BELLOWS BEACH 13:00
There wasn't much Danny hated, contrary to popular belief.
True, he wasn't keen on the glaring heat, or the ocean, but Hawaii was Grace's home, and she adored it almost as much as her uncle Steve and Aunty Cath, the former for reasons that Danny couldn't understand…
But standing with Chin and Kono, Max and Grover amidst the hundreds of people that lined the last hundred meters of the beach before the pier, cheering, screaming and clapping, he couldn't deny that this was home now.
"There he is! Uncle Steve, woo!" Gracie shouted, waving her hands and cheering with the best of them, as her precious uncle Steve, some hundred meters before the rest of the pack, came into view.
"I thought that they finished with the cycling…" Chin asked Kono amidst the clapping.
"I don't think it matters." She replied, "Although swimming always comes first… woo Steve!"
"He's going to do it…" Danny could feel his own competitive edge creeping in, and he started to drum his hands on Gracie's shoulders, "come on Steve… come on…"
"I thought you hated this triathlon." Chin nudged him.
"I do, but it is for charity," Danny explained, "and I sponsored him twenty dollars for this thing so he had better win…"
"I've still got forty on Catherine to win the women's as well as Steve to win this…" Grover reminded him, "I hope my information was right from you Lieutenant Kelly."
"What information was that?" Chin grinned.
"What are you now, a betting coach?" Kono teased.
Chin waved her comment away.
"That I was backing the right horse so to speak," Grover lifted his eyebrows, "You assured me that there could be no doubt that Catherine and Steve would wipe the flaw with everyone else."
"He is going to… look… look…" Grace started jumping up and down.
"Come on Steve!"
"Steve!"
"Go Boss!"
Their voices were lost in the cheers of the crowd of people to Steve, but he knew they were there.
In the sporting fashion, he held his hands up above his head in celebration as he crossed through the bright line of red ribbon under a large arch of balloons bearing the charity logo.
"And the winner of the men's race, Commander Steve McGarret!" The woman on the mic declared.
Steve had stopped running and was accepting a long drink of water from a plastic bottle when the other men crossed the line behind him.
He dipped his head to receive his medal, thanking the woman who all but thrust a gift bag at him.
"You did it Uncle Steve…" He heard Grace's words before he saw her. He looked down when he felt her wrap her arms around his waist and hug him, "Well done! I knew you would…"
"Thank you Gracie…" Steve dropped a kiss on the top of her head and stroked her hair, "here, hold this for me…"
She took the gift bag from him as he rolled his neck, flexing his arms and legs, jumping up and down slightly, letting his muscles relax.
"You don't want to get too close to him," Danny was approaching with Chin and Kono, "he's been in the ocean; sat on a bike, running miles… he will be all salty and sweaty…"
"Thanks Danno." Steve teased, still breathless, his chest heaving up and down.
"Here, sort yourself out." Danny handed him on of the free towels handing on the railings which separated the spectators from the running track. Steve rubbed it over his face and around his neck, before draping it over one shoulder.
Danny squinted into the sun, "get a nice view of the island did you? I bet you saw most of it…"
"There's aunty Cath!"
At Gracie's words everyone turned, renewing their sense of sporting support as Cath appeared around the corner towards them, not another female competitor in spite.
"Told you she would smash it!" Chin told Grover as they cheered and clapped.
"I had no doubt." Grover chuckled, watching the women his daughter Samantha idolized so much. Cath hammered down the home straight on the beach, tanned and sheened with sea water and sweat.
She wore only a swimming sports bra and short swimming shorts she could run in, which left little to the imagination.
"Come on Catherine!" Kono cupped her hands over her mouth to scream, "Whoop!"
"Come on Cath!" Steve bellowed.
Much to some of the male racer's chagrin, she overtook them on the final straight, not only coming first in the women but also beating some of the male times.
Although she knew it was for charity, she couldn't help but feel pleased with that.
Catherine staggered to a stop across the line, lowering her hands from being victorious in the air, to wrap around Steve's shoulders as he scooped her up in a hug, spinning them around in joy.
Grace squealed and clapped at her aunt's achievement, but also a rare display of unchanging love between them.
