Hyunwoo sighed for the millionth time that day as he passed through the station. After two hours of research, all he'd been able to confirm was that Yoo Kihyun had indeed had a kidney transplant. No donor was named, but the transplant surgeon had been. Hyunwoo had called up the office, but the secretary had informed him that Dr. Stephens had left their practice. He'd have to try and track him down tomorrow.

For now, he had a class to go to.

"-to see you, it's been a while," Hoseok was saying as Hyunwoo opened the door and nodded to Dr. Lee and Hoseok. "Oh, perfect," Hoseok said, smiling and turning to face Hyunwoo as well. "This is Officer Son. He's the one who found the child."

"Nice to meet you," the unfamiliar man beside Hoseok said while simultaneously signing the phrase. "My name is Im Changkyun. Hoseok contacted me about your case."

"Thank you for coming," Hyunwoo said. He noticed that the boy was sitting at a desk that had been cleared off. "Where are his crayons?" Hyunwoo asked, oddly disconcerted at their absence.

"Oh, I have them in my bag," Hoseok said. "I just thought they might be distracting if Changkyun is trying to teach."

"Crayons?" Changkyun asked, continuing to sign while he spoke. "He likes to color?"

"He does," Hyunwoo said with a small nod, noticing that Changkyun seemed to be watching his lips while he spoke. "He likes drawing things around him. Up until now, that's only been his room, but I think he'll start drawing other things soon. And I wrote down a few words for him, and he seems to have learned those."

Changkyun hummed while he considered what Hyunwoo had said. "Let's put the crayons in front of him. It may be helpful if he has that option to communicate as well."

"All right," Hoseok agreed readily, pulling crayons and extra paper out of his backpack and setting them in front of the boy. Almost immediately, the boy snatched a green crayon and a piece of paper before looking over at Hyunwoo.

"What is it?" Hyunwoo asked, coming closer because it seemed to him like the boy was waiting expectantly.

The boy waited until he was only a few steps away before pointing with the green crayon towards Changkyun.

"Oh, his name?" Hyunwoo asked, already looking back down at the boy and gesturing toward the sheet of paper. The boy handed it over and relinquished the crayon, watching carefully as Hyunwoo wrote a new name on the paper.

CHANGKYUN

CHANGKYUN, the boy copied before looking over to Hyunwoo, who nodded. He pointed to Jooheon and looked at the boy, who quickly wrote JOOHEON. They repeated the process with HOSEOK, MINHYUK, and before Hyunwoo could even point to himself, his name joined the others on the paper.

"Amazing," Changkyun said, having watched the entire process. "And he's only been learning for a day now?"

Hyunwoo nodded, staring down at the boy's sheet with pride. He'd taught him that. "I think, in a weird way, that words are just pictures to him. I think that's how he processes things. But his recall is astounding."

"Quite."

Hoseok got Changkyun's attention after that and spoke quietly. "We appreciate you coming in to help, but I need to ask that you keep this strictly confidential."

"Of course," Changkyun said. "But can I ask why?"

"Two reasons," Hoseok said with a sigh. "First off, the boy is from a prestigious family, and the circumstances surrounding his neglect are still a little unclear. Second, there have been a few cases with some similarity in the past, and once the child had become public knowledge, they were flocked by psychologists and researchers and essentially used as a public experiment and object of study. I would like for this boy to not have that experience."

"I understand," Changkyun said with a nod. "Shall we begin then?"

--

The lesson for the day was the ASL alphabet. Changkyun would show a slide with the letter and the hand visual before demonstrating and making sure the boy was imitating it correctly. Then they'd move on to another letter and repeat the process.

Hyunwoo kept up all right, but his recall was nowhere near as good as the boy's. There were a few letters he just couldn't seem to remember, but he made a note to look them up at home later and keep practicing.

Changkyun seemed pleased with the boy's progress, and at the end of the session, he approached the others to debrief them. "He can make the signs rather well," Changkyun said. "He seems to have the alphabet down. We'll review it at the beginning tomorrow before starting on some common vocabulary." He paused to look over at Hoseok and then back at Hyunwoo. "Based on what I was told, I don't think he will be able to fully utilize the language because learning grammar and structure at his age is extremely difficult. But having a basic vocabulary is a start and will hopefully allow him to communicate, even in a limited way."

"Thank you," Hyunwoo said again before hesitating. "Can I ask you something?"

Changkyun nodded. "What is it?"

