“Alright, we’re here.” Hangeng sighed as he pulled their into one of the many parking spaces outside their local grocery store, Siwon and Kibum immediately exiting through the passenger, and back doors before he’d even come to a complete stop.

          After five days they’d finally become aware of their dwindling food supply, and without much help from Kyuhyun, who’d spent the majority of the past few days locked moping in his room away from them, they’d found a place to shop at.

          Once he had parked and exited the vehicle, he headed around to the back to retrieve his daughter, who glared at him from her new car seat in the backseat. She definitely hated the foreign contraption that prisoned her in place, the teeth marks in one of the straps a telltale sign, but he refused to drive anywhere without her secured. He was going to be as careful as possible that entire month, he owed both her, and Heechul at least that much.

          “Ok, so now we need…well, food. And I wanted to get some books and stuff for her as well.” Hangeng explained, taking his daughter’s hand as they moved across the parking lot.

          “What kind of food?” Kibum asked, and the oldest shrugged.

          “I don’t know…whatever you want? It’s not like we have a budget.” He added, waving Kyuhyun’s debit card childishly in their faces with a grin. Having Kyuhyun’s bottomless bank account certainly was nice. They’d already gotten enough clothes to last them the rest of the month the day before, as well as all the essentials they’d need, and Kyuhyun hadn’t even batted an eyelash when they showed him all the receipts, totaling nearly more than a million won, of course, that could have just been due to the depressed stupor he’d been in for the majority of the past week.

          They were all worried about Kyuhyun, mainly Hangeng, and understood why he was upset but weren’t sure what to do to help him. Until they got him back to Sungmin and were hopefully able to fix things, they knew the younger would continue on his downward spiral. All they could hope was that he wouldn’t do something stupid to hurt himself. Even Sunhee wasn’t able to cheer him up, and that was when they began to realize just how damaged he was.

          The store wasn’t that busy, given it was ten am on a Wednesday and most people were at work, which meant Kibum didn’t have to keep such a close eye on Siwon as he did that last time they went shopping.

          Hangeng still opted to carry Sunhee since he knew she’d be asking him too in a few minutes anyways. Heechul did always say that he spoiled the twins, and he didn’t start actually seeing it until now.

          They moved slowly through the aisles, grabbing things here and there and tossing them into the cart that Siwon pushed in front of them, Kibum playing idly with the guards hand on occasion when no one else was around.

          Another thing Hangeng quickly began to realize was that he’d never really shopped for his children, as they had professional chefs to do all of that for them. Now he was beginning to wish he had as he worked to remember some of the ingredients the dishes they’d eaten over the years contained, as well as some of the things his own mother had made for him, and coming up with little other than fried rice and soup.

          Kibum made them stop abruptly when they reached the meat aisle, his gaze lingering on the pork slices they had on display, and Hangeng chuckled, trying to remember the last time he’d eaten meat and realizing it was definitely over seven years ago, as they lived on a nearly vegan diet back in the other world.

          Meat, dairy, and eggs didn’t exist there because the animals that produced them were people as well.

          Kibum turned to Hangeng his eyes pleading, and the older rolled his own, both turning to Siwon.

          The guard gave them both an odd look. “What?” He asked hesitantly.

          Kibum merely pointed at the meat, and Hangeng laughed, gazing down at Sunhee who was clearly just as confused as Siwon was.

          “What…what is it?” Siwon asked at last, stepping forward and picking up a small container full of steak.

          “Meat.” Kibum answered.

          “Meat?” Siwon repeated.

          “Cow, pig, chicken….” Hangeng clarified, and the guard dropped it back onto the shelf like it had burned him.

          “You eat that!?” he nearly screeched, wide eyes Kibum who merely shrugged.

          “Used to.”

          “My uncle was a cow!”

          And it was that opportune moment Hangeng chose to grab his daughter, and head to the stores media section to get some books and maybe some flashcards.

          “You eat animals?” Sunhee asked, eyeing her father curiously, and he was surprised that she wasn’t afraid.

          “I used too. Things are….different here. Animals don’t turn into people, they stay animals, and they can’t talk or communicate with us.” Hangeng explained, anticipating the next onslaught of questions that never came.

