"Kari!" Steve yelled from upstairs.

"What?" She replied over her shoulder as she flipped the bacon in the pan. She glanced over at her five-year-old son JD, pouting at the kitchen table.

"The baby needs to be changed," Steve yelled down.

She looked in the direction of the stairs, "Then change her."

"I've got to get going," he argued, "it's a bad one."

"You found it, you change it," she argued back. She looked back over at JD who was the spitting image of his father, except for the dusty blond hair. "John Daniel McGarrett you eat that oatmeal right now!"

He kicked his legs under the table, whining, "I don't like oatmeal."

"Yes you do. You said yesterday you loved it and wanted it for breakfast every day. Now eat it!"

He refused to pick his spoon up and crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Kari!" Steve shouted.

"Oh my God." She walked to the bottom of the steps, "I'm cooking your breakfast and trying to get your son ready, I think you can spare the time to change your daughter."

He appeared at the top of the stairs holding his seven-month-old daughter Casey. "She's going to need a bath."

Casey bounced up and down excitedly on his arm, seeing her mother for the first time that morning, her blond hair sticking up in different directions and her beautiful smile showing the small nubs of two front teeth. Steve rubbed her back, calming her down. She grabbed a hold of his shirt like it was a blanket, stuck her thumb in her mouth and laid her head against his shoulder. "Great!" he whined, "Her diaper just leaked on my shirt."

Kari smiled, "Well now you can change yourself at the same time." She hurried back to the stove, pointing at JD as she passed him. "You're father is going to be ready to take you to school in about five minutes, so you better eat that oatmeal, right now!"

"I DON'T WANT IT!" he screamed and kicked his legs so hard the table moved. He suddenly froze when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. His eyes got big as he waited for the approaching storm. He knew he had gone too far.

Steve appeared around the corner of the stairs, still holding Casey. He looked directly at his son, "I'm going to say to you the same thing I would say to any other man." He pointed at him, "If you ever speak to my wife like that again, you're going to have to deal with me!"

JD's bottom lip began to quiver. He looked over at his mother who stood at the stove, trying to look stern. He looked back over at his father and blinked several times, "I'm sorry, Dad," his voice shook.

Steve motioned to Kari, "Don't apologize to me."

He looked back over at Kari, "I'm sorry, Mommy."

Kari covered her mouth, trying to hide her smile; he looked so darn cute and innocent right then she wanted to hug him. "Ok, eat." She walked up to Steve and took Casey from him. "There's a clean shirt hanging in the laundry room."

"Thank you." He kissed her and pulled on Casey's fingers that clung to his shirt. He held her tiny hand and kissed it, pretending like he was going to eat her fingers as she squealed with laughter. He walked by JD who was shoveling in his second bite of oatmeal and put his hand on his small shoulder, tickling it. He squirmed in his chair; laughing so hard the oatmeal fell off the spoon and onto the table. He ignored it and scooped up another spoonful.

"Can I drive to school Dad?"

Steve chuckled pulling the clean shirt off the hanger in the laundry room. "Sure Buddy. I'll take a nap in the backseat and you can drive." He pulled his stained shirt off, dropping it in a basket on the floor and slid the clean one on.

"Uncle Danny let me." He took a drink of milk, spilling some on his shirt, glancing at the mess for just a split second and then it was forgotten. "He let me."

Steve scooped up some eggs and bacon on a plate walking over to him, taking the seat across from him, "When did Danny let you drive?"

JD shrugged.

"Where were you?"

"In his car," JD answered truthfully.

"I know, but where were you in his car when you drove it?"

"Sitting on his lap."

Steve shook his head, knowing he wasn't making himself clear enough, "Were you in the driveway? Were you driving down the road? Where were you?"

"At the football game."

"Oh, so he let you drive in the parking lot of the football game that you went to the other day?"

JD nodded, "I steered and he did the foot part. I wanted to go fast but he wouldn't, but he made the engine go VRRRRMMM." He held his spoon up as his voice became deep, imitating the sound of a roaring engine.

Steve chuckled, "Don't tell Mommy."

JD looked up at him, shaking his head, "That's what Danny said." He pushed himself up so he was kneeling on the chair and leaned in to Steve, whispering, "He said that Mommy would give him a hard spanking if she knew, but he didn't care what you thought."

Steve tilted his head at his son's revelation, "Really? He said that?"

