The Monday after Allison's little event turned out to be quite the laugh-fest for everyone at 5-O. Kono was imitating Steve in her best Steve-voice with her eyebrows knitted together, "Kono, come over here quick. Allison started her PERIOD!" Kono burst out laughing. The guys started laughing too. All Danny could do was shake his head and say how glad he was that Grace had Rachel to go through all of that stuff. While they were laughing and having a good time, Steve got a phone call from the mainland. It was from Mary Ann's area code but not her number. He stepped away to answer it.
He answered the phone saying, "McGarrett."
The voice on the other end started by saying, "Commander McGarrett, this is Officer Williams from LAPD. I am calling because your sister has been in an accident and is currently in police custody." Steve, confused and perturbed, asked, "What?" The officer replied, "Mr. McGarrett, your sister was driving a car while intoxicated and ran into a citizen's porch. Fortunately, no one was hurt, including your sister. She was checked out and we are allowing her to sober up. Sir, the only name that she could give me was yours and we found your number in her phone." Steve asked, "Which precinct is she being held in?"
"She's at headquarters. We're keeping her for at least 24 hours for her to sober up and for her to be arraigned."
"Okay, I will be there to get her. Don't release her until I'm there, please."
The team could see that he was clearly upset about something. Kono asked, "What's going on boss?"
Steve took a deep breath and told them what was going on. He told them that he had to go to LA that day that get Mary Ann straightened out. They told him to do what he had to do and that they had things covered. Steve let the governor know that he had an emergency with his sister on the mainland and that he needed some time off – no more than a week. He called Dionne and Laura to let them know that he had to go out of town on an emergency and he should be gone no longer than a few days. They were to call Danny if there were any problems while he was gone. He called and got the next flight to LA arranged. He sent the kids text messages to let them know that he had to go out of town and he would call them as soon as they landed. Again, he told them to behave for the girls. Finally, he called Cat and told her what was going on.
He pulled Danny aside and told him he needed to talk to him in his office. Once in the office, Steve started by saying, "You know I wouldn't ask if I didn't have to, but would you be willing to be kid's godfather?" Danny did that thing where he jerks his head back and opens his arms and said, "Sure, of course. But why are you asking now?"
"Because you are my best friend. Because this is the first time I had to leave my kids alone. And because I need for them to have someone they can rely on when I'm not around. And who better than you. You are a great father to Gracie and I know you would be better than me as the stand-in dad."
Danny just smiled his usual toothy smile and said, "Enough said. Get out of here. Go take care of your sister."
"Thanks, man." With that, Steve was off. He went to pick up some clothes and to catch his plane to LA.
Steve notified everybody by text that he was on the plane and he would contact them when he landed. No more than 3 hours later, Danny gets a call from Dionne. She was at the university infirmary and they were diagnosing her with the flu. She was crying because she just thought it was allergies. She went on to say that she knew that Mr. Steve (that's what she called him) had to go out of town and he was relying on her and this was terribly inconvenient but she didn't want to infect the kids. Danny gently shushed her and told her it was okay. He would take care of the kids. He told her to just get well and take care of herself.
Danny texted the kids to let them know that Dionne wouldn't be there because she was ill. He met the kids at home. They were happy to see him because they loved their Uncle Danny. They thought he was funny the way he talked with his hands and the way he would go back and forth with their dad. He told them to go ahead with their usual routine and he would fix them something for dinner. When they sat down for dinner, Danny asked, "Sooo, how was your day? Anything exciting happen?" Both of the kids shook their heads no and continued to eat. Danny continued, "So Allison, anything happen at school today or did you learn anything exciting?" She shook her head no and continued to eat. "Aaron? How about you? Anything interesting in school today?" "Nope." Danny was screaming in his head because it's never been this difficult to talk to the kids. Arrgh!
Steve ended up calling to say that he had landed. Danny told him what happened with Dionne and that he was taking care of the kids. Steve said he would call and check on Dionne later. He spoke to each of the kids and bid them a good night. Danny ended up telling him how difficult it was to have a conversation with the kids. He thought it was unusual for them. Steve reassured him and let him know they even do that to him periodically and not to worry about it. Danny got the kids off to bed and called it a night.
