"Uncle Winn."
The man himself immediately turned at the cheered call of his name just in time to hold out his arms towards the hurrying younger boy jogging towards him with a wide grin in greeting. "Hey there, war cub." Winn smiles returning Ryan's warm hug with one of his own.
"I missed you." The younger boy says lightly nuzzling his face against the elder man's shoulder in that younger brother kind of way to Winn's elder one the pair had developed since Ryan had been found during one of the latest CADMUS lab raids the same moment Ryan tugs over a chair of his own beside Winn's with an interested "Whatcha doing?" after a glance at Winn's computer screen.
"Hang on a second kiddo." Winn slows once his eyes find those of the amused woman watching them a few steps away. "Hey, Mama Bear." The computer genius greets earning an eye-rolled smile from Eliza at the title as the pair share a warm hug between them.
"Hello, Winn." The Danvers's mother greets then gives a small disapproving click of her tongue in a way only a mother could pull off as she gives a disapproving "you're working too hard again, and here I thought you were my good child." as she rocks back on her heels to look over the young man's current appearance as she slides a hand over the young man's unshaven chin then upwards to tousle Winn's already unbrushed hair.
Winn can tell she was only teasing him given the playful glint in her eyes or maybe that was the teasing wink she sent his way after he'd bashfully ducked his head at the motherly fussing, she was making over him
"So, the twins finally got Alex into the med bay. How they managed without someone getting punched this time I don't know but last time I checked on them Maggie was getting Alex to drink a few more sips of water before Alex laid down." Winn unloads self-consciously attempting to flatten his unkempt hair as he talked.
"Maggie?" Eliza asks as a beeping hum pulled Winn's attention back towards the computer screen.
"Yeah, apparently she's going to be the new NCPD go-between for the DEO." Winn acknowledges once again typing a few keys on the computer keyboard whilst at his side Ryan manages to successfully balance a once again dozing Mayarah against his lap "I haven't gotten to meet her myself." Winn goes on glancing between Eliza and the computer monitor "but if she can go toe to toe with Alex when she's in one of her bad night spirals and has the scariest of the Danvers sisters purring like a kitten at the end of it, she already has my deepest respect."
Again, Eliza stares in dazed surprise at the newly gained information before her grandson chimes in with a reminding "but Mama likes dogs better, Uncle Winn." As the boy tenderly pets the sleeping puppy nestled against his lap.
"Speaking of which." Winn says the slight flourished change in his voice catching not just Eliza's attention as the computer genius reaches over to tug open the small drawer of his workstation. "Lin gave me a heads up about your new friend here, and I took the liberty of making up this for her."
Ryan's eyes go wide at the small collar Winn was holding up. Tears the watching pair hoped were from gratitude rather than actual upset welling up in his eyes before he speaks "But Mama hasn't said we can keep her." The hesitant fear of the young boy's voice had both adults' hearts breaking to hear as Ryan looks from the offered collar to the puppy sleeping in his lap and back again.
"But remember what we talked about, RyRy?" Eliza reminds dropping to kneel in front of her sulking grandson. Running a slow and attempted comforting hand through the boy's hair once he'd given a consenting node allowing the touch. "I could use a cutie like Mayarah to keep me company if Mama is silly enough to say you can't keep her with you."
Considering his arms were currently making sure Mayarah wasn't going to slide from his lap Ryan just nuzzles his head against his Gram's shoulder affectionately at the offer as Eliza's hands intertwine with Ryan's own against Mayarah's side. The puppy in question blinking open one eye as if feeling the sudden spotlight of attention before stretching out with a yawned whimper before she scoots up to snuggle against Ryan's chest. Her head tucked so trusting under the boy's chin as she eyes both Winn and the offered collar suspiciously.
"Wanna see if it fits?" Winn asks much more hesitant now at the untrusting little growls the now awake puppy was giving despite Ryan's calming pets against the dog's back.
"Uncle Winn won't hurt you, Maya." Ryan whispers as he gives an agreeing node to Winn's suggestion when the young dog in his lap gives a scared whimper as her muzzle nudges against the underside of his jaw despite the fact Winn hadn't made a new move to get closer to the pair. "He's a friend," Ryan promises smoothing a hand down Maya's back once more.
At Ryan's direction Winn kneels down within reach of the four-year-old's hand should Ryan try to reach out towards him, the collar still held out in offering as the dog herself glances from the boy to Winn and back again. Nervous heckles still raised but her untrusting growls dropped in pitch.
"He's a friend." Ryan repeats "He won't hurt you." The boy vows after maneuvering the animal on his lap so he could rest his forehead on Maya's in reassurance.