JD nodded, stirring the spoon around in the oatmeal, pretending it was a car, making engine noises. "He said that Gracie used to do stuff with you and now he gets to do stuff with me."

Steve laughed, "Yeah I suppose this is pay back time."

JD ignored the comment, racing the spoon around. Steve reached over and stopped him, "Eat, don't play with it. We have to go in a minute."

"Can I go to work with you today?"

"No, sorry buddy, not today."

"How come?" he whined, "I can get you coffee and I'll clean the puter like last time."

"Computer," he corrected him, "you have to go to school."

"I hate school." He huffed.

"It's a part of life, JD. Sometimes I don't like going to work and your Mom doesn't like cleaning the house, but we all have to do stuff sometimes that we don't like."

"Why?"

"Because if I didn't go to work, then we wouldn't have money to buy things and if Mommy didn't clean the house then it would be a big mess," he reached under the table, grabbing his knee, tickling it, "and if you don't go to school you'll only be as smart as Uncle Danny, not as smart as me."

He squirmed in the chair, "Are you smarter than Uncle Danny?"

"Yes. You can tell him I said that too."

He didn't understand the joke and took another bite of oatmeal.

"Why don't you like school, JD?"

"Bobby Caldwell is mean to me and Parker." He talked with his mouth full, "One day I'm going to punch him."

"Hey," Steve scolded, "hitting him won't solve it." He narrowed his eyes, "Has he ever hit you?"

JD shook his head, "No, but he's mean to Parker and Parker's my friend. He makes fun of him."

"Does he hit Parker?" He pictured JD's friend who was smaller than a typical five-year old.

"He pushed him down one time when we were playing ball, so I pushed him back. He didn't push me back though."

Steve smiled proudly, "Well, I'm glad you stick up for Parker, but you shouldn't have pushed him back. You should have told him to stop and maybe stood in front of him, sometimes that works better."

"What if he pushes me?"

"If he didn't push you that time, then he probably never will, but if he does," he looked toward the stairs to see if Kari was there, "then you have my permission to push him back, but don't you ever be the one to push first. That makes you the bully."

JD stared at him, trying to input that piece of information that his father just gave him. "Ok Dad," he replied, looking at him like what he said was the most important thing he'd ever heard.

"Get your backpack, buddy. We have to get going."

JD squirmed out of the chair and ran into the living room.

Steve ran up the steps and into the bathroom. Kari was kneeling on the floor washing Casey off as she sat in the bathtub, slapping her hands in the water.

"We're leaving." He leaned over cupping the back of her neck, kissing her, "I love you."

"I love you too." She smiled as he leaned over the tub and kissed Casey on the head.

"Bye stinky girl. I love you too."

"Give JD a kiss for me."

"I will. I'll call you later," he said as he walked out.

Steve looked up from his desk as Danny came in through the front doors. He whistled to get his attention and motioned with his arm for him to come inside.

"Hey, what's up?" Danny came inside and sat on the leather couch across from Steve's desk.

"So JD asked me if he could drive to work today. You know anything about that?"

Danny laid his head back roaring with laughter. "Yes, of course! I let him drive when we went to the U of H game the other day."

"Describe, 'let him drive' to me."

"I gave him a couple of beers at the game and then propped him up on a phone book in the driver's seat and gave him the keys." Danny rolled his eyes, "What do you think? He sat on my lap and steered the car."

Steve shook his head, "Uncle Danny, Uncle Danny, I'm going to have to start tailing ya when you take my son."

"It's not any different from you taking my sixteen year old daughter up four wheeling on that dangerous road!" he defended.

"It wasn't a dangerous road, and she needed to learn that. She lives on an island where kids drive those roads all the time just for fun. Do you want her going up there with someone and then not being able to get back because she can't maneuver the road?" Steve made a face, "Besides, I would never take Gracie someplace that wasn't safe."

"And I would never let JD do something dangerous."

"My point being," Steve corrected him, "is that every time we get in the car now, he's going to be bugging me to let him drive like Uncle Danny does."

"Really, kind of like when Gracie used to bug me about going surfing with her just like she did with Uncle Steve?" He huffed, "I don't have one bit of sympathy for you buddy." He smiled, "Just wait until Casey gets a little older, I've got all sorts of plans for her."

Steve glared at him, "Well you better hope that Kari doesn't find out."

"You didn't tell her did you?"

"No, but I might," he teased.

"No you won't," Danny said confidently.

"Why not?"