Danny got the kids off to school and got to work. After he got there, Steve called him and asked him if he knew anything about a notice being sent home with Aaron for insubordination. Danny told him no. "If you remember I told you I asked the kids about their day but didn't think I had to ask if they got written up for being a smart a**." Steve told Danny that he received a call from the school that Aaron had been written up for insubordination and would need to do 2 days in school suspension. Apparently, Aaron signed the notice that was sent home that Steve was supposed to sign. He forged his signature. The teacher however did not let Aaron onto the fact that they figured out his signature was a forgery. This situation upset Danny because he understands a kid popping off at the mouth and getting in trouble because he did it when he was younger. What he didn't understand was the kid forging a signature instead of manning up and admitting his mistake. But then he realized that's why they were so quiet. He reassured Steve that he would take care of it. Danny asked, doing a Brando impersonation, "As the godfather of these kids, can I take care of this as I see fit?" Steve chuckled, "Yes, Don, do as you see fit. I will talk to him about this when I get home." Danny asked how things were going with Mary Ann. Steve replied, "Oh man, don't get me started with her. I am trying to see if we can get her reduced to community service and I want to bring her home where I can keep an eye on her. I'm still working on it. I will keep you guys posted."
"Alright. Don't be too hard on her."
"Don't be too hard on my son."
"I won't do anything that you wouldn't do."
Danny was home when the kids got home. He went through the same routine as yesterday with the same questions. Again, the kids had nothing to say. Danny then asked some more pointed questions of Aaron. "Aaron, are you sure that your last couple of days haven't been unusual for you?" The twins looked at each other nervously. "Hmm?" Danny probed. Aaron biting his lip replied, "No, Uncle Danny."
"So in addition to being insubordinate and forging Steve's signature on that notice from school, you want to include lying about it all?"
Aaron looked defeated. "Uncle Danny, I can explain."
"Okay. I'm waiting."
"Okay. I figured since Dad had to go take care of Aunt Mary then I shouldn't bother him with this. That's why I signed it."
Danny looked at him and cocked his head to the side and asked (again, with tons of hand gestures), "Do you really think that I am buying that? Aaron you are really going to have to try harder. Why don't you trying just telling the truth. Tell me why you didn't say anything about the in school suspension when I asked about your day. I will tell you this; my response to this news is certainly going to be different today than it would have been yesterday." Aaron interrupted, "Uncle Danny, I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you yesterday."
"Well I appreciate your apology but now we have to deal with the fact that you lied to me. I will tell you like I told Gracie – we can deal with just about anything as long as you don't lie to me. I become a completely different person when we are dealing with lying. Allison, did you know that he forged your dad's name, which is a crime by the way?"
Allison replied with a shaky voice, "Yes."
"What did you say, Allison? I couldn't hear you?"
"Yes, I did, Uncle Danny."
"Did you know it was wrong?"
"Yes."
"So did you try to stop him?"
"No."
"So what did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Okay. So didn't Steve tell you guys that you were supposed to look out for each other? Do you think that includes trying to keep each other from getting in trouble or in this case worse trouble? Don't you think that your inaction, Allison, makes you just as guilty?"
"I guess so."
"I don't want you guys to rat each other out. That's not sticking together. But you are supposed to talk each other out of doing crazy stuff that is going to get you in trouble. Lying and forging signatures counts as stuff that gets you into trouble."
Danny then told Allison to get a ruler. He started smacking the ruler in his hand as he was walking around. Danny said, "Okay Aaron, since you signed Steve's name to your notice, I think that you should get more practice writing your own name. I need you to get your binder out of your backpack." Aaron just looked at him kind of dumbfounded. "Aaron. Get your binder out of your backpack." Aaron got the binder out. "Ok now, I need you to take out some paper; about 20 sheets should do it," Danny said. "Now, I would like for you to write 'I, Aaron McGarrett, will not forge any more signatures. Ever.'" Aaron wrote it down like he was told. Danny then said, "I need you to write that over and over until you cover this paper front and back. Got it?" Aaron could not believe it. That was a lot of writing. Danny told him to start after dinner. He told them both that there would be no TV or games for them tonight. Allison said, "But Uncle Danny, I didn't do anything. Why can't I watch TV or play videos tonight?" Danny told her, still while smacking the ruler in his hand, "Like I said before, you knew what he was doing. And what did you do? Did you tell him not to do it? Did you tell him to consider the consequences? No, you didn't say or do anything to make him stop. I want you to think about this the next time either one of you want to do something that you know is wrong and you don't do anything to stop it." Allison just said, sort of resigned, "Aww, man. Okay. Fine." Danny asked, "Okay? Fine?" He shook his head and walked away to put the pizza in the oven for dinner. He went back out where the kids were and asked them what they were waiting for. "You don't want me to find other uses for this ruler. Do you? Get going to start on your homework."