"Well done." Uncle Steve told her as he set her down, a shy teenager in a charity tee shirt approaching, arms full of presents.
Steve took the medal from him and placed it over Catherine's head, the cool metal falling to rest on her chest. He grinned, "A perfect fit."
Catherine waved away the gift bag but accepted the water gratefully, draping the towel across her shoulders as she shifted her weight from one foot to another.
"Great time sistah, you to brah." Kono grinned at them both.
"Thanks, the swim was the worst; some of the other competitors were just splashing about…" Catherine recalled.
"Amateurs." Danny teased, "Bet they thought they were swimming against real life Seals huh?"
"Very funny." Steve smirked, draining his water, before he tipped the remaining few sips over his head.
"Oh really…" Danny stepped back when it bounced off of the man's broad shoulders and spattered down his chest.
"What?" Steve feigned innocence, but flipped his head with meaning, sending more droplets spinning at Danny.
"Protect me from the scary SEAL grace…" Danny grabbed his daughter by the shoulders, pulling her playfully and gently back to stand in front of him, pretending to cower behind her.
"Danno…" She giggled.
Steve chuckled and the others laughed, as their leader looped his arm over Cath's shoulders, letting her lean against the side of his chest.
"So what do we say, dinner at the Hilton, or side street?" Chin looked between them all.
"Or steak and beers at ours?" Steve glanced at Catherine who beamed, leaning further against him.
"I think that sounds like the best idea."
"Good, and its free." Danny put his hand together, "makes a change for everyone else Steve, not so much you, Mr. 'I forgot my wallet' McGarret."
"Danno be nice to Uncle Steve." Grace scolded her dad, causing Uncle Steve to smirk.
"Yeh Danno…"
"Aunty Cath!"
As they all moved to step forwards to walk to the car Cath felt the world tile.
She dropped her water, which splashed, altering Gracie to her aunt's trouble.
Steve looked down at her just as Cath stumbled into him, sagging down in his arms.
"Catherine!" He cried.
"Lower her down," Grover instructed Steve, who gently lay Cath down on the thankfully shaded bit of sand they were stood on.
He pushed her hair from her head and crouched over her. Danny held Grace's worried shoulders and Chin shouted to one of the officials, "Hey we need a medic over here!"
Cath coughed sharply, her eyes pulling back as though she was startled.
That she was, feeling the sand all over her side.
"Hey, hey it's okay Cath, rest easy you just fainted…" Steve rubbed her shoulder, "how are you feeling, dizzy, sick?"
"My stomach feels empty…" She scrunched her face up, "ugh I fainted, how embarrassing…"
"You have just run, swam and cycled miles, you sure you're okay?" Danny asked, gently stroking Graces hair.
"I'm fine." Aunty Cath smiled for her niece, putting her hands to the sand and trying to sit up.
Steve gently helped her, feeling her hands tremble against his where he was crouched in front of her.
"I'm fine…" She tried to assure him but her voice sounded breathless.
The paramedics arrived then, sitting down beside her with a stretcher.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me…" she looked to Steve as they motioned for her to get on the stretcher, "Steve I just fainted…"
"We will meet you back at the house." Steve nodded to Danny.
"I am fine." Cath was protesting, not just for Graces benefit anymore, "Steve…"
"Not gonna hear it lieutenant." He helped them set her on the stretcher, and while Cath wouldn't admit it, she still felt rather shaky.
"I don't need a stretcher, I can walk..." Cath pushed them away weakly and staggered to her feet. Her knees gave way and Steve caught her, lifting her up against his chest.
With a groan she dropped her head to his chest and looked to their friends, "Put the grill on and get the beers out, we won't be long because I am fine…"
"I'm sure you are." Steve acknowledged firmly, before Cath did her best to wink for Grace and Steve turned to Chin.
"You got that bag of clothes and towels."
"Yeh." Their grin looped it over Steve's shoulder, the SEAL holding his girlfriend in only one arm, her arms around his neck, as he got a hold of it.
"Commander." The paramedics were back, "the ambulance is ready…"
"The ambulance, oh for god's sake…" Cath muttered.
