Once again, I would like to think you for the wonderful reviews and alerts. Thank you so much for sticking with the story. I will update again as soon as I can, we are doing overtime at work right now.

An hour later, Roni was still sitting in Steve's office. The door opened and Jerry walked in, carrying a large bag and a cardboard cup holder containing two fountain drinks.

"Hey, Mr. Ortega." Roni said.

"It's Jerry, call me Jerry." The man said, as he sat the items on Steve's desk. "How about having lunch with me? I've got garlic and lemon shrimp."

"Never had it, but I am starved." Roni said.

"You've never had garlic and lemon shrimp?" Jerry asked with mock shock.

"I've had the frozen fried shrimp before, but that's it."

"Then you, my young friend, are in for a treat." He sat in the chair beside her and handed her a Styrofoam plate, and placed the drink in front of her. "Kamakono is a genius when it comes to shrimp."

"Did he poison it?" Roni asked. "I think I made him mad at me."

"He's not mad, Roni." Jerry assured her. "He's worried about you just like the rest of us."

"Why?" She asked, curious. She could see the concern in the man's eyes, but she wasn't sure why he was so concerned about her.

"I know you are a good person." Jerry said, looking at her with a fond smile. "I know that you are mixed up in something very dangerous and that you are very stubborn."

"Who said I was stubborn?" Roni asked.

"You are a McGarrett." Jerry replied. "That automatically means you are stubborn."

Before Roni could reply, the door opened and Steve stuck his head in. "We've got a few leads to follow up on." He said. "Roni you are to remain in this office, understand?"

"Yes Sir." She sighed.

"Good, Jerry can you keep an eye on her?"

"I don't need a babysitter." Roni snapped, annoyed. She sat her plate on Steve's desk and stood up.

"I was not speaking to you." Steve replied.

"I don't give a damn who you were talking too, you asshole. I do not need a babysitter. I…" Roni stopped talking when Steve marched into the room and over to her. She knew what was coming.

Steve grabbed her arm, spun her sideways, and landed four hard swats to her butt. She took them in silence, but winced at the last one. She really needed to watch her mouth around the man, he had a hard hand.

Steve turned her to face him and gave her a stern look. "Young lady, I am getting tired of your mouth. Now if you have any problems with anything I do or say, then you need to come to me and speak to me like a normal person. You will not use that language, you will not insult me or anyone else, and you will not raise your voice to me. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir." She said softly, barley able to resist the urge to rub her butt.

"You better understand, because next time it will not be a few swats. You will get a full spanking, after getting your mouth washed out."

Steve relaxed his facial features and his voice grew softer. "I know this is a big change, it is for both of us. I know I am not exactly Father of the year material, but I am trying my best here."

"Actually you are doing pretty good." Roni said, feeling bad about the way she had been talking to Steve. If she had said half the stuff to her Uncle Philip, then she would have been backhanded a few times.

"We've got to work on your temper." Steve said, giving her a smirk. "You sound too much like me."

Then his voice once again turned stern. "Do not leave this office without Jerry being with you, understood?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good." Steve smiled, then left the office.

Roni turned and saw Jerry looking at her and she blushed.

"Don't worry about him swatting you in front of me." Jerry said, giving her a sympathetic smile. "My Dad used that method on me to get my attention at times. It works."

"It sure does." Roni frowned as she rubbed her still stinging butt. "Mcgarrett is a very strong man."

"Come on and have your dinner." Jerry said.

Roni sat down gently, then picked her plate back up. "It smells great." She took a bite and smiled. "Tastes great too. I never knew shrimp could taste like this."

"This is only the beginning." Jerry assured her. "Kamakono has a lot of flavors to choose from." Then he frowned and added. "Just do not ever try the shrimp donuts."

"Did you say shrimp donuts?" Roni asked.

"Yep."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Trust me I won't ever try that one."

"You are a smart kid." Jerry smiled.

Bluewaters99

Steve and Danny were in Danny's car heading towards a known drug dealers house. Nathan Miller had been arrested twice for drug dealing. Five 0 had reason to believe that him and Coleman had a meeting the previous day.

"So." Danny said, as Steve drove. "When are you going to tell Mary that she has a niece?"

"Soon." Steve replied. "You know how Mary is, she'll be overjoyed and try to smother Roni. I don't think Roni's ready for that yet."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Danny agreed. "How are you holding up?"

