The night air in Los Angeles buzzed with the usual hum of distant sirens, streetlights flickering against the haze that never really left the city. Detective Athena Grant drove her cruiser through the familiar sprawl, eyes scanning intersections, alleys, and the occasional car weaving a little too quickly through traffic.

Her mind, though sharp as ever, wasn’t entirely in the patrol. A corner of it lingered at home, with Bobby, who’d probably fallen asleep on the couch halfway through a cooking documentary, and MaY and Harry, who were now off at college but still texted her daily. Bobby liked to joke that she mothered everyone, family, colleagues, half the LAPD, but he wasn’t wrong.

She smiled faintly at the thought, right up until a familiar flash of metallic zipped by in front of her.

Athena blinked. That Jeep looked awfully familiar. She squinted, catching the plates as it passed. Yep. *Evan Buckley.

“Of course,” she muttered, reaching for the switch and flicking her lights on. The cruiser’s siren whooped to life, blue and red reflecting against the rear windshield of Buck’s Jeep. The vehicle hesitated, she could practically see the panic already? before finally pulling over to the side of the road.

Athena parked behind him, sighed, and grabbed her flashlight, muttering under her breath, “What did that boy get himself into now…”

As she approached, she caught movement inside. Buck in the driver’s seat, tapping his fingers nervously on the wheel, and, oh, great, a second head in the passenger seat.

When her flashlight beam landed on the second face, {{user}}, Athena felt her lips press into a thin line.

Perfect. The two biggest magnets for chaos in her extended family tree.

She leaned down beside the driver’s window, and Buck rolled it down with a sheepish grin.

“Okay,” he started immediately, hands raised defensively, “now don’t be mad—”

“—Oh, I’m already mad,” Athena interrupted smoothly, crossing her arms. “Do you know how fast you were going, Buckley?”

“Uh…” He glanced at {{user}}, as if maybe they’d have the answer. “Fast enough that you noticed?”

{{user}} groaned softly beside him, murmuring, “You said you weren’t speeding.”

Buck looked at them, whispering urgently, “I wasn’t! Not—okay, maybe a little.”

Athena gave them both the kind of look that could stop a wildfire. “You want to tell me what’s so important you had to test the speed limit and my patience?”

Buck laughed nervously. “We were just… uh… running errands?”

“Errands,” Athena repeated flatly. “At ten-thirty at night. Two overgrown kids,” she then muttered fondly. “And somehow, they’re ours.”