Notes: Mari and Sammy – Thank you for all the fabulous feedback … early and late ;-)

Readers and REAL McRollers – Thank you for your always amazing support. I decided to try something a little different with the Shop with a Cop story this year. I hope you enjoy it!

Special thanks to Esther for the indoor snowballs!

Shop with a Cop III: Believe

"Thank you again for planning these activities, Jenna," Duke Lukela said, surveying the area at Wal-Mart cordoned off for the annual Shop with a Cop event. "I think this is going to work out great."

Jenna nodded. "I just noticed how it seemed like everyone was finishing at different times last year. And it didn't take that long to eat breakfast. There was a lot of downtime for so many of the kids, and as a mother of five, I know a lot of downtime can mean they get antsy and squirrely waiting for the buses to come."

"I can't imagine your kids are ever antsy or squirrely," Duke said.

Jenna laughed. "You'd be surprised."

"Well, again, I think this was a great idea. And with the record number of participants this year, we can have some of them start with the activities so the aisles and the register lanes aren't as clogged. That'll make the whole event run even smoother. Thank you for organizing all this."

Jenna shrugged modestly. "Thanks. I had a lot of help coming up with the activities," she said, motioning to Kaitlyn, Casey, Grace, and Jess who were setting up supplies at the various tables.

"I think it's great the kids all want to help."

"That day two years ago pretty much changed our lives for the better, so I think it's safe to say as long as you keep having this event, we'll be here to help." She nodded seriously. "We really believe in the good it can do for a family. In fact, we're the proof." She touched his arm. "I can't thank you enough for including us after the fire. It really did change our lives."

Duke smiled. "I hope you know it's not just your lives that changed." He nodded toward the far end of the space where Cody and Steve were moving a table to the spot Catherine indicated as she waited with a plastic tablecloth, Jacob bouncing excitedly beside her. They saw Danny nearby clearly making a sarcastic comment, and before Steve could speak, Cody retorted, causing Danny to laugh. Kono had joined the girls setting up the activity stations while Dylan, Jadon, and Chin brought over chairs for the table Steve and Cody had moved. Duke looked back at Jenna. "Their lives are all better because they know you and your family." He smiled. "And so is mine."

"Thank you, Sergeant," Jenna said, a tear in her eye.

"Duke," he reminded her. "I think we've been to enough barbecues together to be on a first name basis."

She smiled. "Duke."

"Hey, Mom!" Jacob cried, running up to them. "Can I help Aunt Catherine when she gets her kid to shop with? Like last year?"

"I don't know, we should probably ask the man in charge," Jenna said with a smile, looking at Duke.

Jacob's eyes widened. "You're in charge again?"

"That's right."

"Ohh, that's good," Jacob said seriously.

"It is? Why's that?"

" 'Cause you know how to do it. You don't make big mistakes."

Duke chuckled and squeezed his shoulder. "Well, thank you, Jacob."

"Just little ones," Jacob continued. "Remember when the first time we came here and you said I was five but I was really six?"

Duke laughed. "You're right, I did."

"But that was just a little mistake. And you said, 'Sorry.' It's important to say 'sorry.' "

"It is." Duke nodded solemnly, but had barely gotten the words out before Jacob hurried on.

"And now I'm eight! My birthday was last week! We had a pool party at a hotel and I wore my new minion swim trunks!"

"That sounds like fun."

"It was! All my friends were there. Keone and Reggie and–"

"Jacob," Jenna gently interrupted. "Didn't you want to ask Duke something?"

Jacob looked confused. "Duke? I thought you were 'Sergeant.' "

"Duke is my name. But how about you call me 'Uncle Duke'?"

Jacob gasped. "Whoa! Really?"

"Really."

"Can I, Mom?" Jacob asked excitedly.

"Of course."

"Awesome!" He turned and started to run off, yelling, "Dylan! Guess what?!"

"Jacob," Jenna called to him.

He looked back at her questioningly.

She motioned to Duke. "Weren't you going to ask something?"

Jacob paused for a moment, his lips twisting as he thought. "Oh yeah!" he said suddenly. He ran back to them. "Uncle Duke, can I go with Aunt Catherine and help with the shopping? Pleeeease?"