          She seemed satisfied with the response, leading Hangeng to the conclusion that she really was growing up, able to understand topics that used to go right over her head…and that Heechul was going to hate him even more for making him miss a whole month of it.

          Heechul… he missed him…a lot, his witty comments and slight narcissism. He used to complain about those traits, but now he’d give anything to hear the older’s voice, his sons as well.

          “Did you eat lynx?” she asked, and Hangeng chuckled.

          “Of course!” he growled, tickling her as he buried his face in her neck and pretended to bite.

          She squealed, giggling and pushing at his shoulders, and when he set her down, he chased her through a few of the aisles, staying right on her heels and picking her up once again when she finally slowed down, winded.

          He carried her to the very back where they kept a rather large selection of books, and he set her down to browse through some of them.

          Five minutes later he had ten books, and two sets of math and vocabulary flashcards, quite enough if he did say so himself. Unfortunately as he glanced around he noticed something rather important was missing.

          “Sunhee?” He called, quietly at first and then louder a second time. His heart began pounding, and his palms sweating just a bit with anxiety as he set everything he had found down, calling out for her again.

          He hadn’t seen anyone else come near them, so she had probably just wandered off, and hopefully not too far. Still his stomach didn’t stop clenching in fear until he turned a corner and nearly ran over her, the girl looking up at him with wide eyes and a book clutched to her chest.

          “Sunhee…” He sighed, relief flooding him as he kneeled down to her level. “Don’t you ever do that again, do you understand? I need you to stay where I can see you.”

          The girl nodded, and then with a bright smile lighting her face held the book out to him. “Eomma.” She said.

          Hangeng accepted it and couldn’t help but smile himself at the picture of a tiger that graced the cover of the thick wildlife book. “Yes, Eomma.” He nodded, grabbing her hand and leading her back to where he’d left the other books so they could go back and meet the others.

          ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          Leeteuk sighed as he set yet another      contract aside and reached for the next.

          Kangin had left him nearly an hour before to be with their sons, who he felt were in dire need of parental bonding time, which Leeteuk didn’t object to. It was another long day, with piles of paperwork and meetings to handle, and when that happened, they’d usually alternate who would get to leave first so their kids wouldn’t have to spend yet another evening alone, or with one of their uncles.

          He glared at the files still spread out over his desktop, realizing he still had probably another hours worth of work left, and contemplated leaving it for tomorrow, or better yet, leaving some of it for Kangta, though with the grudge he held on him, chances are it wouldn’t get done anyways.

          Things had been…difficult around the castle since Kyuhyun, Hangeng, and the Sibum couple had left.

          Security was scrambled since both their leader, and second in command were gone, which made Leeteuk realize just how not so state of the art their organization was, and wish they’d planned for such an occasion as their lead guard becoming incapacitated, or unavailable like he was.

          Heechul was doing his best to hold together without his lover, probably more for his son than his image, though that was still important as well, and the others were doing their best to make him feel comfortable without Hangeng around, but sometimes during the day, when Kyungil was in school, they’d hear sobbing from Heechul’s room. It made them all realize just how much Heechul had grown to rely on his lover and how strong his bond with his children must’ve been.

           Sungmin was probably the worst off of them all. The foreigners avoided him like the plague, clearly blaming him for their friend’s desertion. The shape shifter’s weren’t much help either, and while Leeteuk did agree that Sungmin’s attitude largely affected the maknae’s decision he believed if Kyuhyun had been stronger he wouldn’t have left. They were both at fault, even if one was more so than the other.

           Sungmin spent the majority of his time in his room, the makeshift daycare he had run with Ryeowook and Kyuhyun for the younger kids was passed entirely onto Yesung and Ryeowook’s shoulder, leaving the pair with three toddlers, as well as their newborn. The other’s helped when they could. It was obvious to everyone he wasn’t holding up very well, even growing distant with his own son as well.

          With a heavy sigh, Leeteuk made his decision to leave the remainder for the following day of work, and stood to head towards the door. He left the office, and locked it behind him.

