To all those that continue to read, thank you. I love the old television show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For those of you that are familiar with it, see if you can find the reference. Everyone else, just enjoy. Thanks for reading, Avy73
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Catherine's leave had come to an end three days earlier. Steve had enjoyed every moment with her. He was also happy to see a friendship develop between Catherine and Azucena. It had been much harder to say goodbye this time than in the past.
The day after she had left, he felt miserable. He wanted her in his life on a regular basis and the next time she was in town for leave, he was going to do something about it. In the near future he would start shopping for rings. It was time, he felt it in his bones.
The only thing that clawed at the back of his mind was the fact that she had mentioned six more years until she could retire. Would she give up the military for a life with him? She had done her time and it would be a shame to throw away all the work. That was a bridge they would have to cross in the future. He thought about Pearl, she might be able to get a transfer.
His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the front door, "What is that smell?"
"Good or bad?" he hollered back to the voice of his sister, as he flipped the pages in the Guns and Ammo magazine he had be perusing.
"Amazing!" she answered, as she walked into the kitchen, her work clothes covered in flour and her backpack still clinging to her shoulders.
"Chicken enchiladas. I didn't think you were getting off this early, so I ate without you."
"No worries, I was done earlier than I expected." She walked into the study and shrugged her backpack off her shoulders. She unbuttoned her chef's jacket and threw it in the laundry room, leaving her in her chef pants and undershirt. Her hair was tied back in French braid pig tails.
She sauntered back into the kitchen and pulled a plate from the cupboards. As she served up some enchiladas, she quizzed her brother, "How was work?"
"We closed the case we were working on. Now we are back to cold cases."
"I can tell by your tone of voice you are just thrilled about those. Who was guilty in the case you closed out today?"
"The assistant to the travel agent. He was in love with her and he didn't want her to continue to moonlight as a hooker, so he's the one that killed the John."
"Love makes you do the wacky." She responded, taking a bite as she leaned against the kitchen sink.
Steve looked up at her, debating whether to say anything. He chuckled to himself, she had flour in one of her braids, he doubted she saw it. "What? Why are you laughing?"
He pointed to the right side of her face, "You have flour in your hair."
She looked down and saw the dusting. She made a slightly disgruntled noise. He laughed at her, "Speaking of love doing the wacky."
Azucena looked at him between bites, "Yeah?"
"Don't over react when I say this."
"I would like to think I'm the more laid back between the two of us, but go on." She encouraged, humor laced her voice.
"I'm thinking about asking Catherine to marry me the next time she's on leave."
"Wow." She put her plate down on the island in front of her, food still on it.
"Don't say anything to anyone. I just thought I would let you know where my thoughts are going. I mean, if we were to get married, we would live here and you live here to, and I'm not wanting you to leave." He was rambling, he wasn't certain where he was going with this.
"Steve, take a breath man." she looked at him, his face was almost panicked, "That's awesome news. I'm thrilled for you and I won't say anything to anyone."
She could see the relief rush through his body, a grin graced her face. She was happy for him. If he wanted to spend his life with Catherine, it was the right answer.
His phone rang, as she was preparing to say something more. He answered, "Yes Governor?"
Azucena only heard Steve's side of the conversation, but it didn't sound positive. At the end of the call, he looked at her, "Explosion in a bank downtown."
"It's after hours." She answered, as he pulled up Danny's number.
"Yeah, so that says it's a definite heist because there was a car spotted leaving the bank." His attention shifted from her to the person on the other end of the phone, "Danno, we got a case. Call Chin and have him and Kono meet us at the First National Bank of Honolulu."
Azucena continued to eat her dinner, "Gracie's asleep? . . . . It's early man. . . . oh she isn't feeling good?"
Azucena looked up to Steve, "If he doesn't want to wake her, I can go over and keep an eye on her while you guys work."
"Azucena can come over and watch her." Steve nodded to his sister.
She took two more bites of dinner and ran up the stairs to her room. She threw a shirt on that covered more than her undershirt and a pair of yoga pants. Sliding her feet into her flipflops, she ran back downstairs. Steve had his badge and gun clipped to his belt, "Ready?"
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They stood on Danny's front porch and Steve quietly knocked. He didn't want to wake up Grace if she was sleeping. Danny opened the door and let them both in, "Thanks for doing this, you're a lifesaver."
"No worries." She replied.
"She should sleep the rest of the night, I gave her some children's Tylenol about two hours ago. I don't think she has a fever, just a little bug. If she wakes up, you could give her more Tylenol in about two hours."
"Will do." Azucena nodded, she could see he was flustered and worried. He hugged her, "Thanks again."
The two headed out the door and she locked it behind them. Azucena curled up on the sofa and flipped through the channels on the television. She settled on an old movie on TMC, Yours, Mine, and Ours.
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The sun was peeking through the blinds and Azucena awoke to the shuffle of little feet. Grace was standing in the living room, looking at her, "Auntie Cena?"
"Hey Grace, how are you feeling?"
"I feel okay. Where's my dad?"
"Him and Uncle Steve had to go to work last night, so I thought I would come over and hang out with you. Is that okay?"
"That is so cool!" the little girl grinned from ear to ear. It made Azucena's heart happy. She glanced at the clock on the wall, 5:00. Those guys were still working. They were going to be exhausted.
"Auntie Cena?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm hungry."
"Super hungry or just kind of hungry?" questioned Azucena, wondering if the little girl truly was feeling better.
"Super hungry."
"How about I make crepes for breakfast?"
"What are crepes?" asked the little girl, genuine curiosity painted her face.
