Return

D had always liked moving the shop. The earth from far above was a sight to behold. And right now his heart was light, in contrast to the last four times he had seen this picture.

"Dana, can you see that continent down there? That is America. That is where we're going to," he said to his daughter. She turned her head to him.

"Leon in America?" she asked.

D smiled at her. "Yes, Leon lives there. We are going to live with him, lovely."

"Dana likes Leon," she announced and wriggled in his arms. The kami held on to her tighter.

"Dana, don't. I don't want you to fall over board."

She pouted. "Want down!"

He sighed and set her to the floor, where she quickly took off to fling herself at Honlon. Her elder sister smiled gently (Shuko was dominant at the moment) and let herself be lead by the small girl. D turned back to watch the earth, smile returning to his face. It had been a week since Leon had left, but he had had to take care of a few things back in Japan. The most important was getting Taizu into prison. It hadn't been difficult, D had known long since that the man was taking forbidden medicaments. It gave the police an excuse to search his house, where they found various other evidence of Taizu's illegal activities.

D usually wasn't one to tell, he knew very well that sometimes he was on the line of legality, but in Taizu's case he made an exception. He could, of course, have sent Tetsu to him, or one of the other pets, but his despise of the man was so overwhelming he didn't even want a pet in his shop that had eaten him. Handing him over to the police was a rather easy option, and one that didn't cause delay, for he had done so anonymously.

Now that everything was settled, D was free again. Free to move to America, free to live there with Leon. He watched earth grow nearer as the shop steered towards the familiar city, the familiar place in Chinatown. The kami closed his eyes and felt it changing to adjust to the little basement room, felt it change form again.

And then they were home.

D opened his eyes again and smiled brightly as he saw the familiar front room around him. Dana was sitting on the sofa with Honlon, listening to her sister reading from a book. The curtain behind which her bed was hidden was in place. The teacart was standing beside the small table. Yes, this was home.

Sweeping over to his daughters, he took Dana up in his arms. She didn't object, which told D very clearly that she was almost asleep on her feet. "Shuko, Tetsu, please go and make sure the pets are settling in again," he ordered and carried the girl off to his bedroom. "We will open in two hours."

"Count, it is so nice to see you again!" The kami bowed and smiled at the couple. "Thank you, Mrs and Mr Li. I am most delighted to be back, too."

They wanted to chatter on, but the door opened and cut them off. D's smile brightened when he saw the new visitor, but the Lis suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable. "We hope you will stay longer now that you are back," Mrs Li said and hastily shushed her husband out, sending the detective an exasperated glance. He wrinkled his brow, but they were gone before he could utter a word.

The kami swept over once they'd left the shop. "Detective!" The way he said it told as much as the sparkle in his eyes. Leon looked slightly horrified, as if afraid D would throw himself into his arms the next second. But the Chinese stopped in time and just beamed up at him. The blonde cleared his throat.

"Sorry I wasn't here earlier, the chief had work to do," he mumbled and scratched his head.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Dana is still asleep anyway, we arrived only four hours ago and she was very tired. Tea?" D turned and busied himself with the tea-set.

Leon sat down and looked around. "Doesn't look like you ever left," he commented and D flashed him another smile.

"It's amazing, isn't it? But it's very good for Dana. Children need stability in their lives."

"You talk like an old mother." Leon chuckled. The kami blushed involuntarily and set the teacup down with more force than necessary.

"In case you haven't noticed, Detective, I've been a parent for some time now," he said lightly, but there was a sharp edge to his voice. The blonde sighed.

"Look, D, can we just stop this, please? I mean, I don't want to quarrel the whole time while I'm here. However she was conceived, Dana is my kid and I'm grateful that she's here, okay?"

D bit his lip and averted his gaze. The blush on his face was shame more than embarrassment. But he nodded. Pon-chan looked up from her pillow. "Wow, I'd never thought I'd live to see that day," she remarked dryly and was favoured with a glare from both Leon and her master. Chuckling, she hopped off the pillow and went towards the back. "Gonna look if Dana's woken now," she announced, but a child's cry from the back answered her question.

