"Is Daddy home?", a childish voice asked, before someone tiptoed downstairs and smiled.

"Daddy!", the 5 year old screamed when he recognized his father who just arrived from work.

Jay unlocked his gun, put it in the safe before he stretched his hands, so his son was able to run to him.

Finally he threw the kid through the air, before Terry landed in his arms safely.

Erin who wittnessed the whole scene from the kitchen started laughing, when the kindergartener giggled and put his thumb up, meaning that he was ready for a special father and son game.

„One, two, three", Jay counted to threw Terry up in the air, before he catched him. They continued for a few times, until the detective breathlessly put him back to the ground.

"Can you read me a good night story?", the 5 year old wanted to know, touching his fathers hand.

It wasn't hard to tell that the little boy was really focused on his father.

"I think Daddy will do that", Erin twinkled, while Terry already ran upstairs, preparing for bed time.

"You have no idea how much he asked about you. I'm not the only one who missed you", Erin hugged her boyfriend, who just arrived from a long trip to Springfield where he was forced to take part in an exchange of experiences, that was organized for all detectives in Illinois.

"Daddy, I already brushed my teeth", a childish voice screamed through the house.

"Coming!", Jay yelled back, before he took the stairs, looking at Terry with wide eyes like he was a monster, who made crrazy sounfs before he grabbed his boy and started to tickle him.

Terry giggled and laughed by the attack, before he started revenge.

Exhausted and breathless father and son finally sat next to each other, when Jay opened the book and started to read and with the pages being finished he felt his son snuggling on his chest.

"I love you little man. Don't you ever forget that."

CPDCPDCPD

"Terry, how about…"

Jay froze when he entered the living room. His son was sitting in front of the safe, quietly holding his gun in one hand, while playing with the magazine, already having one finger at the trigger guard.

"Nooooo!", he screamed, running to the part of the room where his boy was playing, ungentle grabbing the weapon out of his hands.

"What are you doing?"

The little boy started to cry, but Jay ignored it. Fastly he ran upstairs, putting the gun in his nightstand, while he allow himself to sit down, trying to get as calm as possible.

He could be dead. Terry could have died, only because of him. He always locked it up. But picking his son up from day care and making a call regarding their new car, leaded to a slight mistake, neglecting to close the safe.

"He's alive", Jay told himself, still fighting the tears in his eyes, while listening to his son sobbing violently.

Terry didn't know. He didn't understand what happened. He didn't realize why his father seemed that angry and rude, not having any idea that Jay was pissed because of himself and that he was still in shock like his son was.

With his whole body shaking, Jay got up to take the stairs.

Terry sat on the carpet, crying into his little hands, when Jay crawled to him, pulling the pre-schooler into a hug.

When Terry started fighting his father, Jay cathed his beats to pull him closer.

"Never do that again. You nearly gave me a heart attack", he started to speak and held him close until he stopped crying.

"Buddy, this is a gun. Not a toy. It could have killed you. Didn't you listen when I said, that the safe is only used by mommy and daddy? We told you so. It's called safe for a reason."

"I'm sorry", the 5 year old sobbed, receiving a concerned look from his father.

Jay took a deep breath, shook his head like he didn't wanted to believe what happened before.

It wasn't anger or rudeness. Just fear and concern.

"Promise me, that you never touch one of our weapons again", Jay begged, getting Terry to nod.

Thats when Jay got an idea. He glanced at their new suv and took his sons hand.

"Okay. How about an experiment. Do you want to join me for a ride to the forest? I want to show you what happens if you pull the trigger of this gun", Jay explained and looked at the couch that was covered by Terrys stuffed animals.

"First I want you to choose one stuffed animal, you don't need anymore."

To Jays sorrow, Terry couldn't decide, so they came to the conclusion that it would be better to take one of Erins old teddy bears. She wanted to put him to the trash anyway, so it wasn't a big loss.

Jay passed the doll to his son, who sat down on the passengers seat.

He had left a note for Erin, telling that they went on a short trip.

It was just a short drive, but the 5 year old seemed to enjoy it, until they reached the edge of the forest.

Jay put his gun into the holder, before they got out of the car. He took Terrys hand, facing him with a strict glance.

"Listen to me. From now on, you are going to follow any order I'll give you, right?"

"Yes."

They walked deeper into the forest, until Jay stopped and grabbed the stuffed animal, that Terry carried with him.

"You stay here, until I tell you otherwise", he instructed his son and brought the doll to a tree stump, before he returned."Again: You're not running to the front line. You just stay here and watch."

For safetys sake, Jay still held his son on one hand, while he took out his gun with his other one.

He focused on the stuffed animal, aimed for the target and pulled the trigger. Thats when a loud bang filled the silence.

A group of birds flew away, distracted by the noise.

Jay unlocked his gun to put it back, before he went to the point where he had left the doll before.

"Come here", he waved to allow his son to get closer.

Jay lifted the toy up and showed it to his son. It had a hole in the middle of the head.

The pre-schooler watched it with wide eyes, mouth open.

"Imagine this was you or me, when you would have pulled the trigger. You get why I was pretty angry when you played with it? If this was Terry, he would be dead right now. And Mom and Dad would be crying and really upset", Jay explained on a level he was sure hiss on would understand.

"I know, it doesn't look like it. But this gun can be pretty dangerous. It kills people, hurts them", he taught Terry, who still glanced at the damaged doll quietly, before he looked at his father, recognizing tears in his eyes….