Here's the second chapter. Thank you for the good reception so far!
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Steve stood beside Catherine as they waited in Honolulu International Airport for Elizabeth's flight to land. He didn't know what to think of the situation. He didn't know the first thing about teenage girls and he didn't plan on learning anything, but now Elizabeth was coming. Maybe this would be good practice. The baby could be a girl and she would be a teenager someday. This could help him get used to the idea of raising a kid.
Steve didn't want to admit feeling unsure to Catherine. She already seemed nervous about this situation and he wanted to stay strong for her.
"So why are your parents sending your sister to live with you?" Steve asked. He knew Catherine had said Elizabeth had gotten into a lot of trouble recently, but he didn't know specifically what she did. He needed to know what to expect.
"Lizzie's gotten into a lot of trouble lately," Catherine began. "She's been coming home after she's supposed to and never calls. She's been going to wild, unsupervised parties. Recently she started getting in trouble at school and her grades have been slipping. That was the most surprising, seeing as Lizzie's always done well in school and never seemed to have any problems there. My parents had to change her school because she needed a firmer no-nonsense policy, as my mom says."
Steve nodded. Catherine's speech made him feel even more unsure. What were he and Catherine getting themselves into?
"Here they are," Catherine announced when she spotted her parents and sister.
A teenager and her mother were arguing. Both had a remarkable resemblance to Catherine, complete with brown eyes and long brown hair. A man walked beside them, his expression showing he was tired of hearing his wife and daughter argue.
"I can't believe you packed everything for me!" the girl exclaimed angrily. "You never let me do anything! It's so unfair!"
"I can't trust you to pack clothes that I deem appropriate!" the girl's mother asserted. "You seem to have a problem with choosing appropriate clothes!"
Catherine sighed. "As much as you probably don't want to hear this, that's my mom, dad, and sister." She walked over to her family.
Alexandra smiled. "Catherine!" She wrapped her daughter in a hug. "Sweetheart, I've missed you so much!"
"Yeah, I'm just not good enough in your place, Catherine," Elizabeth muttered, not looking up. She kept her attention on her phone as she expertly typed away, texting her friends back home.
"Elizabeth, you're treading on really thin ice," Nathan said as a warning.
Before turning to Elizabeth, Alexandra said to Catherine, "You see what I have to deal with?" She closed her eyes to calm herself down. "You know that's not true, Elizabeth."
Catherine realized there was going to be some extreme tension, so she quickly changed the subject. "Mom, Dad, this is Steve McGarrett. We're engaged."
Elizabeth looked at Steve. "I bet you didn't realize you'd be getting a whole freak show"-she gestured to her parents and herself-"when you asked my sister to marry you."
"Elizabeth, I've had it with you today!" Alexandra's tone left no room for argument. She looked at Steve apologetically. "I'm sorry for her outburst."
"My outburst?" Elizabeth demanded, very angry by this point. "Did you ever think that you might be the source of them?"
"It's okay," Steve said, trying to prevent a disagreement. "Really, it's fine."
"Don't even bother," Catherine said. "Once they start arguing, they can't hear anyone else over their yelling. Dad, how do you usually get them to stop?"
Nathan shrugged. "I don't like to get involved. It usually makes it worse. But if they go on for a long time, I'll try to stop them."
It was awkward, standing there, listening to Alexandra and Elizabeth fight. Catherine tried to make the situation a little more comfortable. "Um, Dad, Steve's also a SEAL."
"Really? I was a SEAL myself, in the Reserve now. Are you on leave?"
"I actually transferred into the Reserve a little while ago. Now I run a task force established by the governor," Steve answered.
Elizabeth overheard this. "Oh, great. I got the Navy all around me."
"Mom was a nurse in the Navy," Catherine explained. "Lizzie feels a lot of pressure to enlist when she's old enough."
"Apologize right now, Elizabeth!" Alexandra ordered.
Elizabeth turned to Steve. "I'm sorry. And to everyone else present, I'm sorry I insulted your precious Navy. Please forgive me," she added sarcastically.
"Don't bother, Mom, just let it go," Catherine advised when it looked like her mother was going to reply.
Alexandra moved her glance to Catherine. "You're right. I'm just egging her on. Anyway, are you sure you're willing to do this?"
"Of course. She's my sister."
"I hope you know how grateful I am for this, Catherine. You don't have to do this, you know that, right?"
"I know, but I want to. And Steve says he's going to help."
Alexandra grinned at her future son-in-law. "Oh, honey, thank you so much." She hugged him tightly.
Steve did not know what to make of being randomly hugged. He awkwardly returned the embrace.
