Daiki, Part 2

by Geri ([email protected])

My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/geris_petshop_fics/index.html

Rating: R (actually, mostly PG-13, but R for one steamy scene in Part 1, and for Leon's bad language throughout)

Pairing: Leon/D

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Matsuri Akino and Yumiko Kawahara. No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.

Sequel to: This can be considered a continuation of my earlier series of stories (Revenge, The Day After, Spirits, Blodeuedd), but it can stand on its own as my version of what happens after Book 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Contains spoilers for Book 10 and the Shin Petshop of Horrors series currently running in Japan.

Summary: A crossover between Petshop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino and Dolls by Yumiko Kawahara. D and Leon travel to New York to visit Chris and introduce him to the baby.
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"Wow!" Leon laughed, a look of exhilaration on his face as he stood on the deck of the ship, the wind blowing through his long blond hair. He gazed up at the stars, which seemed to shine more brightly, since they were not obscured by smog or city lights this far up in the sky. In fact, it was the lights of Tokyo that twinkled dimly far below them, like distant stars. At times like these, he could sympathize with the Ds' anger at humanity, but he didn't let that put a damper on his good mood. Right now, he was much too happy to worry about the folly of humanity; maybe that was his human shortsightedness, but he noticed that D was smiling, too--a genuine smile filled with love and delight, not his usual cool China-doll mask.

"Boy, talk about traveling in style, huh, Daiki?" Leon said to the baby in his arms. Daiki laughed and reached up towards the sky, as if he wanted to catch the glittering stars in his hands. "Man, you've forever spoiled me for riding in planes, D! Even flying first-class can't compare to this."

"Well, perhaps there is hope for you after all, Keiji-san," D said, giving him an affectionate smile.

"But aren't you worried that someone might look up and see a ship flying through the air?" Leon asked. "Or, I know we're pretty high up, but what if a plane passes by us or something? Does the ship have some kind of cloaking device, like in Star Trek?"

"You watch too much television, Leon," D said disapprovingly. "Humans see what they expect to see. If they see something impossible, their minds will automatically blot it out. They will tell themselves that it was a trick of the light, or an odd cloud formation. A large number of people witnessed Shukou hatching, but afterwards they told themselves that it was a plane or a laser light show. After all, it could not really be a dragon, because dragons do not exist. Only a very few people can see us--" D touched his hand briefly to his chest, then gestured towards the pets that were lounging around on the deck. "--for what we really are. In the old days, they used to say that such people had the Sight."

"Like people who could see fairies and stuff?" Leon asked, and D nodded.

"You and your brother are quite unique, Leon," D continued.

"Chris could see the animals as people right off," Leon said. "In fact, he didn't even understand that they really were animals."

"Although it might have been based on need rather than innate ability," D said thoughtfully. "He was lonely, and had cut himself off from the world. The animals accepted him as he was. But once he returned to his family and started speaking again, he could no longer see the pets in their human forms."

"Will he ever be able to see them that way...I mean, this way...again?" Leon asked, glancing at Pon-chan, who looked so happy to be returning back to the States to see Chris. But he wondered if she would still be as happy if Chris could only see her as a raccoon, and not the little girl he used to play with.

"I do not know," D replied. "But those who had the 'gift' of the Sight often had some disability to offset it. There are many tales of Seers who were blind, for example, the idea being that the ability to see into the future was compensation for their lack of physical sight, or conversely, blindness was the price they paid for the gift of a greater type of Sight."

"So being able to see the animals as human was the price Chris paid for regaining his speech?" Leon asked.

D nodded and replied, "I believe so. And think about it, Leon. If Chris went around telling everyone that the pet dogs and cats in his neighborhood were really people, what do you think would happen to him?"

Leon grimaced. "They'd throw him in the looney bin--or whatever the politically correct term for that is these days. I see your point, D. I suppose it's for the best, although it still seems a little sad."

"It does not matter what forms Pon-chan and Tet-chan and the others wear," D replied. "Their hearts, their souls, are still the same. They still love Chris as much as they always did."

