A/N: This chapter gets a little intense, offscreen and past child abuse. You've been warned.

*.*.*.*.*

*.*.*.*.*

*.*.*.*.*

Swishing his hand gently along the silvery scales, Gavin had to admit, sharks were pretty cool in general, but being able to touch the bamboo sharks was probably worth the price of admission alone. Sure, part of his brain kept insisting one of the harmless things was gonna try and take a chunk out of his finger, but that was kind of cool too.

Hell, Tina and Connor whispering about pretend plans to smuggle one out for the android's tank at home, Hank looking at them suspiciously and being given overly innocent looks in return was worth the price of admission.

He knew they were faking, because obviously he would have been involved if an actual theft was going to happen. Gavin could just imagine the 'distraction' that would wind up with the whole place staring at them if those two attempted a heist.

"God, you'd think the pod people would at least try to look normal, but they don't have any shame." The voice was loud, scornful and obnoxious, and it didn't take a genius to figure out the jackass was talking about Connor, Connor with his LED intact even after most androids had removed them to avoid dealing with bastards like this, because he wasn't ashamed and shouldn't have to be. Surging to his feet with his hands still dripping, Gavin turned, a scowl on his face and-

He stumbled back, air leaving his chest faster than if he'd been punched, and nearly fell right into the shark pool as his ankles hit concrete, would have without the steady hand clasping his shoulder. It was Connor who had his back, Connor who kept him from falling as those cold eyes, too much like his own if nothing had been behind them, noticed him. As they honed in.

"Gavin. Why am I not surprised this is the company you keep?" He shook his head, disgusted, lips curled, and kept going with a stream of every insult in the book. Gavin wanted to scream at him, wanted to kick him in the balls and tell him to fuck off, but he was frozen, breath tight in his throat, he couldn't breathe, and...what...the...fuck. What the absolute fuck! He thought his brain was short circuiting. Hank was in front of the shit-stain now, badge out, but Gavin didn't focus on that.

Couldn't.

There was a kid standing behind him, a tiny kid in too big clothes that looked like he'd tried to wash them himself. A scared little kid with a black eye, and a nose that looked too much like Gavin's for it to be a coincidence, and hadn't the rare trips out when he was little always been after the old man had lost his temper? For something like an aquarium...there were more bruises under that too big sweatshirt.

He knew. He knew. He felt too hot, throat almost swollen, and he knew. "Connor, can you scan that kid for injuries?" Gavin hissed out of the corner of his mouth, eyes still not leaving what had to be his brother. His brother...

If Gavin found out Elijah knew about this and hadn't told him, he was gonna break both his fucking kneecaps.

"The juvenile Levi Reed has a bruised eye from a strike to the face, deep bruising on his shoulders and arms, in the form of overlapping handprints-likely from being yanked, shaken and squeezed, a badly healing and unwrapped sprained ankle, and he is underweight and suffering from malnutrition and untreated cavities." Connor's voice was official, reading from a list, until he tore his eyes from the kid-Levi-and surged forward, all but shouting, "Lieutenant, this man must be apprehended for child abuse!"

Gavin's fingernails were biting into his skin, his hands in tight fists, and he held himself back only because he knew that if he punched the shit-stain's face in that would complicate things. All his panic had disappeared, white hot rage taking its place, filling even the usually empty places inside...but that wouldn't be good for the kid, who Tina was working her way towards as Hank flipped him around and brought the bastard to his knees, handcuffs pulled out of nowhere and clamping his hands behind his back, where they were safest for everybody but him. He was yelling and screaming, something about rights and suing them all, but Gavin felt almost like he had cotton in his ears. He considered sparing the shit-stain a sneer, for the angry 16 year old inside him that didn't know why he wasn't clawing the fucker's eyes out, but it wasn't worth it, he wasn't worth it.

Coming to a stop a couple feet away from his brother, who was staring up at him with narrowed, confused, untrusting eyes, Gavin crouched down, no fucking clue what to say, but able to muster up a smile. A smile that, judging from the way the kid inched towards Tina, was about as effective as Gavin should have expected. "I'm Gavin. The jerk-off, uh, the jerk throwing a tantrum over there is my dad too."

Dark eyes regarded him suspiciously and somehow the murmured, "prove it," didn't surprise him at all, though he had to bite down on a (slightly hysterical) laugh. Pulling his badge out of his pocket, he held it out and let Levi take it. "Same last name, plus the old man knew me, right?"

Levi turned the badge over in his hands, looking at it as he nodded thoughtfully. Kid was trying so hard to look tough it made Gavin's dried-up heart burst into shrivels and shreds. "You're a cop?"

