so, this is my new H50 story which is a spin off of my story 'How Did We Get Here?' in this story the kids are all older and steve is still with five-0. hope you like this, thanks for reading! :)

Gray Hair

2023

Summer was coming to a close. Jack had just turned thirteen and was getting ready to start the eighth grade. That afternoon, he was at practice for the middle school football team that played on Saturdays afternoons; the season started in a few weeks. Julia was upstairs packing the remainder of her things. She was twenty and was getting ready to move into an apartment near campus with Grace; they would both be juniors in college. While Julia was an architecture major, Grace majored in education. Lucy was getting ready to start her senior year of high school, being seventeen years old now and a cheerleader like her mother. She was at an SAT prep course, since she would be applying to colleges soon.

Alexia arrived home from work that Saturday afternoon to a quiet house; she was still in the ER just as Steve was still with Five-0. It was the weekend before school started for everyone. Julia had gone to move a few boxes with her dad, Grace, and Danny. Lucy was still at her class and Jack was still at practice. With all the kids home for the summer, a peaceful house was rare. Even when Julia was at school, things still weren't peaceful with Jack and Lucy; plus, with Julia being so close to home, she came home a lot of weekends. With the house being so quiet, Alexia jumped when the front door swung open, then slammed shut.

"Hey mom!" Jack called, running up the stairs in his sweaty practice clothes, having been dropped off by a friend's parents. Since he had become a teenager, he had hit a massive growth spurt. He had passed his mother in height and was quickly gaining on his father. Being thirteen, he was still fairly wiry though as he hadn't filled out yet.

"Hi honey," Alexia called, sorting through the mail at the couch as she let her hair out of her pony tail. When it was pulled up, it was easier to see the streaks of gray that were running through it now; she would be forty-eight soon and Steve had just turned.

"Bye mom!" Jack said, running back down the steps and heading for the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alexia said, making him stop in his tracks. She looked over her teenage son, his tall frame, his hair short like his dad's. "Where are you going?"

"Biking," Jack answered. He was wearing his sneakers, gym shorts, and a shirt with the sleeves torn off.

"Who are you going with?"

"Trevor and Mike."

"When will you be back?"

"Dinner."

"Ok," Alexia nodded and Jack opened the door to leave. "Are you forgetting something?" Jack shut the door, going over to kiss his mother on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Love you mom."

"You too honey," she said as he left. While the girls seemed to cause Steve the most grief, between sneaking out and having boyfriends, Jack was the one giving Alexia gray hair. Soon after Jack left, Lucy returned home from her SAT practice. She was dressed in cut off shorts and a pink top, her hair piled up on her head. She tossed her keys on the small table by the door and Alexia could see she was frustrated.

"How was it?" Alexia asked as Lucy took a seat next to her.

"Math sucks mom," Lucy complained. Out of the three kids, she was the one that looked the most like her mother, having the lightest hair and bright blue eyes. Both girls shared their mother's small, slim frame and were about the same height, though Julia was the tallest by a little. "Could Julesy just take it for me?" She still used her childhood nickname for her older sister.

"You'll be fine," Alexia promised her. "Besides, with the major you want, they'll look mostly at your reading and writing scores."

Lucy wasn't sure where she wanted to go to school yet, but she did know that she wanted to be a journalism major. Unlike her sister though, she knew she didn't want to stay on the island and wanted to go to the mainland for school. Alexia knew that, but Steve didn't yet. With as protective as Steve was, they knew that he wouldn't be happy about one of his girls leaving the island.

"Hi girls," Steve said, coming into the house with a grocery bag, followed by Danny who also had one.

"Hey daddy."

"Hi babe," Alexia said, turning her head to the door. "Hey Danny."

"Hey Lex," Danny nodded at her. "Got all the stuff for the barbecue tonight." He followed Steve to set the bags in the kitchen, before both of them returned to the living room. "Emily said she would try to get here, she got stuck at the hotel though." Danny and Emily had stayed together; they hadn't gotten married, but they had moved in together.

"Are Julia and Grace coming?" she asked.

"Yeah," Steve nodded. The college students still didn't have much food in their new apartment and would never turn down food from home. "And, before you ask, I remembered Julia's veggie burgers." He leaned his forearms against the back of the chair, looking over to Lucy. "What do you want tonight sweetheart, hot dog or hamburger?"

"I don't think I'm staying for dinner," Lucy said, getting up from the couch. "I have plans tonight."

"With who?" Steve asked as she went upstairs.

"People," Lucy answered ominously, heading up to her room. She didn't want to tell her dad she had a date that night or he would question her like crazy about it.

"Oh come on kid," Danny joked, calling upstairs. "You're gonna give your dad a stroke."