          His first stop was the playroom. It was well after dinner, so the majority of the family wings occupants were there with their children, aside from Donghae and Eunhyuk, who hadn’t left the room since the labor scare nearly a week before, and Sungmin.

          Ryeowook was feeding Yun on the couch, while Yesung attempted to explain to their other daughter, through a diagram, how her element control worked, but the curious child was barely listening, watching Minkyung and Jaehyun enviously as they knocked down the large tower of blocks their father had built for them.

          Kangin rolled his eyes at their children’s antics, before meeting Leeteuk’s gaze when he finally noticed him peeking around the corner. He jerked his chin to the left, and the older followed his gesture, smiling when he laid eyes on Heechul and Kyungil, the boy in his jaguar form and chasing after the small laser dot his mother shone around for him.

          Heechul laughed every time his son missed, but let him catch it enough times for Kyungil to not grow discouraged.

          Leeteuk was glad to see his brother laugh, even if it was at his nephew’s expense. Regardless, they were having fun, and it gave him hope that maybe Heechul was beginning to adjust to not having his husband or daughter around. There was only three weeks left anyways.

          He left in a good mood, deciding he’d need it for his final stop.

          He knocked once on the younger’s door, waiting a few moments before pushing it open, uninvited.

          Sungmin was sitting on the edge of his bed, Jinsang behind him, playing with a little ball that happened to be near him. When the door opened, he tried frantically to wipe the tears from his eyes, but it was too late.

          “Min..?” Leeteuk began, noticing from the younger’s running nose and bloodshot eyes that he must’ve been crying for some time.

          “What do you want, Hyung?” He sniffed, facing away from the older and towards his son who reached out for him.

          Leeteuk worried when Sungmin didn’t respond to his child, ignoring him as though he wasn’t even there. “I just wanted to check on you…what’s wrong?”

          “N-nothing…” Sungmin responded, his voice weak as though he were still trying to keep from crying. “I was just thinking about something…”

          There was silence, and then Jinsang made a noise, unintelligible at first, but when he said it again, Leeteuk realized the problem.

          “Appa?” the boy called, looking at Sungmin and then at Leeteuk when his only response was a choked sob.

          Leeteuk rushed over and sat beside the younger, pulling him close in his arms.

          “It’s his first word.” Sungmin sobbed, holding Leeteuk tight “B-but, he…he’s not…”

          “Shh…I know.” Leeteuk hushed, rocking him a bit.

          The toddler stood as best he could, and wobbled over to Sungmin, grabbing the hem of his mother’s sleeve and tugging to get his attention, a contemplative look on his face.

          Leeteuk reached behind the younger and grabbed the baby’s hand, squeezing it lightly and almost as if he understood, he sat down and scooted back, returning to playing idly with his ball and leaving the pair of adults alone.

          For a few minutes things continued like this, until Sungmin quieted, his sobs tapering off to hiccups, before going silent.

          Leeteuk held him for a few minutes more, until he notice Jinsang growing bored, and worried he may begin to babble again.

          “Hey…” he began. “Everyone else is in the playroom. If you want I could take Jinsang and you could stay here and rest. Kangin and I could watch him tonight too…if that’s alright?”

          Sungmin nodded, taking a deep breath as he at last moved from the older’s grasp. “Thank you.” He replied meekly, and Leeteuk watched as he moved back to lie down.

          He nodded, and scooped Minkyung up off the bed, the toddler clearly confused as to why they were leaving without his mother. He pointed quietly at Sungmin and waved, and the boy imitated his actions, smiling brightly when his mother waved back, a weak smile finding its way to Sungmin’s lips.

          He made his way to the door, clicking the light off as they passed, and he said a quick goodnight to Sungmin before closing the door behind them.

          “Appa?” the baby asked again, and then repeated three more times, thankfully once they were down the hall away from Sungmin’s room.

          “No…” Leeteuk sighed, glancing at Jinsang “No Appa.”

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A/N: Not fully edited...and I'm sorry the updates are kinda slow...but please comment! The last chapter didn't get very many 3:

PLEASE COMMENT!!!!