Thoughts are in italics.

I have the next two chapters planned out so they should be up soon.

Two months had passed since Deb and Leonard's wedding and though changes were happening throughout the house, one thing that remained the same was Steve and Abbie's relationship. Though Steve had previously admitted his feelings to his aunt, he chose to keep them to himself. Both continued to suppress their feelings and focused their energy on JJ. He was now eight and a half months old and had recently began crawling so they had been forced to baby proof the house. For about two weeks he had been trying to walk. He'd take one step and that was all. Abbie had caught him pulling himself up using the coffee table earlier in the week, so she tried to get him to walk but it was to no avail.

"C'mon JJ come to mommy!"

JJ gripped the couch in the living room as he stood and stared at his mother

"Come here baby," she cheered him on. The emotions she was feeling laced her voice. Overjoyed that her son was near a major accomplishment. Ecstatic that he was growing up; and on the flip side downhearted that he getting older. My babies' not a baby anymore.

The front door opened and in walked Steve, coming home straight from work. "What's going on?" he smiled, knowing that at any time his son could be taking his first steps.

"Somebody's ready to be mobile!" beamed Abbie, ever the proud mother.

Steve left and retreated to his bedroom to put his gun in his room safe and change clothes. Coming back downstairs a couple of minutes later in a white tee and grey sweats he saw JJ was still standing in the same spot; he was happy to know he hadn't missed it.

He let go of the couch and instantly fell on his butt. The toddler was not deterred as he struggled to pick himself back up.

Steve walked over and first moved the coffee table out to of the way, then walked behind JJ picked him up and stood him on his feet as he held onto his hands.

"C'mon buddy you can do it," urged Steve.

He tried again but fell once more. Steve repeated his actions and patiently urged his son to try again.

Steve held onto JJ's tiny hands and together they walked to where Abbie was; about a foot away. While he was wobbly on his feet JJ still made the walk.

Abbie picked up her son and peppered his face with kisses. "Good job baby boy."

JJ continued this two more times holding his father's hand. They tried one more time to see if he could do it by himself.

He did. JJ took about ten unassisted steps and neither his mother nor father could wipe the smile off their faces for the rest of the night. Both tore their sights off of the newly mobile infant and for a few brief moments were only focused on each other.

Ever since she could remember Abbie wanted to be a cop. She wanted her life to have meaning; to do good in the world. Every time she put a criminal away she felt she had done so. It didn't mean it was an easy job. Being human and having feelings could get in the way of doing your job properly. Abbie was always a compassionate person but was able to put her feelings aside when it came to doing her job; except when it came to children. Any case that involved children had always been hard for her, but after she had JJ it was extra difficult to not become emotionally involved. The case 5-0 was working on was one of those cases, except this time the child wasn't the victim.

JJ Benson, a precocious five year old boy was now left without his parents. His wide baby blue eyes were sullen and red from crying. Abbie couldn't help but think this was her JJ in five years. 5-0 was currently working on the murder of his parents while HPD was trying to contact family members. Abbie had the little boy in her office while they waited.

At a loss for words, she walked over behind her desk and searched through a large shopping back. She pulled out a large toy truck and spoke to the boy "I got this for my son, but I think he might be a little too young for it." She handed the truck to the little boy, who silently accepted it without looking at her. "His name is JJ too." He looked up and glanced at the woman before he turned away.

With a heavy sigh, Abbie sat down next to the boy on the two chairs in her office. They remained quiet until he spoke in a shaky hushed tone "Who's going to be my mommy and daddy now?"

She choked back a sob; her heart breaking the question from the innocent child. "Nobody can replace your mommy and daddy. You have people who are going to love you just as much as they did. I know you're sad but your parents are always going to be there for you even though you can't see them." He looked up with confused, his big blue eyes brimmed with tears "How?"

"They'll always be in here," she pointed to his heart.

"I miss them," he cried.

"I know," she hugged him hard, as if he was her own.

There was a light knock on the door. Steve, an HPD officer and a young blonde woman appeared in her office.

"Auntie Elizabeth," JJ yelled as he broke away from the hug and ran into the arms of the woman.

Abbie wiped the tears that had just fallen. There was no holding back the anguish she was feeling her this young child.