"Yeah, a detective. He ain't gonna touch you ever again." It was definitely a rash promise, but it was also a promise Gavin would keep or die trying.

And fuck, Elijah and his billions had to be good for something, right?

"Dad says cops are brainwashed agents of the deep state out to destroy the American man and his way of life." Gavin blinked, because, yeah, that bullshit sounded like the old man, but he had no clue what to say about any of that to a what, nine year old? Then Levi leaned closer, shot a look at him to make sure he was too busy being shoved up against a wall and read his rights by Hank to overhear, and whispered, "he's really fricking stupid."

Gavin barked out a laugh, Levi smiling at him conspiratorially, both ignoring Tina's excited, "Oh my gosh, you're a mini-Gavin!"

"You and me, kid? We're gonna get along just fine."

*.*.*.*.*

Gavin knew he had to keep his head in the game, on his shoulders, whatever stupid-ass metaphor was most appropriate for this absolutely fucked up situation. Levi needed him to, and that was what mattered.

Later, when he had the kid safe at home with him, he'd excuse himself to scream into a pillow for a fucking hour. He deserved it.

Hank had called for transport for him, and at another time Gavin might have appreciated the rough way he had moved the bastard out of the room, 'accidentally' knocking his legs into various touch pools.

Okay, he still appreciated it, and was actually fairly fucking jealous, but that wasn't the point. Levi was watching what Gavin was pretty sure were ancient ass tiktoks with Tina-the-literal-Godsend on a bench outside the giftshop, and he was supposed to be calling Elijah and summoning an army of lawyers. Instead he was leaning against the nearest out of sight flat surface and breathing. Trying to breathe.

It was kind of hard when his fucking skin felt like it wanted to crawl off his body and his face somehow felt like it was hot and cold at the same time. Gavin was pretty sure that was weird, even with the panic attack he was definitely having.

Goddamned insane. He had to be happy this had happened, because otherwise Levi would still be with him-the way his stomach twisted and bubbled at that, he was gonna get a fucking ulcer-but he hadn't exactly expected his entire life to change in the past maybe forty minutes. Pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes so hard it was like looking into a black and white kaleidoscope, Gavin sank down the wall, sternly telling himself that there was no wetness on his hands or leaking out of his stupid disloyal fucking tearducts. He carefully sucked in one deep breath and then another, trying to ignore his brain insisting he was getting no oxygen anyway.

Scuffing noises told him that Hank was approaching, and a tiny, probably in shock, part of his mind was amazed that at some point or another over the years he'd memorized the cranky old drunk's gait enough to recognize it, but mostly he just tried to suck it up. "Hey." He regretted the croaked out, watery word the second it left his mouth, and, trying to prove to someone who already knew better that he wasn't falling apart, he pulled his hands away from his eyes and swiped his hoodie sleeve over them quickly, looking up to find Hank squatting next to him, all concerned and shit, and nearly as uncomfortable with it as Gavin was.

"Hey. Miller and Collins took him back to the station. I've never seen Collins look more tempted to ram somebody's head into the side of his car. Didn't happen, because it was Ben, but…" Gavin nodded, tried to grin a little, then gave up and just concentrated on breathing again. Hank's hand wound up on his shoulder, and it should've been weird, was a little bit, but it was also...okay. Maybe kind of nice as Hank squeezed a little and it felt like it connected him back to the real world more than his own feet on the ground.

"I've gotta call Elijah. Should've done it five minutes ago when I came out here." Gavin nodded like that would somehow do the hard part for him.

"Does Tina have his number?"

"Um, yeah, for emergencies." Then his brain catching up to what Hank was suggesting, Gavin shook his head, "Nah, can't make her do it, besides she thinks he's fucking creepy."

"He is creepy," Hank said lightly, making Gavin snort, before squeezing his shoulder again and letting his hand fall back by his side. "Alright, Connor said he was gonna update Fowler, but God knows how that went, so I better check in." Good. That was good, and Hank slowly stood, only moving about five feet away before pulling out his phone and sending a not at all hidden worried look back at Gavin. Because everything in his life wasn't turned enough on its head as it was.

He let himself close his eyes for just a second as he dug his phone out of his pocket and muttered 'cyborg-wannabe' into the speaker, then pried them open when it started ringing. "Gavin? You're calling instead of texting? Is it the second coming already?" Elijah's light, unconcerned voice hit a nerve that had him swallowing.

"Shut-up and listen for once, alright? It's...it's important."