CHAPTER 25
Social Workers and Sick Days

Ben felt drugged from all the soup, cough syrup, salt water, and medication he had in the last several hours. He'd spent most of the day before asleep again, and woken up. Though he felt better, he knew that he wasn't leaving the bed still. His stomach was still churning, and he was covered in sweat, he felt better, but not enough that Steve would let him go out. "You're up." Steve announced his presence as he entered "Feeling better today?" He asked, Ben nodded slowly "Good, good." Steve sighed in relief.

"Are you going to work?" Ben asked hoarsely.

"Danny told me that he'd hold down the fort until you're better. We still can't leave you alone." Ben groaned a bit at that "Hey, don't give me trouble for this. Even if Ted weren't out there, I'd be here." Ben looked Steve in the eyes as he slowly placed his hand against his forehead "Your fever's gone down, that's a relief." He sighed , then stood up slowly, his eyes looking down upon Ben "Feeling up to more solid food?" Ben nodded slowly "I'll get some toast for you." He explained.

"I wish you'd stop doting over me and go to work." Ben muttered, Steve rolled his eyes a little bit "I took care of myself when I was sick before." He added.

Steve seated himself on the bed again, running a hand through Ben's mop of hair. Quietly, he told himself that he had to get the boy a haircut when he was feeling better. "Yeah, well. That's because you weren't being properly taken care of." Ben sighed a bit, and Steve smiled a bit "I care abut you way too much than to just blow you off like that." He explained "Wouldn't be much of a Father if I did." He added.

"Yeah, but I bet you're itching to get back out there." Ben told him.

Steve shrugged, it was mostly true, but a part of him didn't want to go out there. Seeing Ben at the mercy of an enemy really had shaken him to his core. And considering Steve had seen a lot worse, that was truly saying something. "After the past few days, I can happily wait a few days." Steve explained, shaking his head "If they really need me, they'll call." He added.

"With me sick, Uncle Danno won't." Ben stated.

"They'd better." Steve muttered.

Ben definitely felt bad, considering he still believed that Steve wanted to get out and back on the job. Steve sighed a bit, exiting the room, and heading downstairs. In a way, he did want to be back on the job, but a the same time, he had said the truth. It wasn't his fault, and he knew it, they could have targeted anyone, but they had to have targeted Ben. Taking a deep breath, he began to make the toast calmly, his face contorted a little as a soft knock on the door came, and he quickly headed for it.

Slowly opening the door, he found a man in a suit, his eyebrow raised a bit. "Mr. McGarrett, my name is Allan Davis of Child Protective Services." Steve sighed a bit "Please, don't be alarmed, I am not here to take Benjamin away. I have heard of the incident, but this was scheduled before that." Steve mentally cursed himself "May I come in?" He asked.

Steve nodded, letting him in slowly, he stared at the man. "Ben's actually sick right now, strep throat." Steve told Allan calmly, the man nodded a bit "So can we do this between the two of us? I don't want him straining his voice." He added.

"Of course, this is typically a meeting for only the two of us anyway." Allan smiled brightly, Steve smiled in relief as he said that "You can relax, this is not so much business as it is a follow-up. Being that custody has officially been awarded to you for legal guardianship." Steve nodded his head slowly, he understood completely "I simply am here to see how things are going, then I will be on my way." He added.

"Well, go right ahead with the questions, I'm just making a light breakfast for him." Steve nodded.

"Well, considering all that's happened, I suppose the first question should be..." Allan paused for a moment, and gave Steve a look straight in the eyes "How are things going between the two of you?" He asked.

Steve smiled, he was happy to answer that question. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. "It's been a bit of a struggle, I'm not going to lie. It seems like this is the neverending week from hell." Steve admitted, his honesty seemingly impressing Allan "But I haven't stopped loving him with every ounce of my heart." He began to butter the toast slowly "He's started to call me Dad recently, so I'm guessing it goes both ways." he then held up a finger "Excuse me one moment." He stated.

