Catherine walked into the restaurant she and Steve decided to meet at for lunch. She searched for her fiance and headed over to the table she found him sitting at with a smile. In that moment, like so many others, she realized how lucky she was to have him.

Steve immediately stood up and pulled back Catherine's chair for her. He was always so polite and such a gentleman that it was sometimes difficult to imagine him as the intimidating Naval Officer-turned-Five-0 leader he actually was.

"You're always so thoughtful," Catherine commented as she leaned forward to rest her chin on top of her palm, her elbow pressed against the table.

"What do you mean?" Steve questioned. Throughout his career, he had been called many things. There had been training officers and commanding officers that had called him brave and tough and other titles relating to strength. There had also been suspects he had chased down who had referred to him in some not so eloquent terms. But he could not recall a time in which someone had called him thoughtful.

"It's all the little things that you do," Catherine explained. "You know, like this, for example. You make reservations at an amazing restaurant to take your pregnant fiancee out to lunch when you're working. And not to mention that you actually know how to treat a woman."

"I'm glad you think so," he replied, the smile that Catherine loved appearing on his face.

"I'm so lucky to have you," Catherine stated as a look filled with love took over her own face.

"I think it's the other way around, personally," Steve admitted simply.

Catherine reached across the table to place her hand on top of his. "This is what I mean. Not many men would do what you do."

"And what's so special about what I do?"

"You work to find justice for innocent people who have terrible things happen to them. That's very noble. You know what else is? Taking care of your future sister-in-law." With a look of sincerity on her face, Catherine said quietly, "How did I ever become so lucky? You're incredible, Steve."

"I don't think 'incredible' applies to me," Steve responded. "That's more of a word I'd use to describe you."

"Me? No, Steve. Not at all."

Steve sighed and squeezed Catherine's hand. "How could you ever think that? You're beyond incredible, Catherine. You don't even realize it."

Catherine didn't say anything for a moment. She simply stared back at Steve's handsome face. She was so thankful for having him. She had seen a lot throughout her career with the Navy, but Steve has always been there for her no matter what.

"Steve?" Catherine finally said.

"Yes?"

Without missing a beat, she stated, "I love you."

He grinned, squeezing her hand once more. "I love you, too, Catherine."

As the rest of the hour they spent at the restaurant passed, Steve could tell Catherine was on edge about something. He had a feeling that he knew what this was about, though he asked anyway. "What's wrong, Cath?"

Sighing, Catherine replied, "I'm worried about her."

"Lizzie? Don't be worried. She's strong. She's a lot like her sister in that way, don't you think?"

"I can't help worrying about her. She's my little sister and it's my job to protect her," Catherine stated, her concern clearly showing on her face.

"Our job to protect her," Steve corrected her sentence, earning himself a grin from his fiancee.

"You're right. Our job."

Catherine found herself again asking how she could have been so lucky to have Steve.


Day two wasn't turning out to be any better than the first day. Again Lizzie found herself walking aimlessly during lunch, her eyes scanning the cafeteria for an open table where she could sit by herself. That was until she heard "hey" called in her direction. Lizzie turned her head, surprised someone was calling her.

"You're new, right?" a girl she recognized questioned.

Lizzie nodded, remembering that the girl standing in front of her had been in three out of the four classes she had earlier that morning. "Yes."

"I'm Lauren Barnes," the girl introduced herself.

"Lizzie Rollins," Lizzie replied.

"Come on. There's room at the table my friends and I are sitting at."

"Thanks," Lizzie said appreciatively, following Lauren to a table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"Everyone, this is Lizzie," Lauren said as she sat down. As Lizzie sat beside her, all the girls introduced themselves.

"Can I see your schedule?" Lauren asked. "I think we're in a lot of the same classes."

Lizzie pulled her schedule out of her backpack and placed it on the table. She hoped they shared more classes together.

"We had English, chemistry, and math together this morning," Lauren stated as she glanced over the paper in front of her. "Then we have history and gym after lunch at the same time. Only our foreign language classes are different. You're taking Japanese?"

Lizzie nodded, confirming her words.

"My mom's Japanese. She taught me the language already, so I decided to take Spanish. So today's your second day?"

"Yeah."

"I wasn't here yesterday, otherwise I would have asked you to sit with us then. Sorry you were walking around alone. High school's tough."

Lizzie nodded in agreement.

"I was in the emergency room two days ago in the evening until late at night. I took the next day off of school," Lauren explained, lifting up her left arm to display the purple cast enveloping her wrist. "I fractured my wrist at soccer practice."

"Soccer?"

"Yeah. Do you play? We're short players. You know, small school and all. You can sign up after school."

"I think I will," Lizzie said, happy she was finally talking to people and joining a school activity.

Maybe living here wouldn't be that bad.


"Don't you work?" Lizzie sarcastically asked as she climbed into Steve's truck after school had ended.

"I'm sorry for taking time out of my day to pick you up. Next time I'll be sure to let you walk home."

"Funny."

"I thought so."

Instead of her typical complaining, Lizzie was quiet that afternoon, causing Steve to become concerned. "How was your day?" he questioned cautiously. When he had asked that question yesterday, the respone he receieved had been sarcastic and filled with swears aimed in his direction.

Lizzie shrugged. "Better than yesterday."

"That's great," Steve said, prompting for more information.

Lizzie nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I started talking to some people and I signed up for soccer."

"Good. You should call your sister. She's been worried about you."

She figured Catherine would have been worried as she pulled her cell phone out of her backpack. Lizzie quickly pressed the proper speed dial and waited for her sister to answer.

Catherine had been waiting for the call since Lizzie had left for school in the morning. Upon reading the name the caller ID presented, she answered after one ring.

"Hey, Lizzie. How was school?" she asked, fingers crossed as she hoped the answer wouldn't involve sarcastic remarks from her little sister.

"It was good," Lizzie replied as she tapped her fingers against the seat, hoping Catherine wouldn't make a big deal out of this. "How about you? How was your day?"

"Good," Catherine answered absently, her mind focused on Lizzie's positive response. A wave of relief spread through her. Last night, Steve had told her what Danny had said about the new parent phase. She surmised that she was going through that phase as well, both with the baby and her sister. "Liz, can I talk to Steve for a minute, please?"

"Okay." Lizzie pulled the phone away from her ear and handed it to Steve. "She wants to talk to you."

"Hey, Cath."

"She had a good day," Catherine immediately stated as the relief fully sank in. A smile appeared on her face as she closed her eyes, releasing the breath she had half-consciously been holding.

"She did," Steve responded, smiling as he turned to glance at Lizzie.

The fifteen-year-old simply rolled her eyes. The was exactly what she had meant by "big deal."