Time had lain heavy on him when he first came here. Then there hadn't been enough of it for a while. Now it stretched again. And yet this time, he didn't mind.

He didn't mind sitting in the car, Danny half asleep in the passenger seat, ice cream dripping from a Cornetto onto his uniform. That would have driven Nick crazy before. Now...

He watched the road. A car approached and Nick took out the speed gun. But he didn't know why he bothered. The castle by the side of the road was moving slightly faster than the rickety old C5. About a week and a half later, it passed them. Two sheep were standing up on the back seat. A sheepdog sat in the front. Nick couldn't see the driver and just hoped there was at least one human in there.

"Swan!" Danny called suddenly, jerking awake when the Cornetto fell onto his neck. He looked around. "Oh, sorry."

Nick should give him a formal reprimand he supposed, sleeping on duty. But he knew Danny wasn't sleeping well at nights. The trials were coming up.

"Heard from Dad yesterday," Danny said. "Left a message on my machine."

"You going to call him back?"

"I shouldn't."

Nick looked at his big, gloomy face. "It's okay to call him. He's your dad."

"He tried to kill you."

"Danny... you miss him. Call him. It doesn't mean you're betraying anyone. He's still your dad."

"Are you sure?"

"That he's still your dad?" Nick smiled at him. "Pretty sure."

"No, you arse. Are you sure that you don't mind?"

"I don't mind."

Danny smiled and settled down in his seat again, closing his eyes. Nick went back to watching the road.

He did mind in fact. He didn't want Danny to speak to that bastard ever again, because he could only get hurt. But right now, that seemed to fall under the heading of Nick's problem, not Danny's.