Leon quickly stood and waved D away. "Lemme get her, D. Prepare tea, or whatever you wanna do," he said and went after Pon-chan.

A few minutes later he appeared again, a very sleepy girl in his arms, who snuggled to him closely. D's heart skipped a beat. "Good morning, Dana," he greeted his daughter and kissed her on the cheek. "Did you sleep well?"

A shy nod was his only answer and the girl fastened her arms onto Leon's neck, thus pulling his hair. He winced and sat down. "D, you've gotta teach her more English. I can't understand her at all," he said casually while he pried Dana's fingers loose from his ponytail.

"Why don't you do that? I prefer to speak Chinese with her, and it will be for her good if she grows up bilingual," D answered and poured some tea.

Dana sent a glance at the table and hid her face in Leon's shoulder. She showed no interest in the food yet, in contrast to the pets. They surrounded the table and tried to snatch something. D had to rap them on the knuckles to keep them from stealing their food. Then he handed Leon a plate. The blonde had some difficulty eating, for Dana was pretty much in his way, but he managed. D, watching him, had to hide a smile behind his teacup when he saw the dislocations he had to make.

Finally the girl decided that now she was awake and wanted to eat. She grabbed Leon's fork with a piece of cake on it and tried to conduct it in her direction. "Dana hungry!" she exclaimed. The blonde quickly jerked back the fork, blue eyes wide.

"Dana! Stop it, you're gonna hurt yourself!" he practically yelled. The corners of her mouth quivered. Hastily Leon took a spoon and placed the cake on it. "Here, sweetie, that's okay. You can't hurt yourself with a spoon."

Dana eyed the spoon critically, but was too interested in the cake to object. She took it from her father's hand and ate the cake a little clumsily. "But only one!" D admonished and stood to get real food from the kitchen. "Really, Detective, I know she is my daughter, but sweets are never good for children's teeth, no matter whose children they are."

"Yeah, yeah, go get some real food, then, your little missy's hungry." Leon waved him off and watched Dana scoop up another piece of cake with an enrapt smile on his lips.

Well, he certainly was pretty happy about Dana being here. Whether the same could be said about D the kami didn't know. But right now, he was just content to be here at all. After all, nobody could have foreseen the developments.

He quickly prepared some sandwiches for Dana and returned to the front room. The girl was delighted and munched happily while Leon finally got to eat his cake in peace. Then she demanded to play. The blonde was only too happy to comply and soon they were rolling over the floor, tussling with each other, Pon-chan and T-chan gleefully taking advantage of Leon, too. D watched them, laughing softly while he cleared the table. Leon was going to have some scratches tomorrow, that was for sure.

Leon's phone rang and he pried his arm loose from Dana to take the call. D looked up and watched his face turn from happy to serious. "Yeah, got it, Jill. I'll be there in a minute. See ya," he said and closed it again, searching D's eyes. "Sorry, D, gotta go. There was a – a girl was found dead. I'll try to be back by bedtime, but don't count on me."

He bent down and ruffled Dana's hair lovingly. "Little missy, I've gotta go. I'll see you around, huh?" Her blue-golden eyes couldn't decide whether to look at her kami or human father. It was obvious she didn't understand what Leon was talking about and the blonde sighed. "Talk some more English with her, please, D," he called to the kami while he strode to the door.

Dana started to complain and D quickly got his daughter up, trying to soothe her. "He will be back, Dana, don't worry," he told her in Chinese. She didn't look convinced. He sighed, too. This would perhaps get difficult. Great. They were not even back a whole day and the problems were already about to start.

Jill was already waiting for Leon outside a big apartment complex when he arrived, parking his car behind a city police car. She started to tell him the facts as soon as he got out of the car.

