Joan ran when she saw Steve. "Uncle Steve, how much I miss you!"
Steve hugged her happily. "I missed you a lot too, Joan."
Then he hugged Mary and Joan hugged Catherine. "You're welcome, Mary."
"Thank you, Steven," Mary replied to him.
"Hi honey," Catherine said to Joan and the girl thanked him for the warm welcome. "Well, I've known you since you were a baby and your Uncle Steve didn't know how to change your diaper," Catherine told her.
Joan introduced her boyfriend Mike to Steve and Steve scared the boy with his hard stare. "Nice to meet you, Mr. McGarrett."
"Nice to meet you too," Steve replied.
Joan also introduced her boyfriend to Catherine and Catherine was kind and smiled at him. "Nice to meet you, Mike."
"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. McGarrett."
"Call me Cath, just Cath," she requested.
"Okay, Cath." The young man smiled and shook her hand.
"Well, I haven't hugged my sister-in-law yet," Mary approached Catherine and hugged her. "Hi, Catherine."
"Hi. Welcome, Mary."
Kevin was just watching the adults greet each other and Joan smiled when he looked at her. "And that cute little boy must be Kevin," Joan squeezed his cheek.
Kevin was shy and Joan kissed his cheek. "I'm your cousin Joan."
"He's very shy, Joan," Catherine said to her niece.
"But with me he'll lose that shyness soon enough," Joan replied and took Kevin on her lap.
"Can we go home?" Steve picked up Mary's bags.
"I rented a house for two weeks, Steve."
Steve was disappointed. "But I thought you were going to stay with us," he said to Mary.
"I'm sorry, Steve. I don't want to take away your privacy, and Mike's dad is coming to spend the weekend with us," Mary replied.
"Wait a minute... Are you flirting with the father of your daughter's boyfriend?" Steve asked Mary and Catherine smiled. Joan and Mike were walking toward the airport exit and Joan was still carrying Kevin on her lap.
"You can tell he and I enjoy spending time together," Mary replied and Steve looked at her with a disapproving look. "Come on, Steve. He's a widower!" she said.
They walked to the airport exit and joined Joan, Mike and Kevin. "Do you guys want to get something to eat before you go home?" Catherine asked and Kevin answered immediately. "Pizza!"
"Pizza would be great," Joan agreed with Kevin.
"OK. Let's go to the pizza place. the car is right there," Steve pointed to the parking lot. He picked Kevin up and carried him on his shoulder until they reached the car. Kevin loved it when Steve did that. They drove to the pizza place, and while they were waiting for the pizzas to be served, Steve was practically interrogating Mike. "Uncle..." Joan said to Steve. She was a little embarrassed.
"I just want to know more about Mike. What's the problem?" Steve said to Joan.
Mike placed his hand on Joan's hand. "It's okay, Joan." And then he looked at Steve. "There's no problem at all, Mr. McGarrett. You can ask anything you want, but that's basically it: Joan and I met in high school, my mother passed away a few years ago, and I live with my father."
"And what does your father do?" Steve wanted to know.
"My dad is a mechanic and I help him in my spare time," Mike replied.
"Okay," Steve replied although he felt he could have asked more questions. He didn't want to confess, but he had taken a liking to the boy.
The waiter brought the pizzas and Kevin celebrated. "Are you happy, son?" Steve asked Kevin.
Kevin smiled. "Yes, Daddy."
"He really likes pizza, doesn't he?" Mary said as she saw the boy's joy.
"He does. He's been through a lot of hardship despite his young age and even the little things make him happy," Catherine replied.
Kevin realized that Catherine and Mary were talking about him. "Aunt Mary, I like animals."
"Really? I like animals too," Mary told the boy.
Joan also commented excitedly. "I love cats, Kevin."
"I love the fish in the lake. Daddy and I feed them fish food," Kevin replied.
"Cool," Joan told him.
Steve could tell that Kevin was feeling homesick.
Two hours later, Steve dropped Mary, Joan and Mike off at the house they had rented and then drove home. Kevin was sleeping in the car and Steve picked him up and took him to the room and put him on the bed that he and Catherine had improvised in their bedroom.
Some time later Catherine got dressed for bed and found Steve on the balcony. She walked over and hugged him from behind. "You look upset. I thought you'd be happy to be back on the island."
Steve sighed. "I am upset, Catherine. Yesterday we stayed up late cleaning the room for Mary and Joan and they chose not to stay with us."
Catherine leaned her head against his back. "I'm sorry."
"The team is doing just as well without me. The impression I get is that I'm not as loved as I thought I would be. Even my sister doesn't make a point of being with me."
"Steve... that's no true. The team was so happy to see you," Catherine told him.
"If it's up to me, we can go home tomorrow," he replied.
"We agreed that we wouldn't leave until after your birthday and we're going to do what we agreed;" Catherine told him.
"Kevin is not happy here," Steve retorted.
"And you're not happy living where we live," Catherine said.
Steve turned around and hugged her and kissed her lovingly and tenderly. "My happiness is in being with you no matter where."
Catherine lovingly placed both hands on his face. "I love you, you know? And I am very happy to have you."
"I thought I would end my days alone and it made me very sad. I couldn't imagine sharing my life with anyone other than you," Steve told her.
Catherine smiled. "We are here now and we are going to go together to the end, aren't we?"
"Yes. Us and our little boy."