Taking Own Measures

He returned not even an hour later. D had moved in the meantime; he was sitting on the sofa, looking down on his hands, a troubled look on his face. Leon stopped in the door, suddenly insecure. The young kami slowly looked up, at him, his mismatched eyes a little wide.

"Leon -"

"No, D, wait -"

"- I am sorry," they both said at the same time. Stared, and then chuckled helplessly. Leon finally moved fully inside, placing his jacket over the sofa and sitting down on it himself. "I'm really sorry, D," he repeated, looking fully at his lover. "I know I'm terrible at the moment, I'm just…"

"You don't have to explain," D hastily interjected. "It is my fault as well. I keep forgetting that – well, your memories of pregnancies are not the best, probably, and so far I have appeared rather weak, too…"

They smiled at each other wearily. "Why're we just so good at fucking everything up?" Leon asked, and despite the hopelessness the question implied, his voice sounded almost cheerful. "I mean, hell, most human women would be more'n happy if their husband kept acting like I do. You know, with all that protective stuff and so on."

"Human women usually aren't thrice as strong as their husband," D remarked dryly. "Grandfather is right from time to time, Leon. Our relationship presents problems not only in social convention sense, but also in other respects, up to you living in the shop and not being able to fully accommodate my needs during the pregnancy. These are things we cannot solve right here and now, they have to be prepared in advance. Fleeing now is not possible, not if I want to take you and Chris with me. And I do not know what consequences for the child would result if I went without you."

"How long do you need to prepare all this stuff then?" Leon asked, sighing a little. D tapped his lip. "Time, Leon, is very relative in this shop. I do not know, to be honest. I wish I did, but at the moment our best guess is staying and sitting it out."

"No, it isn't." Energy seemed to return to Leon as he sat up straighter. "Chris and I could take my car. We don't have to be on the ship, we can…"

"… use the human ways of transport and lead any pursuer straight to our new hiding place," D finished dryly. "No, Leon, there is no sense in this. Not as long as I am pregnant, anyway."

He lightly touched Leon's forehead with his hand. "Let's go to bed," he whispered. "First thing in the morning I will call Mrs. Jonas and see what she says. And then we can decide."

Leon opened his mouth, clearly wanting to argue.

"I promise that if it turns out to be truly as dire as it seems today, we will leave at once and find some way to cover your and Chris's tracks at least for long enough to ensure your safe escape," D said firmly. Leon seemed to think for a moment, but then he nodded and let his head sink forward to rest on D's shoulder. "I promise everything will be alright," the kami whispered into his blonde hair. "I promise, Leon."

He continued whispering for a few minutes before he carefully waved at Ten-chan. The fox came, favouring him with a half amused, half worried glance. "He's gonna kill you if he finds out you bewitched him," he said, taking Leon's body up with almost no effort.

D smiled and got up himself. "Yes, maybe. But if he is to think clearly tomorrow, he needs to sleep now."

The chief barely waved Leon off when he said that he needed the afternoon free. By the wrinkles on his forehead, the younger detective could tell that some case had proven to be more complicated than anticipated, and his suspicion was confirmed when he heard him arguing with the state attorney on the telephone as he passed by his bureau again on his way out. Picking up the cake D had ordered in the morning, he went straight back to the pet shop, glancing at his clock nervously and hoping that Jill would be able to slip out soon, too. Yi and Patrick Jonas had promised to come at three o'clock straight, and he didn't want to wait too long to discuss everything. He could feel the adrenaline in his veins and knew he was far more jumpy than usual when he walked through Chinatown. Suddenly every face seemed to hold the hint of conspiracy, and he didn't like it at all.

He met Dee and Chris on the stairs on their way out, both with an expectant look on their faces, which made Leon suspicious. So he stopped his pace and held his brother back. "Hey, squirt, where're you going?" he asked.

"We're going to meet Catherine at the swings in the park!" Chris told him excitedly.

"To the park? And Dee's coming with you?" Leon's eyes switched to the kami child, which was obviously excited.

"Chris told me about his friends, and I asked if I could come and meet them," he blurted out, face eager. "And he said it's okay!"

