Forging New Paths

Evelyn made a soft pff under her breath and resisted the urge to ask if the Dalmatian had been fixed, and subsequently if it had been in heat, not wanting to have to explain to Luca if he didn't know the finer details of dog physiology. "A regular lady and the tramp," she said instead, but was not unmoved by the pictures of little puppies. "They make a very cute mix, at least. Did she not notice Dixie gaining weight?"

"Oh, puppies," Luca murmured softly, interested and even going so far as to reach for Garrett's phone to move it a little closer so he could see. Evelyn supposed it was her fault for always handing him her own when he wanted to look at it, but he knew enough not to try and take it from Garrett's hand, at least. ". . . Are they safe?" No one was mad at the puppies, right? Dixie wasn't in trouble, was she?
 
"That's what I asked her. And apparently she had, but she thought it was a diet issue. She was planning to take Dixie into the vet the next weekend," Garrett explained. He chuckled in delight when Luca moved forward to take hold of his phone. He'd never seen the boy so bold before, and it was wonderful. "Oh, yes, Luca. They're all safe."

He flipped to the next photo. "Ms. Davenport introduced herself to the father's family, and it sounds like she's going to adopt two puppies and the other family will take one. There were three total in the litter. And even better, they'll get both dogs fixed and set up some play dates for them. This was certainly the happiest case I've been involved with yet."
 
Luca was all but entranced, as he was with most things involving animals. It was strange for Evelyn, given that she knew he didn't like to encounter dogs in person. She would have to remember to add that to list of awful things she'd been typing up for Garrett. She'd worked on it a lot the night before, and though she'd lost sleep over the upset of thinking so hard about the details of Luca's past she had at least gotten it almost ready to share.

"A happy ending for all," she said with a little smile at the way Luca's shoulders relaxed to know the babies were safe. "I'm glad she had an open mind and wasn't upset at the other dog for messing with her bloodlines." Purebred dog owners could be territorial like that.

"I'm sure the puppies will grow up to be adorable," She said after they'd taken the time to look at all the photos, settling back and smiling again at the way Luca stayed leaned against Garrett's side. "How is Anthony today? Did he help at all with your case, or is he lying low still?"
 
"Luckily, she was someone who owned Dixie as a pet, not for breeding - and she hadn't intended to breed her, either. Just never realized she hadn't been spayed," Garrett said with a shrug. "But it all worked out in the end, and I was delighted to have been the one to get a first look at the puppies. Absolutely magical."

He blinked and glanced over with a raised eyebrow. Luca was still leaning against him. Either he wanted his powers to be quiet for a moment, or he was that entranced by the puppies. Garrett wasn't sure which. Still, he didn't mind, and he smiled and patted Luca's shoulder.

Then Evelyn asked about Anthony. He was surprised Evelyn had been the one to ask first and not Luca - and actually, he was slightly surprised Evelyn had asked at all, though he would never say so. "He stayed back at the office. Although he did take a short walk to stretch out his muscles a bit. What have you and Luca been up to all morning?"
 
Luca yawned quietly, sleepy still, but finally shifted his weight a little away from Garrett when Evelyn started to open the cooler. "Practicing with knives."

Evelyn shook her head at the phrasing, pulling out the containers to arrange neatly between them all, nestled atop their lids so they weren't in danger of falling over. "We were preparing lunch." She clarified with a bit of laughter in her voice, setting the sandwich container out as well and offering Garrett a paper plate to put it on so he didn't have to hold it the whole time while he was eating, and a fork to pick up the pieces of fruits and veggies if he wanted them. "It involved a lot slicing, so yes, we were practicing with knives. Other than that and some light housecleaning, we haven't done much."

"Watson is playing more," Luca said, though what he really meant was that he was learning to play with the cat more. He was less afraid of accidentally hurting their little friend than he had been when they'd first met.
 
Garrett's eyebrows practically flew off his head. "You were what?" he asked in shock. Then Evelyn explained, and he laughed lightly. "Ohhh, I see. That makes much more sense. And Watson's playing more, eh? That's good to hear. He's getting bigger, too, I've noticed. Growing up so fast."

He took the picnic supplies gratefully and started eating at once. "Mmm. This is delicious food, by the way. You both have made an excellent spread."

With another bite of his sandwich, he nodded and set his plate on the picnic blanket for a moment. "You know, I meant to ask you both - have you noticed how wonderfully quiet it's been around here as of late?" His tone was cheerful, but Evelyn might notice the subtle strain of worry in his eyes.
 
Luca gave Garrett a curious look when he seemed surprised, wondering if it was bad to have helped prepare food somehow. "He can jump on the counters from the ground now." Evelyn wasn't happy about that, but Luca had been impressed, at least.