"I'll try to remind him of that," Leon said. "But what about me? I didn't lose my sight or speech or anything like that."

D smiled. "As I said, Leon, you are quite unique. At first you were like any normal human, denying the existence of the magical or supernatural, insisting that there must be a logical explanation for that which is not logical. But gradually you began to accept that the impossible things you were seeing were not really so impossible."

"It's because I'm a detective," Leon replied. "I have to believe the evidence--even if the evidence is showing me something that I think is impossible."

"Agent Howell was a detective as well," D pointed out. "But he refused to believe the evidence that was right in front of him. He told himself that we accomplished our seemingly impossible feats through science and drugs and hypnotism."

"I feel kinda sorry for Howell," Leon said solemnly.

"I regret his death," D murmured.

"No, I don't mean that," Leon replied. "Although of course I'm sorry that he's dead. But when I looked at him, I thought...that could be me, twenty years down the line. Sad and bitter and obsessed, having spent half his life chasing down a phantom."

"Leon..." D whispered.

Leon smiled at him, albeit a bit sadly. "It's okay, D. I finally found you, and it only took two years, not twenty. But Howell...he was pretty damn obsessed, even for a cop. Do you think at one point he had feelings for your dad, the way I do for you?"

"I would not be surprised," D said quietly. "As you have seen, my kind inspire devotion and obsession easily, even when we do not wish to. And love spurned can quickly turn to hatred..."

"That's what started this whole mess, huh?" Leon asked. "When that priestess of your people turned down the Emperor's son, and he slaughtered your race in vengeance." D sighed heavily, and Leon felt guilty for bringing up the subject. Still cradling Daiki in his right arm, he reached out with his left hand to clasp D's hand. "But you know, we don't have to keep repeating the mistakes our ancestors made. We've already changed history a bit, you and I. The evidence is right here." He held up Daiki, who gurgled happily at his Papa.

D smiled and held out his arms, and Leon handed Daiki over to him. "Yes, that is true, Leon," D said, gently cradling their son in his arms. "I suppose we will have to take things one day at a time."
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The ship arrived over New York late in the evening. None of the people on the streets below seemed to notice anything amiss, but then most of them were intent upon whatever business--or pleasures--they might be carrying out, and none of them stopped to look up at the sky. Leon realized that he had been like that once: always focused on his work, never taking the time to stop and smell the roses--or to look up at the stars.

"So how are we supposed to get down?" Leon asked. "Or do you intend to land this boat in the middle of Central Park?"

D just smiled at him in response, and shifted Daiki's weight over to his left arm, then reached out with his right hand to grab Leon's hand.

"Oh no, wait a minute!" Leon cried in alarm as D set one foot on the rail of the ship. "You're not jumping off this goddamn boat with our son!"

"Do you honestly think that I would endanger the life of our child, Keiji-san?" D asked, but gave Leon no time to reply. He jumped off the ship, and Leon had no choice but to let D pull him along. Well, actually he could probably have broken D's grip and remained on board the ship, but he was damned if he was going to let D jump out into thin air with their kid! Not that there was anything he could do to help Daiki if something went wrong, since Leon would just wind up as a splat on the pavement without D's special magic kami powers or whatever the hell they were called, but he instinctively followed his lover and son, and besides, it was a little too late to be having second thoughts now.

"Here we go again," Leon groaned, but his anxiety eased when they didn't drop rapidly, but rather floated slowly down through the clouds, and landed gently on their feet. Daiki seemed unfazed by the whole thing, giggling happily during their descent. Leon glanced around and saw that they were standing on the sidewalk in front of a ritzy hotel, and fortunately, there was no one around to witness their unusual arrival. Or maybe it wasn't just luck--maybe the magic that allowed the ship to fly also arranged for them to land unseen. D smirked at him, as if to rebuke Leon for doubting him, and Leon was so happy to have landed in one piece that he let it pass unchallenged. Hell, he'd seen his son birthed from a vine, met a talking wolf, seen D's pets take human shape, and ridden in a flying ship. Why should floating down to earth be a big deal?

