Notes: Mari and Sammy – Thank you for always being your amazing and supportive selves!
Readers and REAL McRollers – Thank you for the love you've always shown what has become a staple in the REAL World: the annual Shop with a Cop story. I never would have imagined when I wrote the first one in 2014 that I'd write another one every year, or that the characters created three years ago would become such an integral part of our universe.
I decided to do something a little different with this year's story and revisit the first one.
Hope you enjoy!
Shop with a Cop IV: The BEST Best Thing (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Another successful year," Chin said as he along with the rest of Five-0, Catherine, Grace, Elizabeth, Joseph, Grandma Ang, and the Allens settled on the beach house deck.
"It's amazing how it gets bigger every year, too," Kono added.
"I had that same thought," Jenna agreed. "It's wonderful how the organizers can raise the funds every year to help so many kids and families."
"Did you enjoy your first year as a 'shopper,' Dad?" Catherine asked as she and Steve set out beverages and fruit on the deck tables after putting Angie down to sleep.
"Are you kidding?" he replied. "I already can't wait for next year. That was a great experience. My young partner was so full of energy." He grinned over at Jacob. "Reminded me of someone else I know."
Jacob, already pushing a melon slice into his mouth, widened his eyes. "Who, me?" he asked around his food.
"Jacob," his mother admonished.
He swallowed the bite of melon. "Sorry. Who, me?" he repeated.
Joseph chuckled. "Yes, you."
Elizabeth smiled. "And Mom and I loved helping with your activity tables," she said to Jenna.
Ang nodded. "I don't usually call the bingo games, but that was so much fun I didn't even mind not playing."
"It's a great cause," Steve said, finally sitting beside Catherine after all the light snacks and drinks were out. "A great way to make connections with kids in the community."
"Speaking of connections," Elizabeth said, looking around the deck. "You know what I'd like to hear? I'm wondering what memories you all have of that first Shop with a Cop event three years ago."
"That was the best one!" Jacob said immediately. "It's where we all met!"
"I know," she said, chuckling, "that's why I want to know what you remember from that day."
"Ohh."
"Catherine told me about it back then, of course, but it'd be nice to hear your own memories."
Cody nudged his brother teasingly. "I remember you thought it was pretty cool to ride a school bus that wasn't actually taking you to school."
Everyone laughed good-naturedly at that.
Jacob shrugged, grinning. "Well, I was only in kindergarten. I thought everything was pretty cool."
"You still do," Casey pointed out with a little snort as she put some strawberries on a little plate.
Catherine smiled. "One of the things I like best about you. And I picked up on that right away when I met you."
"You did?" Jacob asked, looking up at her beside him.
"I did. You thought my badge was the best thing you'd ever seen." She grinned. "Until we walked into the store and you saw all the holiday decorations, and then that was new best thing."
Jacob winced, embarrassed. "I've got a lot of best things, don't I?"
"You do," Catherine said, hugging him. "Like I said, that's one of the things I like best about you. The joy you take in everything around you."
He straightened, smiling at her.
"Jacob, were you excited to get paired up with Catherine?" Ang asked.
"Yeah! She was the best! She was so nice. She started talking to me right away and showed me her badge and everything. And she thought all my ideas for presents were good, and she was still awesome even though she made me pick out pants."
Jenna chuckled, spearing a piece of melon. "Still your least favorite thing to shop for."
Jacob groaned, throwing his head back. "So boring!"
Steve chuckled. "You definitely weren't bored with 'Lieutenant Catherine,' " he teased. "You even asked her to be your girlfriend by the end of the morning."
Jacob groaned again, this time in embarrassment, and buried his head in his arms on the table.
"I thought it was very sweet," Catherine said, squeezing his shoulder. "And I was very flattered."
He looked up at her and beamed. "So instead you said you'd be my friend who's a girl, but you ended up being my aunt, and that's even better!"
"Best thing ever, you might even say," Catherine said, smiling at him.
"Yeah!"
Steve smiled, looking around the table. "I could tell Jacob was pretty excited for the whole thing, but I don't think that was the case for everyone else."
"I was a little nervous," Kaitlyn admitted after she'd swallowed a drink of her juice and set down her cup. "The only time we had ever been around police officers was the night of the fire." Her face clouded with the memories of that night. "I remember the sirens and a lot of yelling and the bright lights."
Jenna put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
Kaitlyn took a breath and continued. "The ones who drove us to the emergency shelter were nice, I guess, but that night … wasn't. So when I thought about the police, I thought about that night and it made my stomach hurt a little." She looked around at her siblings. "But I knew at least Cody and everybody would be there, too, even though Mom said we'd probably get matched up individually with a police officer." She smiled at Grace. "I saw Grace right away. She looked so nice. But I thought she was probably another Shop with a Cop kid who was already assigned to your group. So I looked at everybody, and I saw there were women police officers." She looked at Catherine and Kono. "I wanted to go with one of them, but I was too scared to say anything." She nodded at Steve. "Then you asked if I wanted to go with Uncle Danny and his daughter Grace." She glanced at Danny, a little embarrassed. "I really only heard the part about Grace."