Steve ignored her, looking to Danny.
"I'll let you know when we are on the way home." With that he turned and followed the paramedics across the sand.
"We won't be long." Cath called, before they watched as he dropped her head to Steve's shoulder and started animatedly telling him he was being stupid.
"We will do the blood test en route to save you time." The paramedic did his best to console her.
"Blood test?" She demanded, "Seriously?"
OAHU MAIN HOSPITAL 14:30
"And there is the reason why you fainted, confirmed by your blood test." The young doctor watched as Commander McGarret's face turned softer than he thought possible, and lieutenant Rollins tightened her hand round his, pushing her lips together as tears sprang to her eyes.
Then, they both smiled.
Cath turned her head to look up at Steve, who was leaning over her, dressed in his board shorts and SEALS vest.
Cath was still in her running gear as she had been when she was brought in.
Lying on her back on a hospital bed, she had remained frozen while the young doctor had explained his fingers, and then stood on the opposite side of her to Steve, gently running an ultrasound probe over cool jelly he had placed on her flat belly.
"Oh Steve…" Her voice was no more than an astonished breath as she grinned, happy tears in her eyes and his as he bent over her, holding her hand in his tight, to kiss her soundly.
The young doctor looked away to given them privacy, fiddling with the machine so the sound could be heard.
Catherine and Steve pulled apart at the soft whooshes and thumps the machine emitted.
"Your baby is perfectly healthy." The doctor assured them, "and I would put you to be around ten weeks pregnant."
"Ten?" Cath gasped, her eyes flying to Steve's and back to the doctor.
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"No I just…" She swallowed, "I know I haven't been… but I thought… being on the pill... I was told I might never have children."
"Cath was injured whilst in the navy." Steve explained, his hand flexing around hers, bring in her knuckles to his lips to kiss them without thought.
"Well…" The doctor smiled from them to the black and white image on the screen, "consider this a happy accident."
Cath could feel herself getting uncharacteristically choked up, "The best."
She immediately looked back to Steve.
They had never talked about it, never really discussed… they only ever said 'I love you' when they thought they might never get to say it again, separated by half the world when she was in Afghanistan.
But the look of utter joy in his eyes now, and the still shocked expression on his face, made her know for certain what words could never express.
He kissed her temple again, compounding her knowledge of his pride and happiness.
"You seem to be in perfect health." The doctor lifted her chart, "obviously working for Five O you will now have to take back seat, but being as far along as you are you will at least be able to tell your team exactly why. I shall get you some vitamins prescribed and an appointment with suitable…"
He could tell that Steve and Catherine were barely listening, and although he was slightly surprised, he had delivered this happy news to enough people to know how to pay it.
He gestured to the machine.
"I will get you a couple of photos printed…" He smiled, "and let you get yourself cleaned up Miss Rollins, then when I return you are free to go… congratulations."
He smiled and exited, Steve's "thank you," along with Catherine's, coming slightly too late.
Once they were alone Steve didn't much care for the part of him that had been pushing tears away.
As two slid down his cheeks and he helped Cath sit up on the bed, as she slowly wiped the jelly off of her belly, Steve couldn't stop them, and he didn't want to.
"I told you coming for a blood test was a good idea…" He chuckled.
She laughed thickly, her voice as wet as her eyes and cheeks, "ten weeks… I might have ended up like one of those women on 'I didn't know I was pregnant…'"
Steve laughed and looked her over, eyes falling on her bare belly, "Danny and Kono are going to freak…"
"As is Gracie." Catherine put a hand on his cheek.
They stared at each other in blissful silence for a moment before Steve swallowed.
"You make me the happiest I have ever been you know that?" His voice, "I know I don't say it much, not nearly enough… but you know I lov-"
She cut him off with a soft kiss, and pulled back to smile at him tenderly, "I know… and I hope you remember that I…"
His lips closed over hers and he hushed her softly, "I know."
They smiled at one another and she hooked her arms around his shoulders hugging him tight, face in his shoulder as his pushed into her neck, broad hands rubbing up and down her back as she rose to kneel on the bed, facing him where he stood on the floor, leaning over her, arms around her.