That evening as they were eating dinner, Danny explained to them that the insubordination was not the biggest problem. He told Aaron that had he told him that he got into trouble for talking back he would have simply talked to him, made him write an apology letter, and would have given him a warning. The cover up is what bothered him. He explained that he could be their biggest ally or could be the mean uncle. That, he told them, was going to depend on them being honest with him. "One more thing," he told them, "before we put this thing to rest. Aaron you have to tell your dad tonight what you did. He already knows because the school called him, but you have to tell him yourself." Aaron just hung his head. "Ugh, that is going to be so hard. But okay…."
That night Steve called the house to update Danny on what was happening with Mary Ann. They got a plea deal to time served and 500 hours community service especially doing anything that any of the anti-drunk driving organizations wanted because this was her first offense. Her license was suspended until she completed the hours. She also had to pay for the repair of the citizen's house that she ran into. The judge warned her that should she have any more drunk driving or any other driving under the influence of anything, she will get the full sentence for this offense and whatever the maximum is for that offense, and not concurrent. The judge wouldn't allow her to go to Hawaii because he wanted her service to be performed in the community that she potentially affected and she will need to be alcohol and drug tested randomly. So Steve would be home the next day. He asked what happened with the kids. Danny told him that he handled it but they could tell him themselves.
"Hey Aaron! How's it going?"
"Hi Dad! It's okay."
"Just okay?"
"Well, um, Dad I have to tell you something. Um, I got in trouble at school yesterday because the teacher feels like I was disrespectful to her and then I got put on 2 day in school suspension. And then I got into more trouble because I signed the notice that I brought home instead of giving it to Uncle Danny. So I got into trouble with Uncle Danny for lying."
"I see."
"I'm really sorry. I was just scared."
"But what would you have done if I was home?"
"I guess I would have given it to you. Dad, I don't know. I just didn't want to be in trouble but I know I made it worse."
"Listen, son. I don't want you guys to be so afraid of getting in to trouble that you do crazy stuff. My fear is that if you cover up stuff like this, which is not great but certainly not horrible, am I going to be able to trust you on more serious stuff when you really need my help? If you'll notice, the things that have gotten you guys into serious trouble has been not telling the truth and being blatantly hardheaded. That can't be tolerated. And that's the same reason you got into trouble with Danny – being dishonest. We can talk about anything and I will have your back but lying will erode trust. Do you understand me?"
"Yes dad."
"Now you make sure that you apologize to Danny for being dishonest."
"I will. Love you, Dad."
"Love you too son. I will see you when you get home from school tomorrow. Let me speak to Allison."
"Hi Daddy!"
"Hi Allison. How are you, sweetie."
"Okay."
"What do you mean okay? Did you get into trouble with Danny, too?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I knew Aaron was going to sign the paper and I didn't try to stop him and I didn't say anything."
"I see. Well, Allison, I will tell you like I told Aaron, being honest is so important. Without it we don't have any trust. And I don't want you guys to be afraid of telling me or someone that you trust when stuff has happened because you're scared you will get in trouble. It's being dishonest and hardheaded that will get you in trouble. Do you understand me, sweetie?"
"Yes, Daddy. Love you. I have to go finish my homework."
"Love you too and I will see you when you get home from school tomorrow. Can I speak back to Danny?"
She handed the phone back to Danny and went upstairs. "Hey," Danny said. Steve asked, "What did you do to my kids, bruh? They kept saying they were okay."
"I took care of the situation in my way."
"Right."
"Look, I had to take care of this because they would be trying to get over on me all the time if I didn't fix this now."
"Noticed has been served. Don't mess with the godfather, Don Williams."
They both cracked up.