"Dead person's name's Laura Miller, 23 years old, daughter of the Miller construction guy. Not the biggest one in town, but one of the better-off. She worked in a gallery on the Boulevard. As far as we know by now, she surprised a burglar and was killed by him. Her neighbour called the police when Laura didn't show up for their teatime, and the city cops found her in the apartment. Time of death approximately ten o'clock yesterday evening, but so far that is all we know."

They strode into the building, showing their badges to the cops. "Family and friends?" Leon asked and hit the elevator button. Jill nodded.

"Laura had a boyfriend, his name's Gavin McGallen. Yeah, McGallen as in 'McGallen seminary'. He's the black sheep of the family, had a lot of affairs. Grapevine says not only with women, but so far he's never been seen with a guy, so either he's very good at hiding his homosexuality or he's straight. We haven't called her family yet, wanted to wait for you."

They entered the elevator and Jill pressed the button for the fourth floor, while she eyed her colleague curiously. "So, is he back?" she asked. Leon, snatched from his thoughts, looked up in confusion.

"Who's back?" he demanded.

The blonde woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "You know. The Count. I thought I heard T-chan in the background when I called you."

The blonde nodded absent-mindedly. "Yeah, he is back. Arrived this morning, as far as I know."

Jill's eyes were great behind her glasses. "And?!" she inquired impatiently. Leon glared at her.

"What 'and'? He's back, yes. Everything's just like it was before. Why do you ask? We've got other things to think about right now."

The elevator pinged and they went out. The apartment was obvious. Lots of people were walking in and out, most of them in safety suits. Jill held step with Leon while she talked. "Well, I ask because I'm interested, of course, you moron. How was the reunion? And most important, did he bring your kid?"

Now she got a really mean glare. "Of course he has! Whaddya think, he left a 21-months-old kid back in Japan all alone?! Where was she found, anyway?"

Jill pouted, but answered all the same, carefully stepping around some tape on the floor that marked evidence. "In her walk-in closet."

The blonde stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her unbelievingly. "In her walk-in closet?!" he echoed completely nonplussed. Jill grinned.

"As I told you. The cops came in and found the apartment empty. Her friend came in, too, and she was the one who found her, because she went straight to the bedroom and noticed that the door to the wardrobe was slightly open. According to her, Laura would never have left her wardrobe open. She was pretty crazy about her clothes."

She nearly broke down laughing at the expression on Leon's face. His jaw was hanging open and he stared at her as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "You've gotta be kidding. She was found in her walk-in closet?!"

"Like I told you," Jill answered and opened the door to the bedroom, getting an exasperated "Hey!" from the police photographer. She pointed over to where his colleague was busy. "There you go, honey. C'mon, this has to be fun! Dead girl found in her wardrobe, robbed and killed!"

Leon rolled his eyes and carefully crossed the room, kneeling down beside the corpse. Laura Miller had been pretty. She still was, even though now several shots and a lot of blood were marring her body. The officer sighed deeply. "Gods, those kids are just too adventurous! Why in all heavens didn't she call the cops if she heard someone in her flat? It looks like she was just entering this – thing." He gestured around himself, indicating the wardrobe, stuffed with different clothes and approximately hundreds of shoes.

Jill got down beside him, too. "Perhaps she wanted to protect her shoes," she suggested, grinning wickedly. That got her a weak glance from both Leon and the photographer. She shrugged. "Hey, guys, it's high society girl. For some of those shoes are more important than anything else. Perhaps she was one of them. Can you remember, Samantha was robbed in one episode of 'Sex and the city', too, and all she had to say to the guy that robbed her was: "Take what you want, but leave me my Manolo Blahniks"?"

The men looked even more suspicious. She rolled her eyes. "Guys. Manolo Blahnik. Doesn't ring a bell? Shoe designer. Oh, never care. Just get on with the details."

They sent her a last irritated look and then turned back to the body. She was indeed lying in the closet as if she just had entered. In one of her hands she held the t-shirt which she must have slipped out of when she heard the noise.

Leon wrinkled his brow. "Jill, tell me, if you hear someone in your flat, what would you do?" he asked. His colleague shrugged.