Duke smiled. "Of course you can, Jacob. I'm sure you'll be a huge help. And guess what?" He tapped his clipboard. "Do you remember Tayshawn from last year?"

Jacob's eyes widened, and he nodded emphatically.

"Well, he's coming this year, too, so I put him with you and Catherine again."

Jacob threw his arms into the air. "BUDDYYYYYY!" Spinning around, he ran toward Catherine. "Aunt Catherine! Aunt Catherine! Guess who's coming?!"

Jenna shook her head, chuckling at her youngest son's antics. "I hope Catherine's ready for the two of them again."

Duke winked. "The practice will be good for her." As Jenna grinned back at him, he waved his clipboard. "Well, the buses will be here soon. I should round up Five-0 – and Jacob – and get outside with the other cops."

"Okay, we'll be ready."

"I have no doubt."

The Allens minus Jacob along with Grace, Jadon, and Jess stayed inside to continue setting up as Five-0 and Catherine went outside with Duke to await the buses of kids. Jacob tagged along, holding Catherine's hand.

"It's tradition!" he announced. "We talked about traditions at school. It's when you do something important over and over. Like every year."

Catherine squeezed his hand. "And this is very important."

Jacob froze suddenly, his tight grip bringing Catherine to a stop as well.

"What is it, Jacob?" she asked, concerned.

He looked around nervously, spotting Duke checking his clipboard. He leaned closer to Catherine and said, "Does Uncle Duke know you're not a cop any more?"

She smiled, understanding, and replied, "Yes, he does."

He still looked worried. "And you're still allowed to be a Shop with a Cop person?"

"I am." She knelt down in front of him. "You know, Jacob, I still get to help and protect people in my new job. Just in a different way."

"You do?"

"I do. So because of that, and because I'm still in the Navy, I get to be a 'Shop with a Cop person'," she said with a smile, using his phrase.

"That's right," Duke said, coming up behind them, having heard part of their conversation. "And besides, once you're a cop, you're always part of that family," he finished, smiling at Catherine.

She stood, returning his smile warmly "Thanks, Duke."

Jacob smiled, relieved. "I'm glad. 'Cause you're the best Shop with a Cop person ever, and I'd know," he said, nodding seriously.

Catherine put her arm around him, hugging him to her. "Thank you, Jacob."

They looked over as the buses of kids pulled up outside the store.

Duke smiled at them. "Here we go." He headed toward the curb so he could direct each kid to their designated shopping partner.

Jacob bounced excitedly next to Catherine, going up on his tiptoes to get a better view as kids started to disembark.

"I don't see him! I don't see him!" He looked at her worriedly. "What if he missed the bus?"

She smiled reassuringly. "Just be patient. There's a lot of kids and they can only get off one at a time."

He went back to scanning the growing crowd and gasped suddenly. "BUDDYYYYY!" he cried, releasing Catherine's hand and running toward a familiar face. "Tayshawn! BUDDYYYYY! It's me!"

Tayshawn looked surprised to hear his name, then his face cracked into a wide smile when he saw Jacob. "BUDDYYYYY!" he yelled back, and ran to meet him.

Catherine smiled at their happy reunion. She gave them a moment to jump around excitedly, then steered them back toward Duke so Tayshawn could get signed in and they could start shopping.

Kaitlyn wrung her hands as she looked at the craft supplies set up on the table in front of her. She leaned forward and moved a tray full of red and white beads an inch to the left.

"Are you ready, honey?" Jenna asked, stepping up beside her.

"I don't know if I can do this by myself, Mom," Kaitlyn said anxiously. "Can't you stay with me?"

"I've gotta run the Holiday Bingo table. But I'll be right close by." She put her arm around her ten-year-old daughter. "This is your craft, honey. You thought of it. There's no one better than you to show the kids how to do it."

Kaitlyn bit her lip uncertainly.

"You can do it," Jenna said confidently, squeezing her shoulder as Grace came up to them.

"I'm all ready for the indoor snowballs," she said, tossing a sample ball made of fluffy white yarn up in the air and catching it. She stopped, noticing Kaitlyn's expression. "What's wrong?"

"I …" Kaitlyn started and shook her head, pressing her lips tightly together.

"Just a little nervous," Jenna said, squeezing her shoulder again.