They didn't need to say it.
They knew that the other loved them in turn.
They knew it by the actions they made, and by the little beating body in Catherine's belly they had created because of it.
MCGARRETT/ROLLINS RESIDENCE: 15:30
"Where the hell have you been?" Danny demanded as soon as the two of them, hand in hand appeared through the front door, "You have been gone hours, and you were supposed to phone to let us know what was going on! Grace is beside herself and… and I should have asked, how are you?"
He let his shoulders drop, defeated by the need to care as much as he wanted to scold them and pretend he didn't.
"What is it, why are you smiling?" Danny demanded of their expressions, "how are you? You do remember you fainted right? Oh and you had time to get changed, instead of phoning to say how you are, that's nice…"
"I have never been better." She grinned.
"Everything is perfect." Steve looked at Cath, "Is everyone outside…"
And with that Steve stepped around Danny and towed his girlfriend by the hand through the house and out the back to the lanai, her skipping to reach his side, both her hands around his.
"Aunty Cath! Uncle Steve!" Grace shot across the garden from where she had been sat with Chin and Kono, who had been trying to distract her as well as themselves, while Grover stared out to sea.
Steve had not phoned, and they had tried not to take that as bad news.
But seeing both Steve and Catherine stood there, hand in hand, grinning, made Chin, Grover and Kono curse them in their relief.
They had been sat here so worried…
"Are you okay?" Grace looked up from hugging her aunt around her waist to stare at her.
"I am fine Grace; I just fainted from the heat and… well…" She shared a grin with Steve, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders, turning her so they faced all their friends.
"I thought we were going to faint from worry when you didn't call but it's okay…" Danny muttered as he walked out to stand in front of them, Graces arms around his waist, "I'm over it."
"Sorry about that," Steve chuckled, "but we got a little distracted… we-"
"Woah Steve." Danny put his hands over Grace's ears, "I know I noticed that you had got changed but come on…"
"No no…" Steve waved Danny away and the man sighed putting his hands on graces shoulders rather than her ears.
"I fainted from the excursion," Catherine explained, "and well, we are so happy because… because it was nothing serious but also… because around august we are going to be getting a very special early Christmas present."
At those words aunt Kono gasped, lifting her hand to cover her mouth as tears sprang into her eyes.
Grover bit his lip and Chin grinned. Danny continued on, voicing Grace's confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Cath spied knowing eyes in their small garden audience and glanced up at Steve.
"Show them?"
At her words Steve reached into his pocket and produced a small black and white photo, holding it aloft for everyone to see as Cath spoke and realization found everyone's faces.
"As of tomorrow I'm going to be elven weeks pregnant with baby McGarret." She announced, her words trailing into a teary laugh, but we're cut off by Kono bolting to hug her friend as cheers and clapping erupted.
"Oh my god I knew it!" Kono squeezed Catherine tight, years in both their eyes.
"Aunty Cath you are going to have a baby!" Grace squealed, accepting a hug from her aunt who giggled at her excitement.
"Congratulations brah!" Steve was hugged tight by Chin before his buddy stepped away and Danny approached.
"No so full of jokes are we now?" Steve grinned.
Danny reached to hug his friend, "you are talking to a man whose greatest moment of his life was becoming a father, I wouldn't joke about that. I'm very pleased for you Steven."
They clapped each other on the back for a long moment, before Danny stepped back, "although I do wish you had still rung to say you were okay and on your way home but you know…"
"Uncle Steve!" Grace turned for her uncle as Grover rubbed Catherine's back while he hugged her.
Steve crouched, hugging Grace tightly and closing his eyes, feeling her soft hair against his cheek.
Danny clasped Catherine tight as she sniffed through her tears, "thank you Danny."
"You'll be great parents." He breathed.
"Thank you." She whispered.
Steve pulled back from grace just enough to show her the ultrasound photo closely, "your cousin is due to arrive in mind august."
She frowned, "that's ages away."
He chuckled, "they will be here before you know it."
"I think it is time for celebration Steak!" Danny declared, releasing Catherine and lifting the six pack of longboards from the table.
"This is now a party!"