Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize…
A/N: I know, I know. I should work on a THTH update and not typing super angsty stuff like this but I couldn't help myself. I warn you that it's not a very happy story and I'm still not sure how it's gonna end. Oh, and it won't be a long one, just two or three more chapters.
No beta was harmed in the making of this fic so all mistakes are mine.
The title is from my favorite Bush song.
Tell me what you think!
The chemicals between us
The walls that lie between us
Lying in this bed
The chemicals displaced
There is no lonelier place
Than lying in this bed
...
Steve put his fork down and studied his three-year-old daughter's face.
"Something's wrong, sweetheart?" He asked.
Lia hadn't had a bite since they'd sat down at the table for dinner and while she'd usually chatted a mile a minute, swinging her little legs back and forth now she just sat there still and silent.
The little girl shook her head but avoided her father's gaze.
"What's wrong?" Steve repeated softly, placing a comforting hand on her arm.
"Why is Mommy sad?" Lia sniffed, looking up at Steve with huge tears filled blue eyes.
"What makes you think Mommy is sad?" Steve asked carefully. He picked his fork back up and began picking at his food. Suddenly he wasn't so hungry anymore, either.
"We heard her crying last night," JD answered when his sister didn't.
"I'm not sure why mommy is sad." Steve replied sincerely, clearing his throat.
"I think she misses you," Lia said in a small voice.
Steve didn't say anything. He couldn't.
"I miss you," Lia blinked and a lone tear slid down slowly on her right cheek, making Steve's heart squeeze painfully in his chest.
"I'm right here, sweetheart," Steve said, choosing his words carefully.
"But you're not home with us," Lia's frown turned into a pout.
"Come here," Steve said, pushing his chair back from the table to make room for his daughter.
Lia got up from her chair and walked over to her fathers waiting arms. Steve picked her up and put her in his lap.
"No," he said softly. "I'm not home with you like I used to be. But…we're gonna make a home together here."
"But I like my other home, Daddy. It's where Mommy is. And my toys. And Koa," she said, referring to the dog the kids had received last year for Christmas as a puppy.
"Kelly Yang, a girl in my class — she said that when her daddy moved out, she didn't see him anymore." JD chimed in, pushing away his plate too.
"Hey, that's not gonna happen to us," Steve said firmly. "We're together now, aren't we?"
"Kelly Yang said that she saw her daddy a lot at first." JD shrugged indifferently. "But then her daddy just stopped coming to pick her up."
"You're not Kelly Yang and I'm not her dad," Steve reminded JD. Logic was his eldest constant companion, and it wasn't always easy to reason with him.
"Are you gonna stop coming to pick us up, Daddy?" Lia's eyes welled up with tears again and her lower lip began to quiver.
"No," Steve said determinedly. He hugged his daughter to him. "I promise you, I will never stop coming to pick you up. Just like Uncle Danny does with Gracie."
"And you'll talk to Mommy? To find out why she's crying?" She asked hopefully. No matter how much of a daddy's girl she was, Lia never took well when her mother was sad.
"Yeah, sweetheart, I'll talk to her," Steve agreed.
"And she'll stop crying?"
"I hope so," Steve said sincerely.
If Steve McGarrett had had a hero complex before, it had increased tenfold when he became a father.
.
.
"What's going on?" Steve asked as he walked into Kono's office the next morning after he'd dropped JD off at school and took Lia to the daycare.
"I'm finishing up the paperwork from our last case." She told him tonelessly, not even bothering to look up. "What do you want?"
"My kids think their mother is sad," he said, folding his arms over his chest, looking at her searchingly.
"What?" She looked up at him on instant with wide eyes.
"Lia and JD said they heard you crying the other night." Steve said with a frown.
"Oh, and what? I'm not allowed to cry?" She asked angrily. "And why is any of it your business anyway?"
"I'm just checking on things," Steve shrugged, trying to act as nonchalant as he could be but on the inside he was tense and on high alert. Kono never cried when the kids could see or hear her.
"Well, check on things at your own place, Steve. And leave mine alone." She got out of her chair, pushing past him forcefully and stalked out of her office.
Steve sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face in frustration.
If he thought reasoning with JD was hard, then reasoning with Kono was sure as hell nearly impossible.