"Hey buddy," she spoke the sadness apparent in her voice "Are you ready to go?"

"Home?" He was excited, he just wanted to go home to his mommy and daddy.

A crestfallen look fell on her face "You're coming home with me."

"Okay," he said crestfallen.

"Hey remember what I told you JJ," Abbie spoke, trying to console him.

A small smile graced his face, "I will. Thanks Miss Abbie," and with that he left along with his aunt as the HPD officer escorted them out of the building.

"Are you okay," questioned Steve the minute the three of them were out of sight.

"No," she honestly spoke, "You and I are desensitized to all of the violence out there, but that little boy now knows. He shouldn't know what it's like to have his parents taken from him son violently. But he does, and now he has to grow up without them. And selfishly when I first saw him all I could think about was our son. This job can get us killed Steve, and then what happens to JJ? He needs his mommy and daddy." Tears streaked her face, all the emotions she had held in that day were released.

"Hey come here," he said and pulled her into comforting hug. The tears slowly faded and when they pulled away their bodies were still intertwined. Neither let go; just stared, until Steve's eyes made their way to her lips. There was an electric pull towards each other, one that both noticed and neither could ignore. Steve very slowly moved in.

Her office door swung open and they immediately pulled apart. Abbie nearly jumped and put as much distance between her and Steve as she could. Chin walked in, slightly embarrassed to have clearly interrupted something between his two friends.

"You're gonna want to see this," Chin told them as he pushed aside the awkwardness of the situation he just walked into.

Steve sat in the driver's seat of Danny's Camaro waiting for his partner to come outside, when he heard a female laugh followed by a males. He turned and spotted Abbie and a new officer whose name he couldn't remember. They stood close as they both smiled and joked. It appeared intimate, too intimate for Steve's liking but he wasn't about to admit that.

Danny sat down in the passenger's seat and immediately sensed Steve's gaze trained elsewhere. He tuned his head to see what had his attention.

Danny smirked "You two are so damn stubborn."

"Don't," was the response from Steve as he peeled out of the parking lot.

"Why not. Everyone else sees it except the two of you. Look she's a beautiful, kind, intelligent woman and any guy would be lucky to have her," he paused as he tried to gauge the other man's reaction. "Men are going to be interested in her."

Steve sighed. Of course he knew this, whenever their relationship was brought up that was in the forefront of his mind. Now after their near kiss and seeing her with another man he was more aware of it. "We're not together and we're not going to be. She's going to find someone sooner or later."

"Why is that?"

"What?"

"Why aren't you together?" Danny questioned; a question Steve was used to hearing by now so he chose to not answer.

"Do you care about her?"

"What is this sharing our feelings hour?" cracked Steve.

Danny gave him a hard look as Steve sighed, "Of course I do. She's my friend. She's my son's mother."

"Forget about JJ for one minute. Outside of her being the mother of your son, how do you feel about her?"

There was no way Steve was about to answer that, and he didn't get a chance to as his phone rang.

"McGarrett," he answered as Danny rolled his eyes at how Steve was able to get out of answering his question.

"Boss he's not home, he was just spotted at Aloha Tower Marketplace," Kono informed him. Danny and Steve were headed to the home of their suspect in the murder of JJ's parents.

"Thanks Kono," he spoke before quickly making a U-turn and headed back to Aloha Tower.

"Will you slow down, I'd like to live to see tomorrow," complained Danny.

Steve only smiled and stepped on the gas harder.

The suspect Danny and Steve found confessed to the crime and was now behind bars and JJ was in the company of his Aunt Elizabeth. Though the case was over, the impact it had on Abbie was not. She couldn't get over this little boy losing his parents and having to go through life without them. The Benson's had a will which left their son in the care of Elizabeth should anything happen to them; had they not JJ would have ended up in the custody of the state. I can't let that happen.

Which is why she needed to have a conversation with Steve. He had stopped to get pizza for dinner and would be home at any moment. It would be after dinner that they needed to make some decisions; decisions that were not always comfortable to talk about but needed to be made.

They ate dinner in an awkward silence, neither wanting to talk about the near kiss they had shared earlier in the day. Once they finished Steve put JJ to bed while Abbie cleaned up.