D seemed a little surprised by Leon's apparent calm, but he led the way into the hotel and checked in at the front desk, using a credit card to rent the penthouse suite. The staff seemed familiar with "Count D" and treated him with the kind of respect given to movie stars and heads of state, not even batting an eye at the baby or the Count's rather scruffy blond companion or their lack of luggage.

During the elevator ride up, the staff had found the time to place fresh flowers and a small basket of assorted sweets in the living room area of the suite. And somehow, Leon was not surprised to find the pets waiting there to greet them as well. He had a feeling that if he went exploring through the suite, he would find a door leading to the dark, incense-filled, winding corridors of the petshop.

D gazed longingly at the chocolates, then sighed and said, "It is late; we should get some rest if we intend to see Chris tomorrow."
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Surprisingly, despite the horror stories Leon had heard from coworkers who were parents, the baby slept peacefully through the night (the hotel had also provided a bassinet upon request), although he woke up hungry and needing a diaper change the next morning. But Daiki had barely started crying when Tet-chan and Pon-chan turned up with a warm bottle of milk and clean diapers, respectively. D watched with amusement as Leon awkwardly attempted to change the baby, then took over and finished the job efficiently, probably more out of pity for Daiki than for Leon. Leon was a bit surprised to see the immaculate, well-groomed Count handle dirty diapers without any sign of squeamishness or disdain, but then he supposed that running a petshop would also entail cleaning up after the animals, so D must be used to it.

And soon Daiki was resting in Leon's arms, contentedly nursing from the bottle Tet-chan had prepared, while the pets argued over who was going to accompany D and Leon on their visit to see Chris.

"You cannot all come along," D said firmly.

"My aunt and uncle will freak out if we bring a zoo with us," Leon added.

"Oh, please, please, I want to see Chris, please!" Pon-chan begged.

"He will not be able to understand your speech any longer," D gently warned her. "He will only see your animal form."

"I don't care!" Pon-chan cried. "I still want to see him!"

Shukou (or rather, the Junrei part of her personality) looked up hopefully, but Leon said firmly, "Oh no! My aunt and uncle can handle a pet raccoon, but there is no way that I can show up at their house with a three-headed dragon!"

Junrei wept, Kanan sulked, and Shukou looked disappointed but said calmly, "Of course that would not be practical."

"Perhaps we can bring Chris back to the hotel later for a visit," D suggested, and the dragon girl(s) and the other pets perked up.

In the end, they decided to bring Pon-chan, Lupin, and Tet-chan. Leon was a bit dubious about that last choice, but the Tou-Tet was adamant, and besides, Leon had to grudgingly admit that Chris was probably closest to Tet out of all the pets.

"Trouble seems to follow you around," Tet-chan told Leon gruffly. "I'm just coming along to look after the Count, in case anything unexpected happens."

"And not because you miss Chris, right?" Ten-chan teased.

The Tou-Tet snarled at the kitsune, and D said sternly, "No biting, Tet-chan--not here, and certainly not at the Orcot resident. If you cannot behave yourself, I will leave you behind."

"I'll behave," Tet-chan said sulkily.

"I'll behave!" Lupin promised eagerly, although no one had questioned his ability to do so. He wagged his tail happily as D buckled a collar around his neck so that he would look more like a normal dog to the Orcots. "Oh boy oh boy oh boy!" he said. "This is so exciting! I can't wait to see Chris, and I hardly ever get to leave the shop!" He looked and sounded so much like an ordinary dog about to go on a walk that Leon couldn't help but laugh.

"So tell me something, D," Leon said curiously. "Why does Lupin not look human like the others?"

"Lupin is not an ordinary wolf," D replied.

Leon smiled wryly. "Nothing in your shop is 'ordinary,' D."

"He is a kind of spirit," D tried to explain.

"You mean, like a ghost?" Leon asked, startled.

"Not that type of spirit," D replied, a little impatiently. "It is difficult to explain in human terms, but think of it this way...Lupin is to an ordinary wolf what I and my kind are to ordinary humans."

