Mari & Ilna—you guys are as awesome as ketchup on dippy eggs. I am so incredibly grateful for your love and support every day. You are the absolute best, you have made every minute of this journey a pleasure and I am sooooo excited about what's coming up. Like legitimately chair dancing excited.

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Room for Family (1/1)

This story includes characters introduced in Part of the Plan. If you haven't read that this won't make a lot of sense.

McGarrett/Rollins Residence

Back Yard

Sunday 9:30 A.M.

"Downloading this deck planner was a stroke of genius," Steve said as he and Catherine sat side-by-side on the back porch enjoying a cup of coffee and plugging ideas into the program. It was a warm Sunday morning, they had already taken Cammie for a run and a refreshing swim and played fetch till she wore herself out and fell asleep in the shade, and if nothing came up at work they hoped to have the basic plans for the deck nailed down by the end of the day so they could send them off to the architect to have the blueprints created.

"Carrie told me about it. Her folks used it when they added a deck to their place in the mountains." Catherine tapped a few keys and increased the depth of the deck by eight feet. "What do you think? Is that too big?"

Steve studied the screen then looked up and tried to envision the deck as it would stand after it was built. "I'm not sure." He stood up and paced off the approximate distance then turned back towards Catherine. "It still leaves plenty of room for volleyball and it doesn't infringe on Cammie's play area … I'm just not sure how big we actually want to go though. It'd definitely be nice to have room for a long banquet table so everyone can sit together when we have a barbecue or when the family is all here."

Catherine stood up. "Let's grab a few of these chairs and put them in place for the different sizes and see what we think," she suggested.

"Good idea." Steve grabbed two chairs and moved them to the outer edge of the larger of the proposed deck plans. After Catherine did the same they surveyed the area. Cammie raised her head from where she was lying in a shady spot close to the house and once she was satisfied her humans weren't headed off on an adventure without her settled back down to nap.

"There's definitely room for a big table," Catherine said. "And some built in seating. And maybe a few flower boxes. I'd really love some big wooden flower boxes."

Steve smiled. "Maybe we can plant some butterfly bushes in them," he said as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'd like that." She slid her arm around his waist and gave him a soft squeeze.

"I think there'd definitely be room for everyone if we went with this size," Steve nodded, "I'm not sure if it might not be a little too big though … ya know?"

"I know exactly what you mean," Catherine agreed. She walked back to the table and grabbed her tablet. As she returned to Steve's side she was tapping keys. Her forehead wrinkled as she held up the screen for him to see. "If we put the grill up close to the house so it's convenient to the kitchen, and leave this area," she indicated the spot right in front of them, "for the table, then that still leaves plenty of room for seating. Though we could probably make it work if we went a few feet smaller too. Taking even five feet off the depth could make a big difference price wise. What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Steve sighed. "One of the models at the home show had a really unique rock fountain in the middle of it and … I don't know … it looked kind of cool."

Catherine smiled at him. "I like that idea. It'd be relaxing when we sit out here. We could definitely do a fountain."

"Cammie would probably think it was her own private water supply," Steve teased.

At the sound of her name Cammie raised her head and thumped her tail happily. Suddenly she jumped up and alerted and Steve and Catherine looked in the direction her attention was focused and saw Frank and Kathy Kayama coming around the side of the house.

"We knocked out front but when no one answered we took a chance you might be back here," Frank smiled as they approached.

"Sorry we didn't hear you," Steve replied as he shook Frank's hand and smiled warmly at Kathy. "We must have been too wrapped up in our new project. We're trying to decide how big we want the deck to be."

"No problem," Kathy waved him off. "We just wanted to drop something off."

"Well, you have to let us return your hospitality from last weekend," Catherine insisted. "Let's put these chairs back around the table and I'll grab some fresh fruit I just cut this morning and some pastries Steve picked up at the bakery."

"You don't need to go to any trouble," Kathy fussed.

"No trouble at all," Catherine said conclusively. "It'll just take a minute."

"At the very least you have to let me help then," Kathy offered.

"We'll move the chairs back and you guys go ahead and grab the food," Steve said to Catherine.

Once they were all settled around the table with fresh lemonade, a sumptuous looking fruit platter and a bakery box of pastries, Frank remembered the reason for their visit.

"When we were talking the other day about Frank Jr. getting his head stuck in the deck railing it got us thinking," he said, "that maybe we had a few pictures of the deck build around and your dad might be in some of them. So we pulled out a few of the old photo albums and went through them and we were right."

Kathy removed a white envelope from her purse and handed it to Steve. He opened the flap to find three pictures of his father, smiling and happy, working on the Kayama deck.

"I … these are … wow." He was hit with a sudden surge of emotion as he looked carefully at each of the photos. With a look of awe on his face he showed them to Catherine who squeezed his hand and smiled. "These are amazing," he continued around the lump in his throat. "Would it be ok if I took them and had copies made?"

"They're yours to keep," Frank said. "We want you to have them. I scanned them into the computer last night so we have copies."

"Thank you very much," Steve said sincerely. "I'm not sure you know how much this means to me."

"We're glad we found them for you," Kathy smiled with watery eyes. She had been saddened by John's death and never felt as though she completely understood what actually happened. And in truth she knew it wasn't really any of her business. But getting to meet Steve and Catherine, and seeing how much they clearly cared about John and wanted to honor his memory, warmed her heart.

As Steve looked at each photo in turn again Catherine reached out her hand and stopped him on one particular picture. "What's going on here?" She glanced at Frank. "It looks as though the two of you are pulling boards up instead of nailing them down."