"I feel like I'm falling in a deep hole." Steve admitted. He wasn't used to sharing his emotions so honestly, but he trusted Danny. He knew Danny would never think he was weak if he fell apart. "I am scared to death. Scared that I am going to screw this up, scared that I will never truly gain Roni's trust, scared that my daughter will hate me."

"She doesn't hate you, Babe." Danny said. "She might have at first but she's coming around. I mean you've swatted her a couple different times and she hasn't pepper sprayed you again, so that's something."

"Good point." Steve smiled slightly. "Roni is a tough kid. If I would have swatted her a few short hours ago, I might have ended up in some serious pain." Then the small smile disappeared. "A kid her age shouldn't have to be that tough."

"I know, Babe." Danny agreed.

"Do you think I'm being too hard on her?" Steve wanted to know. "I mean, should I be spanking her?"

"Steve, I can not tell you how to raise your daughter." Danny said.

"No, but you can give me advice. You never had trouble keeping your opinion to yourself before."

"No I don't think you are being too hard on her." Danny assured the man. "Roni is a good kid, but she has a temper on her. And impulse problems. She has to learn what is appropriate behavior and what is not. Roni needs stability and love. You can provide both of those things."

"Are you sure?" Steve asked.

"I am positive." Danny smiled. "You have been like a second Father to my kids. I have to admit, I was nervous the first time I left Gracie with you. She was only nine, and I was afraid that you would teach her how to sneak up to an assailant and slit their throats or something. But now, I have absolutely no fear in leaving my babies with you."

"Thanks Danno."

They rode in silence for a few moments, then Steve pulled up to a secluded house and killed the engine. Him and Danny stepped out of the car, as Chin's car and Lou's SUV also parked.

"Remember." Steve said, as he drew his gun. "Miller is known to be heavily armed and surrounded by other heavily armed men."

The other's nodded, then drew their own weapons.

"Chin, Kono." Steve said. "Take the back. Lou, with Danny and me."

Chin and Kono jogged to the back of the house, while the other three walked to the front door. Steve waited a few seconds to give Chin and Kono time to get into position, then he kicked the door open. He heard the back door being kicked open a split second later.

"Five 0!" Steve shouted. "Up against the wall!"

The four men in the room had no choice but to do as they were told. They faced the wall and placed their hands on it.

"Keep them covered." Steve told Lou, as he motioned for the others to search the house. After a quick search, they discovered that there was no one else in the house.

But they did find a pile of money laying on a table and several bags of cocaine laying on another table.

Chin and Danny searched the men, pulling guns and knives from their pockets. Once they were positive that the men were no longer armed, they stepped back.

"Turn around." Steve ordered.

The four men lowered their hands and turned to face them.

"We are looking for three people and you are going to tell us where to find them." Steve said, looking at Miller.

"And why would I do that?" Miller asked. He was in his early twenties, with multiple facial piercings and green spiky hair.

"Because if you don't, I am going to give you another piercing." Steve replied, aiming his gun at the younger man's ear.

"You don't scare me, pig." Miller sneered.

Steve's response was to pull the trigger. A loud shot was heard, then a small piece of the man's ear disappeared and the bullet struck the wall behind him.

"My ear!" Miller shouted, as he clutched his bleeding ear. "You shot my ear off!"

"Only a small piece." Steve said, now aiming the gun at the man's groin. "Would you like another piercing?"

"You're insane!" Miller shouted. The other three men looked terrified.

"I have been telling people that for the past six years." Danny said. "Yes, this man is extremely insane. I highly suggest that you tell him what he wants to know, or you will find out exactly how insane he really is."

"Who are you looking for?" Miller asked.

"Markus Coleman, Brent Woodall, and Meagan Harris." Steve answered.

"They ain't here." Miller said.

"We can see that." Steve growled. "We would like to know where they are."

"They were here yesterday." Miller admitted. "Coleman wanted to take over our operation."

"Did they?" Danny asked.

"We agreed to play along." Miller said. "They have some heavy hitters with them, figured it was in our best interest to play ball with them. They are hold up at an old hunting cabin on Myahah Island."

"How many men are with them?" Chin asked.

"Five." Miller said, still holding his injured ear. "But I don't know how many are at the cabin."

"What was Harris's condition?" Steve asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"High as a kite." Miller replied. "Barley coherent and clinging to Coleman like he was some kind of life jacket or something. She started babbling and Coleman backhanded her, knocked her on her ass. The dumb bitch just stood up, apologized to him, and started clinging to him again."

They heard the sound of approaching sirens and Five 0 ushered the men outside and the police cuffed them and placed them in the patrol cars.

"You really are insane." Danny said, glaring at Steve. "You shot that man."

