"Why would Declan ask you to donate blood?" Emily asked curiously. Catherine took a breath before speaking. "Because he wants his mom, sister, and unborn sibling to come home healthy and okay. Because he's blaming himself for the shooting."

Emily's eyes went wide and filled with fresh tears threatening to spill over. She figured that Steve was blaming himself but not Declan. Emily felt a part of her die, knowing that Declan was the one taking full responsibility for everything that transpired. Catherine, sensing the change in Emily's mood, changed the topic.

"So, they uh said that I was a match. That's good right?"

"Yeah, it's great. My daughter will still be deaf. How is she supposed to go back to normal when her entire life is shattered and broken? How is she supposed to pretend that nothing happened? How is supposed to get over the fact that someone tried and nearly succeeded in killing her? How is someone supposed to get over that?"

Catherine finally caught on to the fact that Emily was talking about herself instead of Pandora. "Kids are resilient. She'll be fine. She'll bounce back and adjust to the changes in her life. She'll be thankful for the fact that the rest of her family is alive and healthy. She won't forget that she was nearly killed, but it will drift further into the back of her mind as time goes on. This event will not be weighing on her because she still has an entire life to live. She will be fine because she has you and Steve as parents. Pandora will be fine and so will you Emily."

Emily jumped slightly at Catherine grabbing her hand. She knew that Catherine was talking directly to her and not indirectly about Pandora. She looked up into Catherine's eyes and for the first time, she saw an actual person. She gripped Catherine's hand and slightly intertwined their fingers. Catherine let out a shaky breath and then lifted her watery eyes to meet Emily. "I can't believe that we're in this place", Catherine said while laughing nervously. Emily mimicked her and leaned back in the chair.

The two sat in comfortable silence until Emily spoke up. "Do you want to meet her? Officially?"

"Uh I'm uh…yeah..sure", Catherine stuttered out. "Good. Let's go."

Emily stood and waited for Catherine to do the same. The two brunettes walked to Pandora's room. When they entered, Emily smiled at the sight of Doris teaching Pandora how to sign. Emily looked at Pandora attempting to mirror what her grandmother was teaching her. Catherine nudged Emily softly.

"She can't talk anymore?" Emily shook her head. "She chooses to not talk, so that she can learn to sign better. I'm pretty sure—well pretty hopeful—that she'll talk again eventually. Right now, I just want her to go back to the happy little girl that she is." Pandora looked at her mother and a woman she didn't recognize standing in the doorway. She smiled up at her mom and watched her smile back.

Emily slowly walked over to Pandora's bed and sat down. Pandora reached over and pushed a few stray hairs out of Emily's face. She signed Hi mommy to Emily and smiled when she signed back Hello sweetheart

Emily was picking up sign language very quickly from the books that Doris and Tran had given her. Pandora crawled into her mother's lap and look at a very uncomfortable Catherine, who was shifting on her feet and fidgeting. Catherine looked at Pandora and gave a small smile and wave to the grinning toddler. Pandora signed Thank You to Catherine. Emily turned to look at a confused Catherine before chuckling lightly.

"She said thank you." "How do I say you're welcome?", Catherine asked sheepishly. Emily showed her how and watched as she mimicked You're welcome to Pandora.

Doris cleared her throat, signaling to everyone that they had more visitors. Emily smiled when she saw her kids as well as Mary and Joan in the doorway of Pandora's hospital room. Winter smiled widely before running to her twin. Wolf ran to his mom and hugged her as tight as he could. Emily squeezed him and whispered in his ear, "I am so proud of you. You were so brave. I'm sorry that you had to see all of that bad stuff." "I love you mommy", Wolf whispered back. "I love you too my baby boy."

She let go of Wolf and watched him crawl over her and onto the bed next to Pandora. Emily pushed herself off the bed and walked over to her two oldest children. She rubbed their faces lovingly before pulling the both of them into a tight hug. Emily felt both Declan and Egypt's tears hit her shoulders. She kissed both of their foreheads and pulled away to look at the both of them. "Words cannot describe how proud I am of the both of you. I am so thankful that you guys got your brother and sisters out of the house. I don't want either of you to blame yourself for not being able to get me out. I am okay. Your sister's okay. This family is okay, you hear me?"
Both boys nodded their heads and started to walk over to Pandora's bed. Emily stopped Declan and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Declan I want you to listen real closely to what I'm about to say. None of this is your fault. The only person at fault is the sick animal that did this. Thank you for asking Catherine to donate blood. She's fine now because of what you did."

"I'm sorry that I caused all of this." "Declan, you didn't. People with twisted minds always find a way to achieve whatever goal they have. I'm saying this to mean that he would've found another way to hurt me because that's what his goal was. I don't know why but he wanted to hurt me….you guys were just caught up in the crossfire." "I love you mom, so much." "I love you too Dec."

Emily watched on for hours as Doris and Pandora taught the rest of the McGarrett family how to sign. Catherine left after about a couple of hours to go home and sleep. Emily stared at her family with a content smile and unconsciously rubbed her belly. She felt eyes on her and turned her head to see Steve staring at her. She got up from the chair and pulled him into the hallway before anyone else saw him.

"I am so sorry Steve. You were right. I was being selfish and-"

Steve silenced Emily with a passionate kiss that she immediately gave in to. Emily pulled Steve as close to her as she could. Steve felt her tears rubbing against his cheeks, which made him hold her tighter. They broke apart for air and Emily rested her forehead against Steve's. He cradled her head between his heads and swiped his fingers over the apples of her cheeks. "Emily I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. We've had a lot going on recently, and I guess I took my anger out on you. I am sorry baby. I just want us to be okay. I'll be okay with whatever decision you make as long as I have you."

"Steve, I'm not getting an abortion. I was hurting emotionally and physically. Pandora is okay because of Catherine. I am okay because of you. We are fine, I promise. I love you so much. Please don't leave me again." "Never again."

"Now, go. Panda waiting to see her daddy."