I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: thanks Phoebe! and you know why :-) ... stubborn muses and stories that just won't come along ... I think this one got tamed finally after beginning it MONTHS ago.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O

C.J. stared at Charlie, just a little bit dumb-struck. He didn't know what to say. He'd never had a real father before. Not like Danno or his daddy. Charlie was so excited about making plans, but only one year into his adoption, C.J. had nothing to say at all. As he continued to stare at his brother, Charlie rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and held his arms out wide. He took a big breath of air into his lungs and just about exploded with words, finger-signs and gestures.

"It's NEXT week, C.J. and we gotta DO something!" Charlie repeated. He spoke out loud, signing the words quickly. "You know! FATHER'S Day! It's like MOTHER'S Day but sometimes it's more fun ... 'CAUSE ... we might go fishing or camping ... or hiking. But we have to DO something, too. Buy something REAL good. Cards and stuff. Like ... like Danno loves malasadas or like my mom loves getting flowers or chocolate. Haven't you ever done that with your ...?"

He stopped short of saying the word mom. But Charlie was barely able to stop the finger sign.

C.J. felt his chest do a sad flip-flop.

Charlie made a face and stopped talking. He stopped everything because he knew that C.J.'s mom was in heaven. He also knew that she hadn't exactly been a real good mom ... not like Charlie's mom. Because C.J.'s mom hadn't been so good was why they were brothers now. Being Charlie's brother was the best thing ever, but this particular subject about special days for Mothers and Fathers was making C.J. feel very, very sad. Trying hard now, C.J. tried to remember something about his mom or Mother's Day, but he just couldn't.

Not her hair or her eyes. Barely her smile was still in his mind's eye and C.J. rubbed hard at his nose. There were no memories of pretty flowers or chocolates inside his head either.

"Well we gotta do something good. Something special for Uncle Steve and Danno," Charlie was saying and signing again, though slower and much more carefully. When C.J. still didn't talk though, Charlie took another deep breath only to look down at his bare feet. Charlie sucked his bottom lip in and blinked a few times, before daring to look up.

"No?" He asked carefully, rocking his fist in sign language. "Don't you know what I mean?"

'No.' C.J. rocked his fist back, not really knowing what he meant though. No that he didn't understand or no that he did. Or, even no that he didn't want to do something special for Danno or his dad. Whatever he did mean, Charlie took it the wrong way entirely, insistent now that C.J. figure out everything there was to understand about Father's Day. Except he tumbled right back into Mother's Day.

"Well. It's sort of like ... well? Remember when me and Grace took my mom out for breakfast last month? Remember that?"

Slowly, C.J. shook his head from side to side. The gesture said no, but he totally remembered. He remembered Charlie going to his mom's for that long weekend He knew Charlie had bought a special card and signed it. He had seen the box of chocolates. So he did remember. He did but that wasn't why he was shaking his head like that. He felt like crying and itched at his nose when his eyes began to swim with tears.

"It's okay. You don't have to cry if you don't remember," Charlie said, looking scared for a minute before holding his arms out wide, acting silly. Trying to get C.J. to at least smile. He rolled his eyes, his arms windmilling like Danno's when he got most excited.

"Father's Day is like THAT...but we get to do cooler things ... like go fishing or to a ball game. Or ... or ... anything at all! Sometimes Danno picks what we're gonna do ... like last year? We went to a ball game; just me and him."

C.J. kept shaking his head though. He had never had a happy Mother's Day or a happy Father's Day. He hadn't even known about those special days until he'd been adopted. It was all making sense now and he felt ... sad. He suddenly ached for his mother, afraid that he couldn't remember much about her anymore.

Charlie didn't understand that C.J. sometimes just missed his mom. But then Charlie surprised him.

"Oh. Ohhhhh," Charlie breathed out before he finally shut his mouth for a good, long minute. Long enough for C.J. to fidget and ask.

