the call, you checked it out. That was the job. It always amused him when cars he drove by visibly slowed down, though few had been speeding in the first place. His crown vic police cruiser had that effect. Just as well. It was good for people to be reminded that the law was ever present. It helped maintain order. Just a shame that order wasn't always as exciting as when it was disturbed.

Officer Javert's shift was over, or at least as over as a cop's shift could be, so he was headed home, though not without stopping for coffee first. The ABC Café was an artsy-academic coffee house frequented mostly by college students and the like. It slightly annoyed Javert that whenever he walked in, conversations quieted down a bit. Many people here considered themselves liberal minded thinkers who knew everything that was wrong with the world, though didn't do a whole lot to change it. To them, he was "the man." Well, "the man" just wanted his coffee. This place was on his way home, the coffee was good, and it wasn't overpriced. Their guilty consciences weren't his problem. They could just deal with it.

The pretty brunette barista smiled at him and asked if he'd like his usual. "Thank you, that would be lovely," he said politely. Her nametag said 'Nina,' and, as he understood it, she was the owner's little sister. Angelo Ross had more in common with the patrons of his coffee house than with the police officer, but the two men had a mutual respect for each other. He payed Nina and thanked her again. He sipped his coffee; black, but for a pinch of cinnamon sugar. The first time he'd had coffee that way, it had been an accident. The shop had been very busy, and both Nina and Angelo had been darting furiously back and forth behind the counter, trying to meet everyone's needs. A bit of cinnamon sugar had accidentally been spilled into his coffee. Nina had offered to remake it, but he wasn't that picky and said he'd take it anyway. It had turned out to be delicious, and had become his usual.

On his way out of the shop, a young boy almost ran into him. The kid's face was harder than a kid's face should be, and his eyes spoke of clever defiance. He seemed familiar, but Javert couldn't place him.

"Gavin! You apologize to the policeman!" Nina scolded the boy. The boy smiled impishly and said his sorry, and then ran into the shop, behind the counter, and to the backroom.

"He yours?" Javert asked.

"He's our brother, yes. Sorry about that," Nina said. Javert nodded and tipped his hat in farewell as he left the shop.

Nina poked her head into the backroom to check that Gavin was behaving himself. The boy was doing his homework, as he was supposed to, though that didn't necessarily mean he'd stay that way. Gavin was a clever kid, but was as mischievous as they came. Loki would have been proud.

"You doing ok?" She asked.

"Uh-hmm." He grunted.

"Alright. You need any help, you let me know. And you should really watch where you're going in the future. You're lucky he likes our coffee."

His eyes glittered, "Maybe he just likes YOU."

"Come on, Gavin, now you're just being obnoxious."

"Maybe YOU like HIM!" he smiled wickedly.

"Gav—"

It was too late to stop him, and on he went in his best falsetto, "'Oh, mister policeman, I love your badge! It's so shiny! Can I touch your taser?'"

"Knock it off and do your homework!" she said, giving up and going back to the main room, shutting the door behind her to block out Gavin singing about her and the policeman sitting in a tree. Nina loved that kid to death, but sometimes she wished she really could love him to death.

Nina looked at the clock. Angelo would be there soon. Usually she worked till close on Thursdays, but her brother was coming in for her last hour today so she could practice for her audition tomorrow. Nina was trying for a place in the local symphony orchestra. It would mean less hours at the coffee shop if she got it. Not that she didn't like working at her brother's coffee shop, but she was studying music, and more time spent in pursuit of that goal was time better spent. She'd been playing the violin since she was ten, and quite enjoyed it. She'd come to live in St. Michael with her brother in order to go to the university near there, as they had an excellent music program.

Angelo was five years older than her, and made the bulk of his living writing articles in the internet. Their parents had hoped he'd go write for some newspaper or magazine, but he had found his niche online writing social and political commentaries that were both entertaining and informative, and he was good at it. The coffee shop was more of a side project. Angelo thought it gave him the opportunity to find out what was important to people today and what their opinions were. He felt it made him a better writer.

The shop wasn't too busy, being as it was an hour before closing time, so Nina cleaned and organized what she could before her brother got there. He came in and nodded greeting at her and said hello to the regulars who were there. "Off you go, Nina. I got this." He said. She grabbed her jacket and waved goodbye.

Gavin giggled to himself after Nina had left in defeat. She was fun to tease. But then, few people weren't. He liked the Ross siblings. They'd been kinder to him than anyone ever had been, although if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be dealing with this math homework right now. But then, without them, he'd still be eating out of dumpsters. Most of their family didn't live in St. Michael, so no one had questioned them when their new "little brother" had come to live with them. The man and woman biologically responsible for him had never bothered looking for him when he ran away, so no one was the wiser. He knew he should try to behave better for them, but one's nature couldn't always be helped. Besides, so long as he didn't get into any real trouble, they didn't seem to mind his impishness. He mentally kicked himself for running into that cop. He'd always made it a point before to stay far below the radar of the police. Living good had made him less cautious. He'd need to watch that. He sighed, and went back to his homework.