"Are you deaf as well? Or..." Hyunwoo trailed off, realizing that it sounded like an offensive question to ask, but Changkyun smiled.

"I am. I lost most of my hearing at a young age, but my parents enrolled me in programs to help me learn to communicate almost as well as someone with normal hearing."

"I'm sorry if it was offensive to ask," Hyunwoo said. "I just wasn't sure, and you speak so well that it's unnoticeable."

Changkyun nodded. "It's not offensive to ask, and I don't mind talking about it. I started off in oralism classes, which focus on teaching deaf people to communicate via speaking and reading lips. My parents originally viewed my deafness as a problem that had to be fixed, as many people do. That I had to become 'normal.' But I got older and learned more about the deaf community...there's a sort of pride in our identity that people don't understand."

Changkyun shrugged, making several gestures that Hyunwoo didn't understand and Changkyun didn't verbalize. "Sign language and gestures are just more natural to us. There are even people in the community who believe that sign language belongs solely to us and that those outside the community shouldn't be allowed to use it or teach it. There are also those in the community who reject the practice of oralism because it was originally created as a way to make us like everyone else and erase part of our identity. So I learned to sign because I wanted to connect more with the deaf community, and I began teaching it to others."

Hyunwoo wondered if the boy would ever belong to a community, if he would find people like him that could understand him and make him feel accepted. He nodded to thank Changkyun for his explanation, and Changkyun looked down at his watch.

"I have to go," he said, continuing to sign while he spoke. Hyunwoo wondered if it was a habit or if he was just modeling the behavior for the boy. "I will see you all tomorrow."

Only Hyunwoo and Jooheon weren't able to participate the next day, or the day after that. A new case came up, and suddenly it was all hands on deck. Any time that Hyunwoo had away from the new case was devoted to tracking down any of the doctors who might have come into contact with the boy.

"Hey," Hyunwoo said, tapping at the cubicle wall surrounding Jooheon's desk. "I need to run out for a bit to check on something. It's a bit of a drive so I'll probably be out for the rest of the day."

"Okay," Jooheon said, still scribbling something on a notepad before he set down the pen and looked over. "I'll let the chief know if he asks, but I don't know if anyone will notice. The other investigative unit just brought in three guys they like for the Yoo family murders, so it's going to be a whirlwind today."

"They got the guys?" Hyunwoo asked, ignoring the itch in his stomach that wanted him to hurry up and start driving. "How'd it happen?"

"They're still waiting for a full confession," Jooheon said, spinning ninety degrees in his chair to face Hyunwoo. "But they already have a statement from the gardener. He was having some financial problems, so he gave his keys to a few guys he knew. The idea was that they would rob the place and he would get a cut for getting them in. He swears he didn't know they were going to kill anyone. They were just supposed to go in and take what they could carry, but apparently they had other plans. Things escalated..." Jooheon made a vague gesture with his hands and sighed deeply, no doubt envisioning three bodies mutilated and bound to chairs. That's what Hyunwoo was picturing, anyway. "He broke down, hard. I think he genuinely cared about the Yoo family. He really didn't know what was going to happen."

"Whether or not he knew what would happen," Hyunwoo said, grimacing at the images filling his mind, images he knew he would never forget, "he created the circumstances that allowed for the murder of a ten-year-old boy."

"I know," Jooheon said with another long sigh. "It just tells you what kind of fucked up this world is that a ten-year-old boy had to die in order for a thirteen-year-old boy to be saved from a lifetime of neglect."

Hyunwoo was quiet for a long moment, wanting to argue that there should have been a way to save both, but there was no point in arguing about events that had already transpired. "All right," he said after another pause. "Keep me updated on how it goes with them. Call me if anything changes."

"Will do," Jooheon said, spinning back to his desk.

Hyunwoo gave a final nod and headed for the door, brown paper bag lunch tucked under his arm because he knew this lead would take the rest of the day to run down. He slipped into his squad car, dropped the lunch on the passenger seat and his coffee in the cupholder, and headed out.

--

Three hours later – two hours for the ride and one for the recorded conversation he now had stored on his phone – he felt completely different than the morning, no longer despairing but almost buoyant with energy. He'd just shifted gears from park to drive when he looked down at his phone and noticed a notification from twenty minutes ago, a voicemail from Jooheon that had likely been left during the time he'd been recording.

He shifted back into park and flicked the notification, holding the phone up to his ear.

