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One Touch Away
Steve slipped the watch device out of its package and showed it to Angie. "So what do you press in an emergency?" He asked as she paid rapt attention.
"The red button." She pointed to it.
"Good job, Angie," DJ said from his spot next to Catherine at the smart table.
"And what do you press for me or Mommy?" Steve asked.
"Your picture." She studied the icons carefully. "And there's Uncle Danno and Uncle Chin and Aunt Kono and Grandma…" She indicated the images of the people Catherine had entered in the child-safe watch phone.
"Right. Good girl." He kissed her head and slipped it onto her wrist. She immediately turned to show her brother. "Look, it's just like yours!"
"Yeah, and it's just for emergencies and stuff, but our adult list can call us, too." The nine year old reminded her. "And we can call each other."
Danny entered the bullpen and was greeted with smiles and hugs. "Woah, what's this? New watches that are cool phones?"
"Yeah, Mommy programmed them and in an emergency we can call 911 with the red button." DJ said. "And the blue one goes right to the task force, so Daddy would know right away."
Danny knelt to admire the identical watches. "These are great." He smiled at the kids. "I wish they had them when Grace was your age."
"We figured until DJ gets a phone…" Steve led, and his partner nodded in complete understanding. The kids could reach out in an emergency.
"GPS?" Danny raised a brow at Catherine, already knowing the answer.
"GPS live tracking to our phones," she confirmed. "And as admin, I invited you, Chin and Kono as guardians so you can monitor if needed. Chin already added them to the system here. Everyone else is set up to communicate with or without the app."
"We got ten people!" Angie held up as many fingers. "You push the picture and it calls."
"Why don't you go show Uncle Chin how you know all the buttons? He's in the breakroom," Catherine suggested.
"Okay! C'mon, DJ!" Angie grabbed his hand and headed across the bullpen.
Once the kids were out of earshot, Steve said, "They can only make and receive calls from the ten people on the list. It blocks unknown numbers and there's a classroom mode so it's not bright and distracting. We wanted something in case …" Steve took a breath and again, his partner nodded his understanding. "They need to reach us."
"I think it's an excellent idea. Like I said, I wish they had 'em for Grace fifteen years ago."
The kids rushed back in, each holding a peanut butter cracker. "Uncle Chin gave us a snack!" Angie gleefully bit into hers.
Chin smiled as he approached the group. "I was hungry for a peanut butter cracker so I figured these two must be needing a snack, too."
Catherine grinned. "Of course you did. Breakfast was a whole two hours ago. Thanks."
"And I want a cool watch like that."
"You can get one, Uncle Chin," Angie offered. "Mommy can tell you where."
"I know she can." He winked at DJ who was smiling at his little sister's helpfulness. "If I decide to get one, your mommy is my first call."
"Good!" Angie took another bite. "Where's Aunt Kono again?"
"She's in court, baby girl," Steve reminded her. "Talking to a judge about some bad guys," DJ added.
"Can we show her later?"
"Next time you see her you can show her your watches, promise," Catherine said. "For right now, let's get you to Grandma and Grandpa's…" she said as Steve's phone rang.
Stepping back a few feet he answered, "McGarrett." Followed by, "We're on it, thanks, Lea."
"You caught a case, Daddy?" Angie ran forward for a hug. Repeating what her mommy always said she murmured, "Be careful, love you." As DJ came into Steve's arms to do the same. "Be careful, love you, Uncle Danno, Uncle Chin!" The little girl offered hugs as Catherine pecked Steve's lips and both her children's uncles smiled at the kids who understood very well that their daddy might not make dinner, or possibly even breakfast but would be home as soon as possible.
"Go," Catherine said as she gathered the watch boxes and added them to her purse. "I'll get them to Mom and Dad's and I have two meetings." She offered each child a hand. "If they end early, I'll be at Grandma, Grandpa and Grandma Ang's by three o'clock."
"Awesome," DJ nodded and Angie beamed, even as their eyes followed Steve, Danny and Chin out the doors.
That evening, Rollins' Condo
"And you can use your Iphone to call them, you don't need an app," Catherine showed her grandmother. "We wanted them to have some way to reach us and they get ten contacts."
"'Cause safety is i'portant." Angie added from the sofa where she was sitting between Joseph and Smokey with Gizmo on her lap.
"Yes it is, sweetheart," Elizabeth said. "And every additional safety measure counts."
"Like the escape route," right Mommy?" DJ asked.
"Right, my smart boy. We have an escape route and fire drills so we know what to do in an emergency."
"And a place to secure," DJ offered.
"And a place to secure. That we hope we never need, but we're prepared just in case."
"I go with DJ and we stay very, very quiet," Angie reiterated what she'd been taught for as long as she could remember.
"We go to the safe spot and stay there until Mommy, Daddy, or one of our trusted adults like you comes to get us." The nine year old took safety very seriously.
After he came to live with his parents and they'd told him they didn't want him to worry, but explained an escape and a secure in place plan, he'd said how he wasn't scared of having a plan, that it made him feel safe. After his tumultuous early years, he saw it as a way they were showing him love, because they wanted to protect him.
"Remember I told you you'd learn new drills in kindergarten?" He asked his sister.
Angie nodded. "I'll be a good listener and help the other kids. Ms. Julie and Mr. Frederick said I was a good listener in preschool."
"You were a very good listener," Catherine said and she smiled.
"And this year I'll be in the same school," DJ said. "I'll know right where you are and I'll be doing the drills too."
Catherine exchanged a look with her father. Her kids needing to do family drills was something that came with the territory of who she and Steve were. Danny had done them with Grace from the time he'd joined the task force, but drills for active shooters in their schools was something she wouldn't have imagined 20 years ago. "And Daddy and I will always know exactly where you are and you can call us if you need to."
"Cause our watches will help us be safe." DJ smiled and wrapped an arm around his mom's waist in a hug.
A text dinged her phone and she pulled it out to check. When a smile crossed her face, Angie and DJ, who were watching her intently, both smiled as well. "The case wrapped?" He asked.
"All wrapped." Catherine nodded. "Daddy's on his way here. Uncle Danno's dropping him off."
Both kids beamed.
"Daddy caught all the bad guys, so everyone's safe," the five year old hopped off the sofa and gave a little clap. Holding up her wrist, she said, "And now he's coming home early 'cause he was very, very careful."
"And he's extra careful because he loves us," DJ put in with love and pride glinting in his eyes at what his daddy always told them.
Catherine scooped her daughter into a hug and kissed her cheek. Settling Angie on a hip, she hugged DJ with her free arm and remembered Steve's very first promise. "As careful as he can be, sweetheart. As careful as he can be."
#End. Thanks for reading!
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