“Five aces!”  Jaera slapped a fistful of cards down on the floor and beamed proudly.  It was well past her bedtime, but the storm had made her excitable and she and Jaehwan could both feel the thick tension in the air as Minseok, Yixing and Jongdae withdrew to his study to discuss things further.  Luhan had decided he’d much rather take his mind off things and relax, so he had offered to teach the two children a card game once the lights had come back on.

“Cheat,” Luhan announced at once, lips pursed, and the toddler picked the cards back up with an absolute stink-eye in his direction.

“Jaera,” Jaehwan hissed, careful to protect his fan of cards as he leant across to hiss in her ear, “you can’t say five of any card because there aren’t five in a deck, idiot!  Of course Luhan’s going to catch you!”

“Hey, now, language,” Luhan told him, surveying his own cards before plucking two out and laying them face down on the carpet.  “Two nines.”

“Cheat,” Jaera said sourly.  With a smug look, Luhan turned them over to reveal the nine of clubs and the nine of diamonds.  Jaehwan facepalmed with a sigh and began selecting the cards he wanted to play.

“Rara not want,” the toddler objected as Luhan flicked the cards in her direction.  It was the third time it had happened that evening, and Jaehwan groaned loudly.

“Rara, that’s the rules of the game.”

“No!” insisted Jaera.  “Jaera taked back.  Lulu takeback too.  Rara not want!”  She began screwing up her tiny face in preparation to let loose a tantrum and Jaehwan mumbled something about not wanting to play if this was going to happen again.

“Fine, fine,” grumbled Luhan.  “Jaera, if you can say that properly, in good Korean, I’ll take the cards back, okay?”

“Hyung, that’s not fair on you!”

“The game’s called Cheat, Jaehwan, just roll with it.”

“I don’t want cards,” Jaera said bluntly.  “You want cards.  Not me.”

There was a soft chuckle from the sofa as Semi moved the book she was reading to one side to look at them.  Luhan had narrowed one eye at Jaera, not wholly convinced, but he exhaled shortly and picked the cards up.

“Good enough,” he admitted.

“Hyung, no it’s not!”

Luhan ignored Jaehwan’s protest and nodded to the cards in his hand instead.  “Your turn.”

Frothing with righteous indignation, Jaehwan put down and declared four kings.

Minseok came into the room at that moment, phone in hand.

“Honey,” he said from the doorway, and Semi laid the book down on her stomach to give him her attention.  Jaera instantly lost concentration in the game and bounced across the room to latch herself around his leg.  “I might have to go up to Seoul for— no, Jaera, go play with the others; it’s unfair to leave a game like that.”

She pouted, giving him a nitrogen-melting pair of puppy eyes.  “But Daddy, they’re cheating.”

“Oh my God.”  Jaehwan keeled over backwards with a thud, hands over his eyes.  “That’s the whole point of the game.”

Suppressing a smile, Minseok managed to shoo his daughter away and returned to the reason he’d come into the room.  “Sweetheart, I might have to go up to Seoul for a bit because Taeyong’s parents have filed a missing report with the police for him and Taeyong says his dad’s threatening to bring charges against Chanyeol for abduction because Taeyong’s been staying with him rather than going home.”

Semi raised her eyebrows.  “They took their bl**dy time with that one, didn’t they?  Is Chanyeol likely to get in trouble?”

“I doubt it.  He took Taeyong in on the condition he did so in legal compliance, and as a professional psychiatrist he’s submitted the necessary paperwork to have Taeyong removed from his parents.  He got two of his colleagues to evaluate the family as well and they agreed the situation had deteriorated enough for it to be necessary.  The paperwork’s all been filed but it takes forever to process.  If the child’s deemed to be in a dangerous situation, they can provisionally be taken away on paperwork submission rather than approval to ensure their safety.  I’ll probably be needed for witness statements and the like, but Taeyong says he’s scared and wants someone with him.  Chanyeol’s nominating us to foster him, too.”

“You have a lot on your plate right now.  Would it be better if I went?” Semi asked as Jaehwan divided his attention from the game.

“What’s going on with Taeyong hyung?” he asked.

“He’s staying with Chanyeol because his parents are arguing badly,” Minseok said distractedly, and Jaehwan nodded and returned to his cards.  “Darling, it was enough of a risk that I sent Taeyong to Chanyeol after Sangchu’s men raided Sehun’s apartment; Seoul’s crawling with shark tattoos and I really don’t want you anywhere near the place while you’re pregnant.  It’s too dangerous.”

Semi scoffed lightly, but she was smiling as she picked up her book again.

“I don’t want you stressed, either,” Minseok told her, “and it’s going to take some time and a lot of stressful wrangling to sort this whole process out.”

“When do you think you’ll need to go?”

“I need to talk it through with Yixing and Jongdae first, but once we know exactly what we’re going to do to catch Sangchu and have set things in motion for that, so hopefully tomorrow afternoon.”

Luhan stuck his hand up.  “Am I involved in this setting things in motion?”

“Depends on what you decide on, but most likely.”

Jaera’s face lit up immediately at the mention of Yixing and she scrambled to her feet, scattering her cards.  Luhan quietly turned them all face down.

“Eechin?  Where?”

“Later, poppet, later.”

“No, now!”

“Cheat, Jaera,” Jaehwan butted in, and her interest was instantly lost.

“Rara not cheating!” she wailed.  “Rara goo