"They are like really thin pancakes rolled up with fruit in them. I saw there are some strawberries in the fridge and bananas on the counter. We could make strawberry and banana crepes."
"Oh, that sounds so yummy. Can I help?"
"Of course you can help me." They wandered into the kitchen. Azucena tied a tea towel around the little girl and she donned Danny's apron. They mixed up all the ingredients for the batter and were in the middle of stirring everything when Steve and Danny walked in the front door.
They looked exhausted, but Danny didn't let that stop him. The instant he saw them, he was in full parent mode, "Monkey, how you feeling?"
"I feel much better Danno." She answered, as he kissed the top of her head and then held his hands to her cheeks, checking for a fever. The little girl continued to talk through all of this, "We are making crepes for breakfast, with bananas and strawberries."
"Banana and strawberry crepes, that sounds super yummy." Responded Danny. He then looked to Azucena, "You didn't have to do that, a bowl of cereal would be just fine."
"Sit down," she directed him and Steve, "You both could use some food."
"I'm definitely not complaining about that." Answered a weary Steve. He sat down on a barstool at Danny's kitchen island and watched his sister teach Grace how to make crepes. Her patience with the little girl was amazing. He could see the joy the little girl brought to his sister's face and that's when he realized, she would be an amazing pediatric nurse. She knew her calling.
Grace decided Danno and Uncle Steve needed to eat breakfast first because they looked really tired. They received the first few crepes, but then Grace was ready to have her first bite and she was thrilled, "Danno, these are better than your pancakes!"
"I'm going to have to agree with you Monkey, these are way better than my pancakes." He looked to Azucena as he said it.
"I bet Danno's pancakes are wonderful." Replied Azucena, her cheeks flushing from the compliment.
"He puts chocolate chips in them." Explained Grace.
"Oh, that sounds yummy. I grew up putting peanut butter on my pancakes."
"Peanut butter?" questioned a perplexed Grace.
"Yeah, crunchy was always my favorite." Answered Azucena. This caught Steve's attention, their mom would make peanut butter pancakes occasionally when him and Mary were kids. He was curious, "Was that something mom did or the Pressgroves?"
"Mom did it, but then when the Pressgroves made pancakes, I always did it." She paused in between bites of crepes, "Did she make them for you and Mary?"
"Yeah, every once in a while we would have pancakes for breakfast and she would pull out the peanut butter. She didn't make pancakes very often when we were growing up."
"That was Sunday morning breakfast in our house, pancakes and bacon." Remembered Azucena, "It wasn't exactly healthy, but she loved pancakes. At least, that's what I remember."
Steve reflected as he finished his breakfast, he couldn't ever recall his dad eating pancakes. It must have been his dad that didn't like them.
Azucena looked at Steve and Danny, they were both dead on their feet. It was a Saturday and she didn't have class or work today. She thought it might be easiest to just watch Grace for the day, which would allow Danny to get some shut eye. "Danny, you look dead on your feet. You want me to watch Grace for the day, so you can get some rest?"
"Are you serious?" he asked, relief in his voice.
"Well, you guys worked all night. I figure Grace and I could hang out at the house and swim or something. You and Steve both look like the walking dead."
"Monkey, would you be okay hanging out with Azucena today?"
"Heck yeah Danno. We can swim, and Auntie Cena can help me decorate my Valentine's Day box for school on Monday." The little girl was so excited, "Did you make Valentine's Day boxes in school Auntie Cena?"
"Yes, we made boxes. What is your box going to be?" she asked the little girl, ignoring the fact that she absolutely loathed this holiday. She didn't want to ruin something exciting for the little girl.
"It's going to be a hot air balloon. We made the paper Mache balloon part, now all I have to do it glue the tissue paper to the balloon. It's going to be a pink, red, and purple balloon."
"That sounds amazing. I would love to help." Answered Azucena, with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. She stood up to clean up the kitchen, but Danny placed a hand on her arm, "You watched my kid overnight and you are spending the day with her. Don't you dare worry about my kitchen. I'll clean this up later."
"You sure?" she questioned.
"Yes, I'm sure. Let me get a bag packed for Grace and then you might consider driving your Neanderthal of a brother home. I think I caught him falling asleep in between bites of your amazing breakfast." He disappeared out of the kitchen with Grace in tow.
Steve was fighting hard to stay awake, "I hope you're okay with this. We'll stay outside, or be really quiet inside, so you can get some sleep."
"This is no problem at all. I'm so tired a herd of elephants could run through the house and I probably wouldn't wake up." He answered, as he dug his keys out of his pocket and handed them over to Azucena.
Danny reappeared in the kitchen with Grace and a bag in tow. He handed the bag to Azucena, "Her swimsuit, towel and sunscreen are in there. Also, all the art supplies needed to work on this Valentine's box. You are an absolute saint. Thank you for everything."
He pulled Azucena in for a hug and she acquiesced with his actions. She forgot how physical Danny was with his emotions. It wasn't a bad thing, it just wasn't something she was used to. Maybe it was because she had built walls up over the past couple years, but Danny slowly tore them down each and every time she was around him. It was nice, once she got past the initial shock.
Steve, Azucena, and Grace all piled in the truck and headed for home. Steve stumbled up the stairs and collapsed into bed. Azucena and Grace spent the morning enjoying the ocean. Their afternoon consisted of eating lunch and watching Finding Nemo while they decorated the Valentine's Day box. Steve and Danny both appeared mid-afternoon, followed shortly thereafter by the arrival of Chin, Malia, and Kono. The group spent the evening grilling out and relaxing.