Roaming hands and large swells.

5.

Buck was just about to start making dinner when there was a knock on his door. He left the kitchen to answer it, not really sure who it would be, and was surprised to find Karen at the door. Karen, who wasn't alone.

"Hi, Buck!" Denny exclaimed, wrapping his arms around him and Nia followed.

"Hey guys!" Buck said bending over to hug them back.

He hadn't seen any of the 118's kids since before the lawsuit, he hadn't seen Karen either. Honestly, seeing them all here felt like a breath of fresh air.

"What're you guys doing here?" He asked when they all pulled back.

"Sleep over!" Nia yelled and Denny just nodded.

He looked to Karen for confirmation as the two kids moved further inside the apartment and made themselves at home in the living room.

"I hope you don't mind," Karen said with a smile stepping further into the apartment, "I was hoping you could take them for the night. I already ordered pizza that'll be here soon so you don't have to worry about dinner."

"Of course," Buck nodded, excitement growing, "Yeah of course I can watch them. Is something going on?"

"Well I have to babysit the other two tonight, if that's what you mean." She replied with a fond roll of her eyes.

"Other two?" Buck prompted, not entirely sure where this was going.

"Yes, my over excited wife and her best friend." Karen gave him a conspiratorial wink, "They've gotten it in their heads that there's a mystery to be solved and have now entirely taken over my living room. Don't suppose you have any idea about that?"

"The mystery of the sketchy therapist?" He asks, sinking feeling in his gut.

"That's the one." She confirmed, "They've got a whole white board set up and everything."

She paused for a second and opened her phone and handed it to him to show him the picture of it. Sure enough, there it was, random bits of information and pictures scattered across it. Chim was sitting on the couch with his hair all over the place and Hen seemed to be pointing at something on the board with a ridiculous looking foam finger on her hand.

"Oh my god!" He exclaimed, unable to hold back his grin at his friends' frazzled appearances, "No way!"

"Oh, yes." Karen said with a chuckle of her own.

"Are those?" He paused zooming in on part of the board, "Old pictures of me? And pictures of Abby? and Eddie's firefighter calendar submission pictures with his face X'ed out?" He asked, confusion growing the more he looked.

"Ah, yes," Karen laughed, "They seemed to have reached the stage where they hit a wall with their theories so they started decorating."

Buck laughed outright at that, "Decorating?"

"Don't tell them I call it that." Karen grinned at him, "I do not need to hear the spiel about 'visual representations' being important again."

"Deal." Buck chuckled at the exasperation in her tone, "Hey, so did they figure it out?"

"No," Karen responded, "Whatever it is, you're in the clear for now, and I don't think they'll figure it out with the data they're working with either. Honestly, I'm fairly certain they have more questions than they started with at this point."

"At least there's that," Buck sighed.

Karen side eyed him for a moment, a serious look passing over her face, "Are you okay with this?"