Grace looked at Kaitlyn, her eyes widening a bit in realization. She smiled reassuringly. "It's okay to be a little nervous. But you can do it. I believe in you, Kaitlyn. You're gonna be great."

"You think so?" Kaitlyn asked hopefully.

"I do." She grinned slowly. "So you know what you should do when you're nervous?"

Kaitlyn stared at her, waiting. "What?"

" 'Let it go! Let it go!' " Grace belted out the song, flinging her arms wide. " 'Can't hold me back anymore."

Kaitlyn giggled and joined in, throwing her own arms out as Jenna smiled, stepping back to avoid a swing. " 'Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door!' " Kaitlyn sighed happily. "Thanks, Grace."

"You're welcome," Grace replied with a warm smile.

Kaitlyn looked up at Jenna. "Thanks, Mom. I think I can do it."

Jenna beamed, reaching over for one more shoulder squeeze. "I know you can."

The first group of participants and shopping partners approached the activity stations and Jenna divided them between the five tables. Some went with Grace to make her indoor snowballs with yarn.

"I'll even teach you some snowball fight strategies in case you're ever in a snowy place for winter," she said, grinning as she led her group to her table

Others were sent with Jess to make holiday cards.

"Can we make more than one?" a little boy asked as they walked to the table.

"Sure," Jess told him. "You could make one for everyone you're getting a gift for if you want."

Kaitlyn gulped, but tried to smile when Jenna introduced her and her candy cane craft. She was relieved to see that Danny was starting off in her group.

"We are in for a treat, my friends," he said as they took their seats at the table. He motioned to Kaitlyn. "This is the Craft Queen. First time I met her, she promised to make me a purple bracelet, and I still have it." He proudly displayed his wrist.

Beside him, Amelia, the nine-year-old girl he'd been partnered with this year, beamed. "I can make those, too!"

"Oh yeah? I still haven't quite got the knack, even though Kaitlyn is an excellent teacher."

Standing at the head of the table, Kaitlyn relaxed, smiling at his words. She picked up her sample candy cane and held it out for the group to see.

"This is what we're going to make," she said, only a slight wobble of nerves in her voice. "I'll show you how to do it."

Jenna divided the remaining pairs, sending half with Casey to work on a holiday mad lib and taking the rest to play Holiday Bingo.

At her table, Casey held up a piece of paper. "Does everybody know what a mad lib is?"

"I do," Sarai, the girl paired up with Kono, said. "It's when you put down a bunch of words and then fill them into a story, but since you don't know what the story's about, it turns out funny 'cause it doesn't make sense."

"Pretty much," Casey said. "Except this one is going to make a little sense. See, when I did Shop with a Cop two years ago–"

"Wait, you did this before?" one of the boys at the table asked. "I mean, the shopping part?"

"Yeah, with Kono … er, Officer Kalakaua," Casey corrected herself with a little grin at Kono. "Like I was saying, when I did this two years ago, I didn't really know what I was supposed to pick out. But talking with Ko–" she stopped again, "er, Officer Kalakaua helped. So I thought part of the mad lib could be filling in the people you want to pick out gifts for and some ideas for them." She waved a hand. "But don't worry, there will still be funny parts, too."

"Well, that's a relief," Kono said, winking at Casey. "Can't have mad libs without some zany adjectives and nouns."

"Okay, you've all got paper and pencils in front of you. Your partner can help you if you don't know what one of the parts of speech is."

Kono nodded, giving Casey a smile. "That's right. That's what we're here for."

The participants rotated through the different stations and off into the store to do their shopping. As they finished, Cody, Jadon, and Dylan helped the other volunteers box up each participant's purchases and load them into trucks for delivery.

"This is pretty cool," Jadon said after they slid a large box into the back of a truck. "How do they find the kids who get to do it?"

"Um … different ways," Cody replied with a shrug. "I think families can sign up, and other people can give names to the organizers. Like, two years ago, Ms. Shepherd at school knew about the fire. She told somebody who was planning it and they called my mom. So, like, counselors and teachers and social workers, I guess."

"Maybe I could see if my brothers could do it next year." He looked at the two Allens. "It wasn't weird? Going around the store with a cop?"

Cody shrugged. "A little, at first."

"I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go …" Dylan admitted. "I thought, I dunno, like, everybody was going to feel sorry for us or something."

