“Hi, Lieutenant. I heard my car was found.”

“It was.” A strange expression flickered across Botha’s normally stoic face, and Molly felt a twitch of nerves.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s…” When the lieutenant’s voice trailed off, Molly really started to worry. “I’ll show you. It’s in the garage.”

Shooting John an anxious glance, Molly followed Botha along the outside of the building to an overhead door. The lieutenant hesitated for just a moment before using her key card to open the door. As it slowly rolled up, Molly’s imagination flashed through all sorts of horrible possibilities. What had happened to her beloved Prius? It had to be bad to fluster the otherwise unflusterable Lieutenant Botha. Had it been trashed? Smashed? Stripped?

Molly couldn’t take it anymore. As soon as the door was high enough, she ducked underneath and looked frantically around, scanning the rows of squad vehicles for her car. When her gaze landed on it, her heart sank down to her toes. She vaguely heard John trying to muffle his laughter.

“Oh…no.”

* * *

“Keep your eyes closed.”

Molly snorted as she stumbled over the bottom of the doorframe. “Why does it even matter when your ham of a hand is covering my entire face?”

“I have to keep my hand over your eyes because I know you’ll try to peek.” Before she could respond to that, he continued, “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Despite her dry tone, she was actually excited about John’s surprise.

He dropped his hand to reveal a gorgeous porch swing.

“Whoa, you made this?” She ran her hand over the back before plopping down on the cushioned seat. “It’s amazing. I’m so impressed.”

He grinned his sweet, happy grin, the one she’d been seeing more and more of since they’d brought in Sonny, and plopped down next to her. The bench vibrated but took his weight without complaint. “I am impressive.”

“You are. Thank you for this.” She glanced over at the far side of the porch swing to see Warrant settling happily on a dog bed she didn’t recognize. “And for Warrant’s, too.”

John’s smile turned a little sheepish. “I couldn’t leave him without a place to sit.”

Molly kissed him on the cheek in a spot that wasn’t swollen or mottled with bruises and cuddled in closer as he wrapped his arm around her, careful with her still-sore arm. In all the time she’d known him, she wasn’t sure how she’d missed what an absolute sweetheart this man was. As they gently swung, they watched as Mr. P next door glared at them suspiciously through the window before snapping down the blinds.

“Not only is this the perfect spot to enjoy a sunny fall day,” she said, leaning her head back so she could see John’s face, “but we also get to annoy the neighbors. It’s a win-win.”

His loud laugh triggered her own. They were still smiling as they watched a car pull up to the curb in front of the house. Felicity and Charlie climbed out, looking a bit bedraggled. Tail wagging, Warrant jogged down the steps to greet them.