Greetings dear readers. Welcome to my third "slice of life" fic for the Collins family. :-D

The battle at the start is to show that the Collins family still has their countless weird threats and dangers facing them. I wanted to show that these things still happen while the more normal events are going on.

I actually came up with this fic as I wanted to write the dialogue between Carolyn and David, so I built a fic around it. I hope everyone likes it. :-D

BTW, the phone number Elizabeth gives is the number assigned to Collinwood on the Original Series. (According to the Dark Shadows Wikipedia)

I love reviews as much as Carolyn loves sleeping in. :-D

BTW, the howl that Carolyn does when she's a werewolf. I imagine it sounds exactly like the one from An American Werewolf in London. IMHO, that was the scariest sounding werewolf howl in any horror movie I've seen.

And awayyyyy we go. :-)

June 16th, 1973

Collinwood Manor stood quiet in the predawn darkness of the spring night, it's newly rebuilt ramparts were outlined clearly against the shimmering full moon.

Collinwood stood peacefully.

Collinwood stood under attack.

Leaving tracks of muddy footprints, and bits of seaweed behind it, a shambling nightmare from the deep staggered up towards the manor from the beach beneath Widow's Hill. It was, for all appearances, a man-fish. Its features resembled a fish…but it walked upon legs and had arms. Sharp talons protruded from the ends of the arms and the mouth revealed vicious teeth like that bore a resemblance to a Blue Shark.

The creature's shambling gait paused as it passed through trees that stood between Collinwood and the beach. Something in its primal nervous system warned it of danger. However, its senses were acclimated to being underwater and detecting the rare marine creature that would try to attack it. It had no experience with any sort of land predators. And, if it had somehow experienced land predators before…It certainly wouldn't have met something like the creature that was now stalking it.

From the shadows of a tree, a hulking, furry creature sprang. To anyone witnessing the scene –and who hadn't immediately run for their lives- they would have thought it looked like a wolf…although it was walking more or less upright on two legs. It was an enormous wolf, that stood well over six feet in height, had a powerful looking body covered in dark hair and piercing green-gold eyes. Its long, muscular arms ended not in paws, but what looked like human hands –albeit hands that had deadly looking claws at the ends of them.

The man-fish was a frightful looking abomination. But, it was well out of its own element which greatly weakened it. The werewolf was in its own element. It was accustomed to hunting in the darkness. And, it was defending its own home territory. The wolf let out a savage growl and swung its massive clawed hand at the intruder. There was a sound as the claws tore through gills and cartilage…and the fish beast's head was taken off with that one swipe, flying off into the woods. The body quivered and fell. The werewolf let out a roaring howl of triumph and leapt onto the carcass to begin feeding.

Closer to the mansion, another fish monster stalked mindlessly through the materials stacked outside, used by the construction crews working on finishing the interiors of Collinwood. Its path was blocked suddenly. The fish creature's primitive brain took in the threat. It was a young woman, with dark hair and terribly pale skin. The fish creature was taken aback. The woman didn't seem to be…alive. The fish decided it didn't care and resumed its attack. The woman calmly reached down and picked up a pair of heavy sledgehammers (left behind by the workers when they left for the weekend the previous evening). Each hammer weighed forty pounds, but the waifish looking woman lifted them like they were cardboard tubes. Before the sea predator could think, the woman had slammed a hammer against either side of the head, crushing it like a grape. The body collapsed to the lawn.

"I'll have to clean those off before the workmen get back on Monday." Victoria Collins reminded herself. Her enhanced ears brought the sounds of another encounter and she set off to render what assistance she could.

By the garage, a third sea beast had met the master of the house. Said master was not pleased with these late night visitors.