"You mean he's like an angry wolf demigod?" Leon asked with a grin, scratching behind Lupin's ears as the wolf wagged his tail happily, an ecstatic expression on his face.

"A bit of an exaggeration, but essentially, yes, minus the angry part," D replied with a faint smile. "You might say that he embodies the essence of wolf-ness."

"I'm not sure I really understand what that means, but at least he's never tried to take a bite out of my ass like Tet-chan," Leon laughed.

"Embodies the essence of wolf-ness, my ass," the Tou-Tet snorted disparagingly. "He acts more like a tame puppy dog."

"He may seem tame," D said in an amused voice, looking at Leon although he seemed to be responding to Tet-chan's words. "But you will find that he can be quite ferocious towards an intruder or enemy. He is at ease with you, Leon, because he sees you as part of his pack. He always has, even before we..." A delicate pink blush stained D's alabaster cheeks.

"Because you're the pack leader's mate!" Lupin barked at Leon happily. "Though it took you long enough to figure it out!"

Another wry smile crossed Leon's lips as he patted the wolf on the head. "Somehow I think it was probably a good thing that I couldn't understand him before."
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"Leon!" Chris shouted joyfully as he ran forward and flung his arms around his older brother as Leon walked through the doorway of the Orcot house. Leon hugged him back, but felt a sudden pang of sadness as he realized how much Chris had grown in the past two years. He hadn't seen his little brother since he had left for Europe in search of D. He had talked to Chris on the phone and sent him letters and postcards, of course, but that just wasn't the same. Leon could have flown home for visits, but plane fare was expensive, and would have quickly used up the money he needed to support himself while he looked for the Count. But Chris, bless his heart, had not been angry with his brother for abandoning him, because he had wanted to find D just as badly as Leon had.

"Woof!" Lupin said, wagging his tail.

"Lupin?" Chris asked, then knelt down to hug the wolf. "Wow, you've really grown up! You were just a puppy when I last saw you. Ugh!" He laughed and spluttered as Lupin happily swiped his tongue across Chris's face--a very wet and sloppy wolf kiss.

"Ugh," Josie said, wrinkling her nose. "Dog slobber."

"That's an awfully big dog," Robert Orcot said nervously as he watched his son hug Lupin. "It almost looks like a wolf."

"He's...er...part Siberian Husky, Uncle Bob," Leon lied. "You know, Eskimo dogs? They look a lot like wolves."

"Woof!" Lupin said again, trying to look as harmless and friendly as possible, which wasn't really that hard.

"Sit," Leon said, playing along, and Lupin instantly sat. "Shake hands." Lupin held out a paw, and Robert hesitantly reached out and shook it. "Roll over," Leon said, and Lupin rolled over on his back, and Chris gave him a tummy rub. The wolf's tongue lolled out of his mouth, a blissful expression on his face, and his tail wagged furiously. Sam and Josie giggled.

"Aw, he's not so scary, after all," Sam said, kneeling down to join in on the tummy rub. "In fact, he's pretty cute." She crooned to the wolf, "You're just a big fuzzy gray puppy, aren't you?"

"Wuff!" Lupin said happily.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Tet-chan muttered disgustedly, pretending to gag. But all that Leon's aunt and uncle and cousins heard was a soft bleat from a goat-like creature.

"Leon, do you have to bring livestock into the house?" Leon's Aunt Joyce complained.

"Don't worry, Auntie, he's housebroken," Leon assured her.

"Are you sure?" Josie asked dubiously. "He looks like he's about to throw up."

"Tet-chan is perfectly healthy," came D's cool and serene voice from behind Leon.

"Tet-chan?" Chris asked, turning to stare at his old friend.

"Sure," Leon said, trying to sound cheerful and matter-of-fact. "Don't you recognize your old buddy Tet-chan, Chris?" He felt a little sorry for his old enemy, because the Tou-Tet looked strangely sad as he gazed at Chris. Tet-chan understood, even if Pon-chan didn't, that Chris could never return to his old way of life--at least, not without sacrificing a normal life in the human world. "He's still the same Tet-chan that you knew, Chris," Leon said firmly. "Even if he does look a little different now."

