Jaime buried his face into the crease of Stryker's neck. It made grabbing the changing bag from the car harder than it should have been. On afterthought, he grabbed the panda. Jamie had refused to exchange it for one of the newer toys that he had bought him, clutching the tattered old thing to his chest and shaking his head no when Stryker had given him the option.

"Your kid has a real set of lungs on him," was Maddy's greeting as he opened the door after Stryker knocked it twice.

"Yeah," Stryker said dryly. "Glad you heard. Thanks so much for all your help, pal."

Maddy shrugged. Mild humour...