"What devilry is this?" Barnabas Collins intoned solemnly as he looked at this abomination of nature over. He was well aware that science has made exponential gains in knowledge during the 196 years he was locked in his coffin. (Technology in such fields as engineering and construction had progressed as well. For example, in the 18th Century it had taken fifteen years to build Collinwood Manor. But now, only a matter of months after being destroyed it had been rebuilt enough for them to have moved back in a month prior, with all the work set to be completed by autumn.) He'd spent much of the winter sequestered in The Old House, poring over books, trying to catch up with what had been going on. He'd read of such things as Mendelian genetics, Charles Darwin's voyage on the Beagle and his subsequent theories on evolution, the development of powered flight that had culminated in men walking on the moon, (The last such landing had taken place the previous December. Barnabas had been glued to the television set in The Old House, watching Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt walking upon the moon's surface. He would walk to the window and look at the half-moon in the sky and then back to the television set, hardly able to believe that men were up there and he was watching them from down here. He had been so amazed at the concept he actually had not been able to sleep when dawn broke.) And Einstein's Theory of Relativity and the nuclear age it begat. Yes, he knew that science had made strides unheard of in his time. However, these fish-men were of nothing like modern science. They were more like the creatures the mariners of the 16th and 17th centuries put on their maps to chart where they thought the oceans ended.

"What sort of creature are you, denizen of the water? What force has sent you here to prey on my family and me?" The vampire snarled. A rasping grunt was his only reply.

"I might as well be asking you these questions in Greek, wouldn't I?" Barnabas asked rhetorically. It was clear these things didn't have any sort of ability to answer his queries. Barnabas sighed…and then lunged at the creature. Seconds later it was dead on the ground, with its throat torn out and Barnabas stood above it with bloodied claws on the end of his hands. That had been all too easy, he thought. He just hoped the others had been as fortunate as he'd been…His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a shotgun being fired five times in rapid succession. He ran to where the sounds came from, by the estate's swimming pool…Which had yet to be filled as it needed maintenance done after years of neglect due to the family being forced to cut back, prior to Barnabas arriving and helping to restore the family's fortunes.

Barnabas arrived at the pool and stopped short. Elizabeth stood stock still, holding a still smoking pump-action shotgun. Before her was yet another fish monster…Or what was left of it. It had four gaping holes in its body and the head had been rather blown off. Elizabeth herself appeared unharmed…although she was coated in blood and fish guts as the range had been apparently been very close when she'd killed it.

"Elizabeth?" Barnabas asked cautiously as he carefully took the shotgun from her, checking to ensure it was now empty and clicking on the safety.

"Willie called for help and I came to help him." The Collins matriarch said disgustedly as she tried to wipe fish goo from her eyes.

"Willie!" Barnabas yelled. He was afraid this crisis was beyond Willie's capabilities to help with.

"One's alive here, Barnabas!" Came the handyman's reply. Barnabas dashed behind the pool shed to see.

Victoria, after ascertaining that Barnabas, Elizabeth and –amazingly- Willie had killed or captured the other three beasts, had gone off to find Carolyn. The scent of a recently killed creature led her to the woods coming up from Widow's Hill.

The dark haired vampire soon came across what was left of one of the creatures. Off in the trees, she heard the growl of a wolf and stepped in to see.

The huge wolf let out a savage growl that actually seemed to rise in timbre. Victoria's own instinct for the rising sun and a quick glance to the west told her that the full moon was setting. The wolf fell to the ground and the body began to contort and shrink. Bones cracked as they realigned. The savage muzzle retreated. The fur retracted into the body. Within minutes, Victoria's enhanced night vision made out the small, blonde haired, pale and naked figure of Carolyn Stoddard. Carolyn grimaced and rose to her feet.

"Vicky" Carolyn greeted her aunt and now closest friend.

"Are you alright?" Victoria asked. Judging from the corpse back there, Carolyn had clearly gotten the better of the fight.

"Yeah…What the hell were those things?"

"We don't know."

"All I can taste is…fish." Carolyn said with disgust. Although she'd gotten used to waking up with strange tastes in her mouth, the morning after full moon, she still didn't like it. "Did you get the rest of them?"

"Yes"

"Good" Carolyn said as the two began to walk back to Collinwood –Carolyn took a wide berth of the remnants of her opponent, as she didn't want to walk through fish guts and God only knew what else, in her bare feet. She did try to reach out with her senses to see where everyone else was…specifically Barnabas and Willie. Being a werewolf had left her with no inhibitions at all now about nudity, but she still didn't want either of them seeing her if she could help it.

Two hours later, the sun had risen over the eastern horizon, bathing the newly rebuilt Collinwood Manor in daylight. In the manor's sparklingly new -and extremely modern in comparison to the rest of the house- kitchen, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the family's matriarch and head of the Collins family businesses, stood looking out a window towards the swimming pool, a glass of brandy in one hand and the phone receiver in the other. Her shotgun lay –unloaded- on the table. She was still coated in the –now dried- entrails of that creature she'd blown away and was rapidly running out of patience with the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute that she was talking on the phone with.

