It's not everyday that your niece demands you to get her chocolate raisins of that one particular brand that is only present in a store that's a two hour drive from where you live. Really, it's a shame how soft Bennett is for that kid.

Who the hell likes chocolate raisins anyway? Even Bennett, who has never shied away from his love for the dark compound, agrees their texture is weird. How his niece ended up an avid consumer of them is beyond him, but then again, she is her mother's daughter.

"Do you have to have them today?" He asks one last time, keys in his hand and a pouting child in his arms.

"Do you have to breathe?" She asks by way of answering, and with a long drive at 2 am and an even longer day at work tomorrow awaiting him, he's very tempted to say no, I don't.

He gives in, puts her back down and ushers her inside before getting in his car, eyes blinking to keep awake. He'll have to buy coffee somewhere if he wants to drive safely, but that's a problem for when sleep really hits him. For now, he suffices by putting on music and gripping the steering wheel till his hands burn, so the sensation can keep him up.

The two hours pass in mindless driving and careless adlibs thrown in here and there to music - the store is open and the workers are awake when Bennett arrives, and he makes a quick job of grabbing tens of packets before paying and rushing out.

The raised voice of a person and utterance of some highly inappropriate expletives stops him in his tracks.

He steps a little closer, turning around slightly to peer into the alleyway next to the shop.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? I paid for those bars."

The speaker looks like a pre-teen, dark brown hair falling in proper curls down their shoulders and a hoodie hanging off their frame. It's dark red, and Bennett thinks he's seen it somewhere.

He steps around the shop corner properly to see the scene more clearly - and, there they are. The hoodie-clad figure is backed against a wall, clutching a bag of candy to their chest as two others stand across. Despite being the one backed up, the latter is glaring at the other two, who look way too nervous for Bennett to figure out who exactly needs help in the scenario, if any help is needed at all.

"No, its-," One of the pair begins, but Bennett's pointed cough stops him midway.

The three kids turn to see him standing there, and the one in the red hoodie immediately narrows their eyes. Understandable, Bennett thinks, can't imagine how safe they'd feel to see a strange adult looming at the end of an alleyway at 2 am. I should've thought this through.

"We don't have any money," A timid voice calls, and Bennett shakes his head.

"I only have candy, and my brother will kill you if he finds out you took it from me." The hoodie kid says, and Bennett puts both his hands up as if to indicate surrender, stepping back till he's out of the darkness of the alleyway and the light from the store can illuminate his figure.

"I heard cursing, just wanted to see what it was about," He explains himself, and the eyes trailed on him lose some of their suspicion.

He slouches, trying to seem smaller to ease their apprehension. The two kids in a pair don't say anything, simply turn and start walking towards the other end of the alley. First their steps are slow, calculated movements as they peer their head back at Bennett every now and then, and then they sprint off together.

"I wanted to go to that side," The hoodie kid expresses her disappointment, stature still wary as they take a careful step towards Bennett, "Remember, my brother-"

"Will kill me. Yeah, I get it."

The red hoodie kid finally walks up to him, eyes not wavering from his face even once till she's right in front of him. She seems to be considering something, eyes darting from Bennett's face to the packets held in his hands, till a question finally comes out.

"Why do you have so many chocolate raisins? They're gross."

"They're for my niece, and you shouldn't call food gross."

"They look like poop."

Bennett shares the sentiments, only in a less eloquent way. If this were happening 4 years ago, he'd have no idea of what to say to the kid in front of him, but babysitting Brennan's menace of a child has taught him all he needs to know.

"What have you got, then?"

"Musketeers, and some snickers."

Time really does heal things. The term that made him anxious 5 years ago, sad 6 years ago, and guilty ever since he walked out on people that mattered so much to him 7 years ago, only causes him to flinch ever so slightly.

"You like those?"

"I like the snickers and the chocolate and vanilla parts of Musketeers."

"Not a strawberry fan?"

The kid scrunches up her face, "Too sweet."

Bennett nods in understanding, watching as the child bunches up her hoodie closer, the hood of it almost hanging over her head at this point.

"Is that your brother's?" He asks, and mentally makes a note to tell Brennan of his progress in small talk.

"Yeah."

"And is he okay with you going out so late at night?"

He makes a second mental note to give her the spare jacket he keeps in his car - the hoodie is too loose, the air can easily make its way inside and he can see how it makes the kid shiver.

"He's not my boss," And then, in a smaller voice that comes after a giggle, "He was the one who wanted the candy in the first place."

"He didn't want to get it himself?"

"He said he was too tired, so I snuck out and decided to get some for him."

"You're a good sibling," Bennett sees the smile that forms on her face at those words, and it prompts a silver of it on his own, "But you shouldn't have gotten out so late at night."

The smile drops, and scratched nails pick at the sleeves of the hoodie. "You aren't my boss either."

"I wasn't trying to be," He says kindly. Something about this kid feels familiar, seems familiar, and he's trying to figure out what. Is it too early to ask for their name? Probably.

"You look cold, do you want me to get you another jacket?"

Her stance hardens at once, steps being taken back with an urgency that Bennett immediately seeks to resolve.

"I knew you were sketchy," The kid says, once she's at a considerable distance.

"What?"

"Oh come on, a strange adult who still looks like an emo kid offers me their jacket. What now? You're going to take me to your car and shove me in there?"

Bennett sighs, not knowing how to take this further. The kid is right in their own way, Bennett can't blame them for being careful, but something in him really wants to help this kid.

"You're very clever for a-," He stops for her to fill in.

"I'm not telling you my age."

"Like I said, clever," He looks around, trying to think of something.

"Here, how about this? You stay here, and I go and get you the jacket. And then you tell me your name, seems fine?"

"No sketchy kidnapper stuff?"

"None, I swear on," He pauses, "I swear on chocolate, okay?"

"Okay."

He's back with the jacket in a few minutes, handing it over to the kid who takes it with careful hands and daring eyes. He hesitates to think of whom she reminds him of, hesitates to even let his name form in his head.

"So, what's your name?"

"Delilah."

Bennett has been on both sides of guns, at gunpoint and the one cocking the barrel, but he doesn't think his heart has ever stopped that fast, or sped up that quick.

"Mind telling me your surname too?"

"It's Lynch."

Of course she seems familiar, he wants to hit his head somewhere, I was there for her birth.

The universe is out to get him, it seems, because he can feel the chocolate raisins slightly softening in his hand, the heat getting to them. As he feels them melt and the kid- Delilah - looks up at him, he agrees.

The universe really does have it in for him.

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HELLO ITS ME i mean who else could it be but yep, first chapter! Let me know what you think :)

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