This chapter is heavy on dialogue. I felt it was the easiest way to tell the backstory of what has happened and why Maddie is back. Hope you enjoy.

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"This is my daughter, Stephanie," Maddie took a deep breath, "Stephanie... McGarrett."

Steve looked up in disbelief. Stephanie McGARRETT?

Steve stood up. The look on his face was a mixture of confusion and anger.

"Excuse me?" Steve said quietly trying to maintain control of his mixed emotions at the news.

Maddie swallowed and started wringing her hands together which Steve remembered as a sign of her being nervous. "She's our daughter, Steve."

Steve's eyes widened in disbelief. "What the hell, Maddie?! You show up after 16 years and tell me something like this? Why didn't you tell me before now?"

He was angry. She knew he would be, but her eyes pleaded with him to understand.

"I didn't know I was pregnant until after you left. You didn't say goodbye or anything and I had no way to reach you. What was I supposed to do?" Tears were flowing down her face at this point, and as much as Steve hated to see her cry, he needed the truth from her.

"Leaving wasn't my choice, Madison, and you know that. My dad explained all of this to your parents when he made me leave. Why didn't you tell him you were pregnant? Or what about the times I tried to contact you when you were in college? Did it ever occur to you to pick up the phone and say, 'Hey Steve…..Just thought I'd let you know we have a daughter? I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

Now Steve was pacing too. And he only called her "Madison" when they fought, so she knew he was mad.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I really am. I picked up the phone dozens of times, but I could never bring myself to call you. I didn't want to ruin your career in the Navy. As time passed, it got harder and harder to tell you. It was like I blinked and all this time had passed and she'd become a teenager."

"Yeah. A teenager who's never known her father because you made the choice not to let me take responsibility for her too." He looked down at the pretty girl on the phone again. She had Maddie's long brown hair but there was no denying she had his eyes, nose, and smile. She looked just like him.

Looking back up at Maddie he asked, "So why are you telling me about her now?"

Maddie took a deep breath. "Because I think she's in trouble and I need your help."

Steve ran a hand down his face. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long story. Let me grab a couple of beers and you can tell me what's going on."

When Steve returned, he uncapped the bottle before handing it to her. He held her gaze and demanded, "Tell me everything, Madison. I mean it. No more holding out on me. You owe me that much."

They sat back down on the couch as Maddie began.

"Stephanie is a great girl. You'd be really proud of her." She looked at Steve and smiled, "I named her after her Daddy as a way to try to keep her connected to you in some way. If I had a boy, I was naming him Steven. If I had a girl, I was naming her Stephanie." Steve felt his gut twist knowing she was named after him. "She's always been a good student and is on the cheerleading squad like I was. She's funny….and caring. She's also tall like you and, as you can see in the picture, she has your eyes and smile. She's grown into a beautiful girl. About six months ago, she was scouted by a modeling agency who offered her a contract. I was okay with it as long as it didn't interfere with her school. At first, she was just booked for local photo shoots and fashion shows; Mostly small things, but she was getting a lot of attention and we started getting calls from bigger agencies."

"Okay. Go on." Steve urged.

Maddie took a drink of her beer before continuing. "The pressure in modeling can be brutal and Stephanie started to change."

"How so?" Steve asked.

"She was losing weight that she didn't need to lose. She also became withdrawn and stopped talking to me like she always has before. She started arguing with me over everything and I felt like she was slipping away. I didn't know if she was taking drugs to help her lose weight or what, but something was definitely off. A couple of weeks ago, she told me about a modeling contract in Hawaii that her agent wanted her to take. I obviously didn't want her to travel this far by herself and I wasn't able to take off of work when she needed to come. I told her she couldn't go. We had a huge argument over it, but she eventually seemed to let it go."

Maddie took another drink and sighed, "Until 2 days ago when I came home to find a note she'd left for me saying that she was flying to Hawaii to do the photo shoot….and that she planned to look you up while she was here."

Steve stood up again. "Woah. Wait. I thought she didn't know about me?"

"She didn't. Well, not exactly. She knows I had her when I was a teenager and that her father was from Hawaii because this is where I lived at the time. I started looking through her computer and found searches she had done for McGarrett's who live in Hawaii. With you being with Five-0, it wasn't all that hard for her to figure things out. I mean you guys are in the newspaper all the time. I would've told her before but…"

"But, you decided to make the decision for both of us by keeping me out of her life." Steve interrupted.

"That's not fair." Maddie shot back.

"The hell it isn't, Madison!" Steve snapped. Then taking a deep breath, he said, "Look, what's important now is that we find her. We'll sort the rest of it out later."

It was nearing 9 o'clock when Steve called his team back in to HQ so they could begin the search. He didn't fill them in on any of the details figuring it would be best to break the news to them in person. He was taking Maddie along to help with that.

He reached for her hand, "Come on. Let's go find our daughter."

She took his hand and looked up at him uncertainly, "Forgive me?"

"I can't just let this go. You've been lying to me for 15 years."

Tears sprang to Maddie's eyes again and she quickly looked away, "I know, but...I was hoping..."

"Look at me, Madison." Steve gently demanded. When Maddie didn't immediately comply, he turned her chin towards him and said again, "Look at me."

When she met his gaze, she saw that he wasn't angry. Just hurt. "I can't let it go yet…..but we'll get there. Ok?" He leaned down to kiss her forehead before taking her hand again and leading her to his truck.