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Despite having been woken up twice the previous night, Joon was feeling quite well-rested when he finally woke up the following morning, although the golden sunlight filling the bedroom and the absence of his husband and son in bed provided an explanation as to why. He couldn't recall a time at which he'd ever slept in until... two in the afternoon?! He could only remember having stayed in bed so late when he'd had the chicken pox as a child and again shortly after he'd had Cheolyong.

Feeling quite unproductive now that he knew that he'd spent the better part of the day in bed, Joon promptly rose, grabbed a pair of trousers and a shirt at random from the box of clothes that he and Jihoon had yet to sort through and proceeded to the bathroom for his morning shower.

"Good morning Umma!" Cheolyong's voice greeted Joon when he got out of the shower, the sweet vanilla aroma of french toast meeting him as well.

Joon was quite surprised to see his son beaming up at him with a tray of french toast, made significantly lighter by the fact that his father was carrying the majority of the food and drink on a separate tray, behind him.

"Aww... did you and Appa make all this?" Joon smiled.

"Mmhm!" Cheolyong nodded proudly as his mother kissed his cheek.

"That's so sweet...!" Joon smiled, giving his lover a discretely seductive look as he gave Jihoon a little thank-you kiss.

They wound up laying a bed sheet on the floor and eating breakfast upon it, as they had yet to set up a proper dining room. But it was their very first home-cooked meal in their new home (yesterday's dinner had been take out) and despite Jihoon not being a particularly skilled cook (he had only learned when he'd been taking care of Joon after the younger man had had their son), Joon was of the opinion that french toast was the best food in the world.

"I love you," Joon smiled, kissing Jihoon.

"I love you, too," Jihoon

The day passed rather uneventfully for the young family, until Jihoon's phone rang half way through their evening meal. Jihoon frowned slightly upon noticing that it was the police station calling him and excused himself from the kitchen to take the call out in the hall. It wasn't so much that he was concerned about getting a break from work, rather, he was just worried that he wasn't spending enough time with his family. SInce he'd been promoted to detective, he'd spent many late nights investigating and of course, he was also concerned that one day, he'd be assigned a case that would put his family at risk. Most of his cases were high profile murders and while he truly was one of the best (he had never thought so, however) he always had his family in mind while on the job.

Joon had always been supportive however and while every night that he had to go to bed alone had him worrying about Jihoon, he knew that his lover had no other passion greater than that which he had for being in a position from which he could bring criminals to justice. Joon was truly so very proud of his husband, but he did worry. Being a detective was obviously not without risks and despite his confidence in his husband's aptitude on the job, news of officers being killed on the job came far too often.

As Jihoon had somewhat heavy-heartedly anticipated, he was indeed being called to come to the station for an urgent case. He knew that it was important that he look into it and he did want to; he needed to. But his family needed him, too, and he felt like an inadequate father and husband for never spending enough time with his son and the only person whom he loved more than he had ever loved anyone.

"Hey... Changsun, they need me to go down to the station," Jihoon said returning to the kitchen and feeling quite guilty.

Joon was surprised, as Jihoon could tell, but he wasn't upset. He knew that Jihoon had a job to do.

"Appa, are you going to catch the bad guys?" Cheolyong asked his father excitedly as Joon brought him over to see his father off.

Jihoon smiled despite how guilty he was feeling and hugged his son. Joon, being Joon, had explained to Cheolyong whenever he asked why his Appa had to work all day and often all night that Appa was like the superheroes that Cheolyong liked to read about in his comic books.

"Yeah," Jihoon kissed his son's forehead. "Take care of Umma, okay?"

"Okay," Cheolyong nodded, holding his finger out for a pinky promise.

"Be careful," Joon whispered, when Jihoon had put Cheolyong down and the little boy was out of earshot.

"I will," Jihoon kissed Joon. "I'm sorry I have to go like this, baby," he added.

But Joon simply smiled and placed his finger over Jihoon's lips.

"I'm proud of you, Detective Jung," Joon giggled, kissing Jihoon and making him smile, too. "Really, I am," Joon said more seriously.

As many kisses as possible were shared between them before Jihoon had no choice but to go to his office and Joon was left to take care of Cheolyong by himself.

"Why don't we go take a bath, hm?" Joon suggested, locking the door when Jihoon left.

He wasn't paranoid, but five years married to a man in law enforcement certainly had made him adopt a few habits.

"Okay, Umma!" Cheolyong nodded excitedly, having finished his fill of the noodles and vegetables that Joon had cooked. "Can we have bubbles?" He asked, eagerly.

"Of course," Joon smiled, taking Cheolyong's hand as the two of them first cleaned the kitchen then headed for the bath.

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"Detective Jung," Jihoon's supervisor immediately came to him when he arrived at the station. "Thank you for coming at such short notice and well... sorry for having you come in on your vacation."

"It's alright, Lieutenant Kang," Jihoon reassured, ready now to get down to business.

"How're your husband and son?" His supervisor asked, as he and Jihoon walked to Jihoon's office, where the case file awaited him.

"They're doing well," Jihoon answered, sharing with his supervisor, whom he'd known even before he'd met Joon, how Cheolyong would soon be starting dance classes.

"Sorry, again," Lieutenant Kang said, placing his hand on Jihoon's shoulder when they stopped outside Jihoon's office.

Although he and his wife were still married and had been for thirty years, the long hours and dangerous positions in which he had frequently been placed when he himself was a young detective made him well aware of the strains that such a job could put on a young family. Having mentored Jihoon since the younger man joined the police force, even having given the anxious young man the okay on asking Joon out despite being on duty and having attended the Jihoon and Joon's wedding, Jihoon really was like a son to him.

"It's all part of the job," Jihoon smiled with reassurance, appreciating his supervisor's concern for him.

"This... is a tough case," Lieutenant Kang sighed, once they were in Jihoon's office, the case file neatly set on Jihoon's mahogany desk. "A five year old boy has been kidnapped and there are no leads on the case."

"Does the public know anything about it?" Jihoon asked.

"Not yet; we're going to put out a notice for any information or sightings tomorrow morning, but until we have a suspect, we can't do much more."

Jihoon nodded. As a father and especially as a father to a little boy close in age to the one missing, the case certainly felt personal.

"We need a profile and any lead you can get," Lieutenant Kang informed. "The sooner we can find the boy... well..."

Jihoon nodded, knowing well that the implication was that there was no guarantee that they'd find the boy alive.

With a sigh, Jihoon picked up the case file, going through the details, then picking up the phone.

He had a lot of phone calls to make.

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Thanks for reading!

x Angela