'What?' He signed before knuckling a tear away around another sad sniffle. He just couldn't get his head around what Charlie was trying to explain.

"Sorry. I forgot about your mom," Charlie eventually admitted. "You don't have to cry. You don't have to cry cause we're gonna have a Father's Day. It'll be fun."

C.J. shrugged. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. His eyes stung and he sniffled back his tears. At least Charlie finally knew why he was sad even if Charlie didn't really understand all of it.

"C.J.?" Before the flood of tears could begin, Charlie was poking him in the arm. He was quieter and only talking now. "I promise ... it will be fun."

'What?' C.J. signed sadly. 'Why is it gonna be fun?'

'Why is it fun? Are you crazy?! You have a DAD now!' Falling into sign language, Charlie's gestures grew as he gained speed. It was funny and C.J. found himself watching and listening.

'You got TWO dads ... and I think I got two dads ... Uncle Steve is a Williams now 'cause I adopted him. So ... so ... Father's Day is going to be two times more fun. Two times more bigger.'

Charlie's eyes danced merrily and it was hard for C.J. to stay upset with his brother so very excited. Besides, he hadn't thought about how special it was for him to have two dads. That got C.J. thinking and then, Charlie's next words sealed the deal.

'Don't you see how much fun we're gonna have?! It's your first Father's Day and ... and it's even Uncle Steve's first Father's Day!'

That was true enough and C.J. blinked in surprise. It was both his and his daddy's first Father's Day. This was a big deal. Not Danno's first, but it was his daddy's for sure and C.J. forgot his tears and how sad he had been feeling. He even managed to grin because Charlie was now bouncing all over their bedroom. His brother's plan was suddenly growing in leaps and bounds and this time, C.J. could feel his joy.

"This is super special 'cause it's Uncle Steve's first Father's Day! So, I got my allowance money," Charlie continued on and on, flipping between speech and signing with ease. He was going so fast, C.J. had a little bit of trouble keeping up.

"We can buy something for Danno and for Uncle Steve ... for your daddy." Charlie made a point of adding that about Steve being C.J.'s daddy to make his point bigger yet.

'I have mine too ... my money,' CJ added. He was smiling now and beginning to feel better as he warmed to Charlie's ideas. 'We can go to the mall ...but they'll know. Is it a secret?'

'It's better if it's a secret. Our secret! So maybe we can take the bus ..." Charlie agreed, totally on board as he automatically finger-signed what would become their secret.

C.J. wrinkled his nose. 'Maybe... but they'll still know if we go alone.'

'We can leave early. Skip school ... be back before anybody knows...?' Now it was Charlie who wrinkled his nose, not really liking his own plan. They could get caught and get in a lot of trouble. Really big trouble since skipping school would be a huge deal.

'Grace?' C.J. offered next. "Grace can drive ... she can take us to the mall. She can help us!' He didn't want to skip school either or take the chance of getting caught no matter the good intentions. He liked the idea of asking Grace. However, mentioning their older sister made Charlie's nose wrinkle up even more but he didn't argue.

"I bet she won't keep our secret," Charlie said out loud almost mulishly. His face said he wasn't too happy. "She's not ... reliable." That last word was a Danno-word and C.J. grinned.

'It's a good idea, Charlie. Grace can too keep a secret,' C.J. added for good measure. Asking Grace to help made sense. 'Please? Can we ask Grace?'

To C.J., this was the best idea. Besides, she'd be good at so many other things from helping them pick out just the right gifts, to navigating the big outside mall, and even to maybe wrapping whatever they wound up buying.

'Let's ask Grace. Okay?' C.J. pressed Charlie just a little bit. 'We won't get in trouble that way and she can help.'

"I guess ... I guess so," Charlie reluctantly agreed. Still making faces to prove how much he wasn't liking the idea, Charlie sighed dramatically before poking C.J. in the arm again. "Okay! But she better keep our secret!"

~ to be continued ~