Mari & Ilna-you guys are the absolute best! Thank you for EVERYTHING! YOU'RE THE BEST!
REAL Worlders-you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the support and encouragement.
McGarrett-Rollins Residence
Thursday 7:00 P.M.
"Sweetheart, I appreciate the thought, but it really isn't necessary," Steve said as he and Cammie reentered the house after their evening run to find Catherine and Angie in the kitchen.
The toddler was in her high chair, face covered with a wide smile and a more than a little vanilla pudding. Cammie took a drink of water from her bowl then immediately took up her position beside her favorite little human hoping for some spillage.
Catherine patiently dipped the small, plastic spoon into the pudding and with a soft smile moved it towards her daughter's mouth.
"I do!" Angie insisted, taking the spoon from her mother and actually managing to get a little of the pudding in her mouth this time.
"She really wants to do it herself," Catherine chuckled.
"Is Angie still working on feeding herself?" Grace asked.
"She sure is," Steve replied. "Tonight it's pudding."
He didn't need to see Grace's face. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Send me a picture."
"I will," he promised. "Now about Saturday night …"
"Please, Uncle Steve, I really wanna do this. You and Auntie Catherine take me out for my birthday every year and it's always super special. I'm driving this year and I have my own money, so I really want to do something to celebrate your birthday. It would mean a lot to me."
Steve looked at Catherine with a helpless expression. It was virtually impossible for him to say no to Gracie.
"We'd love to go," he finally relented. "But we can pay for our own …"
Catherine grinned at him and mouthed his least favorite word, 'Adorable,' as she dipped the spoon in the pudding again.
"No! Absolutely not. I'll make all the arrangements and I'm paying. I'll pick you up Saturday night at 7:00."
"We can meet you there," Steve insisted. "Or better yet, we can pick you up."
"No way. You're getting the full birthday treatment and that includes being driven for the night. See you at 7:00."
Steve knew when to throw in the towel.
"We'll see you at 7:00."
He disconnected the call and placed his phone on the kitchen island.
"You knew about this."
Catherine nodded. "She called me right before she called you to see if I thought the luau and fireworks at Hilton Hawaiian Village would be something you'd enjoy. She remembered you telling dad a few weeks ago that you hadn't been in a long time."
"Well, it's very sweet of her but she certainly doesn't need to spend her money on me." He leaned over and kissed Angie's pudding covered face causing her to giggle. "Marco is still in charge of the luau, right? I'll call him tomorrow and take care of the bill ahead of time."
Catherine reached out and touched his forearm. "Don't do that. This means a lot to Grace. She wants to do something special to celebrate your birthday."
"It can still be special without her spending her own money," Steve argued. "I'm sure there are things she'd rather spend it on."
Catherine smiled softly. "That's where you're wrong, Commander. She wants to show you that she's growing up. That she can arrange a birthday outing for you all on her own. I remember when I was her age and trust me, this is very important to her."
"Ok." Steve held his hands up in front of him. "I know when I'm beat. I'll let her take care of everything."
Catherine dipped the spoon in the pudding again. "She'll be thrilled."
"Mama me!" Angie insisted as she once again took the spoon, but this time scored a direct hit on her mouth.
"YAY!" Steve and Catherine cheered simultaneously causing Angie to throw her arms in the air and squeal with glee resulting in half the pudding that had just made its way into her mouth dribbling down her chin.
Catherine laughed as she wiped Angie's face. "We're getting there."
McGarrett-Rollins Residence
Thursday 11:00 P.M.
Catherine was just hanging up her phone as Steve came out of the bathroom fresh from the shower, towel wrapped around his hips.
"It's all set," she said. "Mom and Dad are gonna take Angie for the night on Saturday."
"That's good." He discarded the towel in the laundry hamper and slipped on a pair of boxers.
"Mom said they were hoping we could have a birthday brunch when we go to pick her up on Sunday."
"They don't have to do that," Steve said as he slipped into bed beside her.
"They know they don't have to, but Mom said they want to. She knows the weekend is kinda packed and that we were planning to spend all day Sunday alone just me, you and Angie but they really want to do something to celebrate your birthday with you. I can call her back if you don't want to ..."
"Of course I want to." Steve cut her off. "I just don't want them going to any fuss."
Catherine smiled. "It's just a small brunch for the six of us. Nothing fancy. Maybe a few candles in a quiche," she teased.
"Ok, but they certainly don't need to buy me a gift. They already do so much for us with always being available to watch Angie …"
He noticed Catherine was suddenly unable to meet his eyes.
"What?" He dipped his chin to his chest. "They already bought a gift, didn't they?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny that but … ok yes," she chuckled. "People love you Steve and they want to celebrate your birthday. You need to get used to that." She straddled his lap and began kissing his neck softly.
"O...k…" Words escaped him as her hands worked at the waistband of his boxers.
She raised her head with a predatory grin. "Let's celebrate."
Five-0 Headquarters
Friday Noon
Steve smiled when he saw Catherine's name on his caller ID. "Hey there, how's your day going?"
"Not bad. Yours?"
"Pretty quiet so far," he said. "I should be home in time for dinner."
"About that …"
"What?" He placed the phone against his shoulder as he searched through the files on his desk for the latest lab results from Max.
"Carrie called. She and John want to take us for Happy Hour to celebrate your birthday. They're both on duty all weekend with some big conference at Pearl. The opening reception starts at 7:30 tonight so they wanted to meet around 5 or so for a few drinks."
"What about Angie?"
"I called Grace. She's free tonight and happy to come over and babysit."
"What about you? It's been a long week. Are you up for it?" he asked.
"I told you, a lot of people love you and want to celebrate your birthday and I am most definitely up for that."
"Ok, but no gift this time, right?"
