Disclaimer: Ideas are fictional; not making any money on this. Hawaii 5-0 belongs to CBS. That's okay because none of this would work on TV.
Family Life Continues, Chapter 7
August 2022
Steve called a team meeting for 9 a.m. on Monday morning. He had fresh coffee and some bagels with cream cheese brought in from a local Panera's. He wanted the team alert for his presentation but he also wanted them at ease. Food always put them at ease.
"Jay and Lori, this is new information for you. The rest of you are aware of some of this. The team was working fairly well with eight of us, but something that happened last year gave the governor an idea that warranted additional personnel. Finn gave us an assist last fall when I was recalled into the Navy. He was able to help us locate a terrorist cell that 5-0 wasn't even aware existed. He used surveillance cameras and some sort of algorithm that pointed us in the right direction."
Steve paused to take a sip of coffee and scanned his audience to make sure they followed him. "The islands continue to be vulnerable to this kind of activity because of our location and also because the perception is that we are not as vigilant as the mainland. That has never been the case, and starting today we are taking the next step in our game plan."
"Finn and his programmers have developed a program that someone other than a super geek can operate. With our extra personnel, we'll have manpower to analyze the data. We'll still give our usual caseload our attention, but a team will also be dedicated to what I like to think as preventative maintenance. Maybe we can stop the bad guys without so much loss of life or property."
Steve pointed the area of 5-0 dedicated to their servers. "We have a new box loaded with the software and it will be tied into existing resources. The first set of data is not expected to be available for another couple of weeks. Training will start this week."
Jessica held up her hand for a question. Steve gestured for her to ask away. "What will we be trained on if there's no data available?"
"There are some early results that we can use just to familiarize ourselves with the kind of data we'll get. Remember: it's only data. It's up to us to extract information from it and gain some knowledge. Now we all know that we have certain talents that are stronger than others. Some of us are better at interviewing victims and families. Some have better martial arts skills. Some are better snipers."
"Some are better with hand grenades," Danny could be heard muttering under his breath. His comment made everyone laugh.
"Thanks Danno. Some of us are better at talking with our hands. I expect that some of us will be better breaking down the system's data into something the rest of us mortals can understand, but everyone gets a turn. Jay and Lori will be training with Chin and Kono for a few weeks, and then I'll be changing pairings. They won't necessarily be permanent, but I believe that we all can learn from each other."
Lori had a question. "Steve, where will we train?"
"We have a room down on the first floor reserved for the next couple of weeks. You'll train two at a time. That way we'll still be at mostly full strength during training so I won't have to pull anyone from class. It's normally a four-day class of 20-25 students. We're cutting it down to two days because of the small class size. It will almost be one-on-one. I'll e-mail everyone with the schedule. Let me know if you have any conflicts."
Steve let Kono take over the meeting. She was gifted working with their systems, and she was most familiar with the new program. As she explained how she worked with earlier prototypes from home, the others became more interested when they heard how the system had already provided an assist on a couple of their earlier cases.
When the meeting was over, Kono asked to meet with Steve in his office. Steve wasn't overly concerned about the request but his intuition told him that he wasn't going to be crazy about what she had to say.
"What's going on Kono? Please tell me that there are no problems with deployment of Finn's program."
"No, that's not a problem. You know how he is; he won't let something go until it's as perfect as he can get it. This is more of a personal issue."
Steve knew what was coming before Kono could get the words out. "You're pregnant."
Kono blushed although she had no idea why she was a little embarrassed to be telling her boss that she had a baby on the way. "Boss, you can be really scary sometimes. How did you guess? I just took the home test over the weekend. I haven't even been to see the doctor yet. Are my boobs bigger or something?"
Now it was Steve's turn to blush. "For the record, I have not been looking at your boobs, nor have I ever looked at your boobs. It was a wild guess. Besides, Fiona is almost two and you mentioned that you didn't want to raise an only child. That's terrific. I can't change your assignment without your consent, but I assume you'll want the same protocol as before: no field work that will place you or your baby at risk."
