good old days, huh, Ten?” Ronan asked as he walked into the kitchen. Instead of going for the steaming cup of coffee sitting at his place at the table, he hugged his husband, who was making oatmeal for himself and Everly.
“I wouldn’t mind so much if we could just come home and crash later, but Little Miss needs a tubby, and there’s more laundry to do since you didn’t get much done last night.” Ten raised an eyebrow at Ronan.
“Jude came over to talk about the case. Then you came downstairs to talk about your experience with Skye’s spirit. It wasn’t like I was in the living room wanking my crank to some porno.” Ronan offered his husband a cheery grin.
Ten snorted. “Wanking your crank? You sound like something out of an 80s movie.”
“I feel like it. Those pictures you showed me of Skye’s bedroom with the New Kids posters brought me back to movies like Sixteen Candles, The Goonies, The Breakfast Club.” Ronan sighed.
“Good morning, boys,” Kaye Grimm breezed into the kitchen. “The two of you look awful.” She frowned at Ten and Ronan before heading for Everly who was sitting in her highchair. “Look at you, Petunia! Pretty as a picture.”
“Hi, Nan! O-meal!” Everly pointed to the stove where Ten had been making breakfast.
“You want oatmeal, don’t you, little sweetheart?” Kaye raced over to finish the preparations. “Look at your mean Daddies hugging each other instead of feeding you. My poor little dumpling.”
“Bad Daddies!” Everly agreed.
“Well, that’s our cue to leave.” Ronan rolled his eyes. He pressed a quick kiss to Everly’s forehead and nodded at Kaye. She took damn good care of his daughter, but she was still way too opinionated about his and Ten’s life.
“Bye, cutie.” Ten kissed the baby and gave his mother a quick hug.
“Bye, Dada! Bye!” Everly waved as Ten and Ronan hightailed it out of the room.
“I’m glad we’re taking our own car today,” Ten said. Ronan was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. “I like Kevin, don’t get me wrong, but I’d rather have our own ride home.”
Ronan couldn’t agree more. Plus, with the leads he was going to talk about today, he had a feeling they were all going to go their own way. “Jude told me last night that he thinks afternoon naps are making me soft. What do you think?”
“Jude said that?” Ten hummed under his breath. “Do you want to know what I honestly think? About all three of you?”
“I do.” Ronan trusted Ten to be straight with him and tell it like it was.
“I think all three of you are softer now that you’re done with the BPD. Think about the kinds of criminals we dealt with, a child molester, serial killers, mob bosses. Not exactly the cream of Boston society.”
“True,” Ronan agreed. “But how does working with those people make us softer?”
“It’s the not working with them anymore, Ronan. When we were with the BPD, we were always on edge, waiting for the next case and the next killer to apprehend. Ever since you retired, we don’t think like that anymore, we’re not constantly in a heightened state of awareness waiting for the phone to ring with the news of another murder or a break in the case. You got to relax with your life as a father. Same with Fitzgibbon. Jude was working cases of hauntings, but he and Cope were never in physical danger with guns and knives the way we were before you retired. If you ask me, Jude’s the softest one of the bunch now. I’ve never seen such a transformation in a man. He was a gruff man-whore when we met him, now he’s a husband, a father, and has cats.”
Ronan thought over Ten’s words. He knew what his husband was saying was right on the money. “Do you think my instincts will come back?”
“No, I don’t.” Ten set a hand on Ronan’s knee. “They don’t have to come back because you never lost them. Yesterday was hard on all of us. It was the first time we looked at a murder case through the eyes of a parent. If we’d worked this case three years ago when you and I first met, the interview with the Washingtons would have been much different.”
“I can’t argue with you there. I know Kevin and I would have pushed those parents harder, regardless of the fact that their dead child’s hoodie sat on her vacant seat at the table.” Ronan