"No, doctor, I don't think I could give you an adequate description over the phone….NO, I have no idea WHERE these things came from. What I'm telling you is that your institute is welcome to have the specimen we've captured." Elizabeth looked out to the swimming pool area where a petrified looking Willie was guarding the lone survivor of the previous night's attack –now bound up with chains in the pool as Willie played a hose on it to keep it alive- with a shotgun close at hand.

"I don't think I've made myself clear. I'm not trying to sell you something. You're welcome to this specimen –which I'd wager money is unique- as well as the corpses of about four others, no questions asked. All I want is for you to collect them here by the end of the day and get them off of my property. I'm certain you can get a truck up here by this afternoon...How'd the other four get killed...Now that would count as a question, wouldn't it? Do we have a deal?...I'm so glad. I can expect you at 4 this afternoon? Good. If there's any problem, my phone number is Collinsport 4099. Good day." Elizabeth said brusquely as she hung up. She took a large drink of her brandy, wondering when she started drinking this early in the day.

"What smells so bad?" David's voice said as she started. She had hoped to get cleaned up before her nephew woke up. But, it was clear that wasn't going to happen…

"I missed everything." David complained as he ate his breakfast cereal twenty minutes later. He'd wanted to help his family as they fought off this latest –and strangest- threat.

Elizabeth, by now having showered and put her clothes in a bag for the local dump -and locked her shotgun away in its cabinet-, sipped her coffee (after realizing being seen drinking so early in the morning, with a firearm on the table wasn't setting a good example for her nephew) and smiled comfortingly at David. "You didn't miss that much, David." She said comfortingly. "What are you going to do today?" She hoped he could entertain himself today. She had to help Willie guard their uninvited guest -as well as find the severed head of the creature Carolyn had killed. Barnabas and Victoria had retired to their rooms with the coming of dawn. And Carolyn generally didn't stir until the afternoon, if given the chance, following the night of the full moon.

David looked at his Fruity Pebbles cereal as he remembered what the date was, and what it meant. "Aunt Elizabeth?"

"Yes?"

"Can we go into town today?"

"I'm sorry, David, but not today. I can't leave Willie alone with that thing out by the pool. We have to keep an eye on it until the truck from Wood's Hole gets here this afternoon."

"Oh" David said, keeping the worry out of his voice.

"We can go tomorrow…Oh, wait, tomorrow's Sunday and everything will be closed. You can come into town with me on Monday. We can get lunch in town, if you like." His aunt said cheerfully as David put on a fake smile.

"That'll be great."

David walked through the foyer of Collinwood and began to climb the stairs. The newly laid carpeting felt good under his feet. He noticed that the workmen had finished with the banisters as well and had moved on to the railings on the gallery that looked down at the foyer. As his Uncle Barnabas had promised, Collinwood was being rebuilt to look the same as it was before. He was glad they'd moved back in. He felt like he could talk with his mother here like nowhere else. In the months they'd lived in The Old House, he'd been able to hear her but not see her. Now that Collinwood was rebuilt he could see her again as well.

Overall, he could see that everything seemed…better now that it had been last year at this time. Last year, Collinwood had looked like a shambling old ruin that was falling apart. His family seemed to not be a family at all, but just people who were condemned to have to live together in a haunted house.

But this year, it all seemed…better. Aside from the old Collinwood being destroyed, almost everything had gotten better since Barnabas arrived. His family didn't think he was strange any longer. It was simple; they were almost all strange in their own way. The only thing David really missed from a year before was his father. His father…He hadn't heard anything from him in months. He wondered if his father knew what had happened here with that Angelique woman. If he had, would his father have cared? Shouldn't he have come back to make sure everyone was alright and to help? David would've thought he should have…But he didn't.