"As much as I hate it, I'm requesting to stand down on high risk duty. I was thinking that maybe I could spearhead the new program. I could work with the rest of the team and evaluate how everyone is doing."
"That's not a bad idea. I need it in writing, and for the record, you have my full support. Congratulations!" Steve came out from behind his desk and hugged Kono. "You know that Jack and Jesse will expect a boy this time, although they don't seem too disappointed with Fiona."
"Finn insists that it doesn't matter to him if it's a boy or a girl as long as the baby is healthy, but I know that he would like a son. Either way I'm in trouble. Fiona has Finn wrapped around her little finger. In fact you, Danny, and Chin are the same way."
"Well, we all have boys and she's so damned cute. You and Finn make beautiful babies."
"Yeah, we do. I know that you'll tell Danny because he'll use thumbscrews to find out what we're talking about."
"The others wouldn't dare interrogate the boss."
"Well Danny gets special privilege because he puts up with you 24-7. Can you wait until I get in to see the doctor before you notify the governor or the rest of the team?"
"I can do that. While you're here, how's it going with Lori so far?"
"She's good. She's been worried about how Mike is settling in but she's really happy to be here. I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Do you think that her stalker will follow her here?"
"I think it's entirely possible and I'm not 100% sure that she will tell me if that happens. If it does, I'll switch her to one of the other team members. I don't want you put in jeopardy because of proximity."
"On the other hand, you could assign her to work with me on the new program. It will be a lot of desk work so she'll be safer than in the field."
"That's another good idea. We'll see what happens."
The rest of the morning was uneventful but the afternoon was pure Monday. The principal called shortly after lunch. Jack was in the nurse's office with a gash in his knee. One of the older kids broke the rules by bringing a glass bottle of juice in his lunch. After he dropped it on the playground, Jack managed to trip and fall on it before the custodian could clean it up.
It was a tough call to make, and the principal debated with the secretary for a full five minutes about which parent she should call. Danny was easily the most excitable, but Steve's death glare was terrifying even to the principal. She opted to try Steve first. He answered on the first ring; the school number had its own ringtone.
Steve's blood ran cold when he heard 'Jack' and 'nurse's office' in the same sentence. It warmed only slightly when he heard it was a cut on Jack's knee. He knew that Jack must be in a lot of pain and that Jesse would be frantic. Steve promised to be there ASAP and went to find Danny. Danny was at the smart table checking on the weekend police reports.
"Danny, we need to go. Jack fell and cut his knee. He's fine but he'll need stitches. Chin, you're in charge. We'll be available later if you need us, but otherwise we'll be out for the rest of the day. Can you call Malia and tell them to expect us at the ER?"
Chin assured Steve and Danny that 5-0 would get through the day without them before he dialed his wife's number. A few minutes later, Lori walked out with Kono. She had received a couple of pictures in the interoffice mail. One picture was from her night out with Cliff; the other was from their trip to the mall on Sunday. Chin decided to give Steve some time to take care of Jack before calling him.
Instead, he called the team together and asked Lori to brief them on what happened in Seattle. Lori was reluctant to do so but she knew that a threat to her was a threat to everyone. She was concerned that it would cause resentment from the team but she was encouraged when everyone took the threat as an affront to 5-0.
Activity on anything not urgent was halted so they could focus on the threat to Lori and Mike. Meanwhile, Steve broke protocol by running lights and siren on the way to Jack and Jesse's school. Danny usually busted his chops whenever he did anything like that, but Danny only pressed Steve for information that Steve didn't have.
At least Steve turned the siren off a couple of blocks away. He parked in a 'No Parking' zone and the men ran into the school. The secretary was waiting for them at the door. "Jack's fine; we have an ice pack on his knee to keep the swelling down. Jesse insisted that he needed to stay with Jack. I assume you'll take both boys?"
Steve tried to give the woman a reassuring smile but it must have come out wrong. She looked terrified. "We'll take both boys. Can you tell us what happened? I thought that glass wasn't allowed on school grounds?"