"Pull out my gun and find out who it is," she answered and looked at the clothes in the wardrobe. "Lords, they must've cost a small fortune!"

It was pretty clear she envied Laura, even though she was dead now. The blonde rolled his eyes. "Jill. Could you please stop gazing at those clothes and concentrate on the task at hand?" he said sarcastically. The woman sighed and turned to him.

"I'm a woman, I can do multi-tasking, Leon," she enlightened him and decided to prove her ability as a mind-reader as well. "And your next sentence would be: But if you're not in possession of a gun, what would you do? And my answer is, as a reasonable being, I would go call the people who have guns. But as I guess you want me to imagine I am Laura, who seems not to have been a reasonable being judging by the amount of money she was spending on clothes, I would take a baseball bat and go see who is visiting me without my permission."

Leon clicked his fingers. "Thanks, Jill. That's my point. Where's the baseball bat?"

Both looked at the corpse. "Yeah, true," the woman said slowly. "She's just holding her tee, like she was about to undress for bed."

"Well, it could be that the burglar could hide when he heard her open the door, while she heard nothing at all. He went into the closet, thinking he wouldn't be discovered there," Leon suggested. Jill went with him.

"Only that women with closets like this tend to dress and undress in them. So when Laura came in and started to undress, she also went to the wardrobe, opened it and the guy had to do something. He pulled out his gun and shot her."

Leon sat down on his heels and gazed into the distance. "But why did he have a gun with him? I mean, usually those guys don't use the big things, just a knife or something, because it's less noise. And if he wasn't already holding the gun, Laura must've seen him before he shot her. She's the kind of girl who'd start to scream, but no one heard anything, right?"

Jill nodded. "Her neighbour says she couldn't sleep last night and was up until two o'clock. Her French window was open, she must've heard something if Laura screamed. Not the shot, though, if he was using a baffle."

The blonde still gazed into nowhere. "I don't know, Jill. I just don't know if this was just a robbery."

She sat down beside him, looking at the corpse, too. "Your gut's telling you that, right? Well, be careful with those gut feelings, Leon, the chief's not too happy about them and he'll want this solved asap. Which means, yesterday. And I've gotta tell you, to me it looks like a robbery, too. We're not yet sure what's missing, but he broke her jewel box and took some of the items in there."

"But why just take some? Why not take the whole thing if he was at it?" Leon asked. The pathology guys arrived and he and Jill had to move so they could get to work.

"I don't know. Perhaps he was afraid someone had heard the shot. Perhaps he was pretty new in this business and lost his nerves," she suggested and shrugged at his look. "Oh Leon, I'm busy with my drug-dealers. Don't expect me to be very imaginative about robbery cases like this at the moment."

The blonde sighed and threaded a hand through his hair, discovering that Dana had tousled his ponytail quite impressively. He made a new one and grimaced. "Yeah, well, can't do more here right now. Let's get back to the plaza and hear what the chief's gotta say about it before we break the news to Laura's parents."

Leon stretched and groaned when the bones in his back cracked. "Fuck, I'm getting old!"

"Course you are, you're a dad already!" Jill answered jolly and put one more piece of paper on the big stack besides her computer. The blonde decided not to answer this comment, especially as something came to his mind when she said it. A quick glance at the clock told him it was already past nine o'clock. He jumped up and snatched his jacket.

"Okay, Jill, I'll see ya tomorrow." The blonde woman looked at him curiously and then got up, too.

"You're going to the pet shop?" she asked eagerly and reached for her jacket, too. Leon stopped, one arm in the sleeve.

"What's that going to be, Jill?" he inquired suspiciously.

She beamed at him. "If you're going to visit your daughter, I'll go with you. C'mon, Leon, I wanna see her! You didn't even tell me how she looks!"

"No, Jill, no! Absolutely no way!" Leon folded his arms and put himself in her way. Her grey eyes looked at him pleadingly.

"Just one look, Leon! I promise, I won't disturb you and the Count for long!"

