"Ally, please take that costume off our poor son," Steve requested as he looked down at his three-month old son with a smile. "He looks ridiculous."
Sawyer simply stared back at his father, a smile on his face as well despite the fact that he was currently dressed in a seal costume that was complete with a little baby sized Navy shirt.
"But he's a Navy Seal!" Allison giggled. "He's like you!"
"Please tell me you didn't take him out anywhere,"
"Of course not. No one would give a three-month old baby candy," She pointed out. "The costume is just to take pictures for the relatives so they can see how he spent his first Halloween."
"Well I think he's suffered long enough. I'm pretty sure this is considered child abuse," Steve exaggerated as he moved to free his child from the costume.
"No, it's not!" Allison protested as she stopped him. "He looks adorable."
"I have to agree with the lady," Kamekona piped up as he walked in wearing an army costume. "That is one cute costume. But how do I look?"
"Like you're ready to report to Seal team nine," Steve told him, momentarily distracted.
"For real?"
"For real," Steve confirmed.
"Because I was thinking, if you let me borrow some smoke grenades then I'd really look legit."
Steve looked at him for a moment, as if almost considering it, before shaking his head.
"No, no. We discussed that earlier, no heavy ordnance."
"Well then could I at least borrow the pretty lady?" Kamekona asked. "A hot date might distract from my lack of authenticity."
Steve shook his head, but with a smirk, Allison spoke up.
"Ooh, that sounds like fun,"
"What? You can't go," Steve insisted. "You don't even have a costume."
"Oh please. I'm a girl," Allison reminded him. "All I'd have to do is throw on some cat ears and lingerie and I'd be good to go."
Steve stared at her as if she was insane before turning to Kamekona again.
"No, you can't steal my date," He said firmly. "We have plans tonight."
"We do?" Allison asked as Kamekona picked a VHS up off the table.
"You've heard of Blu-ray, right?" He asked Steve as he looked it over.
"Yeah, but I rented that in the ninth grade with Jenny Feldman and it's been a Halloween tradition ever since." Kamekona nodded as Steve explained. "So, uh, you good to go?" Steve asked, obviously trying to get the other man to leave so he could get some time alone with his family. However, Kamekona seemed to have other ideas.
"Well why don't you put it on? This looks interesting, brah."
"Don't you got a party to get to?" Steve asked quietly, trying to subtly make his point.
The hint was lost on Kamekona though and Allison giggled as he replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, pretty soon."
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't you got a party to get to?" Steve repeated with a little more emphasis this time.
"Oh, indeed I do." Kamekona said, finally clueing in. "You two have a wonderful evening."
Allison smiled and thanked him as she picked up Sawyer from his little swing.
"Well I guess I should take this little one out of his costume and let him get some sleep or he'll be a grumpy guy in the morning," She said, giggling as Sawyer flapped his little arms which were encased in flippers.
"Ah!" He shouted, smiling back at her.
"I don't know what your problem is," Allison told Steve. "I think he likes it. And you should be proud, he's obviously headed down the same path as you."
"I don't know if that's a good thing or not," Steve chuckled. "And my 'path' certainly didn't start in anything like that ridiculous outfit."
Before Allison could object to Steve's continued ridicule of Sawyer's costume, someone banged on the door and rang the door bell. Startled by the sound, Sawyer jumped and instantly started to cry.
"Shit," She muttered, gently rocking Sawyer. "We should cover the doorbell or it's gonna be a long night."
Steve nodded, but opened the door as Allison comforted their son. However, unlike he had expected, there were no children on the doorstep, but instead was his obviously agitated partner.
"She ditched me!" He fretted, barging in the door. "My own daughter ditched me. It's Halloween, we're supposed to go trick or treating, but she says "Dad, is it okay if I go with my friends instead?" and what am I supposed to do? Say "No, I command you to spend Halloween with your father."? Wait, that doesn't sound so bad, I should've said that." Danny ranted before sitting on the couch and looking over at Allison. "And what on earth is that poor child wearing?"
"He's a Navy Seal," Allison grinned, still proud of the outfit.
"That is cruel," Danny told her bluntly before running a hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself down.
Steve however, was getting sick of all the interruptions so, holding the door open with one hand, he grabbed the bowl of candy off the table with the other.
"Hey, want some candy?" He asked, shaking the bowl slightly to get his attention.
"No, I don't want any candy," Danny replied, looking at his partner as if he was insane. "Can I have a beer?"
"A beer?"
"Yeah, what's the matter with you?"
"Okay," Steve sighed before tossing the candy back on the table and closing the door with slightly more force than necessary before walking to the kitchen.
Allison smiled at Steve's frustration before sitting next to the other man, sitting Sawyer on her lap. Danny looked over and smiled slightly.
"Come to Uncle Danno and we'll get you out of that crazy get-up." He said as he reached over and took the baby. As he tried to wrestle Sawyer out of his costume, he continued his rant. "I know it's my fault. It's all those times that I had to bail on her because of work, she has learned that it's acceptable to be unreliable."
"No, I'm sure that's not it, Danny." Allison assured him. "Grace is getting older now and hanging out with her friends has just become more appealing than spending time with her parents. That doesn't make her unreliable and you're not an unreliable father."
Danny was just about to respond when Steve came back into the room.
"Where's the beer?" Danny asked, sounding disappointed.
"No beer, we're on duty." He said as he fastened his gun onto his belt.
"Great, we caught a case. I had ten minutes to spend with my daughter when I picked her up from her sleepover. Ten minutes. Now I'll have to call Rachel and ask her to do that."
"Nah, I got it." Allison promised him.
"Really?"
"Yeah, just text me the address. I haven't seen Grace in forever, it would be nice to spend some time with her. "
"I know how you feel," Danny muttered before thanking her again.
"Don't wait up," Steve told her as he leaned in for a quick kiss. "And you be a good boy for your mom." He said to his son.
Sawyer smiled up at the two men before they headed out the door.