Alexandra handed Catherine a few pieces of lined paper stapled together. Each one was filled from front to back with Alexandra's handwriting. "Here you'll find everything you need to know. It also says the things you need to do immediately, like find her a primary care doctor and schedule a dentist appointment."
"I don't need to go to the dentist," Elizabeth protested, annoyed her mother brought that up.
"She's afraid to go," Alexandra explained to Steve as Catherine already knew. "But it's been six months since her last appointment, so she needs to have one scheduled. One of you will have to go in with her. She gets very scared."
"I am not scared!" Elizabeth exclaimed. It was embarrassing enough that Mom, Dad, and Catherine knew about her fear, but it was even more embarrassing now that Steve knew.
Alexandra shook her head. "She always says that, but she ends up panicking. Also, you need to enroll her in school. At home she went to a school with a strong no-nonsense policy, which she needs with her behavior. I wrote down all the details on the back of the last paper, so try to find a school most like it. Don't worry about tuition. Your father and I will take care of that. Make sure she takes her contacts out no later than seven o'clock every night with the exception of special occasions."
"Mom, I can take care of myself!"
"I know, Elizabeth, but I want Catherine and Steve to know in case you forget."
Elizabeth sighed. "Whatever."
"She tends to leave her contacts in for too long. She has glasses she can wear."
"Yeah, and they make me look like a dork!"
"They do not, Elizabeth. Stop being so concerned with your appearance. Your glasses make you look very smart."
Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth focused her attention back to her phone.
"Elizabeth has the tendency to use swears often. Don't be afraid to punish her for that or anything else you think she needs to be punished for. You can ground her or take her phone away or something like that, but usually a few swats to her bottom will-"
"Mom!" Elizabeth interrupted. How could Mom embarrass her in front of her sister and Steve?
"Catherine understands. She's been in that position when she was your age."
Catherine's cheeks went red. "Okay, thanks, Mom."
"Alright, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure everything goes okay."
"Everything will be fine, Mom," Catherine assured her. "I've got everything under control." She winked at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth smiled in return. She was happy she was staying with her sister.
"Okay. Thank you so much, you two."
"Wait, Mom, Dad, before you go, there's something Steve and I have to tell you." Catherine shared a glance with Steve.
"You're pregnant, aren't you?" Alexandra asked.
Catherine had always been amazed at how her mother knew what was going on, and this time was no exception. "How'd you know?"
"Well you already said you were getting married, and you said it was something both you and Steve had to tell us. I figured you would say you were expecting a baby."
"So..what do you think?"
Alexandra smiled. "It's great."
Catherine was relieved by her mother's reaction. She faced her father. "Daddy, what do you think?"
Nathan clearly did not like the idea of his daughter being in a relationship, and he especially didn't like the thought of what she did in order to have a baby. But he had no reason not to like Steve. He offered to help watch Elizabeth, which gave Nathan a reason to like him.
"I think we're going to have another member of the family soon."
Catherine grinned.
Soon the call for Nathan and Alexandra's flight could be heard throughout the airport.
"Elizabeth, we love you so much," Nathan said, taking his daughter in his arms for a hug. "You know that, right?"
"Yes."
"I'm going to miss you so much," Alexandra stated. It was her turn to hug Elizabeth. "You can call whenever you want to, okay? The time difference doesn't matter, just call when you want to."
Elizabeth nodded, not saying anything as her parents were getting ready to board their flight back home.
As they watched Nathan and Alexandra disappear in the busy airport crowd, Catherine swore she heard Elizabeth whisper, "I love you, too." Looking at Steve, she knew she wasn't the only one who heard it.
"Are you ready to go, Lizzie?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah. Can you help me carry my bags, though? I can't carry them all."
"Of course," Catherine replied, picking up the bag closest to her. Elizabeth lifted another one and Steve carried the last two.
They walked to Steve's truck, loading all the bags in the back. As they climbed inside, Elizabeth said, "Oh, and Steve?"
"Yes?"
"You know everything my mom said? It isn't true. She just likes to embarrass me."
Catherine rolled her eyes, knowing that everything her mom said was accurate.
"Okay," Steve said.
"You don't believe me, do you? Well maybe it's a little bit true, what my mom said," Elizabeth admitted. "But don't tell anyone."
"Don't worry about that, Lizzie. I don't think Steve is going to go around telling people anything." Catherine smiled, looking over at Steve.
"Yeah, I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks."
As Elizabeth stared out the window, she didn't exactly like what she saw. "How can you deal with this? It's all beach. I'm a city girl, I don't like the beach. Did that sign just say ham and pineapple pizza? Where the hell am I?"
"You know, she's very similar to Danny," Steve told Catherine. Elizabeth continued to rant.
"She can go on and on and on," Catherine stated as Elizabeth exclaimed again, "Where the hell am I?"