That made him gasp for air and search for words. "You're – why in all heavens do you think you'll disturb us?!" he sputtered at last. "I fucking hell just want to make sure she's safe in bed, that's all, and then I'll be off myself!"

Jill rolled her eyes, but Leon was rescued by the chief opening his door and calling for her loudly. Both flinched at his voice and she grimaced. "Shit. Doesn't sound happy to me."

"Nah, to me neither. Listen, Jill, if you wanna see Dana, come around tomorrow at teatime. Then she'll be awake and all, okay?" Leon suggested. His colleague sighed, scratched her head and nodded at last.

"But don't think I'll forget that!" she called after him, but he was already hurrying out and just waved dismissively.

Dana was not in bed when Leon arrived in the shop. He didn't even have to open the door to see that, or better, hear it. D didn't cry that way (if the guy did ever cry, that means, for Leon hadn't seen him do so so far), and none of the pets did either. That full-throated wail that sounded as if D was torturing a banshee was unmistakably his daughter's.

Pushing open the doors, Leon stormed inside and was greeted by the sight of a sobbing Dana in D's arms, who was carrying her around, his expression somewhere between exasperated and worried. He whirled round to check who had entered, but the alertness ceased at once when he saw Leon. Relief was visible for a second, and then he pushed the crying child into Leon's arms. "Here, try your luck, Detective. She won't have me today evening, it seems," he said coldly and swept into the kitchen, probably to prepare tea.

Leon stood stiff as a poker, looking into Dana's eyes. The girl looked back up. Her mouth snapped shut and she snuggled into his arms. "Leon."

"Yeah, I'm here," he answered, silently cursing himself. Of all the dumb answers to come up with, this had to be on the top list.

The sudden silence caused the pets to come out of their hiding places, looking relieved, too. Pon-chan climbed onto a chair and nudged Dana with her nose. "See, Dana, he has come back," she told the child gently and Leon discerned from that that his daughter had been worried he had left forever. He barely refrained from rolling his eyes. What had D told the kid?

"Sweetie, I just had to work," he explained carefully and sat down on the sofa with Dana in his lap, turning her so she could look into his eyes. They were still swimming in tears, but beneath them, they were alert and curious. "I don't work at the shop like D does, I have to go elsewhere. Perhaps I'll show you one day, when you're older. I won't leave you."

"I doubt it is the only reason she started to cry," D remarked from behind Leon and made him jump. The kami smiled wickedly and slid into his chair, folding his hands gracefully. "She seems to be quite worn out from moving and got crotchety around seven o'clock. I wanted to lay her to bed, but she started to cry and wouldn't stop."

The blonde looked at the kami in horror. "She cried two whole hours long?" he said faintly. D tilted his head to the side and seemed to consider.

"Not really. She stopped for about half an hour when T-chan bathed her. But afterwards she started again." He took a sip of his tea and leaned back comfortably. "Do you want to bring her to bed, Detective?" he offered generously.

Leon looked down on his child and nodded hesitatingly. "Yeah, I guess I want to," he said, knowing that D hadn't meant it as a question.

He stood up, hoisted Dana on his hip and bent to pick up her plush cat. "Here, lovely, there you go."

"In my bedroom, please," D said from his chair. "The bed in the front room is only for the daytime." Leon rolled his eyes.

"I know, D. I'm not that stupid that I would forget what you told me back in Japan."

There was no reply, and so he strode towards D's bedroom again. Dana, now that she had stopped to cry, really seemed to be exhausted. Her head fell onto Leon's shoulder and he fastened his hold on her, afraid she might fall. She let herself be seated and undressed without any complaints. Her cheeks seemed unusually red to Leon. Well, she didn't have D's porcelain pale complexion, but still…

Pressing his hand to her forehead, he bit his lip. "D?" he called.

The kami appeared so quickly that he nearly suspected he'd been waiting in front of the door. "What's the matter, Detective? Have you already forgotten how to change her clothes?" he asked with a smirk.