Steve left for a moment, returning empty handed, he seated himself at the kitchen table across from Allan. "Alright, how's school going then?" He asked.

"Ben's having trouble making friends. And I pulled him out for a week because of how hard this week has been on him." Steve shook his head a bit "But Ben's doing really good in school, top grades, actually. Three A's on tests in a row." He explained, Allan again gave an impressed look "Of course, Ben still needs a little help now and then, but that's the advantage of my job. We spend a lot of time on paperwork, so I have plenty of time to help." He added.

"And you're a police officer?" Allan asked.

"Yes sir, I head the Five-0 Task Force." Steve nodded his head a bit "I'm also a SEAL." He added.

"Do you plan to continue your Naval activities while you're raising Ben?"

Steve gave the man a look, but shook his head none-the-less. Steve didn't plan to go back on-duty at this point in his life, and Ben was just one of many reasons. "Nah, I take my responsibilities in Five-0 and as a Father too seriously to throw that on top of it." He shrugged his shoulders "My girlfriend, however, is in the Navy. She'll probably be in it for a while." He added.

"Does she live with you, and adopt Ben as well?" Allan asked.

"Not yet, sir. She and Ben met through webcam a few days ago." Steve shook his head "I'm adopting him as a single Father. Catherine will definitely be a Mother figure when she's back home, but I don't think we're ready for marriage yet." He explained, Allan made a note of that "I'm sure, however, if and when we do, Catherine will adopt him as well. We've talked about a kid for a while now." He admitted.

"So you're very serious?" Allan asked.

"Oh yeah, we only started to officially date about three months ago. But we're serious." Steve shook his head "We've known each other for years, but work kept us apart. We finally decided to just give it a shot." He then added "I think it can be guaranteed that though I'll probably wait for a year or so. Catherine is likely to be my wife and Ben's Mother at some point." He added.

"And, if not?" Allan asked.

Steve understood what he meant, the fact that Ben would only have one parent in the house. The man smiled a bit, and looked over at the counter, where a picture of himself, and the team, sat. "See them? That's the rest of my team. Even if Ben doesn't have two parental figures at home. He'll have three more though them." He looked very serious "I'm not raising him alone, even now." He explained.

Allan nodded again, he jotted down a final note and closed the folder. "Well then, it was a pleasure to meet you." Allan stood, holding out a hand, giving Steve a firm handshake "I must say, you have impressed me, Mr. McGarret. Your home is lovely, and you're the most co-operative Guardian I've met." Steve smiled at that "Please, tell Ben to get better for me, and I'll be in touch for the first meeting between the three of us." He explained.

"Just give me two weeks notice." Steve nodded.

Steve watched the man leave and allowed his body to relax. That had been much less difficult than he'd expected. He'd been given advice from Danny to be himself, but even then, he had been nervous. If he'd gotten one man's approval, perhaps it would be just as easy to get the approval needed to adopt Ben. The sound of soft footsteps got his attention and he turned his head. Ben looked extremely nauseated, and was blushing a bright shade of pink. "I couldn't keept it down." Ben muttered, his breath was rancid "My sheets-" He began.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Steve smiled, he walked over and wrapped an arm around him "Let's go get you and the mess cleaned up." He added.

"Don't tell me I have to get more soup?" Ben groaned.

"If it's the only thing you can keep down, you had better believe it." Steve noted, then looked at him "You go get changed, and I'll go switch out your sheets." He nodded.

Steve watched as Ben rushed to his room first. The man almost dreaded what he would find in there, but kept it to himself. He loved Ben, and he had to get used to this. Ben was sick, and he couldn't help it. Steve was slowly learning to be patient, and the more he was, the more he succeeded. Hopefully, that would continue, as he could only imagine what might happen otherwise. "Alright, you can come in!" Ben called as loudly as he could with his voice so hoarse.

Taking a deep breath, Steve quietly noted that he could worry about adoption later. As of right now, all that Steve needed to learn was how to keep his own breakfast down while handling this mess.