"Mm, nice and quiet," Evelyn mused agreeably, taking a bite of strawberry and looking at Garrett out of the corner of her eye. "Like something is missing." Were they scrambling, trying to both cover up and make up for the fact that Luca was gone? Were they looking for him, or trying to find some other way to get him back under control? She hadn't had time to really dive into trying to figure it out yet, focused on other things and trying to enjoy the calm for a while, but eventually she knew she would have to put her ear to the ground. Somewhere, buried beneath all sorts of unpleasant things she didn't want to know, she might be able to find the truth.
 
"Yes. But missing in the best way possible," Detective Shiver added, catching Evelyn's glance and returning it with a subtle, relieved smile. Without Luca, he realized, the family had no way to attack targets without leaving evidence. Maybe the quiet was due to them figuring out how to move forward their plans without leaving tracks - and that could take who knew how long.

He finished his sandwich and smiled. "Mm! By the way, Luca, you and Evelyn did an amazing job on lunch if I haven't already said so. It's delicious." He glanced over at Luca, his eyes sparkling. "I don't suppose sometime later today, you both would like me to help make dinner? We could all make something together. Probably some time after we have a lovely nap in the field," he decided.
 
Evelyn only gave a soft hum of agreement, though she was still a little worried about what would come next. They had a period of peace, at least, and hopefully she would have Luca used to talking to his therapist by the time anything started to pick up again. She had a feeling she would need to get on that quickly.

"We can make dinner?" Luca asked, distracted even as he speared a slice of peach to eat, looking between the two of them.

"That sounds nice," Evelyn said with a little smile, putting a few strawberries and carrots on her plate. "I can look for a recipe while you nap. What kind of dinner would you like? Pasta? A casserole? Chicken, or fish?" It would be easy enough to make a quick trip to the grocery store.
 
Garrett beamed and nodded. "We sure can. But wow, that's a lot of choices. And they all sound good. Hm . . . I know! How about a chicken pot pie? Maybe with some corn for a side," he added.

His phone buzzed, and he picked it up and raised an eyebrow. Then he smiled brightly. "Say! Sounds like Ms. Davenport will be taking Dixie for a walk in the park sometime today. She wants to know if I wanted to meet up and pet her. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you both wanted to meet her, too!"

He had no idea about Luca's fear of dogs in real life. All he'd known about Luca so far had told him the boy loved animals - especially the way Luca had nearly taken his phone just to look at a picture of puppies. Garrett thought he'd be ecstatic.
 
"I've never made it before," Evelyn mused, "but I'm sure we could figure it out." It would give her something to do while they slept.

Luca, focused on eating, wasn't paying quite enough attention to realize exactly what 'meeting' Dixie meant. He glanced over, curious, but didn't show much sign of distress yet.

Evelyn, on the other hand, immediately shook her head. "No. Thank you. If you'd like to meet her, that's all right, but we'll wait here." She paused for a moment, then finally took her phone from her purse and texted him rather than say anything out loud. Luca only likes dogs in theory. He can't be near them in person. Seeing them from a distance when they sat at the park made him uncomfortable enough on its own.
 
Garrett picked up on the shift in Evelyn's tone immediately. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, and then glanced at his phone once it buzzed. Ah. I see. Maybe that's something we can help him work through with his therapist. Especially since Luca enjoys the park so much.

He could only imagine why Luca didn't like dogs, but he had the thought maybe there had been guard dogs that Luca associated with his imprisonment.

"All right. That sounds like a good compromise," Garrett agreed, and he went on to text Ms. Davenport. Then he went back to eating, humming happily. "And right after this, I think we should enjoy a nice nap on the picnic blanket. What do you both think?"
 
Evelyn sighed softly and nodded a bit to herself. It will be on The List, once I finish compiling it. It might be somewhere smaller to start, before they get into anything more traumatizing. Not, to say, that Luca was not traumatized, by the way dogs were used near him and the way he'd been used against them, but it was perhaps a step removed from killing people.

"The sun is nice and warm," Luca murmured quietly, mostly focused on lunch but listening with what attention he could spare for them.

"I'll keep watch." Evelyn managed an amused little smile for them since she wouldn't be napping, shaking off the idea of The List she had spent a long while trying not to cry over the night before. That was something she could push away until she had to work on it again. "I've got some reading to do." She was happy enough to relax for a while, but sleeping outside and in public, even with company around to make it more 'safe', wasn't really something she felt comfortable doing.
 
Up until recently, Garrett wouldn't have considered the idea either. But he trusted Evelyn with his life. He knew if there was even the slightest hint of trouble, she'd wake him and Luca up. So after the picnic lunch was over and he'd helped clean up, he had no trouble folding his jacket into a pillow and laying down on the blanket for a nice nap.

"Thank you for keeping an eye out for us. As always," Garrett said with a smile. He yawned and rested his head against his jacket. "And feel free to wake me up if you need anything. I'm looking forward to a few hours of quality napping time."

Eventually, if the group warmed up to Anthony, he thought it was something the former mafia member might enjoy as well.
 