"Only in the earlobe." Steve defended himself.

"You need help." Danny commented.

"I am trying to save my daughter." Steve said, his voice calm. "Roni is my kid, I know she will sneak off and go after Coleman all alone if we don't find Meagan. I just now found her, I can't lose her."

"Okay." Danny sighed. "What's the plan?"

"They will see and hear a plane from a mile out." Steve replied. "So we take a boat."

"Won't they see a boat?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, but they won't be suspicious." Steve replied. "Not with Lou and a couple men from HPD in street clothes fishing. You, Kono, Chin, and me can slip into the water and swim to the island. Other members of the HPD will be below deck. "

"Good plan." Danny agreed.

"Let's go get a boat." Steve said.

Bluewaters99

An hour later Steve, Chin, Kono, and Danny swam up to the island and climbed onto shore.

"There is a reason I hate swimming." Danny grouched as they quickly removed their wetsuits and pulled their weapons and earpieces out of waterproof bags.

"Because you are a grouchy land lover." Steve guessed.

"No, Super Seal." Danny replied. "Because if man were meant to swim, we'd have flippers."

"Come on." Chin said, smiling at the two men. "According to Miller, the cabin is a couple miles north."

The four teammates and friends silently and quickly made their way through the dense vegetation and reached the edge of a large clearing. Inside the clearing stood a large cabin, six armed men were standing outside the cabin.

"Coleman, Woodall, and Harris are not there." Steve said, looking through a pair of binoculars. "They may be inside."

"An army could be in there too." Chin commented. "Any ideas?"

"Yeah." Steve said. "Kono and I will circle the cabin, take a peek inside and see if we can see anything."

"Good idea, Boss." Kono agreed.

Steve and Kono stayed low, and made their way through the vegetation and reached the back of the cabin. They made sure no one was nearby, then they quickly left the vegetation and reached the cabin. Kono kept a watch out, while Steve peered inside.

He saw Woodall sitting at a table, eating. Meagan was laying on a cot, she appeared to be asleep. He saw no one else in the large one room cabin.

Steve motioned for Kono to fall back, then they moved back to the vegetation and back to the rest of their team.

"Woodall and Harris are inside." Steve said. "Woodall is eating and Harris is asleep."

"Hey guys." Lou's voice came in through their earpieces. "Three men are on the shoreline watching us with binoculars. They're not looking very nervous, guess the fishing ruse is working."

"I say we stop the ruse." Steve said. "Lou, bring all of the officer on deck and head towards the island, but head in slow. We need a distraction."

"You got it." Lou's voice said.

A few second later, the six armed men all reached for their radios and one of them started shouting orders. Coleman ran from the cabin and all of the men headed off into the vegetation.

"The three men are on the run." Lou said.

"So are these." Steve replied.

"Right into our hands." They heard Duke's voice through the radio. They heard shouting and a very short burst of gunfire. Then Duke's voice again. "We've got ten men here. Including Woodall. Coleman isn't here."

Bluewaters99

Jerry and Roni were eating their shrimp in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Jerry was watching Roni, trying to think of ways to help her. He could tell that she was in deep thought about something, and that that something was bothering her.

Roni was indeed deep in thought, she was thinking about Mcgarret and how he had been treating her. He hadn't even tried to hit her, well other then her butt that is. If he was as abusive as her Mom had told her, then she would have been beaten by now.

It was clear to her that her Mom had been lying for the past fourteen years. Steve Mcgarrett was a good man, and he could have saved her from a lot of misery if he had known about her. Moms were supposed to protect their children, not keep protection away

"Penny for your thoughts." Jerry said, as he put his empty plate on Steve's desk and took Roni's empty plate from her. He also sat it on the desk.

"I don't think my thoughts are worth a whole penny." Roni said.

"I don't know." Jerry said. "They may even be worth a dollar."

Roni smiled at him, she really liked Jerry. He was a very good man and seemed sincerely interested in helping her and being her friend.

"I was just thinking about Mcgarrett, and about the fact that my Mom lied. I honestly don't think he would ever beat a pregnant woman, I don't even think he would hit any woman. Unless it was absolutely impossible to avoid. Then only hard enough to regain control of the situation."

"You're right." Jerry agreed.

"Do you really think that Mcgarrett forgives me for the way I've treated him? And Detective Williams too, I was mean to him."

"I know they both have forgiven you." Jerry assured the teenager. "Steve and Danny both know that you were and still are scared and confused. Like I said before, we all want to help you."