While the kids were quite happy about that, Leon's mind raced. Because he really had the distinct feeling that Q-chan hadn't been informed of his great-grandson's plans for today.

"You sure that's a good idea? What's Q-chan gonna say?" he dared to voice, but neither seemed to understand what he was going at.

"They're my friends, they're not gonna mob him!" Chris protested, insulted by his brother's doubt. Leon hastily amended. "Chris, I know that, but nevertheless Dee's, you know, Q-chan's responsibility and he might…"

"Orcot-san, might I inquire why you are holding my grandson back?"

Talk of the devil. Inwardly the blonde rolled his eyes before he turned to his unofficial grandfather-in-law. "I was only asking my brother where he was going, 'cause I wanna know where I might have to start looking for him," he snapped.

Sofu raised an eyebrow at him. "Christopher is in the shop and finding him here is not difficult at all."

"But I'm going to the park," Chris interrupted. His affection towards Q-chan had suffered considerably since the cute bat-bunny had turned back into the old kami grandfather. "Catherine's waiting for us at the swings, and we're gonna be late."

Leon wished his brother had listened to him. Sofu's eyebrows shot up so quickly he wasn't even sure he'd seen them move.

"Excuse me, Christopher, but who will be going with you? Surely not your brother, as he will probably have to return to work."

Chris pointed at his new friend. "Dee, course," he said, with a voice that said "Duh, who else, stupid?"

Sofu would probably have been angry only at that, but combined with the meaning of Chris's words, he became outright furious. Glaring at his great-grandson, he grabbed his wrist and pulled the kid to him. "You are not going to leave the shop, Dee!" he hissed. "How often have I told you that you are to stay inside and only leave if your father or I are with you?"

"Now leave him alone," Leon started a last try to rescue the situation, but knew it was useless by the blaze in golden eyes. Sofu ignored him and Chris and started scolding Dee in Chinese, pulling him back into the shop. At first Dee was surprised, then he resisted the tug at his arm, but Sofu was stronger. The child began to argue, and before Leon and Chris knew what was happening, he and Sofu had started to fight. Leon sighed deeply and pushed his brother back down the stairs, who was staring at them with wide eyes.

"C'mon, Chris, forget it. Dee's not gonna get out of this shop today, and neither are you."

Chris forgot about Dee as he gaped at his brother. "What?" he exclaimed.

"No argument, Chris, you're not going to go to the park today. Call Catherine and ask if it's okay if I drop you at their house," Leon replied curtly.

"But I've been at them so many times and it's weird!" the boy argued, resisting his sibling. "It's not polite – ouch, Brother!"

"Get in, Chris!" Leon hissed, seeing the first few faces poking down the stairs to where they were standing. Great, now he was locking his brother up in this damn shop just so nothing would happen to him… fuck this damned Chinatown!

Once inside, he saw that Sofu had obviously only managed to tug Dee back into the parlour, where the kami child was now standing, lips pressed tight and arms crossed, staring at the wall in sullen silence.

"Here, Dee, there you have him back. You can play in the shop today," Leon said, pushing Chris slightly towards Dee, who lighted up, in contrast to Chris, who sulked.

"But we have an appointment with Catherine!" he insisted.

"And you can't go today, that's it."

"Why can't we go? Just because Q-chan doesn't want us to? That's unfair!"

"Leon, Chris, what is the matter?" D started, coming out of the back, looking a little haggard. He'd obviously been working still. Leon got a bad conscience.

"I'm sorry, D, I didn't want to disturb you, but they wanted to go to the park…"

D looked at all three of them. "Oh," he said. "I see."

And he did indeed, if the dark look he gave Leon was any indication. It said quite clearly what the kami thought about Leon trying to keep Chris in here.

The human moved his shoulders uncomfortably, but didn't back off. Chris, whether D liked it or not, was still Leon's brother and thus, his main responsibility.

Finally D gave in, sighing. "Chris, your brother is right," he turned to the human child. "You cannot go to the park today, not without one of us being present. I'm sorry."

"But why?" Chris cried out, starting to get confused and frightened by their strange behaviour. The adults quickly exchanged a look.