"One of the fifth graders brought juice in a glass bottle and took it out to the playground. He'll be in detention for a week and his parents have been called. He's really sorry, Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams."
Danny decided that it was up to him to diffuse the situation. "I'm sure he is. We just need to see our sons." That was the best he could do.
They found Jack sitting with his knee propped up. There was gauze wrapped around his knee, and an ice pack sat on top. He seemed to be doing okay; Jesse was struggling to keep his cool.
Steve knelt next to Jack while Danny went to comfort Jesse. "Hey buddy, how are you doing?"
"I'm okay Daddy. I didn't see the glass on the playground and I tripped over a crack in the pavement. I think I'm still growing into my feet."
"Yeah, I remember that happening to me a time or two."
"The nurse thinks that I'll need stitches. Do you think that I'll have a nice scar?"
Steve hugged Jack and laughed. This he could identify with. "I'm not sure. Uncle Chin was calling Aunt Malia. Maybe we could let one of the med students stitch you up."
Danny heard this and immediately objected. "We will not. I expect to have a plastic surgeon stitch him up so there'll be no scar."
"But Danno, I want a scar like yours."
"Then you can live to be an old man and get your knee replaced."
Jesse finally relaxed into Danny's hug. The house rule was that if Steve and Danny could bicker, then the situation wasn't too bad.
Steve thanked the nurse for her help while Danny assured the principal and secretary that this sort of thing happened with kids. Steve carried Jesse out to their SUV and buckled him into his seat. Danny made sure that Jesse was good to go. The secretary came out with backpacks and a promise that the boys could catch up on the afternoon's work tomorrow.
Malia met them at the ER. She had a surgical resident lined up for the stitches. Danny volunteered to stay with Jesse in the waiting room. Steve held Jack's hand through the procedure, but he couldn't watch the doctor work. Instead, he sat with his back to the doctor calmly talking to Jack. The local anesthetic was working now, but Jack would be uncomfortable later.
Danny called his parents while he was waiting for Jack and Steve to come out. Mom was scheduled to pick the boys up from school that afternoon. She would still need to pick Mike up, and she called Lori to verify that. Lori told her that she would pick Mike up personally and stay to talk to Steve and Danny. Chin was meeting them also. Lori called Cliff and asked him to meet her at the McGarrett-Williams compound. Kono also called Finn. No one was better at security than her Finn, and it pissed him off when anyone threatened his ohana.
So there was a crowd gathering by the time that Steve and Danny made it home with Jack and Jesse. They had assembled in Steve and Danny's house so that the boys could get comfortable before the grownups discussed business. Cliff might have been the newest member of the group but he knew a thing or two about kids. He brought an assortment of ice cream, toppings, and a couple of cans of whipped cream. Everything went better with ice cream.
Steve and Danny saw the group and knew that the day wasn't getting any better. They took the boys upstairs and washed the blood off both boys. (After all, Jesse was the first to reach Jack and tried to stop the bleeding. At least he didn't pull off his shirt to put on the wound the way Steve would have.) While they were upstairs, Steve and Danny opted to change into more comfortable clothes.
Danny handed Steve an Advil and a cup of water before he could go downstairs. "Here, I've already taken mine. If you don't already have a headache, I'm sure that you will before too long."
"Thanks, I do. Before we go down, I've got good news. Kono's pregnant."
"Wow, that's great. That will conclude the good news part of our program. Bad news up in five."
"Whatever it is, the team will be there for backup. Plus we have Finn and Cliff. We have the big guns on our side."
Steve helped Jack down the stairs while Danny and Jesse followed. He found everyone in the kitchen fixing their sundaes. Mike insisted on hearing what had happened to Jack so it took a while to get the boys outside before the grownups could talk. Cliff volunteered to supervise the boys. He was there mostly to provide moral support for Lori. Besides, he knew that Finn would brief him later.
The group assembled back in the living room and Steve called the meeting to order. "Okay, I'd like to think that you're all here to wish Jack well, but I'm pretty sure that's not why we're here. Who wants to tell me what kind of hell broke loose after we left?"