"Mcgarrett said he wanted me to live with him. Well not in those exact words, but that's want he meant."

"Of course he does, you're his daughter."

"But what about Mom? I can't just abandon her, I am the only who has ever protected her."

"How have you protected her?" Jerry asked.

"Mom has very low self esteem, always has. She won't stand up for herself when Coleman hits her, she just takes it. So if I'm there, I stand between her and Coleman." Roni said her voice sad and distant. "And when Uncle Philip used to get mad and hit her, I'd stand in front of her."

"So Coleman and your Uncle hit you instead?" Jerry asked, trying to keep the anger from showing in his voice. He just couldn't figure out how someone could beat an innocent child.

"Coleman did." Roni said. "Uncle Philip usually just made me run an extra mile or do an extra fifty pushups. He only backhanded me a few times usually when I argued with him."

"He had no right to backhand you." Jerry said. "No kid deserves that."

"Uncle Philip said it was to make me stronger, it's also why he never stopped Coleman from beating on me. He said that a Navy Seal had to be able to endure taking a beating."

"You planning on becoming a Navy Seal?"

"That's what Uncle Philip wanted."

"What do you want?"

"No one has ever asked me that." Roni said.

"I am asking now." Jerry said, taking both of her hands into his. "What do you want?"

"Do you promise not to tell Mcgarrett?" Roni asked, thinking that maybe she finally met an adult who wouldn't think her dreams were that of a silly kid. An adult who would actually be supportive of her dreams and not think they were foolish.

"I promise to keep it a secret as long as it's nothing dangerous." Jerry replied. He hated keeping things about Roni from Steve, but he really needed to gain her trust.

"I really like learning to fight and shoot, but I don't want to be a Seal. I want a career where I can use art. Maybe an art critic, or maybe even a curator at an art museum."

"You like art?" Jerry asked. "That's cool. A lot of careers in the art field. Do you just like looking at art? Or do you like to create art too?"

"Got a piece of paper and a pencil?" Roni asked, smiling. She couldn't believe Jerry thought her love of art was a good thing. No adult had ever thought that.

"I'm sure Steve has plenty of both." Jerry smiled back. He grabbed several sheets of printer paper and a pencil, laying them in front of her.

Roni leaned forward and started drawing, after a few minutes, she sat back up and handed the piece of paper to Jerry. It was a picture of him, a very realistic picture of him.

"This is amazing." Jerry said, impressed. "Where did you learn to draw like this?"

"I taught myself." Roni said. "I've always loved art."

"I promised you that I would not tell Steve, and I will keep that promise." Jerry said. "But why don't you want Steve to know, he will be as impressed as me. This is really good."

"He's a Navy Seal." Roni said with a sad sigh. "Art is not an useful skill to have. He won't approve."

"Yes he will." Jerry said.

"No." Roni said, a slight panic in her eyes. "Please don't tell him."

"Okay, I won't." Jerry said, concerned about her reaction. "I promise I won't tell him. But please tell me why."

"He won't approve." Roni said.

"I'm guessing your Uncle Philip didn't approve."

"No Sir, he didn't."

"What did he do?" Jerry asked, dreading the answer.

Roni chewed on her bottom lip, trying to decide whether to tell him or not.

"Once when I was twelve, I was supposed to be running. But my ankle was sore and Uncle Philip was nowhere around, so I skipped the run. I was sitting under a tree drawing and didn't hear him coming up. He was furious, he made me burn all of my art supplies, then he…he whipped me."

"How?" Jerry asked, really hating the man.

"I had to strip naked and lay on a cot, and he used his belt on me. He whipped me with a belt a couple times before, but never like this. He hit my back and legs too, he had never done that before. He had never done it again either. But I never let him see me draw again either. I was screaming and begging him to stop, but he kept on. I couldn't walk for a couple days after that."

"Oh, Honey." Jerry said, feeling his eyes water. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her. Roni stiffened, not used to being hugged. But after a few moments, she relaxed and leaned into the hug. It felt so good to be hugged by him.

After several minutes, Jerry let go and once again took her hands into his. "I promise you that no one will ever do that to you again."

"How can you be sure of that? I am not an easy person to get along with, I know I will make Mcgarrett mad at me."

"Probably so." Jerry said. "I am sure that you will do something that will make Steve angry, that will earn yourself a punishment. But I know for a fact, that no matter what you do, no matter how angry Steve is. He will never do that to you, never. Steve might spank you, but he will never abuse you. No matter what."

Roni looked into his eyes and believed him.

Bluewaters99

TBC….