The click of a camera phone has Winn and Eliza turning in tandem toward the source earning a questioning "What? That is adorable, and I know Alex will wanna see it first thing when she wakes up." From Lucy who was already typing away on her phone no doubt sending the newly taken picture of the boy and his puppy to a few trusted names already saved in her contacts.
"Mama?" Ryan asks his voice on the hopeful side of nervous at the sound of his mother's name.
"She's alright buddy, just taking a nap in the medbay right now." Lucy smiles as she tucks her phone back into the pocket of her sweatpants.
"But she fell down." Ryan argues remembering the sudden gasped breath and abruptly ended the call he'd shared with his mom earlier in the day.
"The only thing that was bruised up was her ego, Ry." Lucy covers after a rather conspirators-worthy glance between Eliza and Winn.
The boy's eyes narrow for a half-second, mistrust clear in his expression as if he'd caught the quiet 'not to mention her heart.' Lucy had added in her own mind as she remembers just how upset one of her close friends had been after her sisters had helped her from the car.
One second, Alex was crying about hurting J'onn and being a bad Earth daughter to her surrogate Martian father figure of a boss the next it was gushing over how pretty Maggie was up close and all grown up. "Oh, my Rao, *hick* Rao Luc She's so pretty. So, so pretty Luc it's insane. And she has these cute dimples when she smiles. Well, she had them before when we were younger, but they are even more pretty now she's all grown.' Alex had swooned however slurred in her intoxicated state only for her to turn around and cry all over again once she remembered her old heartache regarding her former pen pal of a first crush.
"I wanna see her." Ryan decides his tone far more serious than any of the three adults around him had heard from the normally soft-spoken young boy.
"She just needs-" Lucy tries to cover but Ryan was already shaking his head by way of quieting her as he hands off Maya to his Grams. Once he'd finished his arms crossed over his front mirroring with surprising skill one of his adoptive mother's more 'I'm not backing down' kind of poses as his gaze holds Lucy Lane's own.
"I wanna see my Mama." Ryan repeats his voice once again layered with that gentle authority they'd only known from J'onn. "Please, auntie Luc." He adds far softer now as if picking up on the adult's surprise at his shifting moods.
"Of course, you can see her, Ryan."
Eliza was the first of the group to turn at the newcomer's promising voice. "J'onn." She greets only for her smile to turn into a worried frown at the sight of the Martian Man's bandaged arm complete with a soft sling holding the injury immobile against his chest.
"Eliza." J'onn acknowledges with a light nod of his head before his gaze slides over towards Lucy's before the mother could question further. "Major Lane, will you please make sure our young warrior gets to the medbay safely?"
"Hey, Papa bear… erm sir." Winn starts to stammer at J'onn's much more authoritive stance as Lucy nodes at once in quiet agreement to his request.
"How's the recovery coming along Mr. Schott?" J'onn asks despite his currently tracking gaze on Lucy and Ryan's backs as the two head away from the group towards the hallway leading to the medical section of the DEO.
"Right, well I've made some headway, but it's slow going given the damage…" Winn starts in much more in his element now as he turns back to his computer.
Eliza giving a small gasp of surprise when she seen the image Winn had pulled up onto the screen over the young man's shoulder. Maya immediately nuzzled under the elder woman's chin as her paws rest against her shoulders as if attempting a hug as Eliza instinctively begins gently rocking the puppy cradled in her arms all the while her eyes remained trained on the computer screen as she looks once again on the front of the card a much younger Alex had so painstakingly selected to send to her pen pal.
Its printed image inside the once neat red and white border on the front of the card now blackened and burnt even scanned into the computer as Winn attempts to salvage the handwritten words not yet burnt away by a more grown Alex's attempt to burn it to ashes.
"I haven't read any of it, Schott's honor." Winn jokes as J'onn only nodes in satisfaction at the progress before clapping the young technician on the shoulder with a departing "keep at it. Please." Before moving away to talk with a newly returned Supergirl suite clade Kara and a plainer clothed looking Linda lingering a few steps away.
"Hey, Winn."
"Huh?" Winn asks once more distracted with keying in another few lines of coding into whatever program he'd been running.
"I think she wants to try that collar now." Eliza chuckles
"Huh?" Winn asks a pen now clenched between his teeth as he looked from one computer monitor to the other.
"Maya, I think she's ready for her collar." Eliza explains stepping a little closer to allow the reaching puppy in her arms to nose a little more curiously at the thing Winn had set down against the edge of his desk with a few more impatient whimpers.