"Oh that," Frank laughed. "I was hoping you might not notice. That was quite a day."

Flashback

Kayama House

"So what happened is," Frank looked sheepish as he explained his current predicament to John, "Kathy went out and bought a new table big enough for us and the kids and also for any family and friends we might entertain on the new deck."

"Sounds great," John said, "A deck like this, with this gorgeous view, was meant for entertaining and more importantly for enjoying time with family. I'm not sure I see the problem."

"When they delivered the table last week they put it in the garage," Frank continued.

"Still not seeing the problem." John looked up and smiled as Kathy Kayama joined them on the partially completed deck.

"Well," Frank hesitated, "last night Kathy was so excited we had the floorboards down she decided she wanted to see how the table looked in the space. So we moved it out of the garage and … " his voice trailed off.

"And…" John prodded.

"It doesn't fit." Frank finally just spit out the cause of his distress. "I mean it fits but it takes up over half the deck. By the time we put even a small grill out here there's no room for anything else. When I laid out the floorplan I used the size of the old furniture but now … I'm afraid we … well I … need to pull all this up and start again."

Frank looked from Kathy who was trying to contain her laughter to an embarrassed Frank and then slapped the younger man jovially on the back. "So we tear it up and start again," he said.

"Really?" Frank asked. "I've already taken up so much of your time. I hate to ask you to … "

"Nonsense," John cut him off. "You're not asking, I'm offering. I'm happy to do it. Sometimes mistakes happen and there's nothing to be gained from wallowing in them. We need to just move on and correct them."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Frank asked.

"I'm positive," John said adamantly. "Like I said a deck like this is meant for entertaining. And spending time with your family. You want it to feel big and welcoming. The more the merrier."

"Thanks, John. I appreciate it," Frank said sincerely. "I owe you for this."

"We want you to know you're welcome here anytime," Kathy added. "We love having you."

"Thanks," John smiled. "And someday, if everything works out the way I hope, I can return the hospitality and have you around to my place and introduce you to my family."

"We'd love to meet them," Kathy said as Frank shook his head in agreement.

Present Day

As Frank finished the story Steve looked into Catherine's teary eyes and smiled. "Definitely the bigger size," they said in unison.

McGarrett/Rollins Residence

Bedroom

11:15 P.M.

Cammie slept happily on her bed, tired from a full day of fun, as Steve and Catherine sat propped against the headboard reviewing their design choices for the deck. Once they made the decision to go with the larger square footage everything else fell seamlessly into place. There would be extensive built in seating as well as room for a large table and chairs that would accommodate all their guests. There would also be several built-in planter boxes, a stone fountain and an ample outdoor cooking space.

After a little back and forth they decided to go with a natural wood instead of a composite decking material. It would require more upkeep but Steve and Catherine agreed a natural wood was more in keeping with their personalities. And since neither of them had ever shied away from a hard day's work maintaining the deck shouldn't be too much of an issue.

"We're going to have to go shopping for a grill so we can get the exact measurements for the countertops in outdoor kitchen," Catherine said as she laid her head on his shoulder. "But they can start the blueprints without those since we know the basic footprint of the cooking area."

"Don't tell Danny," Steve warned. "He'll want to come along and we'll end up with an outdoor kitchen bigger than our indoor one."

"Good point," Catherine chuckled. "So there's just one last thing we need to decide and we can get those blueprints underway."

"What's that?" Steve asked.

"Do we want to add a set of stairs and tie the upstairs balcony to the deck?"

Steve wrinkled his nose and Catherine smiled at how adorable he looked. "I don't think I do. I'm not sure how you feel but while I love having a big space to spend time with our friends and family … sometimes I want things to be about just me and you. Our own private space. I'd like to keep the upstairs balcony as just that."

"I was thinking the exact same thing," Catherine beamed as she placed her forehead against his. "You know it's kind of awesome how on the same page we are with this deck design."

"It really is," Steve agreed as she settled back against his side, head on his shoulder.

The room fell silent but the air was charged with emotion. Finally Steve cleared his throat and said, "That story Frank and Kathy told today … what my dad said about making sure the space was big enough … and the railing spindle Oke could never bring himself to throw away … it's strange isn't it?"

"In what way?" Catherine asked softly as she raised her head and looked into his eyes.

"It's almost like … I mean you know I don't put a lot of stock in that kind of thing but it's hard not to feel like …"

"Your dad is helping guide this project?"

"Yeah," Steve met and held her gaze. "Is that weird?"

"Not at all." Catherine kissed him softly on the lips. "I feel exactly the same way. And it doesn't feel weird at all. It makes me feel … happy. I like feeling that he's part of this, and that he'd approve of our choices."

"I know one of my choices he would definitely approve of," Steve said as he dipped his head for another kiss. "You are amazing. Absolutely amazing. I love you."

"I love you," Catherine said as he began to nibble her neck.

"You know what," he took the tablet from her hands and placed it on the nightstand and turned out the light.

"What?" She purred.

"I'm not sure we've managed to completely break in this new mattress. We need to remedy that immediately."

"I don't know," Catherine smiled. "We've only had it a few days but we've given it a pretty good workout."

"We need to make sure it can hold up under all sorts of different maneuvers. You can never be too thorough," Steve growled as he began to kiss his way down her body, removing her clothing as he went.

"It can never be said enough, Commander," Catherine said as her words turned into moans. "You are both handsome and smart."

THE END

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