"Hey Hyunwoo, it's Jooheon. Listen, I know this is abrupt, but Child Protective Services called Hoseok a few minutes ago. They've located a family to take the boy in, and they're going to pick him up after work today. I'm sorry, I know you're out in the field but they didn't give us any fucking warning about this. They'll be here at three if you can make it in time to see him off."

The voicemail ended with a click, and Hyunwoo's buoyancy sank once more as he checked the clock. It was 1:45 now, which only gave him a little over an hour to make the two-hour trek back to the station, a seemingly impossible task.

But he'd be damned if he wasn't going to try.

He flipped on his lights, switched back into drive, and roared out of the parking lot.

--

It was 3:07 when he pulled into the parking lot, paper bag lunch uneaten on the passenger seat and coffee ignored as he sprinted from the car, forgetting to lock it in his haste as he ran through the front doors.

He got a few odd looks from other officers, but he paid no attention to them, just saw that Jooheon wasn't at his desk and changed direction. The interrogation room they'd been using to watch the kid was empty as well, so Hyunwoo hustled upstairs to Hoseok's office, where Changkyun had been instructing the boy the past few days.

"-just five more minutes," he heard as he threw open the door.

Jooheon looked over at him immediately, sighing in relief. "See? He's here, I told you he'd make it."

Hyunwoo just nodded, catching his breath while he took in the room. Jooheon, Dr. Lee, and Hoseok were standing near Hoseok's desk. On the opposite side of the room was an unfamiliar but well-dressed woman who Hyunwoo assumed was the CPS representative, and sitting at the empty desk in front of her was the boy. "Sorry I'm late," he said after a moment, managing to get in enough air to speak.

"That's all right," the CPS rep said, sticking out a hand. "My name is Ann Borschert. I'm the caseworker that's been assigned to this boy. I understand that you're the officer who found him and brought him in?"

Hyunwoo nodded before gesturing to Jooheon. "Officer Lee was there as well, but yes, we were the ones who found him."

"Well, I didn't want to leave before meeting you personally and thanking you for your service," Ann said with a firm but sincere smile. "I also wanted to reassure you that we've found a good family for him that will be able to meet his needs. And Mr. Im will have continued access to this child in order to continue their lessons." Ann's smile grew a touch more wistful. "We'll have to head out in another minute or two, but I figured you'd all want to say your goodbyes." She paused before nodding toward the group as a whole. "I'll be waiting in the hallway when you're ready."

She slipped out the door Hyunwoo had just entered through, and Jooheon gave Hyunwoo a light punch on the arm.

"I thought you weren't going to make it," Jooheon said, relief veiling the worry he'd been carrying. "I thought that maybe you didn't get my message or something."

"I got it," Hyunwoo said, exhaling. "I was just two hours out and had to hustle back. Thanks for calling me."

"Sorry we didn't have more of a heads-up," Hoseok said, eyebrows twisted up sympathetically. "But let's not waste this time, right?" He smiled as he went around his desk and pulled out a child's backpack styled in bright colors. "I got him a little something. Just...I felt like it. So he could remember us, maybe. I don't know."

"Oh, perfect," Jooheon said, rummaging around in his own bag. "As soon as I heard that CPS was coming today, I headed out and got something too...Here!" he announced, pulling out a massive pack of crayons and setting them on the table in front of the boy, who stared at them with open curiosity. "This is a 128-crayon set. You've got your solid colors, a few sparkly ones, and whatever else Crayola threw in there. No more 8-crayon pack for our little buddy."

Dr. Lee set a sketchbook down next to the crayons, looking a little embarrassed. "I didn't know what a kid would like, but I felt like this might be easier so he could have all the paper in one place rather than running through an entire loose ream."

"Here, I'll pack it all in his backpack," Hoseok offered, moving to grab the sketchbook, but Hyunwoo stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

"I...have something for him too," Hyunwoo said, already feeling a strange knot tightening in his chest. He knew he wouldn't be ready to let go, he'd always known that this boy wasn't theirs to take care of, but now was the time and he still wasn't ready.

Swallowing, he picked up the sketchbook and selected a crayon from the kit Jooheon had bought. He flipped open the sketchbook to the first blank page. Then he wrote the word he'd learned today, the word he'd driven two hours there and an hour fifteen back to get.

He set down the crayon on the table in front of the boy. It felt heavier than when he'd picked it up. Then he flipped around the sketchbook so the boy could see.