"Hey kid," Tet-chan said gruffly, walking over to Chris and gently butting his leg with his curved horns.

All Chris heard was another bleat, but he reached down to pat the Tou-Tet. "Hi, Tet-chan," he said softly. "I really missed you."

Then a raccoon ran up to him. "Chris, I missed you, too!" she cried, but Chris just stared at her blankly.

"It's Pon-chan, Chris," Leon said gently. "She's missed you a lot since you left the petshop."

"Hi, Pon-chan," Chris said. "I missed you, too." And he hugged the raccoon, but a tear trickled down his face as he realized that even if the Count had returned, he could never go back to his old way of life. In his arms, Pon-chan wept too, as she realized the same thing.

"Goodbye, Chris," she whispered, then kissed him on the cheek and ran over to Leon. He scooped up the raccoon girl and cradled her gently in his arms, comforting her as she wept.

Chris gave her a concerned look, but then his attention was captured by D, as the Count stepped through the doorway. It wasn't just D that Chris was staring at, but the baby he was holding in his arms. "Count D!" he exclaimed.

"Hello, Chris," D said softly. "It is good to see you again."

"Wh...who is that?" Chris stammered.

D smiled. "Why, this is your nephew, Chris. His name is Daiki."

"NEPHEW?!" exclaimed all the Orcots, except for Leon, who just grinned proudly.

"I told you I had a surprise for you, Chris!" Leon said cheerfully.

Leon's aunt looked like she was ready to faint, but she managed to stay on her feet, and said weakly, "I have a feeling that there's a very long and complicated explanation for all this, so why don't we go into the living room, sit down, and have some tea?"

"Tea would be very nice," D said pleasantly.

"We...we bought some tea in Chinatown when we heard you were coming for a visit," Josie stammered gamely, following her mother's lead and attempting to carry on as if this were an ordinary family visit. "Chris remembered what brand you like."

"How very considerate of you, Chris," D said, smiling at the youngest Orcot. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, Count," Chris replied, still staring wide-eyed at the baby.

A few minutes later, they were all seated in the living room, sipping tea and nibbling on the cookies that Leon's aunt had laid out. Or rather, D was sipping tea and nibbling on cookies while Chris and his family stared at Daiki, who was being held by Leon while D ate. They squirmed impatiently as they waited for the Count and Leon to give them an explanation, and Sam finally cried, "Is that baby really yours, Leon?!"

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Josie asked, looking confused. "I thought that you and the Count were...well...you know. I mean, I thought that's why you were chasing all over the world after him."

"It's really quite simple," Leon said with a grin. "Daiki is our son, mine and D's."

There was a long, stunned silence. "But...um...you and the Count are both guys," Chris said hesitantly. "I don't know a lot about babies and stuff like that, but I know that you need a guy and a girl to make a baby."

"But he must be Leon's," Sam ventured uncertainly. "His hair is blond..."

"But his eyes look like the Count's," Josie objected.

"What a very odd shade," Joyce murmured, frowning in concern. "They look golden, almost like a cat's eyes."

"They're actually hazel," Leon lied glibly. "They just look more yellow when the light hits them a certain way." They had, in fact, put down "hazel" as the eye color on Daiki's official birth certificate. As it turned out, he hadn't needed a birth certificate to leave Japan, but he would eventually need one when he started school, so D had used his connections to obtain one before they left. They had listed the birth mother as "Xiao Mei Dee" in tribute to D's sister. But that was just for the sake of the authorities. Someday, when Daiki was old enough to understand, they would explain the truth to him. Right now, all that mattered was that he had two loving parents.

"So whose baby is he?" Robert asked, a bewildered look on his face as his gaze shifted back and forth between the baby and Leon and D. "And who is his mother?"

"It doesn't really matter how he came into the world," Leon said gently. "All that matters is that we're his parents now."