"I don't blame you," Danny said. "I'd be more excited to hang out with Grace than me anyday."
"Me, too," Steve threw in, earning him a look from his partner. Steve winked at Kaitlyn. "Go on, Kaitlyn."
She smiled, shrugging a little self-consciously. "I figured it wouldn't be so scary with Grace there. It'd be like going with Casey." She grinned at Danny. "And then Uncle Danny was really nice, and kinda goofy."
" 'Nice and goofy,' " he repeated, pretending to think over the description. He nodded. "I'll take it." He smiled. "I remember how you called me Mr. Detective Williams. I loved that."
"He did," Grace confirmed, nodding.
Kaitlyn laughed. "I can't believe you really wore that purple bracelet I made you!"
"Of course I did," he said immediately. "You took the time to make it for me, of course I was going to wear it."
She smiled, touched by his earnest response.
"Hey, you know what I just realized?" Grace said. "You're almost the same age now as I was that day!"
Kaitlyn's eyes widened. "That's right, I am. Whoa."
Jenna sighed, running a hand over her daughter's hair. "Time flies."
"You know what else I remember?" Kaitlyn said, looking at Grace. "I remember I saw a Frozen t-shirt and I was embarrassed when Uncle Danny asked if I wanted to get it because I thought you'd think it was babyish. But instead you grabbed it and started singing 'Let It Go' and we danced around."
Grace grinned. "Oh yeah. That was fun."
Kaitlyn pushed her hair behind her ear. "I get now that you did it to make me feel better, not because you were really into the movie or anything, but I still think it was a really nice thing to do."
Grace smiled. "I did it to make you feel better and because I liked the movie."
"She did," Danny said, imitating Grace's earlier statement. Despite his teasing, he smiled, as proud of his daughter as he was that day three years ago.
"What about you, Dylan?" Joseph asked. "What do you remember thinking about meeting Chin?"
Dylan looked over at Chin with a lopsided smile. He shrugged. "I pretty much just thought you were cool 'cause you rode a motorcycle."
Chin arched a brow. "I'm cool for many reasons." He grinned. "But mostly because I ride a motorcycle."
Dylan laughed. His smile faded and he paused thoughtfully. After a moment he said, "I remember when Uncle Steve introduced us, you put your hand out to shake first thing. I remember because I never shook anyone's hand before."
"Really?" Chin asked, surprised.
"Pretty sure."
Chin smiled slowly. "I didn't know that."
It was Dylan's turn to shrug self-consciously. "So after that I wanted you to think I was cool, too. Because you didn't treat me like a little kid."
"I did think you were cool," Chin said. "And you want to know why? Because you thought of your brother's birthday the week before and asked if you could get him something for that, too. You were thinking about your family, and to me, that is the definition of cool."
Dylan smiled at him.
Chin's own smile widened. "Plus you liked motorcycles."
Dylan laughed. "And you know … just three more years till I'm sixteen." He looked over at Jenna. "Remember, Mom? You said I could ride Uncle Chin's motorcycle when I'm sixteen."
She groaned. "You can't remember the difference between a metaphor and a simile for your language arts test, but that you remember."
"Well … yeah," Dylan said, as if that shouldn't have been a surprise.
Laughter echoed around the table at that.
"Hey, I'm almost sixteen," Casey said. She looked at Chin. "Can I ride on your motorcycle?"
"Ooh, yeah," Grace echoed, setting down her fork. "Me, too!"
Danny turned to Chin. "Look what you started."
"Me?" Chin balked. He pointed at Dylan. "That was him."
"Hey!" Dylan protested.
Chin laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
"I still got first dibs, though, right?" Dylan asked, glancing up at him.
As the others laughed, Kono nudged Casey beside her. "What about you, huh? We hit it off pretty well that day, didn't we?"
Casey smiled. "Yeah, you were really cool, I just … wasn't so sure about the whole thing," she admitted.
"I remember at first you thought you didn't know what to get your family," Kono said.
"Yeah, but … also …" She looked around before continuing almost reluctantly. "It just … I didn't want a bunch of people looking at us or feeling sorry for us or whatever, you know?" She continued on hurriedly. "When I think about it now, I know it wasn't like that, but before we got there and met you guys … I didn't really want to go." She looked around apologetically. "I'm sorry, that probably sounds ungrateful or something, but … you asked what we remembered."
"Oh, honey, it's okay," Jenna said.
"It doesn't sound ungrateful, it sounds honest," Elizabeth said.