However, instead of his father he had his Uncle Barnabas now. His Uncle Barnabas was definitely the strangest member of a strange family. But, David loved him nonetheless. He'd been afraid of him that one day, when he'd burst into flames when he'd stood in the sunlight (after he'd saved David from the falling mirrorball). It was when he, Carolyn and Victoria had all realized Barnabas was a vampire. However, his mother, that night, had told him that Uncle Barnabas needed his help and that he shouldn't be afraid of him. And he wasn't. He wound up freeing his Uncle Barnabas from that coffin where Angelique has apparently put him into. (Mind you, his uncle STILL hadn't explained to him why he'd had women's underwear placed over his face when David found him.)

In the ensuing months, David had found himself feeling distraught. He missed his father. He missed Collinwood. His Uncle Barnabas though –although he was clearly busy helping his Aunt Elizabeth arrange for the house to be rebuilt, as well as get the cannery operation working again- always made time for him. He and David would go for a walk in the evenings, after the sunset. His uncle would tell him about his own parents and their journey from Liverpool to the Colonies. When they did that, David felt a lot better. Every evening, they'd go to the site where Collinwood was being rebuilt and measure the day's progress. His uncle promised him that when it was done, it would be just the same as before. David asked if he'd be able to see his mother again. Barnabas looked then like he desperately wanted to promise David that he would…But instead said that he wasn't sure, but sincerely hoped that he would. David was aware that adults often made empty promises to children to make them feel better. Barnabas had instead been honest with him…David appreciated that, even if he has wished that Barnabas could promise his mother would reside in the new house as she had in the old one. It was right around the time they moved back in that David realized that his father had NEVER gone for walks with him or ever asked about what he was feeling.

Barnabas had made sure David felt better over the preceding months. Now, David realized what tomorrow was…and knew what he wanted to do. But, he had to have someone older to help him….And that part worried him a little. But, it couldn't be helped. He knew he wouldn't be allowed to go into town on his own. His Aunt Elizabeth and Willie couldn't leave the grounds today. Victoria couldn't take him because it was daytime –and a very bright and sunny day at that. Barnabas couldn't for the same reason, as well as David wanted this to be a surprise. That left Carolyn.

David looked up the steps at the closed door. He gulped audibly and ascended the few steps. He pushed open the door and looked into the darkened bedroom. Carolyn's bedroom looked much different than before. She'd opted to redecorate it rather differently. There weren't all those posters on the walls, and the décor didn't look so…wild. David stepped lightly over to the bed, where his cousin was sleeping.

David took a deep breath, gathering his courage. He and Carolyn got along far, far better now than they had before. They understood each other better. He talked to ghosts and she was a werewolf. It was that simple. However, his cousin was still capable of having moods. (Aunt Elizabeth said it was due to her being a teenager…and being a werewolf made it worse.) And, if one thing hadn't changed, it was Carolyn's getting upset at people coming into her room uninvited.

As well, he knew that Carolyn had undergone the change the night before. Her routine then, was the same if she didn't have school that day. She'd take a hot shower, eat a huge breakfast and then go to bed –usually not stirring until the afternoon at least.

He approached the sleeping girl's bed. In the darkened room, he could just make out a tussle of blonde hair half-buried in the pillows. He reached out and shook her shoulder.

"Carolyn? CAROLYN…" David began, when a hand shot out from beneath the covers and grabbed him by the front of his tee shirt, pulling him down towards the mattress as Carolyn pushed herself up from the mattress, using her spare hand to keep the bedclothes around her chest. (David could tell by her bare shoulders that Carolyn apparently didn't wear anything to bed any longer.)

"What part of 'keep out of my room' are you having trouble understanding?" She growled at her cousin. David noted her eyes had reverted to their normal blue, now that the change was done for another month. The resumption of their normal colour did nothing to hide the fact that –as he figured- Carolyn was seriously ticked at him waking her like that.

"I…" David began again, only to be cut off again.

"There was a full moon, last night! You know what that means! And it's Saturday! It's Saturday on the first weekend of my summer vacation! That's three reasons why you shouldn't be waking me up!" Carolyn said angrily.

"But…"

"But nothing! Unless the bus for the Rolling Stones broke down in front of the gates, there's nothing that I need to be woken up for at…" Carolyn focused her eyes on her alarm clock "Ten o'clock! Are you out of your mind?"

"I need help!"

"You didn't until you woke me up!"

"I need to get something for Uncle Barnabas!" David pleaded.

"What?"