Danny had a hard enough time raising one teenage girl, he couldn't imagine how Steve did it with two and a teenage boy on top of that. While it was never funny when Grace pulled certain stunts on Danny, he always found it amusing when Steve's daughters ran circles around him.

"Just let her alone," Alexia encouraged, getting up from the couch. "She had a hard day at her class." Julia was their naturally brainy child, she never had to try much at school to succeed. Lucy was smart, but she had to work twice as hard as her sister did and it could really frustrate her.

"She's a good girl," Alexia reminded him.

"I know she is," Steve agreed. "The rest of the world though, not so good."

Jack came home from biking with his friends, going upstairs to shower before dinner. Steve and Danny had started grilling out on the deck, coming in and out of the house. Lucy was upstairs, getting ready for her date. Alexia was sitting at the table outside, watching Danny and Steve do all the cooking while she relaxed. The food was done, but it had started raining so they moved everything inside.

Smelling food, their growing teenage son came running down the stairs to meet them at the table. Julia and Grace weren't there yet, but had texted to say that they would be there soon. Just then, there was a knock at the door and Steve got up to answer it, though everyone could see the door from the table anyway.

Standing on the other side of the door was Sam, a kid that had grown up down the street from them. He was the same year in school as Julia, both of them being friends since middle school. He was a taller kid, with short black hair and dark brown eyes. Steve hadn't really liked any of the boys that Julia had dated and he always kind of hoped she would go out with Sam. After all, he had seen this kid grow up and he knew that he was a good guy. He was at the University of Hawaii too, majoring in marine biology.

"Oh hey Sam," Steve said. "Julia's not here, but she's on her way if you wanna come in for dinner." Sam seemed a little surprised.

"Oh no," Sam shook his head, laughing a little as there must have been some confusion. "I'm here to pick up Lucy sir, for our date?" Steve laughed a little now too.

"No, you're not," Steve told him, shutting the door on him.

"Daddy!" Lucy said, coming down the stairs. She was dressed in a black mini skirt and a dark green tank top that was loose fitting. "Why would you do that?!"

"There's no way you're going out with him," Steve argued. "He's too old for you."

"MOM!" Lucy said, hopping off the last step and going over to the table. Like with Julia, Alexia had always mediated between her and Steve. He followed his daughter over to the table.

"Did you know about this Lex?" Steve asked his wife who was already rubbing her temples. One of her least favorite jobs as a mom was mediating between her over protective husband and her daughters that continually pushed the limit. It always gave her a headache.

"No," Alexia told him, looking over at their daughter. "And, Lucy, we've talked about this. You don't just drop bombs on your dad like this! We break it to him gently."

"Otherwise, he'll have an aneurysm," Danny jumped in, earning a glare from Steve.

"There's no way I'm ok with this," Steve continued. "He's way too old for her, he's in college."

"He's twenty dad," Lucy argued, crossing her arms. "That's only three years!"

"Twenty?" Steve asked. "He's gonna be old enough to drink soon, you're not even old enough to vote."

"Would you really let her go out dressed like that anyway dad?" Jack asked, bringing his sister's tiny mini skirt to his father's attention.

"JACK!" Lucy shouted as he father started lecturing her on her clothes.

"Hey!" Alexia said, standing up and getting their attention. "You." She looked at Jack. "Stay out of it. You." She was looking at Lucy. "Upstairs. And you." She finally looked at Steve. "Outside."

"But mom, that's not fair!" Lucy told her as Steve went out on the back deck.

"Just go upstairs while I talk to your dad," Alexia told her, though she was in some agreement with Steve that Sam was too old for Lucy. Lucy huffed, going upstairs to her room and stomping the whole way to her bedroom door which she slammed. Alexia turned to go out to talk to Steve, leaving Danny and Jack at the table. Steve was leaning against the railing, watching the rain pour off the roof above him.

"You can't tell me you're ok with her going out with him," Steve said, turning when Alexia came outside.

"Hey, I'm not happy about it either," Alexia told him. "And she should have never sprung it on us like that. But-"

"But nothing Lex," Steve argued. "He's a junior in college, she hasn't even taken her SATs yet."

"Look, you're right," Alexia agreed. "He's too old for her, but you shouldn't have exploded like that. You can't just slam the door on guys that you don't like." She sighed. "Listen, it's probably just a phase. Next week she'll be back on a Jessie kick."

"Oh God," Steve groaned, rubbing his forehead; he felt like he might actually have an aneurysm. Jessie was Lucy's on again/off again boyfriend that she had since she was old enough to date at fifteen. One week he was all she could talk about, the next she was throwing his stuff out on the front lawn from her window. He was a stereotypical high school bad boy, with messy dark brown hair and hazel eyes, being average height and wiry. Steve hadn't like Jessie from the start and wished that he got to slam the door on him. No matter what happened though, he could never seem to get rid of this kid.