Silence.
"Cath?"
"Like I said, people love you, Steve. You're just gonna have to get used to that."
He smiled. If anyone had told him ten years ago this was where his life would be today, he would have laughed at them. Yet here he was. And he had to admit it felt good.
"I'll pick you up after work. I love you."
"Love you. See you then."
Five-0 Headquarters
Friday 3:00 P.M.
Kono poked her head into Steve's office just as he was finishing up a call with the governor.
"Thanks for your time, Steve. We'll get together and discuss the committee's ideas next week. And I almost forgot … Happy Birthday. Catherine told me you have quite a busy weekend ahead."
He chuckled. "We definitely do."
"Embrace it. There are a lot of people who want to share in your special day."
"You sound like Catherine."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Now just go out and enjoy yourself and I'll see you next week."
"Thank you, Governor."
Steve ended the call and looked at Kono. "What's up?"
"We were wondering if you wanted to grab dinner and a few drinks at Sidestreet tonight?" she replied. "Me, you, Chin, Danny, Catherine. Just like old times. It's been awhile."
Steve tried to remember the last time they'd all been out together. "It sure has."
"I think the last time must have been six months ago after we wrapped the Hidalgo case," Kono said.
Steve nodded. "I think you're right."
Their lives had all gotten busier and their spontaneous get togethers after work had definitely tailed off. They would certainly never be as frequent as they were before Angie came along but he made a mental note to make it a point to get together socially just as a team at least once a month.
"So tonight we have another reason to celebrate," Kono said. "You didn't think we forgot your birthday, did you?"
Steve grinned. "I was hoping."
Kono leaned against the door frame. "Come on, birthday boy. I know how you hate people making a fuss over you, but this will be nothing fancy. I promise no one will tell the waitress it's your birthday so there will be no wait staff singing at you."
Steve barked a laugh. "There better not be."
"You have my word."
"I'll have to ask Catherine and check and see if Gracie can stay a few extra hours with Angie," he said.
"Danny already checked with Grace," Kono replied. "She's free to stay with Angie as long as you need her."
"Okay then. I'm sure Catherine will want to go but I just have to check with her to make sure."
"Understood." Kono smirked. "You're a good husband. So, unless Catherine has an objection we'll see you at Sidestreet at say, 7:00?"
"Sounds good." Steve smiled. "We'll see you there."
As he watched Kono cross the bullpen he dialed Catherine's number.
"Hey there, handsome. What's up?"
He leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Did you have anything planned for later on tonight?"
Parking Lot
4:45 P.M.
Steve leaned over and opened the passenger's side door to his truck when he saw Catherine coming across the parking lot. There was no point in taking both cars to meet Carrie and John, so they'd leave her car in the protected lot at the governor's office and pick it up tomorrow.
"So, this birthday weekend of yours is turning into quite the extravaganza," she smiled as she settled into her seat and turned to kiss him.
"You have no idea," he smiled sheepishly.
She buckled her seatbelt. "What did I miss?"
"Kaitlyn and Jacob called. They want to make me a birthday lunch. All of the Allen kids actually but they were the ones who called with the invite."
She couldn't help but notice the look of surprise on his face.
He knew that there were a lot of people in his life who loved him and who he loved in return. He saw that in their everyday interactions. But there was still some part of him deep inside, that lonely teenager and young sailor, who was shocked every time someone went out of their way to do something special for him.
"That sounds like fun," she smiled.
"They're gonna cook it themselves," he grinned. "I'm not sure what they have in mind, but Kaitlyn promised my favorite cupcakes."
"That alone is worth going for," Catherine said brightly.
"They were thinking Saturday afternoon," Steve started the truck. "We could over there for a few hours and still get home in time to get ready to go out with Grace."
"Fine with me," Catherine said as the truck glided to a stop at the end of the parking lot, waiting for the light to change so they could pull onto the highway.
"Jacob said they have a surprise for me. Something they all went in on together. They shouldn't have …"
"Just give it a rest," Catherine interrupted with a smile. "They want to do something special for you."
"Just spending time together is special," Steve said quietly.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I know that. But they've been planning this for a while now and they're excited."
He eyed her suspiciously. "What do you know, Lieutenant?"
"I'm sworn to secrecy," she chuckled. "But you're gonna love it."
Before he could inquire further his phone rang. He pushed the button to activate the speaker phone. "Hi, Mary."
"Hi big brother. How's it going?"
"Good. Catherine and I are on our way to meet Carrie and John for a few drinks. How's everything there?"
"Pretty good. I just ..."
Mary paused.
Steve's demeanor changed.
"Is everything ok?" he asked worriedly.
No, no, everything's fine. It's just that … we were planning to fly in this weekend to surprise you for your birthday but then Aaron got this big assignment at work and my Stats professor scheduled a test for next Tuesday and Joan's best friend's sleepover had to be rescheduled to this weekend because a couple of the girls aren't available next weekend."
Catherine grinned. "Sounds like your weekend is gonna be as busy as ours."
"So, you have plans for your birthday?"
Steve chuckled. "A few. Yes. But still, we always love to see you guys. Maybe you can come next weekend instead and we can plan something."
"I was hoping you'd say that. Joan has been talking almost non-stop about the zoo since last time she went so we were thinking maybe a zoo visit and a nice picnic on the beach?"
"Sounds perfect."
"So, we'll call you on Sunday to say Happy Birthday and then plan on flying in next Friday."
"Perfect. We can't wait to see you guys."
After Steve ended the call Catherine chuckled. "So, it looks like this is spreading into a ten-day celebration. Impressive. Good thing Angie and I booked our quiet Sunday with you early."
He turned to her with a look of unmistakable happiness. "The two of you always come first."
THE END
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