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Detective Lieutenant Jeremiah Mercer was back at his desk officially after having gone missing. He was still glaring anyone down who bothered to ask him about it. The only person who really got anything from him Edwards, the chief of police (who was running for mayor and that was a whole new set of problems on it's own).

There was a mountain of paperwork he was trying to work through and clean up, forms to fill out, as well a pile of cases he had to get handed out to the officers he thought would handled them best. This was why he would never be anything higher than what he was because he loathed administrative work even if he handled it exceptionally well. Even if it was only from years of being at the job and knowing the skill sets of other officers.

He was close to finishing up, his shift almost to an end, and only a sentence away from the report he was working on done.

Jeremiah had been about to stand and paused, not expecting a knock on the door. He glanced up and was surprised to see Autumn (he had caught her name). He had not, as of yet, actively sought out the people he had seen in other ashdown. There had simply been too much for him to do, including cementing the story as to why Zac and himself had been missing.

"It is," he inclined his head in greeting. "Detective Lieutenant Jeremiah Mercer." His lips might have twitched a bit at the attempt at calling him chief. That was someone else. He went ahead and finished standing, picking up the case files as he did so. "Autumn, yes?" The detective had heard her name, remembered it and her. She had, when things had already gotten crazy, been on top of the game. Autumn had negotiated and calmed down a situation, much like Jeremiah preferred to do.

"What can I do for you today?" Then. "Good to see you again." In a less messed up place.

"Actually, I was just heading out for the day. My shift is over." Jeremiah was not a smiler but there was a softer look to his face instead of the grim determined look he had had on the other side. Autumn mentioning Eve had him raising an eyebrow and his eyes glanced to the thermos and bag. "Hold on to those for a moment, let me get these cases handed out and we can talk."

The detective honestly had no desire to talk about other ashdown in the department. At all. Edwards would start in about terrorists or hoodlums and his blood pressure would spike and ...

Just. No.

"Also ... I am a tea person." Sometimes he felt like a typical Brit with how much he preferred tea. "Though I get mine sent from some growers across the pond." With a nod for to please wait a moment, he stepped out of his office to get the cases assigned.

Autumn would notice, sitting on Jeremiah's desk, was one thing that did not fit in with everything else. It was a photo in a frame (one with cute pandas at the top right and bottom left corners) that had him and Zac. What further made it amusing to see on his desk was that Zac was in the photo laughing, pointing at Jeremiah, who had a are you kidding me look on his face because Mogget was on his shoulders. The cat had been caught mid-lick, tongue out and slightly turned towards the camera in a what? busy cleaning one of my humans. Jeremiah was clearly not actually made if the slight twitch upward of his lips the photograph had anything to say.

The detective was back in a few minutes, grabbing his coat - something much warmer than the season would prefer - and gesturing for Autumn to go ahead. They could talk and walk out of the building. "I've got a recipe you can use for cat treats," he spoke as he was pulling on his coat. "Made them for my son's cat." As much as Mogget was Zac's cat, Jeremiah was part of Mogget's list of his humans. "Which reminds me to make sure he's got enough food for Mogget since he's not staying at home right now ..." That bit was mostly muttered to himself, Jeremiah pulling his phone from his pocket to make himself a reminder to text Zac later.

If Jeremiah was the kind to blush, he might have. Instead he just made a noise, a slight huff and straightened up. Which lead to stiffening slightly because that still pulled at the burns but he eased out of it slowly with an exhale of breath. Stiff upper lip and all.

"He is, even if it's not by blood." There was, actually, paperwork sitting at home in a file folder tucked away to see about formal adoption instead of him just being Zac's legal guardian. "... and thank you," was quietly said a moment later. It was so, so odd to be complimented on that because most simply did not. Too intimidated or not sure how to deal with Jeremiah based on reputation.

"How old are the kittens?" he found himself asking before he could stop himself but then Autumn was asking about other ashdown. Jeremiah tilted his head towards the thermos she held and then to a bench that was not that far away. "Walking around isn't the most comfortable for me right now, so if we can sit down, I'll fill in those blanks." Then, with a slight twitch up of his lips. "You did amazingly well there for yourself even if you thought it was all a dream in the beginning."

Jeremiah's expression briefly flickered, no longer hidden quite as well because the bruising on his face had reached that green and yellow stage. Yes, he was a good father but the entire thing with other ashdown had created a few issues ...

Things he had brought down upon himself.

"It's not so crazy," a snort, "I'd believe it. They all make flowers appear? Even the kittens?" That sounded kind of cute? He could not think of the word but he honestly now had kittens on the brain. It faded the moment Autumn started talking about other ashdown.

"I would argue that I'm not some crazy-a** movie hero," there was something about that being said in an English accent, "but I also know that I am deep into this. More so than others." He could not argue it, not now. Zac had made his point, Algie had made a similar point. Jeremiah sat down on the bench, gesturing for her to sit as well. It was warmed by the sun and when he sat back against it, the heat seeping into him, he couldn't resist the sigh that escaped. It felt good.

"I can't tell you why you're involved. I can tell you why I am," Autumn heard parts of it, "but as to why the rest of you got pulled in? I've no clue. It's something I'm trying to figure out." A hand was flicked into the air.

"Got any pictures of them?" he found himself asking before he could stop himself. Jeremiah knew he had a weakness for cats. Always had and always would because he had been denied so much as a child but never gotten his own, always someone else's. With both Zac and Mogget gone ...

The detective missed that curly-tailed feline.

Not that a certain other fatcat wasn't making up for it, it just was not the same.

His fingers flicked for the thermos of tea. If he was talking about this, he wanted to try that tea.

"You don't need to be able to fight, I think, to be able to hold your own there." Jeremiah leaned back against the warm back of the bench, still soaking up the heat through his clothing. It eased the chill, even if it did not help the pain. "I can't explain it quite yet ..." His fingers flicked through the air, almost like a gesture as if he expected something to spark from them. "Perhaps later when I've figured it out myself I can explain it to you." The detective was thinking about the magic he had experienced, not the powers he knew he had. Those he would explain but other things first and then offers of assistance ...

"As for the heart thing, that plays into why I am involved." He sat up properly, not slouching even if it was momentarily more comfortable (Algie would have his hide, the slouching was not helping his back at all). Still not exactly comfortable that that was common knowledge now. Autumn, however, was an amazing young woman to do what she did. That made her worth sharing information with. "That was my first time I've been there in person," for days, at that, as he had been missing and there the entire time, "as for why I am involved ... The three missing teens is my case. Has been since Adoelle went missing."

There was obviously more to it than that.

The kittens were more adorable than they had any right to be. Jeremiah was already smitten with just the pictures. "I would love to see one of them." Or all of them. Seriously, no joke. Bring the man some kittens.

He glanced up from her phone, taking the thermos and opening it to try the tea. It was good and he let out an appreciative sigh. Tea plus warm bench was definitely good for soothing the chill.

"It isn't that simple. Hunting them down is not so easy as bringing them home." Jeremiah was pouring more of the tea into the mini-cup that came with the thermos. "Whatever would help you, I'll tell you," he offered, "but you're more than welcome to my contact info." Thermos set down, his phone was pulled out and his thumb was hovering over the screen to text her and vice versa. "I don't know what could involve you but I do know ..."

A breath was taken. "You'll have powers," as strange as that still sounded to say and he still felt odd saying, "not like the magic you saw," not like the water that Jeremiah had called down with Sunny's help, "but something all the same."