Sammy and Ilna, love you guys. Always.

REAL McRollers and readers, thank you for your love and support.

Additional AN at the end

Long Ago and Far Away

The server in the O Club placed a plate each in front of Catherine and Joseph. "Enjoy, Sir. Ma'am." The young seaman smiled at their thanks and went to see to two O-2s who'd taken seats across the room.

Captain Rollins was a rarity. So few high ranking officers, retired or active duty, took time to greet and engage with him when they ate at the club. Seaman Gerard thought how the captain's daughter was just like him. The Lieutenant always asked how he was and had a smile for everyone. The whole family had been there for the December 7th memorials, including the Captain's two grandkids who Gerard always found to be polite and very friendly. With a glance at the door where another officer was entering, his thoughts turned to the O-2s as he approached to take their orders.

Catherine took a sip of her iced tea and smiled at her father.

"I'm happy you called about lunch, honey. Good meeting?" Joseph asked.

"Very good. We wrapped an hour early on a great note. And I'm really glad I caught you before you ate." She bit into a pickle and grinned.

"And you get to eat your own pickle," Joseph chuckled, alluding to Angie's habit of asking everyone if they were 'Gonna eat you' pickle?'

"True," she laughed. "You know, I …" She stopped at the sound of her name and turned to see a face from the past stepping up to their table.

"Rollins? Catherine Rollins! God, I thought that was you." The muscular man with carrot colored hair gave her a warm smile. "Good to see you.'

"Malph!" Catherine stood and wrapped him in a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm great, actually. And where are my manners? I interrupted your lunch."

"No, no, don't be silly. Meet my father, Captain Joseph Rollins, retired. Dad, Benny O'Shea served with me on my last tour.

"Sir." He saluted, then shook the hand Joseph offered.

"Nice to meet you. Malph? He questioned the nickname. "Story there."

"Yes, sir. My drill sergeant grew up in the 70s. Took a look at my hair day one and said it looked like that Ralph Malph guy's on Happy Days and …" he shrugged.

Joseph smiled and pointed to an empty chair at their table for four. "Care to join us?"

Benny smiled. "I don't want to butt in …"

"Please," Catherine said. "We can catch up a little. Are you TAD?"

He sat. "Fourteen days. I'm out of San Diego. I heard you were reserves." He shook his head. "Can't believe I ran into you. You live here?"

Seaman Gerard appeared and took Benny's order, then Catherine answered. "Yeah. And my folks and Grandmother moved here almost four years ago."

"That's great." He grinned. "How's McGarrett?"

"He's good. Steve runs the governor's task force." She smiled at his confidence in asking the question. She hadn't seen Malph in over ten years. "We got married in 2016."

"Never doubted for a minute you would."

Panjshir province, Afghanistan, December 2008

"Go go go go go!" Catherine and Benny O'Shea scrabbled for footholds on the sandy terrain and followed Al Cuzzi's voice over the din of weapon fire and percussion of detonating devices.

They'd turned the corner of what was once a building, but now consisted of two sides and a sagging roof, when they stopped short at the sight of the Taliban member's assault rifle which was pointed directly at O'Shea's head.

He wore a chest rig with four AK sized magazines and two grenades and had another rifle strapped across his body. "On your knees!" The man screamed in Pashto, then English as he jabbed with the nose of the rifle. 'Weapons, or I kill her first."

Glancing up as she moved to kneel, Catherine was gaguing the odds of them overpowering the terrorist when he yelled "Kneel!" again, followed by a string of vulgar expletives as he ran his fingers over the grenade closest to his left hand.

She exchanged a quick look with Benny. The Taliban member was planning to detonate the grenade and kill them all. Just as she placed a hand on the ground as if to steady herself, she caught the shadow behind the man's shoulder.

The terrorist stepped slightly closer and made a move for the grenade when the rifle in his right hand jerked upwards, seemingly of it's own accord. Before he could close the hand on the grenade, the rifle came down and out of his grasp as Catherine stepped forward, yanked it away and tossed it to Benny.

In the brief seconds that followed, the unmistakable sound of a snapping neck was followed by the man's lifeless body slumping to the ground. Removing the rest of the weaponry from the dead man, Benny O'Shea saw six of his squad members turn the corner less than two yards away. On the operation with the SEAL team, they'd neutralized the rest of the Taliban members and their target, but would have walked into the grenade's detonation.

Catherine gave the man who'd joined them a weary smile. She placed a hand on his arm as Steve's eyes ran over her and he asked, "You okay?"

Her nod included Benny, who was offering thanks of his own. If the SEAL who was on the joint mission with Intel hadn't been there, the Taliban member's suicide would have taken out not only him and Cathrine, but the six members of his squad.

"We're good." She tightened her hand on Steve's bicep. Her eyes held a myriad of emotions as she said, "Steve, thanks."

His mouth twitched up at the corner in understanding as he said, "Thank you. Nice assist."

Seeing the unmistakable connection, O'Shea waved for his guys to head back to their vehicles, saying, "The two of you are a damn well-oiled machine. Thank you both."

Present

"So, any little McGarretts running around?"

Joseph had his phone out before his daughter reached for hers and she chuckled. "Go ahead." Catherine waved a hand. "You may have opened a can of worms, Malph."

"Just showing the man my grandchildren, sweetheart. He did ask." Joseph passed the device over and smiled at her. The brown eyes that were so much like Elizabeth's had been seeing something very far away for just a moment between blinks. He knew the look well and he gave her hand a short squeeze.

"Angie's four and DJ's eight," she told Benny as she smiled softly at her dad.

"Damn, she's your clone," he chuckled, then smirked at Joseph. "Strong genes, Sir."

The proud grandfather held up a hand. "All my wife's. Catherine looks just like her mother. No mistaking the looks, but Angie has a lot of her father's traits."

"That's gonna get interesting when she's older," Benny laughed. "And look at this handsome dude. Third grade?"

She nodded picking up on him knowing an eight year old's grade level. "How many do you have?"

"Two. Olivia's ten and Liam's eight." He pulled out his own phone to show a family photo before the two former colleagues continued to catch up. When lunch was over, Catherine smiled. "You should stop by the house. Steve would love to see you." She pulled out her phone. "Give me your number and I'll text you, and you let us know if you're free for dinner. We grill a lot so just say the word and we'll put another burger on."

Benny stood and she rose to hug him. "You got it." He waved the young seaman over. "I've got lunch," he said as Catherine and Joseph made to protest. "No arguments. It may have been long ago and far away, but it's least I can do for half of the couple that saved our squad." He was smiling but his eyes were serious and sincere.

Catherine shook her head and gave him another hug. "Great seeing you, Malph. And really, text me and come by."

"I will. Promise." When he'd exited the club, she gathered their things as Joseph gave her a soft smile.

Steve's actions in this story are based on those of my 'Army Uncle' Al. He snuck up on a Nazi SS officer who was holding several men at gunpoint and snapped his neck to save the men in C Company, one of whom was my dad. This one's for you, Uncle Al.

#End. Thanks for reading!

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