"Tomorrow's Father's Day. I wanted to get something for him. But Aunt Elizabeth and Willie can't leave to take me down into town. Uncle Barnabas and Vicky can't do it because it's daytime. You're the only one who can go with me! Please Carolyn!" David said in a pleading tone.

Carolyn shot David a look that should've frozen him the way his mother did with Angelique. She saw David's pleading face and muttered a curse to herself. She couldn't find it in her heart to say no. She sighed.

"You owe me SO big for this." She muttered resignedly.

"Thank you!" David gushed and gave his cousin a quick hug.

"Yeah, yeah…Let me get dressed."

"Alright" David said, not taking the hint he was to leave. Carolyn rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"That means you get out of here, you little pervert! I've got to put some clothes on. I'll meet you at the front door!" She barked in exasperation as David retreated from her room to allow Carolyn the privacy to dress.

Five minutes later, Carolyn –having brushed her teeth, combed her hair and dressed in a t-shirt and cut-off jeans- descended the stairs to the foyer. David was by the door, obviously anxious to go. She sighed discontentedly as she pulled a pair of flat-top sneakers onto her bare feet. (She actually had found wearing no shoes at all to be increasingly comfortable to her. She figured it was part of her condition. But, that would look a little strange if she went into town like that.) Minutes later, the two youngest members of the Collins family emerged from the estate's main gate onto the road and began to walk into town.

Carolyn smiled as she felt the warm June sunshine on her bare arms and legs as they walked down the hill. She'd always enjoyed sunshine, which was ironic when she considered that she was a werewolf and her aunt and uncle were vampires. Maybe it was because a large part of her life was apparently meant to be lived in the darkness made her appreciate the light even more. She looked east, towards the Atlantic which was a wonderful shade of blue on this late spring day. She thought she might bestir herself to go for a swim this afternoon. (The water was still quite cool, but temperatures didn't bother Carolyn too much any longer, she'd noticed.)

"Carolyn?" David asked, breaking her reverie.

"What?" She sighed with strained patience.

"What do you think I should get Uncle Barnabas?"

"How the hell should I know? I'm not a man. I'm not a vampire. I'm pretty sure he's not even aware what Father's Day is, so he's not expecting anything. Get him whatever and I'm sure he'll be thrilled with it."

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?"

"I want to get him something he'll like. He's…He's made me feel better since my dad left." The earnestness of his reply caught Carolyn off guard.

"I know he has." Carolyn said in a much softer voice. "Don't worry. We'll find something good for you to give him."

"Carolyn"

"What?"

"Do you know if my dad's tried to call or anything? I know you can hear a lot of stuff I can't because of what you are. Did you ever hear your mom and Uncle Barnabas talking about it, or anything?"

Carolyn looked at her cousin with genuine sympathy. "No, David. They haven't talked about him calling, at least not when I've been around to hear, anyways."

"Do you…Do you know why he left?"

Carolyn thought about it a minute. That she had overheard her mother and Barnabas discussing. She knew Barnabas had given Roger an ultimatum. He either started to act like a responsible and caring father to David, or leave Collinwood for good. Her Uncle Roger had apparently not needed a lot of time to decide to pack his things and leave. She knew she wasn't going to tell David that though.

"No…I don't."

"Oh…At least there's Uncle Barnabas now." David said with a bit of cheer returning to his voice.

"That's true." Carolyn had to agree with David there. Barnabas still had trouble with social norms of the 20th Century and tended to say inappropriate things at times. (She still couldn't believe he'd called her a hooker at their first meeting.) However, she saw that he clearly loved David and spent more time with him in the last few months than her Uncle Roger ever had. In fact, the family seemed to have become functional again, for the first time in her memory, after Barnabas arrived. Perhaps his presence was what allowed them to realize that although they were not at all normal (They had vampires, werewolves and ghosts at Collinwood now. David had revealed that his mother told him he might be a phoenix. Barnabas had immediately arranged for the new Collinwood to have a sprinkler system installed –as it was at the cannery- as a precaution.) They were still all family. She felt a bit better about having been roused out of bed so early.

"Carolyn"

"What?"

"Do you ever wonder about your dad?" David asked quietly.