HYUNGWON

The boy looked at the letters before looking up at Hyunwoo, a confused tilt to his head. He waited for Hyunwoo to point to something, to tell him what a Hyungwon was.

Hyunwoo couldn't move for a long moment, but then he pointed at the boy and gave a slow nod.

The boy stared at him, eyes growing wide while Hyunwoo's grew wet. He looked back down at the word, reached out with a shaking finger and touched it, ran the pad of his finger through each letter to feel their existence. Then, ever so slowly, he turned the finger back and touched that same fingertip to his chest right over his heart.

Hyunwoo nodded, unable to hold back the tears that had been building over the past few days. He nodded again before holding out the sketchbook to the boy, who took it with shaking hands and just stared at the letters for a long time.

Then he picked up the crayon.

HYUNGWON, he wrote beneath Hyunwoo's writing, the letters as shaky as they'd been when he had been just copying the letters for the first time. He dropped the crayon, letting it roll across the table and fall off the edge. He clutched the sketchbook in two hands, and a few tears dripped from his eyes and fell onto the page. He dropped the sketchbook onto the table and wiped at his eyes before looking up at Hyunwoo and signing something, but it wasn't a gesture Hyunwoo recognized.

Before he could ask, the door opened slightly and Ann poked her head in. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, her voice gentle as though she knew what they were going through. And she probably did. This was her job, after all. She'd probably watched dozens of people say goodbye to kids that had only been theirs temporarily. "But we have to go now."

"We understand," Hoseok said, voice equally soft as Jooheon ducked under the desk and snatched up the fallen crayon.

"Not sending him off with only 127," he mumbled, voice rough as he slipped it back into its slot.

Hoseok took the sketchbook and delicately flipped the cover back to the front before sliding it into the backpack along with the crayons. He held out a hand for the boy to take, and once he'd stood up, still wiping at a few rogue tears, Hoseok helped him slip his arms through the backpack.

"Bye, kiddo," Hoseok said, bending down to give him a little hug.

Jooheon held up a vertical hand, and the boy stared at it for a second before putting his up to meet Jooheon's. "That's called a high five. Now take care buddy," Jooheon said, wiping at his own eyes and looking away.

Dr. Lee cleared his throat and gave the boy a small wave.

Hyunwoo was at a loss. He didn't know what to say or do to make this moment okay. He wished he would have memorized something to sign, but he hadn't been prepared for this day to come so soon.

All he could do was put a hand over his heart, and the boy copied him. Hyunwoo hoped that he understood, that the boy could feel his own heart beating and imagine that Hyunwoo's was beating like that too.

"All right," Ann said softly, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "We have to get going. But thank you all for taking care of him the past few days. He's going to be well taken care of from here on out, I promise." With one arm on the boy's shoulder, she led him out of the room, and they all watched the bright backpack disappear behind the door as it shut.

"It's just so soon, you know," Jooheon said, wiping at another tear. "I didn't expect it would be so soon. I thought we had more time with the kiddo."

"This is what's best for him," Hoseok said, although his eyes weren't dry either.

"This is what a happy ending for him looks like," Dr. Lee said. He didn't seem to be as emotionally affected as the others, but he spent most days hanging around dead bodies so he wasn't exactly the portrait of normal. "It feels sad for us now, but he's getting a whole new life with people who will love him and help him grow. That's all we could ask for."

"Hoseok, you've been going with him to Changkyun's classes, right?" Hyunwoo asked abruptly, and Hoseok gave a surprised nod.

"Yes? What about it?"

"He made this gesture," Hyunwoo said, clumsily recreating what he'd seen the boy do. "What does that mean?"

Hoseok's features softened, and a smile curved at his lips as he repeated the gesture. "This means 'Thank you,'" he said.

Hyunwoo repeated the gesture to himself once more, his heart swelling, and while the others continued on with their conversation, Hyunwoo wandered over to the window and watched the parking lot. A minute later, he saw Ann and the boy walking out the front doors of the station. There was a small moment in which Ann kept walking while the boy stopped and turned, his eyes finding Hyunwoo in the window.

Hyunwoo was caught off guard, but his heart felt light as he copied the boy's gesture from earlier.

Thank you.

The boy's grin was bright and wide in the afternoon sun, and Hyunwoo felt his heart soar even as Ann led the boy to the car and drove out of the parking lot to take him to his new home.

And Hyunwoo felt that what Dr. Lee had said earlier wasn't quite right.

This was a happy ending for them, and a happy new beginning for Hyungwon.