"Well, perhaps D will let you invite Catherine to tea…" Leon said slowly and could see D taking a deep breath.

"Yes, that's a good idea, Chris. Why don't you call Catherine and ask her to come over for tea? You can have it in your room. I will tell Tetsu to give you the chocolate cake he made yesterday."

Chris lightened up, but was still suspicious. "And Dee?" he asked, glancing to the kami child, whose lips were parted hopefully. D looked at him, too, then into the back, as if looking out for his grandfather.

"Dee will help me for a little while," he said decidedly, then dropped his voice to a murmur. "Until your guests have all arrived."

Both kids beamed and Leon smiled at D thankfully. Keeping the children out of harm's way would be very difficult from now on. He only hoped they would be able to deal with that.

"So that's what I heard," Norma finished her report and thankfully took the teacup D was handing her. Yi Jonas had taken out a fan and was fanning herself, her face serious, while Jill kept sending glances at the eldest kami and Ten-chan.

Now the Chinese woman flipped her fan closed. "She is right, Count," she agreed. "Those rumours have been flying around for a while, just ask Mrs. Chang for confirmation. But nobody actually believed them to be true…" She flipped the fan open again. "My god, it's warm in here!"

D blushed slightly, while Leon rolled his eyes upwards. D wasn't only a frostbite when he could be gotten pregnant, he was also one when he actually was pregnant. At times.

"However," Yi Jonas continued, "the power is fading already again. What with half their employees being imprisoned at the moment…"

"Yi, dear, that doesn't make them any less dangerous," her husband cut in. "In fact I think it's rather the contrary. Of course they aren't as free to act as they were before, but they make up for that by being angry and aggressive. The triad is never an enemy to be underestimated. Count, with all due respect I would advise you to leave before the situation escalates."

Yi's face fell, but D decidedly shook his head. "We cannot, for several reasons," he said firmly. Much to Leon's surprise, neither the professor nor Yi Jonas argued with him about that. Was he the only one who always kept asking why? Not even Jill…

Oh. Well, she was of course far busier watching Ten-chan and Norma, a pensive expression on her face.

"If… Miss Langley has already managed getting to know so many rumours, couldn't she also try poking deeper into the triad?" his friend now spoke up. Leon flinched and Norma deigned Jill with a toothy smile, lined with malice.

"Detective Freshney, 'Langley' was the name I used to find Alexander. It is in no way my real name, so please just call me Norma," the vampire said. Leon could see Jill shuddering slightly. Ten-chan saw, too, and placed a hand over hers. She looked up at him, surprise and insecurity written over her face.

"I am sure my grandson would never dream of forcing you to get yourself into such danger, Norma," Sofu D now cut in, his brow wrinkled, although Leon had noticed that he wasn't as averse to Jill as he was to him. Another point for Ten-chan's theory.

"No, Count D, I'm sure he would not." Norma smiled at her old… was Q-chan a friend of hers? Leon didn't know. He didn't know so many things about D's family, he suddenly realised again with a pang. "Nevertheless, I think Detective Freshney does have a point. I have made some dubious friends by now, I don't think it would be very difficult to further infiltrate the triad. Perhaps I could even get close to Mrs. Shao and her friend."

"They are holding together very tightly now, don't forget that, Miss Norma," Patrick Jonas pointed out. His dark brown eyes were alight with interest. This had to be a situation out of his dreams. Two kami in one spot, not to mention a mysterious friend with sharp teeth…

Leon really liked the professor. That didn't diminish his opinion that he was slightly nuts.

"Yes, and officially we're supposed to arrest you for pretending to be an FBI-agent," he put in, seeing Jill nod in approval. "Actually we're in deep trouble already now for not getting you handcuffed and taken to the precinct right away."

Norma chuckled at that. Patrick Jonas looked at the two detectives, his face sympathetic. "Well, Orcot, I'm afraid you will have to decide if you really want to arrest her or spy for you," he said in his low, warm voice. "I can understand the situation this puts both you and Detective Freshney in, but as far as I understood, Miss Norma didn't really commit any severe crime, did she?"