Luca took a little longer eating than the others, as he usually did since he always ate more than they did, but he helped clean up as much as he could, and when everything was tucked away in the cooler again where nothing would spoil he paused for a moment to look between Garrett and Evelyn. He wanted to curl up with Garrett, but being outside and not tucked safely away in the house it made him feel nervous. After a short pause to consider, he wrapped himself around Evelyn again instead and settled with his head cushioned on a hand to close his eyes.

"Do you want me to wake you if your phone rings, or will you hear it?" Evelyn asked, making room for Luca without much thought and briefly juggling her parasol and Luca's jacket in order to lay the latter over his shoulders so his arms wouldn't sunburn. "If nothing else comes up, do you want me to wake you at a certain time?" She could entertain herself easily enough with just her phone, in the meantime, and enjoy the sunshine while awake.
 
"I'll probably hear it," Garrett said with another yawn, "But in case I don't, feel free to wake me up. Otherwise I don't need to be awake by a certain time." He blinked and sent her a quick text.

But feel free to wake me if Luca gets up before me. I don't want everyone waiting on me.

With that, he settled in and soon began drifting off. It wasn't often he got the chance to completely let his guard down outdoors. That was another reason he loved camping - the chance to relax and not worry too much about people coming up at you from out of nowhere.

If Garrett was allowed to rest, he napped for two or so hours, hardly stirring except to give deep sighs of contentment.
 
"All right," Evelyn said with a little smile, leaning back against Luca's weight behind her as she read over the text. "Sweet dreams, you two."

Luca took a while to sleep, even in the sun, and Evelyn only played quiet music for him and ran her fingers through his hair until he drifted off. Once he and Garrett were soundly asleep, she settled in to read on her phone, taking a chance for once to simply read a novel rather than researching anything that could be termed 'important'. Now was a time to relax.

It was almost two hours later when Luca started to stir, and after a little while he pushed himself up to sit next to her, blinking groggily and stretching in a way that reminded her of Watson enough to make her smile. She let him have some time to wake up, and let him people watch for a while to give Garrett a chance to nap for a little longer. Eventually, she asked Luca to wake him.

"Time to get up," Luca urged at her direction, giving Garrett's shoulder a hesitant sort of shake, unsure what was too much and what was too little. "You'll get too much sun. . ."

Evelyn had told him that days and days ago, after the first time they'd realized his fair skin would turn red rather easily if left exposed to sunlight for too long. He was sensitive because he'd lived most of his life inside, but he didn't know that was why.
 
It didn't take much to roust Garett. He yawned and rolled over, slowly blinking his eyes before he realized Luca was the one who had woken him. He smiled and sat up. "Oh! Hi, Luca. Good point. Don't want to get sunburned." He stretched until his back cracked a bit, and then rubbed his eyes and glanced around. "It's still daylight out. That's a good sign. But it doesn't seem like dinner time yet."

He raised an eyebrow at Luca and smiled. "Say. How would you feel about getting some swimming lessons today? I was talking to Anthony about swimming this morning, and he mentioned a quiet lake where he's never seen anyone else. Might be a good spot, if you're up for it."
 
Luca settled back on his heels as Garrett sat up, tilting his head a bit curiously as he thought about how much time there might be until dinner. He hadn't looked at the time yet, but his stomach didn't feel empty. When Garrett mentioned swimming he looked over at Evelyn, as if for permission, but despite her personal distaste for the idea - purely because it was not part of the plan, she didn't like lakes much, and she hadn't checked first to see if it was safe for Luca - she only shrugged and let him decide on his own.

". . . I don't know," he murmured softly after a moment, shy and reserved in the way Evelyn knew meant he was trying to figure out how he felt about it. "I don't remember if I like swimming. . ."

"We'll only go if you want to," Evelyn assured, doing her best to stay detached and let him make the decision on his own. "Do you think we would have time for that and dinner, Garrett, or should we just buy dinner somewhere later?" She didn't know what his plan was, or how long it would take to get to the lake. "Come to think of it, I don't have anything for Luca to swim in." She hadn't thought of swimming when she'd bought clothes for him. Maybe Garrett had something he could borrow, or maybe they would have to wait until she could buy him something.

Luca was still thinking, brow furrowed in concentration. ". . . what if I don't like it?" He asked finally, still very hesitant to ask for anything for himself. If he got scared of the water, or if he didn't like it anymore, would he be bad for saying yes and then wanting to leave?
 
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Garrett listened quietly, and the patient smile stayed on his face. "That's no trouble. It's only, what, three now? We've got a few hours. And we could find a swimsuit somewhere within probably twenty minutes." His gaze traveled back to Luca. "It's all right, Luca. We can leave any time you like. Even if we've only just gotten there - even if the car hasn't reached the place yet."

He glanced back at Evelyn. "I haven't been to the lake itself yet, but I know the area around it well. It's a very quiet forest. And Anthony's right; hardly anyone goes there. It's a small forest and there isn't a whole lot to do. We'd be the only ones there, besides the fish and frogs." He blinked. "Which reminds me, Luvs - there may be fish and frogs and seaweed in the water. Is that okay?"
 
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