Hello! This is just a fan-to-fan story. I don't own the characters. It's a Mcroll story and I hope you enjoy it.

Steve put some clothes in his suitcase and went downstairs to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Another day was starting at the McGarrett house.

"Good morning, Don," Steve said to his son as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning," replied Don, a rebellious and troubled 15-year-old teenager.

"Take the plates and cutlery to the table please," Steve ordered him.

"Okay," Don replied not very happy.

"Good morning, Dad." It was Caroline's turn to enter the kitchen.

"Good morning, daughter. Help your brother set the table, please."

Caroline sighed. "Don can't do anything on his own?"

"Caroline...I won't ask again," Steve replied in a harsher tone.

"Okay," she replied. Caroline was thirteen and not a docile teenager either.

Steve finished preparing breakfast and brought it to the table. Lyla, the youngest, called to him from the top of the stairs for Steve to go get her. She was not yet three years old.

"Did you sleep well, my little princess?" Steve asked as he picked her up on his lap.

"No, Daddy. There was a monster in my room," Lyla replied.

"Oh, I'm sure there wasn't," Steve replied.

"Yes, there was. He was big and blue," Lyla said and opened her arms to size up the monster.

"She learned the color blue yesterday in kindergarten," Caroline told Steve.

"Really? My little girl has a vivid imagination, huh?" Steve pinched the tip of Lyla's nose and smiled. He sat her down in the chair and also sat down to eat breakfast with his children.

Steve told the children that he would be traveling as they were finishing breakfast.

"Someone from my staff will pick you up from school and Mrs. Mansom will stay with you in the afternoon. When it is time for her to leave, she will take you to your grandparents' house."

"Can I travel with you, Daddy?" Lyla asked.

"No, honey. I'm going on a business trip," Steve told the girl.

"Can't we stay here, Dad? I don't want to go to my grandparents' house," Caroline asked.

"There's no chance of you staying here alone, Caroline," Steve took away any hope of her staying home without adult supervision.

"Grandma talks about Mom all the time and it makes me sad," Caroline explained why she didn't want to go.

"Your grandmother misses your mother as much as you do. She was her daughter," Steve told her.

"Why does talking about Mom bother you? You should enjoy talking about her," Don was rude to Caroline.

"That's not what she meant, Don. And you know that very well. Do you see why I can't leave you three alone in the house?" Steve stood up to collect the dishes.

"What are you going to do on the mainland?" Don asked him.

"I'm going to the prison. I need to talk to a guy who's being held there. He may have ties to a crime the team is investigating," Steve told his son.

"Have you ever heard of videoconferencing, Dad?" Don was ironic.

"Of course I have. But some things need to be said face to face."

Don went to his room to get dressed for school and Steve asked Caroline to dress Lyla.

"I always do that, Dad. I don't know why you still ask," Caroline replied to him.

Steve felt discouraged. "Why is everything I say misinterpreted by you and your brother? I ask because I know it's not your obligation to take care of your sister. She is my responsibility, but I need your help and Don's help. Is it hard for you to understand that?"

"You could send any of your team to the mainland, but it seems you'd rather go to stay away from us," Caroline told him.

Steve sat down on the couch and looked sadly at Caroline. "That's not true, daughter."

Caroline took Lyla by the hand and led her into the bedroom and Steve sat with his head down on the couch for a few minutes.

Steve took the kids to school and then would be on his way to the airport. "I love you three and I'm going back as soon as I can. Okay?"

"OK," Don and Caroline replied.

Lyla held out her arms to Steve and he crouched down to talk to her. She hugged him and told him she loved him.

"I love you too, daughter." Steve cried and Don and Caroline did not conprehend why.

"Are you feeling bad, Dad?" Caroline asked.

"No, daughter." Steve stood up and hugged her. "I love you." He did the same with Don and then watched them walk into the school.

"Dad"s acting strange, Don," Caroline said to her brother after they dropped Lyla off at the kindergarten.

"It must be guilt," Don replied.

"It wasn't his fault Mom died, Don. You're too hard on him."

"It's also very hard to live without Mom. I miss her very much."

"I know, I miss her every day too," Caroline replied.

"If he hadn't argued with her the day of the accident she wouldn't have died."

"We don't know, Don."

Some time later, Steve sat down in his seat on the plane and closed his eyes to try to relax.