"Well, she drugged our colleagues," Jill replied dryly, her eyes hardening at the remembrance. "And she helped a wanted murderer…"

For a second, something like overpowering pain flashed in Norma's eyes. "I did not help him, I was looking for him myself!" she hissed. "My only crime consists in wanting to keep him safe!"

"Norma…" Sofu spoke up, his voice warning. She quieted and looked at the two detectives expectantly.

D sighed and thus gained all their attention. "To be honest," he said, "there is nothing I would rather love to do now than somehow get the triad and Mrs. Shao out of the picture."

"Well, that could be easily accomplished with one visit…" Sofu spoke up and was shut up by the glare his grandson levelled at him.

"Meaning that I want them behind bars for the rest of their lives," he finished grimly, breathing a silent sigh of relief when both Jill and Leon relaxed again. Ten-chan looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

Then, out of the blue, he said, "I'm going with Norma, Count."

"What?" Jill exclaimed, almost jumping up from the sofa where she sat beside him. Her eyes were wide and unbelieving. "You're – you cannot – you're barely a child!"

In that moment Leon was really grateful that everyone here was perfectly trained to keep their expressions straight. Even he himself managed for once, while Ten-chan's face softened and he patted Jill's hand again.

"Well, I look like a teenager, that's true," he admitted. "Nevertheless, I am a tad older than sixteen, Jill."

"Kitsune?" Patrick Jonas spoke up, his eyes sparkling like wild. His wife elbowed him, but she smiled at the two on the sofa. "If yes, Detective Freshney, he's probably five times as old as you are."

"A little more than only five times, actually," Ten-chan acknowledged, his smile turning to a grin. "But, age aside, if Norma does not have any objections, I think I could be of help."

"No, D, you can't…" Jill turned to her kami friend, her eyes pleading and telling that she didn't really believe in what Ten-chan had just said. But the younger Count shook his head in regret.

"I'm sorry, Jill, but I don't think we have much other choice than to take his offer. And I am sure that nothing will happen to him," he added soothingly at the worried look on her face. Leon caught the hint of a smile on Yi Jonas' face before the woman hid behind her fan. Her husband winked at him.

"Real annoying, those things, aren't they?" he murmured. Leon chuckled.

"Leon…"

"Jill, listen here, D and I can't leave," he stated firmly. If D said that he wouldn't, there was no way in hell Leon would be able to force him to leave. It didn't do anything to diminish his own worry.

Or hers, judging by the way she was biting her lip. "There are thousands of ways they could get at you," she said, looking thoroughly unhappy. "I mean, they could even install a bomb in your car and wait for you to blow up."

"Jill – can I call you Jill? – we aren't talking about American gangsters here," Yi Jonas interrupted and leaned towards the younger woman. "We are talking about Chinese triad high society. If they take revenge, this revenge is taken in a way that the victim quite clearly knows who caused his death and why. It is an old society. Revenge is a matter of face-to-face."

"Still…"

"It could take months until we get enough proof to lock them up. I can't stay in the shop the whole time. I'd go crazy, you know that."

"And what about D's…?"

"I can conduct my business from inside the shop and here I am as safe as I can be," D firmly stated, his eyes beseeching her not to let anything slip. Not even towards the couple.

She relented hesitantly. "I don't know, D. I really, truly think it would be better if you moved. You know, just out of here. Somewhere safe."

"Somewhere safe is not a place on this earth," the young kami said quietly. "Not for me, Jill, you know that. And, as things are, at the moment it is impossible for me to leave. Not only because I do not want to, but also because I cannot."

"We're running in circles here and nothing gets better in the meantime." Ten-chan's firm voice cut through the tension in the room. He sat up straight, hands curled into fists in his lap. "Carter's already out of the picture so far, that means that for the time being Leon has at least nothing to fear from the precinct. And if Norma and I get to work straight away, our chances for finding a solution before everything goes downhill are perhaps not the worst."

"That's a word, kitsune." Patrick Jonas sat up, too. "And remember, Count: if you need help, whatever Yi and I can do, we will."

D smiled at the couple and Leon felt his mood lighten a little bit. Perhaps Ten-chan was right. Perhaps they really did stand a chance still.