Leon shook his head and glared at him. "No, I haven't. But I think Dana's ill."

D's expression changed to worried at once. He put a cool hand to the child's forehead and the other to his own to compare. Then he dropped both and sighed. "Unwilling as I am to admit it, but I am afraid you are correct, Detective," he said quietly. "Moving seems to have strained her quite."

He quickly finished preparing Dana for bed himself, Leon standing by and feeling superfluous. The girl made no sound, and he felt worried. "Is it dangerous?" he asked and swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. D shook his head.

"Children tend to get ill quite quick, but they also heal pretty fast again. She'll probably be alright again tomorrow." He took the girl up and carried her to the cradle in the corner. She pried her eyes open wide enough to look at Leon. They had a feverish glint.

"Leon!" she whimpered. The blonde quickly followed D and the child, who kept her eyes on him while D laid her down and tucked the covers around her. Then she extended one small hand to her human father. "Leon."

Leon couldn't help it, he smiled down at her affectionately and took the little hand in his. It vanished completely, and felt so small and helpless in there. "Yeah, I'm here, honey. Don't worry."

"Story," Dana mumbled, her eyelids dropping shut. D straightened and looked at the blonde with a strange expression in his discoloured eyes.

"I shall leave you," he said. Leon felt it was as much question as statement, but he nodded all the same.

"Yeah, do that. I'll just tell her a story and come back to the front then," he said. D nodded and left, while Leon started to tell Dana a story with a soft voice.

D was drinking tea when Leon entered the front room about half an hour later. He knew he should've anticipated that. What else was he supposed to do in the meantime?

Still, the familiar sight of the Chinese sitting there in the high-backed chair and sipping his tea caused a tight feeling in his chest. There it was. Back to routine. What he had wanted for the past three years, what he had searched for, though he barely ever allowed himself to think that. Only that they couldn't simply go back to routine. Situation had changed. They would have to develop a new routine.

Leon slumped down opposite D and the kami raised his brow disparagingly. The blonde straightened quickly. "You're sure she's gonna be okay again?" he asked, not knowing what else to say. D set the teacup down and poured one for Leon. He only now noticed that there'd been one set out already for him.

"I am pretty sure Dana will be alright tomorrow again, Detective. There is no reason to worry about her," he said softly. Silence fell. Tetsu sidled out from under the sofa Leon was sitting on and vanished into the back of the shop to guard Dana's sleep, sending a last glance at the two men sitting there, avoiding each other's eyes carefully.

"How will we go on?"

Leon simply voiced it. D glanced up, and the blonde thought he could make out insecurity in those mismatched eyes. Then the moment was gone.

"What do you propose? I am here. Dana is here." He watched Leon's face, undisturbed and calm as always.

He shrugged. "I don't know. You tell me. I don't know anything about being a father."

"It is not much different from when you put Chris in my care," D said matter-of-factly. The human nodded absent-mindedly. "I think it would be acceptable if you would share as much of your free time with Dana as is possible for you."

"You mean, dropping by each evening and having picnics on the weekend and such?" Leon sounded slightly horrified at the thought. The kami bit his lip and suppressed a smile.

"Yes, something like that. She also seems to like you bringing her to bed."

"Sure, that I can do," Leon said, sounding relieved. "And – what else do you want me to do now? I mean, you said in Japan you don't want any money, but -"

D cut him off. "I do not need money, Detective, I assure you. You may spend what you earn for whatever you like."

Again silence claimed the front room. Then Leon stood, groaning. "Okay then… I've gotta go now, had a long day," he murmured.

D stood, too, and led him to the door. "Of course, Detective. If you would care to have breakfast tomorrow morning, we usually eat at nine o'clock."

Blue eyes smiled at him. "Sure, I'll try to be there. See ya, D."

"Good night, Detective," D answered softly and closed the door behind the human. Yes, they would have to work out a new routine. It was going to take some time. But they had managed once. Why shouldn't they manage twice?

A/N: Any comments are appreciated. Was it what you expected?