Meanwhile, at the police station, Wheeler just floated around. He still had his floating ability in his anthro form. After a bit of awkward silence, he looked at Daisy. The red dragon just huffed out of annoyance. "Why do I even have to be here? I mean I may have planned an arson attack but still!" Daisy stated. "Listen I know you don't want to be held up in here, but it's better than being in the actual jail, right?"  

"Shut up old man." Daisy snapped. Wheeler gasped slightly. "Old? I'm only 38." Wheeler stated, slightly offended. Daisy just cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Are you sure? What 38-year-old has grey hair?" 

"It's not grey I dyed it to be silver since it's cool. By the by what product do you use for your highlights?" Wheeler asked. Daisy only rolled her eyes. "Why are you even trying to bond with me? I'm a criminal!" She stated. "Just because me and my bro didn't have the greatest father figure, doesn't mean you can swoop on in and try and be that, especially for me." 

"Listen I just want to know you better. I mean, you're always in here, mostly as a criminal but still." Wheeler stated as he floated near her.

Bennett sighed as the two interacted, Wheeler figured since he was essentially Duke's new dad that he could try to get along with his younger sister. "I pray Detain and his friends are having better luck than we are. Just having Ms Lewis here is enough to drive me off the wall." He grumbled. "Chief, please take her out somewhere. I need to concentrate on these files." 

"Oh yeah! No problemo dude." The long exclaimed, Daisy however wasn't pleased with having to be near the older man. "Why're ya being so hostile? I ain't trying to replace your mom or anything." 

"Oh really? Well, you replaced Mom in Duke's life!" The red dragon snapped as she crossed her arms in a huff. "Are you going to find someone to replace me too?"

Wheeler was at a loss of words, he didn't know Daisy felt so strongly about him being a part of Duke's life. "He got kicked out of his old house for being trans, I found him on one of my rounds in the street. He stayed with me until he got a place of his own." 

Daisy didn't respond, her back still to the police chief. "Hey, I didn't think I'd be taking him away from your life."

"... I don't know if you want an apology, not that it'll do anything. But... I'm sorry..." He continued. "You're right, an apology won't fix anything. I missed the chance of having a brother, because of what? Did you need to seem like a better member of the community? Even though you're chief of police? Don't you think that's a little selfish?" She snapped at him.   

Wheeler just looked at her silently for a bit. She was right, wasn't she? Not for the same reason she said, but it was still a selfish reason. He single-handedly robbed a sister of her brother just by housing him. 

"...I just... I... Nevermind. Do you want to do something? You're 21 right? I know like the bars in the city aren't really open but I have access to alcohol in my apartment." The long stated trying to change the mood, trying not to seem like a loser. 

"I am, but I don't wanna drink. The feeling of lighting something on fire gives me a better feeling than anything else." Daisy said. "Or do you want me to drink to have your way with me?" 

"Whoa, nah, I'd never. Especially to you, since A. You're like more than 10 years younger than me, and B. I don't like women like that." The chief stated.

".... Fine, I'll go with you." The red dragon grumbled. At the very least she would be able to see the place Duke grew up in. Once they reached the apartment, Daisy caught sight of an empty looking bedroom. "That his room?" 

Wheeler nodded as he got some boxed wine for himself. "The little dude had nothing but a suitcase full of clothes when I found him, and this old plushie here." He explained. "He really loved learning about police work." 

"Of course, he always watched the Cubby show. Before the divorce he said he wanted to be a policeman." Daisy sat on the old bed, the red dragon couldn't help but think about Duke. "He's never been out of the city, not even once." 

"I'm worried about him too. I'd have come along but Bennett wanted me to keep an eye on any crime bois still roaming around... You wanted to go with him?" 

"Yeah! I haven't been this close to him before. Maybe I could have met him back at that police school if I didn't get expelled." She grumbled. "Does he think he's too good for me? Is that it? Am I now suddenly beneath him because I'd rather set off dynamite over making arrests?"

He knew she wanted nothing to do with him, but Wheeler knew she could use someone to talk to. "Hey, I'm sure he doesn't think that at all." 

"How do you know?" the red dragon asked. "Well, he doesn't talk bad about you when he mentions you. He says he missed you when he was young... I guess that's my fault for not letting him visit you..." Wheeler stated, finishing his first glass of wine. He poured himself another glass and decided to bring the box into the room. "I mean, obviously, it is your fault. I mean, you probably overprotected him to the point he forgot I existed." Daisy stated harshly, not willing to open up any further. Wheeler, unsure of how to handle this having literally no experience with women, just stirred his wine a bit. 

After his second glass, Wheeler started slipping. "You're right... I probably shouldn't have even taken him in and just given him to your mom..." He stated, his words slurring slightly. "I mean yeah, you should have." The arsonist stated.   

She saw him reaching for a third glass of wine, but she took the box away. "You had enough. God, I didn't think you were such a sad drunk. I thought you'd be like a party drunk or something." She stated putting the boxed wine in the kitchen. 

Wheeler just sighed. "... I'm sorry... I ruined your entire family dynamic..." He uttered before slowly getting up. He ended up stumbling to the bathroom and falling over.

The long passed out with his face in the sink, his hair was a complete mess. He could barely float from how drunk he was, he could barely focus on being human. Before he realized it, his body was changing back into being a full dragon. The tiny bathroom could barely hold the massive beast, he would have caused the entire building to crumble if he didn't struggle to focus on being human. 

