It was not often that Minseok was visibly vulnerable enough to allow himself to be mothered.  Semi could tell he was in a state from the second she’d walked in the door with Jaehwan in tow, but he held on while Yixing and Jongdae helped them put the house back together and Jaehwan took on the responsibility of putting Jaera to bed, and while Yixing explained that they were still waiting for news from Sungjong and Sehun and that it was probably best for them all to rest up and see where things stood in the morning, and while Jongdae checked on Luhan.  The second Yixing and Jongdae were out of the door, however, he buried his face in the crook of Semi’s neck and clung onto her tightly.  It was something he never would have done in front of the children, let alone anybody else, and sensing that he wanted distraction, Semi had suggested staying up and watching TV together so that they wouldn’t disturb Jaera.

Nearing eleven o’clock, he had calmed down considerably and was lying on the sofa with his head in Semi’s lap as she flicked through the news on her iPad.  Every so often, she would absently comb her hands through his hair, and he would let out a muted noise of contentment and then return to peeling and slicing apples for her.  Semi knew that it was as good as he was going to get to stress-cooking without being in the kitchen and robbing them of their week of food supplies, so she just let him.

Parts of his hair were a little matted, and when she came across another patch of it, she put her iPad down and started to tease through it properly.  Dried blood came out.

“Minseok,” she said carefully before she caught sight of him trying to hide a grimace.  She sighed.  “When are you going to tell me exactly what happened?”

He reached up and popped another slice of apple into before taking another whole piece of fruit.  Rather than peeling it, though, he turned it from side to side in his hands.

“They attacked me when they got through the door,” he mumbled.  “Kept yelling about how they knew Luhan was here and threatening me if I didn’t tell them where he was, saying they were going to take me away....”  He swallowed and put the apple down.  “They were trying to get a rise out of me to use as an excuse to arrest me legitimately if they could at first, so I didn’t dare fight back even when they started hitting me, and then Jaera just sat down and screamed her head off and they sort of backed off a bit.  Don’t think they were expecting her to be there or something.”  Hiding his hands in his sleeves, he turned his head towards her torso.  “I hate the police,” he mumbled into her stomach.  “They ing terrify me.”

One of her hands brushed through his hair again.  “You are the police, darling.”

“Mm.”  He nodded, the material of her top riding up a bit as he moved.  “When I was your age, I thought corrupt policemen were awesome.  Now they’re a menace.”

Semi snorted.  “When you were my age?  Just how old are you trying to make yourself sound?”

Minseok tilted his head away from her and looked up.  “I was scared.  I’ve never been this afraid before.  You don’t know how much it means to me to be able to come home, to a family, to relax – and I’m frightened it’s all going to be taken away.  I’m frightened one of you will get hurt.”

Semi picked out more dried blood, and he turned his head and buried it against her stomach again.

“Would it be better if we asked Luhan to leave or got him to stay elsewhere?”

“I doubt it.  If I’ve been found, they’re always going to view me as the gateway to Luhan,” Minseok mumbled.  “And we’re dealing with Sangchu here.  The reason they will have tried to look into me in the first place was because they were planning to use me to find Luhan.  If Jongdae and Yixing hadn’t come when they did, they probably would have taken Jaera hostage.  They were trying to butter her up to use her against me.  I heard some of them talking about it in Chinese.”

“Why do they want Luhan when they’re after his sister?”

“To follow him to her?  To use him to blackmail her into coming back?  Personal vendetta?  There’s a long-running enmity between the two groups and Luhan was the one who killed Jaesup five years ago.  It wouldn’t surprise me if Sangchu was after both simultaneously and thought that picking of Luhan now would be much easier while he’s vulnerable and searching for his sister.  It’s all over the news that he broke out of prison while he was ill, so Sangchu’s probably concluded he’s absolutely desperate.”  He slipped his hand under the hem of her top and brushed his thumb in a gentle caress over her belly button.  “I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.  Five years isn’t nearly long enough.”  His hand gliding to a stop, he pressed his cheek against her belly.

Almost as if in response, there was a little twinge of movement and tiny pressure against his cheek, just for the briefest of seconds, and Semi let out a little squeak.  Minseok jerked his head away in surprise.

“Did he just kick me in the face?” he demanded with a little grin.  There was more movement under his hand.  Minseok propped himself up on one hand.  “Do you think it’s because he can hear me?”

“That’s not for another few weeks,” Semi told him, and Minseok pulled a f