"Hey, we need to talk," she spoke once Steve re-entered the dining room.

"Okay," he replied emotionless but on in the inside nervous as to what this was about. It has to be about the kiss or the near kiss.

She rushed out her next words, not thinking through how they sounded, "It's about JJ."

His stomach churned, thinking something was wrong with his son; his face now portrayed that worry.

"JJ's fine, I didn't mean to worry you. It's just that the Benson's murder really got me thinking about JJ. What's going to happen to him if something happens to us? We're cops, our lives are in danger every day. What happens if neither of us comes home huh? Who's going to take care of him? I refuse to let him be bounced from foster home to foster home." By now she had worked herself up, and was nearly shaking.

"Relax," he tried to soothe her and placed his hands on her shoulders. It wasn't meant to be intimate; it was simply to try and relax her.

Abbie pulled away quick as she realized how close the two were and made sure there was space between them. "We need to decide who his legal guardian should be."

Steve dropped his shoulders. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have but it was necessary. Being in their line of work meant everyday could very well be their last and now that they had a son, his welfare was their number one priority. They needed to decide what their best option was in taking care of him.

"You're right," replied Steve walking over to the couch were Abbie had just taken a seat.

"Can you repeat that? Wait let me get my phone so I can record that," she joked before she once again turned serious, "I know that Kono and Danny are his godparents but it's important that we have something in writing. I think Danny is the best choice. It's not fair that we ask my parents to raise a child, they already did." She had been mulling this over in her head all day. "Danny is a great dad and he loves JJ like his own, but what if something happens to him?"

"Abbs" he began using the nickname she hadn't used in months "We can go back and forth over the what ifs, but we don't know what's going to happen and we can't let this decision depend on that."

Abbie thought for a moment and knew he was right. They needed to make the best decision for the sake of their child and Danny was the best choice, yet their job still concerned her. "I've been thinking and I want to make Catherine executor of my will. Should something happen to Danny I'd like to make her guardian of JJ." Though Catherine and Abbie were still on regaining the closeness they once had, she trusted Catherine with her life and that of her son.

"I think that's a great idea," agreed Steve, relieved that they didn't have to have this conversation again and knowing that his son would always be taken care of. "Now can we please discuss something other than death?"

"JJ walked again today," beamed Abbie. That's something I'll never get tired of talking about.

"So why am I here?" questioned Danny as he sipped on his Longboard beer in the backyard of the McGarrett home.

"Because you're my best friend and I enjoy your company," responded Steve with a straight face.

The day before Steve had requested that Danny come over the house the following day but hadn't told him what it was about. This was a discussion that needed to happen in person. Steve and Abbie has decided that before they drew up their wills they wanted to run their plans by the prospective guardians. Catherine had been over earlier in the morning and though the talk was of a serious nature she was honored and more than willing to care for JJ and had agreed to help Danny raise him should that be necessary.

"Actually Steve and I need to talk you about something," commented Abbie as she joined the two men; in her hand a baby monitor, as she had just put JJ down for a nap.

"Do I need to sit down for this?" joked Danny.

Abbie and Steve glanced at each other before they turned to Danny with a serious face.

"We've been talking about what would happen to JJ should something happen to the both of us," Abbie began.

"We want you to be his guardian," added Steve getting to the point.

Danny was taken aback; this was not what he was expecting to hear. It took him a moment to digest the statement "I mean I know I'm his godfather and of course I'll be there for him, but I always kind of looked at that as being like a cool uncle. You really want this?"

There wasn't a single moment of hesitation when Steve spoke. "Do you really need to ask? You're a great father to Gracie. I know you'd be the same with JJ."

A smirk quickly appeared on Danny's face. Steve was not a man who liked to share his feelings, so hearing him say something as simple as that pleased Danny. "I've always wondered what having a son would be like. I teach him hockey and tee ball will go see football games."

Abbie giggled and raised an eyebrow at her friend, "You know we're not giving him to you. Both of us have to die first."

With another smirk he replied, "The way this guy works," he pointed his thumb at Steve, "that could be any day."

Both Danny and Abbie laughed as Steve spoke "Oh I feel the love Danno."