"Huh? Just what is going on in there?" Daisy groaned. She got up from the bed, only to fall over as the building shook. Wheeler had squeezed out the window, laying in his full Long form on the roof. He was starting to lose parts of his humanity now, the guilt of feeling like he took Duke away from his family plus all the alcohol made him almost fully draconian. 

Of course that didn't stop the red dragon from going up to check on him, as furious as she still was at him. "What's up with you? I didn't think you drank that much." She grunted, poking his snout. The larger dragon responded with a loud roar. "Umm, chief Wheeler?" 

Anyone else would have run at the sight of him, but Daisy just got out a smoke bomb she had been working on for days now. "H-hey, don't make me use this." She squeaked. "I'm warning you, I'm not some defenseless little girl!"

The long just laid there. It wasn't like he wouldn't deserve it. "Come on man, at least do something! I can't just throw this at you. I just wouldn't feel right." Daisy begged, only getting another roar from the older dragon. "...Ugh fine, I won't assault you, even though i want to. Maybe I can fix this somehow. I'm not much of an empath or whatever but I could assume."  

Wheeler just laid there, looking away. "Oh wait, you probably feel guilty huh? Well, uh... You should. But don't take it personally, k. You were just trying to protect him. And I mean it's better than him living on the streets right?" 

However, this wasn't working. "What else do you want from me? I don't know what else I could possibly do!" She exclaimed, desperate to find a solution to this. "Hold on I'll be right back, stay here." 

She called Bennett since maybe he could help or at least tell her what she was missing information-wise. 

"Chief Wheeler just sitting around? And you said he just changed back into a whole dragon on a whim like that?" He asked. As he waited for the arsonist to arrive, he was standing outside the police station. He hated to admit it, but it was getting quiet without her sitting around. "I'll try to talk to him." 

The red dragon was quick to pick him up and threw him on her back. "I did kinda yell at him for taking in Duke, and said he took my brother out of my life.. And then he got drunk and I said he was selfish and he broke apart our family." She admitted. "I just didn't want him to be our new dad, he's not even Duke's real dad." 

"Oh? Detain only ever spoke negatively about his birth father, especially when it came to his gender identity." Bennett remarked. "He first visited the police station when he was only sixteen, he never let go of Chief Wheeler's arm. Do you have any memories of your father that Duke had not?" 

"Well.. I don't know, never had a dad of any kind most of my life. Since I was five it was just me and Mom, and now this skater boy thinks he can just waltz on in and decide he's Duke's father now? My brother might have let him in, but I'm not!" She snorted. 

"Hrm, I see." Wheeler was in sight, his claws covering his face. The smaller dragon landed in front of him, letting Bennett slide off her. "Chief, if you're still in there." 

The Long snorted, but uncovered his eyes. "It's just me, you remember me, right? I'm Tom Bennett." 

Wheeler cocked his head, but looked like he remembered. "You're still feeling guilty? Did you know exactly who Lt Detain's mother was when you took him in?" 

The dragon kept staring, only to shake his head.

"I see. Understandably you assumed that since he was kicked out he wasn't wanted by either parent is that correct?" Bennett asked before getting a slight nod. "You didn't know you were hurting a family, you were only doing what you thought was right." The captain continued.  

As the two went back and forth, Daisy just watched. She felt kinda bad for saying all the things she said to cause this, not enough to lose herself but only enough to feel it.   

After awhile, the Chief regained some composure and turned back into an anthro long as he gained control of his emotions. And once he did he looked at Bennett hyperventilating as he tried to keep his cool. He didn't want to start crying, since he didn't want to get laughed at, but they started to flow.  

"I-I'm sorry... I... Im so sorry..." he stammered out. "Hey, man, it's fine, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said all those things, it's just... I didn't want to lose Duke since I barely knew him growing up, I only had photos to remember him by..." 

"D-Don't apologize yo... you... you did nothing wrong... I took a child away from your family since I was like... I was like I could be a better dad than mine was..." Wheeler kept stammering. He was still kind of drunk. "You... also had a bad dad?" Daisy asked. "Y-Yeah but I shouldn't have-" 

Wheeler was going to continue but he felt arms around him in a hug. Daisy rushed over to him to hug him. He hadn't been hugged since the last day Duke lived with him. "I know you said not to apologize but, I'm sorry..."

The pair didn't say another word, continuing to hug until the sun set. "Hey, you did a great job raising my brother." The red dragon admitted. "I'd say you were a way better dad than your old man ever was, I know you were better than ours, with how Duke talks about him." 

"You're just sayin' that-" 

"Hey, I mean it." All that was left to do was help Wheeler back down to his apartment. "You're going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow morning. Uh, you think Duke is alright out there?" 

The police chief managed to stumble over to his couch. "I'm sure he's alright, he's going to find Cassian and it's off to jail with him! Heh, not saying I ain't worried. He's family." 

Finally, Daisy smiled at the older man. "Yeah, he's our family. How about throwing him the biggest welcome home party the entire city's ever seen once he's back? I'll provide the fireworks." 

"Not until you get a license young lady." Wheeler joked, only to be met with a pillow to the face. "Heh, I was just kiddin'. Fireworks and cake for all once he's home." 

Once the younger dragon was asleep, the chief remembered what Cassian said about his pendant. "Guess I really am like Lac Long Quan, just missing another 98 kids. He also called Duke a fierce guard, whatever that's supposed to mean. We better call him tomorrow morning."