"Because for reasons unbeknownst to the two of us, she would be just as mad at you as she would be at me."

Steve went to deny it but then shut his mouth, chuckling, "Damn, you're right."

Danny pointed at him, "This is between you and me." He walked out of Steve's office.

He yelled after him, "I think it's time Gracie learned how to fly a helicopter."

Kari woke up to the sound of the shower coming on. She sat up in bed, glancing over at the nightstand clock that read eleven forty-eight. 'Late night for him,' she thought. She lay back down, contemplating whether or not she should tell him tonight.

She still couldn't believe it herself, not sure what they had been thinking while on an anniversary trip to Lanai six weeks earlier. She rolled her eyes still amazed that of all the things she could have forgotten, her pills were the biggest blunder. She had left them sitting on the bed by the suitcase. They had bought a six-pack of condoms that lasted for the first two days, but after a lengthy dinner and then drinks on the last night, they went back to the room both in a slight drunken state and decided the chances of her getting pregnant were slim to nothing. She couldn't help but smile at the memory of it. It was one of the best sexually charged and romantic nights they had ever spent together. 'At least I have that to reflect on over the next nine months,' she laughed, and then groaned over the thought of going through another pregnancy so soon. She had just got back into shape from having Casey.

She looked at the bathroom door as Steve came out, shutting the light off first so he wouldn't wake her. 'It's the little things,' she smiled to herself. She watched him drop the towel in the basket by the door and slip on a pair of boxer briefs, enjoying the show. He carefully slipped into bed next to her.

She rolled over and put her arm across his chest, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Hey," he said surprised, putting his arms around her, "Did I wake you up."

"No, I was watching you."

He kissed her forehead, "Peeping Tom." He rolled her over so she was lying on her back, "that's against the law you know."

"Be gentle with me," she tilted her head, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He kissed her on the neck, "Gentle like our first time, or gentle like our last night on Lanai," he growled, knowing that night was anything but gentle.

Kari laughed louder than she should have. His timing was impeccable.

Steve leaned back, putting his hand over her mouth as she continued to giggle, "You're going to wake up Casey," he whispered.

Kari pulled his hand down, smiling, "It's just that," she chuckled, "I was thinking about that night a few minutes ago."

Steve grinned, "So I made quite the impression that night, huh?"

"Oh you made an impression all right," Kari giggled, her eyes big.

He leaned back further, getting a better view of her, "What do you mean?"

She slid her hands from around his neck, resting them on his chest, "What was it about that night that was different from the other nights we spent on Lanai?"

Steve shrugged, shaking his head, "Besides even better sex, I don't know."

"What were we lacking and decided to forgo in our drunken state?"

He squinted his eyes like he was trying to decipher her clues, "I don't know," he began and then it hit him, "Oh yea, condoms." He chuckled at the memory of their discussion that night as she stared at him; confident he would put two and two together in the next couple of seconds.

Sure enough his smile slowly faded as he focused back on her. He pushed all the way back so his arms were extended, one on each side of her body, as the look on his face became a cross between shock and wonder. "Are you pregnant?"

"Congratulations, third times a charm." She sighed, stroking his arms.

"Wow!" he hung his head, letting out a deep sigh, "Wow!"

She wasn't sure how to read him and just let him digest the news.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, "I took a home test today."

"Wow!" he sighed again and then eased back down on her. His right hand moved down her body, resting on her lower belly, "It's sooner than we planned, but hell nothing we do is ever really scheduled right." He smiled, kissing her, "I'll help out more, I promise."

"You already do help out a lot."

He shook his head; "I should have taken care of Casey this morning, stuff like that. I'll do more."

She touched his face, "You do enough." She glanced over at the clock, reminding him of the long hours he put in that day, "you work hard enough." She shrugged the situation off as if it was no big deal, "We'll be fine as long as we stick together and work as a team."

"And we do that well." He kissed her, "I love you." He didn't wait for her reply and slid down her body, between her legs, lifting her shirt and stopping at her stomach, gently caressing her just below the belly button. "Hi baby, welcome to your new home." He kissed her stomach as Kari smiled down at him, running her hand over his hair. He looked up at her, giving her one of his best seductive and sexy smiles, "Since I'm already down here." His kisses went lower as his hands moved up the inside of her thighs.

Kari moaned, throwing her head back into her pillow, "Oh Steve," she gripped a handful of sheets, making a fist, "Oh God, I love you too," she giggled.