"Oh, I get it!" Joyce said brightly, looking relieved as her mind latched onto a reasonable explanation. "The two of you adopted him! My, I didn't realize that the Japanese were so liberal about that sort of thing."

Leon and D exchanged an amused smile, as they both recalled what D had told Leon about how humans would automatically create a logical explanation when confronted with something too impossible to believe in. Leon had no idea whether Japanese law allowed a same-sex couple to adopt children or not, but it didn't really matter, because his aunt and uncle clearly had no clue, either. "Oh yes, they're a lot more liberal," Leon said confidently. "And besides...the Count always has friends in high places to help cut through the red tape."

That, his aunt and uncle could understand, and they nodded knowingly, although Sam and Josie still looked a little suspicious, and Chris still looked confused.

"So...he's your baby, Leon? Yours and the Count's?"

"Yes," Leon said firmly. "In every way that matters, he belongs to me and D." He smiled at Joyce and Robert. "The way you belong to your mom and dad."

The expressions on his aunt's and uncle's faces softened then, and they smiled tenderly at Chris, and Chris smiled happily, his confusion gone now. He still didn't understand where the baby had come from, but it didn't really matter anymore. The baby was family, and that was enough for Chris right now.

"So I'm an uncle?" he asked.

"That's right, Uncle Chris!" Leon said heartily, slapping his little brother on the back. "You're all grown-up now, and he's just a little kid, so when he gets old enough, you'll be teaching him how to run and play ball and stuff like that."

Chris sat up a little straighter, suddenly feeling very proud of himself. He had felt a secret flicker of jealousy and fear when Leon had announced that he and the Count had a son--fear that Leon and D would love the new baby better than Chris and forget all about him. But now the fear was swept away by a feeling of excitement: he had always been the baby of the family, but now he finally had a chance to be the one who was looked up to instead of the one who was looked after.

"Sure, Leon!" Chris said eagerly. "I'll teach him all kinds of things! Did you know that I'm on the soccer team at school now?"

"Yeah, you mentioned that in your last letter. Congratulations, buddy!" He shifted Daiki over to one arm so that he could give Chris a hug with the other. "Say, do you wanna hold him?"

"Can I?" Chris asked excitedly.

"Don't drop him," Sam teased.

Chris stuck out his tongue at her. "I'll be very careful, Leon!" he said indignantly.

"I know you will, Chris," Leon said with a smile, and laid the baby in Chris's arms.

Chris held Daiki very carefully, as if he were made of glass. His sisters leaned over his shoulders, sighing over the baby. "Oh, he's so cute!" Josie said.

"I want to hold him next, Leon!" Sam said eagerly.

"Wait your turn," Chris told them firmly, and his parents and brother laughed a little. The baby giggled, and Chris had to agree with Josie that he was very cute. "Hey, Daiki," he said softly. "I'm your Uncle Chris. We're going to have lots of fun together." He felt a sudden weight on his back, and looked up to see that it was Pon-chan, climbing up on his shoulder. He smiled at her, still feeling a little sad that he couldn't see her as the little girl who had been his playmate two years ago, but somehow not feeling as sad as he had felt a few minutes ago. "I'm an uncle now, Pon-chan," he said, and Pon-chan gently nuzzled his cheek.
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The girls made a great fuss over Daiki, and even Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bob were enchanted by him, although they were still clearly a little uncomfortable about Leon's relationship with D. But to their credit, they didn't make any nasty remarks about his morals or sexual preferences, nor did they try to prevent Chris from spending time with his brother. They seemed to regard Leon's relationship with D as an eccentricity that had to be put up with because he was family. Maybe that wasn't quite acceptance, but it was a start. Anyway, Leon didn't really care what they thought of him, as long as they didn't try to stop him from seeing his little brother.

Chris was disappointed to hear that Leon and D would be moving back to L.A., but Leon cheered him up with the promise that they would visit often. "The Count has a really great frequent flyer program," Leon said, winking at D, who just smiled enigmatically. They ended up spending a week in New York so that Chris wouldn't feel abandoned by them leaving right away, and because Leon had also missed his brother. They took him back to the hotel to visit with his old friends from the petshop, and he hugged them and played with them, although he still seemed a little sad that he could no longer see their human forms or understand their speech.

