I know, I know! It's been ages since I last updated this story!So here it is!
"Commander." Robert Rollins nodded trying to sound as nice as possible as he saw his daughter's 'boyfriend' entering the room. What he really wanted to do to young Commander McGarrett was take him out to the woodshed and have a talk with him, Robert's fist to McGarrett's face. He couldn't believe two officers of his Navy would be so careless as to get pregnant out of wedlock, and also, he didn't think any man on God's green earth was good enough to date his daughter let alone do what they did.
"Admiral Rollins." Steve nodded sounding not as surprised as he really was as he saw Catherine's father. He went straight over to Catherine's side to check on her. After he had seen how she had reacted to her father's last visit, he wanted to make sure that she was ok with her father's being in her room. As he had reached Catherine's side he sat on the right side of her bed, her took her hand and Catherine gently squeezed it, to assure Steve that she was fine.
Steve was feeling very protective of his family and that didn't include Admiral Rollins. It was just the three of them, Steve, Catherine, and Junior. "So to what do we owe the pleasure?" Steve asked letting go of Catherine's hand to cross it in front of his chest and look every bit as tough of a Seal as he was. The distain in Steve's voice was enough to tell Robert that Steve was wearing his big boy cargoes and that maybe this McGarrett fellow wasn't that bad after all.
"I'm visiting MY daughter." Robert replied simply looking at Catherine as a reminder to be nice to Steve. He might not like Commander McGarrett at all, but he knows Catherine loves him and with her expecting a child he somehow has to start to accept him.
"Really?" Steve asked in disbelief "And what changed your mind? Because if I remember correctly, and I always do, you weren't here yesterday." Steve paused to look Robert straight in to the eye. "Or is this just to tell her again that she got trained for situations like this and she should stop acting like a child and pull it together." There you go Admiral, stick that in your Navy cover and smoke it! Steve really was thinking.
"Steve!" Catherine said with her mouth still shut with only Steve being able to hear her, as she warned him with a glare that told him to just let it go. She already knew very well where this would be going if she didn't stop him.
"No, Catherine." Steve looked at her and then back to the Admiral. "Because let me tell you there is no way to prepare someone for what she had been through. There's no military camp in the world who could've prepared her to be kidnapped and tortured while being pregnant with our child." The words just flew out of his mouth, but he didn't regret them. "And again you weren't there for her when she needed you the most. You preferred to spent time with your NAVY buddies instead of simply being there for your own daughter, really Admiral Rollins, really!" Steve stopped. His own daughter, he thought to himself and then he began to think about what he would've done. He would be there for his daughter; he wouldn't leave her side until he would be sure that she had recovered from what had happened.
"I haven't even met my child yet and I've been here every minute I was allowed. If Catherine was having tests and I wasn't allowed to be there, I might run home for a shower and a change of clothes. You see that bed over there? The hospital gave it to me to sleep in but I sleep in this chair inches from them and making sure she's not having any nightmares. I haven't slept in weeks, and I don't care. She needs me, junior needs, me, and I need them so here I am and here I will stay as long as they are here! That is what you should have done and not going out and having fun. You should have been here yesterday and seen the fear in her eyes, just like your wife and I did!"
After all that was said, it was silent in the room, so silent you could hear a pin drop. The tension lines were back on Steve's forehead because he had worked up quite a temper telling the Admiral what he thought. It finally dawned on him that he was still in the Navy and could be court-martialed for disrespecting a superior officer, let alone an Admiral. Catherine could feel the tension between Steve and her father. She wanted it to stop but she didn't know how so she just looked at them both. She loved them both so much, but they were as different as day and night. Both are, great naval officers that love her, but that is where their similarities end. She didn't know how long it took but it was her father who broke the silence.
"You know what, Steven…." Admiral Rollins paused to look at Catherine for a second. He ran his left hand through his balding grayish-brown hair before he looked back at Steve.
"I'm only going to say this once, so listen carefully and trust me it's not easy for me to admit it, but you are right. I should've been here yesterday. Catherine is my precious daughter first, a mother to be second, your girlfriend, and way down the list she is a naval officer. For so long I only wanted to see the naval officer because admitting she's one day going to be a wife, a mother, and leave the Navy just wasn't acceptable to me. But she has chosen a career path and has done all that she could to advance and I am extremely proud of her. But as my wife and my friends reminded me yesterday, the Navy is just a job, but her life with you and your child is where she wants to be…and she should be, and I will be there as much as the two of you will let me. It's not been easy to accept you as the man in her life not because of you, but because a father never thinks any man is good enough for their daughter." Robert takes a minute to sit down and take a long deep breath and continues. "You'll see what I mean Commander when you child is born, so maybe then you'll understand what I've been trying to do. Keep her from being the woman she is and not pushing her to be a naval officer any longer."
Steve looked at him in disbelief, this was the first time Catherine's father agreed with him and told him that he was right. Catherine had the same bewildered look on her face as well as tears rolling down her cheeks. Her father never has admitted to anyone his feelings about her growing up and her life without the navy.
"And Catherine I'm sorry for not being there for you. This was what I was going to tell you before Steven interrupted us." Catherine felt speechless. The second time in a row where he called Steve by his name and not his naval rank..., she thought to herself.
"Last night when I got back to our room your mother gave me a speech and she…let's just say I didn't sleep well last night. I'm really, really sorry Catherine and I know I can't turn back the time but I if I could I would've been there for you… not only now… but for all the other things I have missed in your life." Catherine was in shock and so was Steve. He held onto her hand tighter and wipes away her tears.
The room was deadly silent, and no one would admit it but they all saw Robert wipe a tear away from his cheek. Even father's who are Admirals have feelings and after seeing the whole situation that Catherine went through and is STILL going through, his true fatherly feelings came out. Now Robert wasn't just talking about last night, he was talking about all the little things he had missed due to his work in the Navy.
Catherine and Steve had no idea how to react to what Robert had just said. "I'm sorry." He said again before he walked towards the door.
"Dad?" Catherine asked carefully the moment he had placed his hand on the door handle. Admiral Rollins turned around. "It's okay." Catherine said with a soft smile on her face. "I know how hard it is to admit that you were wrong, especially for you…" She paused as her beautiful tear soaked brown eyes focused on her father who was still standing at the door. "You don't have to turn back the time, but it would help a lot if you would accept that Steve is my boyfriend..." What are you talking about Rollins? Steve had already told you about the ring and that he had plans to propose to you, she thought to herself. "And the father of your grandchild." Catherine added. "I know you don't like him, but can't you try for me and your grandchild?" Please don't go Daddy, stay here…, she thought to herself.
Again there was silence in Catherine's room and she already started to regret that she had asked him to accept Steve.
Will Admiral Rollins accept Steve finally?
I've already started the next chapter so please leave a review and you'll get it. :)