"That's right," Kono agreed. "And I know you changed your mind pretty quickly."
Casey smiled. "I did. You were awesome. And I realized everyone was there to help, and it was actually pretty fun. It's such a great program. I'm really glad we've kept volunteering every year." She looked at Kono. "You know what else I remember about that first one? How you talked to me like a regular person. You didn't talk down like adults sometimes do with kids. And when you suggested coming to watch my cross country meets, you weren't just saying that. I could tell you really meant it." Her smile widened. "And you did come."
Kono smiled broadly. "And it was awesome. They all are."
"So, yeah, that's what I remember," Casey said, looking around the table again.
Steve smiled. "Thanks, Casey."
"Thank you," she replied. "For matching me up with Kono." She smiled at her mentor. "One of the best things that ever happened to me."
"I think we could all say something like that about that day," Steve said. He glanced over at Cody and quirked an eyebrow.
Cody raised his own in return. "I guess I'm up, huh?"
"You're up."
Cody took a breath and exhaled. "I was kinda like Casey," he admitted. "I wasn't so sure about the whole thing."
Dylan nodded, remembering he'd had similar thoughts as well.
"But Mom thought it might be good for us. I really just went along to watch over everyone else." He smiled a little, remembering that day. "When they led us over to you I thought maybe there was some mistake, because none of you were in uniform. But Duke … er, I mean, I didn't know his name was Duke then, but he was in uniform and he introduced us to you so I knew you had to be cops."
"I'm pretty sure you called me 'that crazy dude who's in charge of Five-0,' " Steve said wryly.
"Cody!" Jenna gasped.
Cody laughed. "Yeah, I did, didn't I?" He shrugged. "I'd see some news reports. You were definitely not a normal cop."
"Still aren't," Danny threw in.
Steve shrugged. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Jenna shook her head. "I can't believe you said that to Steve."
"I was … uncomfortable," Cody admitted. "I don't think I was rude, but … yeah, I had a little more attitude than I normally would to see if I could get out of the actual shopping thing."
"You made it pretty clear right from the start you were only there to watch your brothers and sisters," Steve acknowledged.
"I figured maybe you'd go find something else to do and I could just walk around the store and keep tabs on them." The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. "But I'm glad you didn't."
"That was never gonna happen," Steve said quietly.
Cody nodded slowly. "I know." After a pause, he continued. "You stayed and kept on me, pushing just enough." He smiled. "Just like always."
Steve smiled, putting a firm hand on Cody's shoulder. "You know why, right?" he asked. "Because I recognized you."
Cody looked surprised.
Steve gave him a small nod. "Saw myself."
Cody held his gaze, smiling slowly.
After a moment, Elizabeth sighed happily. "And now look at you. All of you," she said, glancing around the deck. "From strangers to family."
"All of us, you mean," Kaitlyn said, looking at her and Joseph and Grandma Ang meaningfully.
Elizabeth smiled. "I do."
Jenna wiped a tear. "Do you want to know what I remember about that day?"
"Of course," Ang said.
Jenna smiled, looking around at her kids. "I remember you all coming home talking over each other. I could hardly understand everything. But you weren't talking about what you had bought. Not the toys or the clothes or even the little Christmas tree." She sighed, her smile widening. "You were talking about what a great time you'd had. And five names kept coming up. Lieutenant Catherine and Mr. Detective Williams and Lieutenant Kelly and Officer Kalakaua and Commander McGarrett." She looked around, meeting all of their eyes now. "Names I'd come to know very well, until they weren't Lieutenant or Detective or Officer or Commander anymore. Because they became friends … and then family." She took a deep breath. "And to think we almost missed out on all that's happened since that day. Because truth be told, I wasn't totally sure about saying yes when the organizers contacted me."
The younger kids looked surprised, but Cody nodded, remembering how his mother had admitted her hesitation to him.
Beside her, Elizabeth patted Jenna's arm, thinking about the conversation they'd had several months ago about this very topic.
"I was sure there were other families who needed the help more," Jenna continued. She smiled. "But like Cody said, eventually I thought it might be good for you all. There had been so much upheaval and uncertainty, and I thought maybe this could change things for the better." Her smile widened. "Little did I know just how life-changing it would turn out to be."
"A decision might seem small in the moment, but it can have big consequences," Joseph said. "In this case, you didn't just change your lives, but all of ours, too."
Catherine nodded. "Like Casey said, one of the best things that ever happened to us all."
Casey smiled. She looked at her youngest brother. "See, Jacob? Another best thing ever."
He smiled with a decisive nod. "And I think it's the BEST best thing in the HISTORY of best things!"
Cody grinned. "You got that right, Jake."
Steve nodded. "Couldn't have said it better myself."
Hope you enjoyed!
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