While Andrea and Daniel enjoyed Mexican in SoHo, Ryan was enjoying Italian in Clinton - Honey-Milk had made spaghetti, meatballs, and cooked up some of his falafal balls; was there ever going to be a way to say that without it sounding dirty?

The kids had just finished their meal when he walked in the door, as was evidenced from the sea of red sauce on Mallory's mouth. His precious little jewel looked like the joker when she grinned at him, showing off tiny little white teeth.

'Daddy home!'

Dell glanced over his shoulder, as did Honey-Milk from where they were loading their bowls in the dishwasher. 'Hi Daddy! You are jus' in time for dessert! Or do you want your fall-off balls?'

The laugh bubbled up out of Ryan's belly after a truly draining day. 'I believe they're called falafal balls, Dell-arino.'

'Mama say they are suh-pecial for you 'cause you don' eat animals.'

'That's right.'

'Why not?'

'Because about two months before you were born, Mama didn't want to eat any meat so I gave it up with her. After you were born, she started eating meat again, but I didn't.'

'Oh.' Dell furrowed his brow. 'That's funny Daddy, but you gotta do what is bes' for you. That's what you always say, right?'

'Exactly.'

'Can I do my needles out here tonight, Mama?'

'Nee-nells,' Mallory added while Honey-Milk wiped her hands and mouth off. 'Nee-nells oush.'

'I'd rather you didn't, Dell, you know it upsets Mallory.'

Dell pouted. 'I don' want Daddy eating alone.'

'Thanks, little bro.' Ryan scooped pasta on his plate, added his falafal and sauce. 'We'll have dessert together, how's that?'

'Sounds good.'

'And it's time for your bath, young missy.' Honey-Milk unbuckled their daughter from her high-chair, gave her husband a kiss as he walked past. 'Hi.'

'Hello.'

Ryan didn't have time to focus on the fact he'd just walked in the door, and his family was finishing the meal without him - one of the pitfalls of being a cop - as the beast in his gut was snarling 'feed me' and truthfully was thankful for a little tranquility after breaking up the family fight between Andrea and Gerry. His timing was impeccable as he'd just finished shoveling the last of his pasta when he heard Honey-Milk and Mallory's voices come out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. His little girl was wrapped in her towel and her blond curls stuck damply to her head.

'Pash-pash, Daddy.'

'Did you go splash-splash?' Ryan smiled at her and she nodded. 'Now it's pyjama time, right?'

'No nooze.'

'No, it's not snooze time yet,' Honey-Milk agreed, kissing her husband once more. 'We'll have dessert with Daddy, right?'

'Do-dur.'

'That's right we'll have some frozen yogurt. Can you check on Dell, make sure he's okay with his needle?'

Ryan nodded, rinsing his plate and leaving it in the sink while he went to check on his son. For a moment, he stood in the doorway of Dell's bedroom and watched him. He'd never forget the Hallowe'en night he'd nearly lost his boy, when Honey-Milk hadn't been able to wake him from a nap because, they'd learned at the hospital, he'd been in such a low-sugar state he couldn't wake up. He'd cried every time he'd had to have his insulin injection; now he could give them to himself, like right now. He'd taken off his shirt, and was just finished jabbing himself in the shoulder, making a cranky face as he hit the plunger.

'Ice cream, swimming in the ocean, drawing with Tessi,' he mumbled over and over, then removed his injector-pen from his shoulder, screwed on the sharps-cap.

'What's up with the chanting, Dell?'

Dell looked up, grinned at his father with a little bashfulness. 'The nurse said when we are learning to give ourselves the needles, if we are a little suh-cared we should say out loud a list of favourite things.'

'That's a good idea. Don't forget to put your sharps in your bucket, right?'

'Right. Daddy?'

'Yes.'

'Did you have to tell a family today someone died?'

'No, I didn't.'

'Did you catch a bad guy?' he asked, tugging on his shirt and getting stuck which had Ryan coming over to help him. 'Thank you, Daddy.'

'We found out who one of the bad guys is, and we will be making sure he or she goes to trial and then goes to jail for a long time.'

'That is good. Is Andy suh-till sad?'

Ryan nodded solemnly. 'She had dinner at Auntie Kate and Uncle Rick's tonight. She's been very worried and sick to her tummy.'

'Is she having a baby? Mama got sick all the time when she was guh-rowin' Marsh-Mally.'

'No, Dell, sometimes when we're really worried, our tummies get really upset,' he explained. 'Mama did the same thing when you were little and you had to go to the hospital when we found out about your diabetes.'

'Can we make a card for Andy? You can take it to her, Daddy.' In Dell's mind, a card with kind words was the best way to cheer someone up; he'd learned this from watching Tessi make her mother pretty pictures while Meredeth had been growing the twins in her belly. 'Cards are nice.'

'I think she'd really like that.'

R&R&Enjoy