"Steven! Would you care to explain why —-" Danny stormed into Steve's office, hot and bothered about something, but was cut off by a harsh glare and an angry whisper.
"Hey! Cool it, you're gonna wake the kid," Steve tilted his head to tip his chin at the infant nestled in the crook of his arm.
Danny cracked a small smile and muttered, "sorry, sorry," before remembering that he was mad at his partner. "Sleeping kid aside," he whispered, leaning against the edge of Steve's desk, "you gonna explain why my car ran out of gas a mile and a half away from here and I had to walk the rest of the way?"
Steve winced. JR made a little huffing noise in his sleep and waved a tiny fist. Ignoring Danny for a minute, Steve adjusted his grip on his son, rubbing his free hand gently over the baby's stomach. Once he was sure that JR wasn't going to wake up, Steve returned his attention to Danny. "Yeah," he said casually, "had to run out and grab some more diapers and wipes."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "And your car was where? In a ditch? Riddled with bullet holes? Crumpled like an accordion?" He paused and then answered his own rhetorical questions sarcastically, "Oh wait, no. Those are all things that've happened to my car."
"Aw, come on, Danno," Steve grinned. "You really want your nephew sitting in a dirty diaper all day?"
He gently tilted JR in his arms so Danny was able to fully see the baby's sleep slackened face. It was impossible to resist the baby's face and Danny shook his head, an involuntary smile spreading across his face.
"You're just lucky he looks like Catherine. If he had your ugly mug, I'd still be ticked off," Danny grumbled good naturedly. He sat down on the couch and rubbed the back of his neck. It had been a long, hot walk.
Steve laughed. "He is a cute kid, huh?"
"You got your compliment, stop fishing," Danny joked. "Didn't know you were bringing him in today. Where's Catherine?"
"She's got a meeting. Some intel came in that her team wanted to deal with ASAP," Steve answered while typing out an email response with his free hand. "She'll be by when she's done to pick him up."
Danny watched Steve work and shook his head. He stood up and said, "give me that baby. You look even more like a primate when you try to type like that."
"You know," Steve said, gently transferring the baby into Danny's waiting arms, "I would take offence to that, except my arm was going numb." He shook out his arm, flexing his fingers to regain some feeling in them.
Snorting, Danny rolled his eyes and held JR up to his shoulder, swaying gently in place. He rested the side of his cheek gently against the baby's head. "Oh man, you really forget how good they smell."
"I won't even tell the others that you sniffed my baby," Steve said, mock-seriously, finishing up his emails.
"Just you wait, McGarrett," Danny threatened. "You'll miss the baby smell one day and then you'll be smelling all of your friends' babies."
"I don't doubt it," Steve shrugged.
Catherine walked into 5-0 headquarters two hours later, exhausted and ready to see her baby.
"Hey, Jerry," she greeted the man standing at the computer.
Jerry looked up and smiled. "Hey Cath. How're you doing?"
"Good," she said, smiling and leaning against the desk. "Ready to get JR and head home so both of us can nap. Do you know where Steve is?" Since her husband's office walls were glass, she could see right in to the empty space.
"No idea," Jerry shrugged. "It's been quiet since I got here. And I thought I was late this morning! Turns out I'm the only one in!"
Catherine chuckled to herself. She had a sneaking suspicion that Jerry had been late and the others were all off chasing leads or investigating a crime scene. She pulled out her phone and checked Steve's location.
Huh, Diamond Head State Park.
That was weird, Catherine shrugged. But she said goodbye to Jerry and went back to her car, settling in for the short drive.
"Okay, Adam take Tani and do a search of the immediate area. Junior, go back to headquarters and start doing a background search, see what you can pull up," Steve gave orders to the team, nodding when they all agreed and split up.
Danny eyed his friend warily. "You know if Catherine finds out you brought the kid to a crime scene it's not going to be pretty for you."
Steve cupped a gentle hand over the back of JR's head and the baby kicked a little in the carrier. Okay, so maybe bringing a four-month-old to a crime scene wasn't the smartest move, but he really hadn't had a choice.
"It'll be fine," Steve directed his comments to the baby strapped to his chest, "because Mommy is never going to know, right?"
Danny looked up at the sound of tires crunching over gravel. A shit-eating grin spread across his face when he saw who was driving. "Oh, you're in so much trouble, Steven," he announced gleefully.
Grimacing, Steve bounced gently on the balls of his feet and spoke to JR, "You're gonna back me up here, right buddy?"
"Um, what the hell, Steve?" Catherine frowned, striding over to her husband. "A crime scene? Really?"
Steve held one hand up in a gesture of surrender. "It's not really my fault, Cath. A call came in, no one was around to watch JR. He's been strapped to me the whole time - didn't see anything."
Danny leaned his hip against the door of his Camaro and watched the argument unfold. A little part of him wished he had popcorn.
"That's really not the point," Catherine rolled her eyes and stepped forward so she could check on the baby. He was wide awake in the carrier, drooling happily against Steve's shirt. The corners of her lips quirked up involuntarily - that was going to be amusing when there was no baby blocking the spot.
"Would you rather I left him in the car?" Steve grumbled. He brushed his hand over Catherine's elbow in a silent apology.
She nudged his side with her knuckles. "No, you big dummy. But I don't like the idea of him at an active crime scene." She paused and frowned. "What if you decided to run off and do some heroics?"
"I wouldn't have done that with the baby," Steve retorted, looking offended. Danny scoffed a little in the background, but then looked at the ground and pretended to be very interested in the gravel when Steve and Catherine both looked over at him.
"Cath, seriously, it was all under control," Steve repeated. "The scene's not active and I even made sure he's wearing his little hat."
"I see that," Catherine said, fingers dancing lightly over the little canvas hat JR was wearing. "He does look very cute in the hat."
Steve grinned. "We're done here, why don't I take you for lunch and then you can take JR back home?"
"I like that idea, Commander," Catherine smiled and let JR wrap his fingers around her index finger. She jiggled his hand a little and laughed, "But we want real lunch. Not shrimp tacos at Kamekona's truck."
"Yes, ma'am," Steve smirked, leaning down to drop a kiss to the top of Catherine's head. "Let's go."
They headed off for Catherine's car, leaving Danny by the Camaro. He shook his head and called after them, "What am I? Chopped liver?"
"Yes," Steve shot back easily, laughing. "Make sure to take JR's car seat out of your car when you get back to the office."
"Absolutely not!" Danny spluttered. "I'm not your assistant, Steven!"
A/N: I've been watching 5-0 for 9 years and I've never felt the need to write fic. And then I had the mental image of Steve McGarrett holding his baby in the office and then in a baby carrier at a crime scene and I wanted to write it. So this is the product of that mental image.
Also, JR stands for John Rollins. So the baby's full name is John Rollins McGarrett since I figured Catherine was the type to want her maiden name in there somewhere.
Drop me a review and let me know what you think! :)