"I know," Alexia agreed, wrapping her arms around his middle. "But, at least he's seventeen."

"I never thought I'd miss Jessie," Steve said, kissing her once. They both went back inside, hearing Grace and Julia having gotten there. Grace stopped to greet her dad at the table while Julia went to grab a plate for food. She greeted her parents when they came inside.

"Hey," Julia smiled at them, putting ketchup on her veggie burger. "I didn't know Sam and Lucy were dating." She chuckled. "I didn't think dad would be cool with her going out with someone that much older than her."

"What are you talking about Jules?" Steve asked.

"When we were coming down the street, I saw them driving the other way in Sam's truck," Julia explained; she then studied her parents' faces. "Which...you guys didn't know about."

"Oh man," Jack laughed from the table. "Lucy snuck out?"

Alexia wasn't sure what Steve was going to do. When they were seniors in high school, she remembered Julia and Grace had snuck out to go to a college frat party. Julia had said that she was going to stay with Grace while Grace told Danny she was going to stay at Julia's. The dads ended up putting it together though, going to the party to pick the girls up. They made a huge scene about it though to embarrass their daughters, breaking up the party since they were the police. Rather than leave the house to chase after them, however, Steve sat back down at the table.

"Babe," Alexia said as he started eating again. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting."

Lucy was genuinely surprised as Sam drove her home that night. She thought that Julia had seen them leaving, but if she had she hadn't told her parents about it. Even if Julia hadn't told, she figured they would have noticed that she wasn't in her room at some point. Either scenario, in her mind, ended with her dad tracking them down and dragging her home.

Now, however, it was late when Sam was bringing her back. All the lights were off in the house which made it even easier for her to sneak back in. Since her bedroom window faced the front of the house, anyone sitting in the living room would have been able to see her climbing the tree to get back inside. She made it back in unnoticed though, turning on the bedside light so she could see.

"AH!" she screamed and jumped back when she saw him. Steve was sitting at the chair by her desk. "Daddy! Holy shit!"

"Watch your mouth," he told her, getting up from the chair; they were standing on opposite sides of her bed as he held out his hand. Lucy looked at him and his hand curiously.

"What?" she asked.

"Your phone," he answered.

"But daddy!" He continued to hold out his hand and she rolled her eyes, handing over her cell phone which he put in his pocket.

"And your keys," he said, holding his hand out again.

"My keys?" she asked with raised eye brows. "Are you gonna lock me out of the house?"

"No, your car keys," he clarified.

"My car keys?" she asked in shock. "How will I get to school or practice?!"

"Your mother or I will drive you," he said as she handed them over.

"That's not fair!"

"You should have thought about that before you snuck out," Steve told her, going to leave her room. Lucy didn't say anything, but she did slam the door once he left.

Sunday was tense in the McGarrett house. Julia was stopping in and out to pick up the rest of her things before she started her classes the next day. Jack went out biking with his friends again. Since Lucy was grounded, she was sulking around the house all day, glaring at her father whenever they crossed paths. Sunday was Steve's day off, but Alexia had work that afternoon. She was at the nurses station, filling out a chart on her last patient when one of the other doctors came over to her.

"I think this is yours," she told her, smiling a little. Alexia looked over in the chair behind her where Jack was sitting, holding gauze on his head.

"Oh my God, Jack," Alexia sighed at the sight of him. "Thank you," she said to the other doctor, going over and leading Jack to one of the available beds. He hopped up on it, removing the gauze so Alexia could examine the gash above his eye brow. "Were you at least-"

"Wearing my helmet?" Jack offered as she started cleaning his wound. "Yes mom."

"What were you doing?" Alexia asked as she began to stitch him up. He opened his mouth to explain but she stopped him. "You know what, there's some things, as your mom, it's better that I don't know. Just...don't do it again."

"Got it," Jack agreed as she finished giving his stitches. Alexia called Steve so he could come pick Jack up since she wasn't done at work yet. Steve met her outside the emergency room entrance, with Lucy sulking in the front seat; he wasn't letting her out of his sight.

"Hey kid," Steve said as Jack got into the back of the car. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm ok dad," Jack said; Steve nodded, looking out the window at his wife.

"That one is going to kill me," Alexia told him. This wasn't Jack's first visit to the emergency room; he was just like his father that way.

"See you at dinner?" Steve smiled at her.

"Yeah," she nodded as they drove off. She sighed, walking back into the ER. Between her husband, her son, and her daughters, it was any wonder she wasn't completely gray yet.

thanks for reading! hope you like the spin off so far. please let me know your thoughts! :)