In the following departure and commotion, Jill slipped into the back, almost unnoticed. But green eyes had caught her nevertheless.

"Jill? May I have a moment?"

She spun round, already half up the stairs to Leon's room. Her eyes were slightly rimmed. Ten-chan hesitated, then he walked up until he was standing right in front of her and could look straight into her eyes. She avoided them. "What it is, then? I have to pick up Jamie, you know."

"Yes, Jill, I know." Ten-chan's voice was slightly impatient, but he calmed himself down and took a deep breath. "Jill, listen, I know this came as a surprise -"

"You don't say. No, actually I knew the whole time that you were just another of the Count's pets," she snapped, and something like hurt became visible on her face. "It would've been nice to get some kind of warning, you know? Instead of sitting in there and making an idiot of myself for being the only one who doesn't know who you are."

"I'm not one of the Count's pets." Ten-chan looked away now, too. "I'm sorry, Jill. I didn't – being in the shop tends to mess up my caution a bit. Usually, outside, I would have been aware of the fact that you can't possibly know about me – my kind. But you are so familiar with everything else, the shop itself, the Count… I just assumed you knew about me, too."

She leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. "Oh, okay, great. So what are you, then? If you're not one of D's pets?"

"What did you assume I was?" he countered, locking his arms firmly behind his back. Tetsu around the corner lowered his head to hide his smile. It was amazing how shy Ten-chan became when it came to touching Jill.

Her gaze wavered from the fox to the stairs and back. "I don't know. I just – I've been wondering the whole time what exactly you are to D. I mean, what with his job, and everything – I knew you couldn't be wholly human." She quickly looked at his ears and then away again. "I kinda thought you were someone like Chris. Or Dana. Someone who's not wholly human, but has been taken under D's wing."

Tetsu laughed quietly, glad that he wasn't facing Jill at the moment. Ten-chan, he knew, would have a hard time now keeping his face straight.

"Jill, I'm actually far older than the Count, although you are kind of right with the assumption that he has taken me under his wing. He and the shop are my refuge when I need to take cover for a while or just don't want to wander anymore." The fox's voice was soft, and only the slightest hint of amusement shone through. "That's what I am, originally. A wanderer, an adventurer and a shapeshifter. A kitsune. A kind of fox. My species is…"

"Hey, Ten-chan, where're you? Norma wants to leave!"

Leon's voice from the front made the two on the stairs startle. Tetsu cursed inwardly and took off to keep him out of their hair for at least another few moments.

Ten-chan's ears picked up his steps. There wasn't much time left, that much was for sure. And he wouldn't have many opportunities to talk to Jill in the coming weeks, perhaps months.

Gently he took her hand, and she, surprised, loosened her arms and let him. He brought the hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to it. "I promise, Jill, that I will return safe and sound, and then I will explain everything to you. I swear on my honour that I will," he said and looked up at her, his eyes holding an indefinite expression. "Please have patience until then. The Count needs my help more at the moment, but I will return to you. I swear."

He let go off her hand quickly and vanished in the depths of the corridors while Jill stayed back and stared at her hand.

A/N: Oh dear god. I'm awfully sorry. I couldn't update on Good Friday since I was home with my family and simply forgot to bring along my laptop - and then, just when I was about to update on tuesday, my part of the city was being evacuated because they found a bomb at some building site. Sorry T.T I really didn't do it on purpose and I didn't forget either. I just couldn't make time before now.

x: Okay, then I'm relieved *takes a deep breath* "That woman coming back" meaning Adrianne Ward, I presume? No need to worry about that, promise...
Concerning the rest you said: you're right, of course. The kami are creepy, they are overpowering, they are the ones who make the rules - and Leon is someone who pretty much hates someone else making the rules. The point of this story was never (well, okay, in the very beginning, but that was before I even was done with Unexpected) to find the miracle (solution) for their relationship. I very much believe there ain't one. And, although you may not be glad about it or even agree with me, I was very glad to read in your review that you felt this way - 'cause it's exactly the way I would feel in Leon's shoes, too. So, thanks a lot :-)