"Will I ever be able to see them as people again?" Chris asked wistfully.

Leon and D exchanged a look. "I don't know, Chris," Leon replied carefully. He didn't mention what D had told him about need and sacrifice playing a part in his ability to see the human forms of the petshop animals, because he was afraid that Chris might withdraw into himself and stop talking again if he thought it would restore the "Sight" he had lost.

"But you believe me, don't you, Leon?" Chris asked anxiously. "You know that they're really people, right?"

"Yes, little bro, I believe you," Leon said gently, and hugged his brother. "No matter what they look like on the outside, I know that they're people on the inside. There's always been something really special about the petshop--don't you remember how I could understand what you were saying even though you couldn't talk?"

"Yes," Chris sighed, looking visibly relieved. "That's right. I tried telling Mom and Dad about the people in the shop, but they didn't believe me. Not that they thought I was lying, but they thought I'd imagined it. Josie, too. Sam is the only one who understands."

"Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bob...they're good people, but they don't understand about stuff like this," Leon said. "Not everyone can see...uh, how special the petshop is. So you shouldn't talk about it with anyone but me and Sam and D, Chris, because..."

He hesitated, but Chris finished the sentence for him. "Because other people might think I'm crazy. I understand, Leon."

"But you can call me anytime, if you need to talk," Leon said, giving Chris another hug. "You have my cell number, and I'll give you our home number once we get back to L.A. and get settled in. You can call collect, so Uncle Bob doesn't have a heart attack about the long-distance charges." Chris giggled. "And I promise, we'll come visit you whenever we can."

"And you can come visit us as well," D added. "During school vacations, if your parents will allow it. I will send you a plane ticket."

"Thanks, Count!" Chris said delightedly, wrapping his arms around D and hugging him tightly. The Count looked startled, then smiled and very gently placed his hands on Chris's shoulders.

"You are welcome, Chris," he said softly. "I...I have missed you."

Chris stared up at D, his eyes filled with tears. "Why did you leave us, Count? Why'd you go away for so long without even calling or sending us a letter?"

D looked helplessly at Leon, who just gave him a wry smile in return. "I...ah...needed some time alone to mourn my father's death," D replied awkwardly. "But I was wrong to leave so abruptly, without saying goodbye. I am sorry, Chris."

"An apology," Leon muttered under his breath. "Will wonders never cease?"

D glared at him, and Leon grinned, in that insolent but charming manner of his. And then Chris giggled, and D could forgive the detective his insolence when he saw Chris's smiling face. Perhaps in this one instance, D had deserved it, for the way he had hurt Chris--not that he would ever admit that to Leon, of course.

"It's okay, Count, I forgive you," Chris said magnanimously, and before D could decide whether to feel amused or offended, the boy gave D another hug and said, "I'm just glad that you came back."

"Oh, and that reminds me," D said. "I want to thank you, Chris."

"Me?" Chris asked, looking pleased but confused. "For what?"

D opened a small suitcase (newly purchased during their stay in New York), and pulled out the drawing Chris had made. "For this. Your brother set out to return this to me after I lost it, and I am very glad that he did. It is my most treasured possession."

Chris beamed at him, practically bursting with pride. "Yeah, Leon promised that he would return it to you."

"And I always keep my promises," Leon said, affectionately ruffling his brother's hair.

"I have an idea," D said brightly. "Before we leave, why don't we go shopping?"

"Shopping?" Leon asked warily; shopping had never been one of his favorite activities. The very thought of it brought back memories of sore feet and nagging girlfriends and armloads of packages.

"Yes," D said with a sweet smile. "To buy a few gifts to thank your aunt and uncle and cousins for their hospitality. And to buy a frame for this drawing, so that I can hang it up in the shop when we return home."

Chris hugged D a third time, so tightly that it looked like the Count was having trouble catching his breath. Leon smiled and said gruffly, "Sure, let's go shopping."

Part 3

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