Carolyn was taken aback. She couldn't remember her own father, Paul Stoddard. Her mother never spoke of him, ever. At one point, she'd wondered if her mother knew what had happened but simply wasn't talking about it, in order to preserve the image of the Collins family doing no wrong. (This had been after she'd realized she was a werewolf. She had found herself wondering if her mother actually knew about it, but was keeping it quiet to help the family image.) She'd since come to the conclusion that her mother had no idea of her being a werewolf. However, she did wonder about her father from time to time. She'd wondered if perhaps he'd been a werewolf as well and that's how she'd become one. Was that why he left? Her mother wouldn't stand being married to such a creature. Of course, she now realized that hadn't been the case -she was glad to at least have learned that her condition was Angelique's doing- but she did wonder about her father.

She recalled the night of the 'happening'. She'd been given the chance to recite the opening dialogue for Alice Cooper's song "The Ballad of Dwight Frye". She'd said it in a sickly sweet, little girl voice before handing the microphone over to Alice Cooper –which, as a fan of his music, had thrilled her no end. However, she clearly recalled seeing her mother's reaction at her words. Looking back, she couldn't be sure if the reaction was due to her being onstage with Cooper or the words themselves. Had they struck some secret chord? One day, she'd have to ask about that.

"Yeah, David. Sometimes I do wonder about him." She admitted frankly. Her cousin reached over and gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

Soon enough the two youngest Collins had reached the town of Collinsport, proper. It had the usual amount of traffic on a Saturday morning in June. High school students, recently released onto their summer vacation, crowded into the usual hang-outs. Carolyn recognized most of them. However, she didn't wave at them as she knew they wouldn't wave back. The Collins name was still not terribly popular in town. Carolyn sighed discontentedly.

David led her to the town's main street and they looked around. She caught a glimpse of the rebuilt Collins Cannery and the facing Angel Bay Cannery –which the Collins family now owned as well. She'd be starting her summer job there soon, as she wanted to earn some of her own money as well as start to learn the facets of the family businesses. Carolyn imagined what Barnabas thought of the town and how it had looked when his parents founded it. An idea struck her…Barnabas, in her opinion, badly needed to update his wardrobe.

"Come on." She said, as she led David down the street to the local haberdasher.

"Where are we going?"

"To get Barnabas something he can use." Carolyn said as she pushed the door open and pulled David in after her.

The next afternoon, Barnabas emerged from the suite of rooms he and Victoria occupied. They'd been arranged specially for them, with shutters on the inside to allow complete darkness during the daylight hours. He stepped out into the shadowy hallways, grateful it was the weekend and there wasn't any of the incessant noise he woke up to during the week when the workmen were still plying their trades. He couldn't wait until all the work was completed and they departed for good.

Stretching his arms, the vampire made his way downstairs, wondering where the rest of the family was. Victoria had -as she often did- risen before him.

"Barnabas" He heard Victoria's voice calling him from the study.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Come into Elizabeth's study, please."

Barnabas entered into the study, and was met by the sight of Carolyn and David, holding wrapped packages.

"Happy Father's Day, Uncle Barnabas." David said enthusiastically as he handed Barnabas the package.

"Why thank you, David." Barnabas said in wonderment. He vaguely recalled reading something about Father's Day, but it had meant nothing to him. He wasn't a father. David, apparently, had other ideas about that. His long, sharp nails made short work of the paper and he pulled out a long, piece of cloth that was a deep wine colour. A necktie.

"Carolyn said you needed a tie." David explained.

"You've got to quit wearing cravats." Carolyn interjected. She'd talked it over with Victoria and they realized they needed to update Barnabas' wardrobe. She watched as Barnabas opened her gift that she'd purchased for him at the Collinsport pharmacy the day before after David had purchased the necktie.

"Hai…Karate? Do I drink it?" Barnabas asked as he looked at the bottle of cologne.

"I wouldn't, if I were you." Carolyn said in a deadpan tone.

"I'll show you how to put it on later, my love." Victoria said.

"And this is for me, because it's…Father's Day?" Barnabas asked.

"Yeah" David replied.

"Ah, my family…I am deeply touched. When I returned here, I was determined I would stay and be a part of this family again. I never would have hoped to dream that I would be regarded as the pater familias." Barnabas said, as he sought to control his emotions. He knew that as a vampire he'd never be able to sire children of his own. However, he realized now that he WAS the father figure to the Collins family. When he'd arrived they'd needed one so he had stepped in. He happily realized he'd become the Collins family patriarch.