Cody's eyes dropped, shifting his stance a little, remembering similar thoughts he'd had himself.

"But then Uncle Chin," Dylan continued, "he just … shook my hand, like he was really glad to meet me, even though I was just a kid. And it wasn't like everybody felt sorry for us, or any of the other kids there. It was cool."

"Yeah, we were pretty lucky we got to go with Steve and the rest of Five-0," Cody said. "But I think all the cops who do it really want to help kids."

Jadon nodded thoughtfully. "It's good they get stuff they need and presents for their families and all that. But … it's also good that people get to see the cops doing this. Helpin' people, you know?"

"Yeah."

Jadon grinned. "Plus, since you all did it, now we know D-Dawg and SuperSEAL and Catherine and everybody."

Cody and Dylan smiled back.

"And those pancakes," Jadon went on. "Man! I been smelling those pancakes since we got here. When do we eat?"

A strong hand clapped him on the shoulder. "When you're done loading all these boxes," Steve said.

Jadon whirled around, startled, then smiled. "Hey, SuperSEAL, you done shopping?"

Steve nodded. He motioned to the teenager next to him. "This is Mateo." He pointed to the other three. "Mateo, this is Cody, Jadon, and Dylan."

Cody stuck his hand out to shake it and Jadon held out a fist for a bump.

"My brother and I did this a couple years ago," Cody told him.

Mateo looked surprised.

Steve spotted a volunteer he needed to talk to. "Hang on," he said to the boys. "I'll be right back."

Once he'd walked away, Cody said, "You're lucky you got Steve."

Mateo glanced to where Steve was talking with another man, then leaned closer to Cody, his voice low.

"Is that dude for real? He gave me a card with his number and said to call him if I ever needed anything."

Cody nodded seriously. "He's for real. If you ever need him, he won't let you down. Believe me."

Mateo saw the earnestness in Cody's expression and nodded slowly, straightening as Steve rejoined them. He gave Mateo a quick smile and a nod, then looked at Cody, Jadon, and Dylan.

"All right, back to work, you three." He winked. "We're gonna go get some pancakes."

Cody and Dylan laughed.

"That's wrong, man," Jadon said, shaking his head, but couldn't help grinning along. "That's wrong."

After the event, Five-0, Catherine, Grace, and Duke stayed with the Allens, Jess, and Jadon to clean up the activity stations, though Jacob and Dylan had managed to snag some extra indoor snowballs and were spending more time chasing and pelting each other.

"I think we can call this addition to the event a definite success," Duke said as he collected bingo chips from the table. "I heard a few kids who came last year say they really liked the activities."

Jenna beamed. "That's great! I'm so glad to hear it."

"Definitely another successful year," Chin said and clapped Duke on the shoulder. "Especially with you at the helm."

"Absolutely," Kono echoed with a bright smile, sweeping some yarn scraps into a bag.

"Did I hear Ronnie say it was his last year as Santa?" Chin asked, referring to the retired officer who had played Santa for the last ten years.

Duke nodded. "Yeah, he and Marie are moving to the mainland to be closer to their grandkids. I can't blame him."

"You should do it next year, Danno!" Grace cried.

"Yeah!" Kaitlyn echoed.

"We'll see," Danny said. "There's probably a line of people wanting to do that. Although, I do have my own hand-tailored suit," he added with a wink.

Steve chuckled, shaking his head at that characterization.

"You gotta get a beard, though," Grace said.

"A beard?"

"Or grow your own!" Kaitlyn said, clapping excitedly. "Then it will be real, like in Miracle on 34th Street."

"Ohh, I love that movie," Catherine said.

Jenna smiled. "Me, too."

"It's Mom's favorite," Kaitlyn said. "We watched it last night." She bit her lip, looking around at the group still cleaning up. "You know, I was thinking about that today …" Her voice trailed off.

"What, honey?" Jenna asked.

"In the movie, they all had to believe in Santa Claus, but really, it's about believing in people. And … and I think that's what Shop with a Cop is about, too. Believing in people … and helping each other. Believing you can make a difference."

Jenna smiled, tears in her eyes, and put her arm around Kaitlyn.

Duke cleared his throat, his own eyes suspiciously misty. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Kaitlyn. Couldn't have said it better myself."

Thank you to all the people who make Shop with a Cop and similar events happen in communities all over.

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