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Eleventeen
"Daddy, Angie's in jail!" DJ announced as his father entered the holding cell area of HQ, causing Lou Grover to snort a laugh.
Ruffling the eight year old's hair, the SWAT captain chuckled. "And that, little man, is something your daddy never wants to hear from your grown-up self."
Steve bent to hug his son. "Very true, unless she's on this side of the bars." He knelt as Angie came flying out of the cell she was examining and into his arms.
"We was putin' all da the bad guys in dere." The little nose wrinkled in a Catherine-like manner. "I's yucky and dere's no books and no TV."
"And that's after today's deep clean," Lou said as Steve stood with her in his arms. "Know what else the bad guys don't get in jail, Angie?"
"What?" She looked at him curiously, head cocked to the side.
"Cookies. There's no cookies." He winked at DJ as Angie looked aghast. "But good guys get cookies and you and your brother are definitely good guys."
"We are very good. We can catch all da bad guys with Daddy." She pointed to the badge on her denim shorts and pulled her tiny tack vest forward, displaying her McGarrett name plate. "We can help you catch dem, too."
Reaching for Angie, who went happily into his arms, Lou tapped her nose. "That's the best offer I've had since … well forever. Next time we need help on SWAT, I'll be sure to call you and DJ."
DJ chuckled and shared a smile with Steve. "Angie wants to be on the team and be a princess cowgirl, Uncle Lou."
"A girl of many talents." Grover said and placed her on her feet. "And now, I have to go do some paperwork so I can have enough supplies to keep getting those bad guys."
"Requisitions, right?" DJ asked and Steve smiled proudly.
"Exactly right." Lou offered a fist to bump. "Good man. You guys have a great pizza night and say hi to your mom," he said by way of leaving. Clapping Steve on the shoulder as he passed out of the holding area, he gestured between the kids who were talking about the pretend criminals they'd put in jail like their daddy and the team. "See that, right there? That reminds me of my kids at their age. Now they're smarter than their old man." He sighed, then his face lit with a smile. "But not cooler. They got a long time to live before they reach their daddy's level of cool. Remember that as these guys grow up."
Steve laughed and said, "Night, Lou," as the SWAT commander ducked out into the hall.
As the kids preceded their father into the bullpen, Angie announced, "We catched da bad guys and we can have cookies," to the team, who were assembled around the smart table.
Chin swiped a crime scene image from the display screen and grinned. "Do you mean we're supposed to get cookies every time we catch a bad guy?" He knelt to the children's level.
"Uncle Lou said," Angie nodded. "But dere's no cookies in jail."
Kono laughed, "If that's the rule, someone owes me eleven years worth of cookies…" she raised her brow at Steve. "What do you think, Danny?"
"I think you're correct. I like chocolate chip," he pointed at his best friend while winking at DJ. "Maybe you need to start baking, Steven."
"Mommy makes yummy chocolate chip cookies," Angie supplied, the joke lost on her. "We can make you some."
"Thank you." Danny lifted his goddaughter into a hug. "Because some McGarretts are very generous," he busted as Steve rolled his eyes.
"Did you guys have fun checking out the jail cell?" Chin asked them, getting nods from both kids.
"It was just cleaned out so Daddy said we could go inside with Uncle Lou while he talked to Uncle Duke for a little bit," DJ informed him. "We played a memory game about remembering clues and stuff."
"I bet you guys won," Kono said with a grin.
"We did good, right, Angie?"
"We did good." She covered her eyes with her hands and said, "DJ's pants are blue an' his shirt is da red one from Dizzyworld." She opened her eyes and pointed. "See, I gotted it right."
"Awesome!" Chin held out a fist to bump while DJ turned to face his father. "Uncle Chin, your shirt is white and you have on black pants and sneakers. Uncle Danny's got a blue shirt with buttons and nice pants and Aunt Kono, your top is purple and your jeans are grey." He turned back around. "I got them right!"
"Woah, you guys are great detectives," Kono grinned. "Are you gonna join the task force someday?"
"I am!" Angie raised a hand. "An' I'm gonna be a princess knight with a sword and I'm gonna help Gove'nor Lea like Mommy and do gymnastics."
Kono laughed and high fived the enthusiastic little girl. "You are gonna be so great at all of them. How about you, DJ?"
"I definitely wanna go to college and study robotics and computers and math and criminal science and art." He grinned. "And maybe play for the Cubs."
The adults smiled as Steve tostled his son's hair. "And right now, how about you grab a couple of waters and wait in my office for a minute while I talk to your uncles and aunt. There are cheese crackers in my desk." As they ran towards his office, he called, "One each, Angie, we're meeting Mommy for pizza in a little while." To which she answered, " 'kay Daddy," as she disappeared around his office door with a giggle.
Danny chuckled. "She wanted to see a holding cell?"
Steve grinned. "I was on the way out but Duke caught up with the Cranford witness reports. Lou was downstairs so he offered to watch them for a few minutes. Your niece asked if she could see 'the jail with the bad guys' and it was disinfected this morning so…"
"You couldn't say no to that face." Danny held up a hand. "Been there, got that tshirt."
"She ran right into the cell and checked it out,'' Steve laughed. "Then Lou distracted her from climbing on the bars by playing that witness memory game. He said he used to play it with Samantha and Marcus. We were still in the building when Chin texted me about the new evidence, so we doubled back up here."
"They're good. DJ nailed it," Danny said proudly as Chin swiped the image back onto the overhead screen. "I wish the eyewitness was as descriptive, here's what we got…"
Pizza-licious Restaurant
As the family sat down, ready to order a dinner of pizza and salad, Angie bounced in her seat when she spotted Catherine walking through the door. Waving excitedly, she called, "Daddy let us go in jail, Mommy!" across the restaurant, making her parents and brother laugh and the few patrons who didn't recognize the task force commander and governor's chief of staff, look their way.
Catherine reached the booth and hugged and kissed her children, laughing as she pecked Steve's lips before sliding in next to DJ. "That's an interesting greeting, baby girl," she glanced at her husband. "Did they join the team while I was meeting with the parks and rec department?"
DJ giggled. "Daddy had to talk to Uncle Duke so Uncle Lou showed us the cell where the bad guys go after they're booked," he said easily.
"Dere's no cookies for people in jail," Angie said. "'Cause dey are bad guys."
"Got around to menus of incarceration and everything, hmm?" Her eyes danced in amusement.
"That was all Lou." Steve held up his hands. "Hey, tell Mommy about the game he taught you."
"It was about remembering important details and clues," DJ supplied. "We turned around and told him what Daddy was wearing, and about Uncle Duke's uniform and each other's clothes."
"Den we showed Uncle Danno and Uncle Chin an' Aunt Kono and we won."
Catherine raised a brow. "Won, hmmm?"
"They did great. Angie remembered in detail what DJ was wearing and he described everyone's clothes without looking.
"And Aunt Kono said Daddy owes her eleven years of cookies, for all the bad guys they caught," the eight year old laughed. " 'Cause Uncle Lou told us good guys get 'em."
"We gotta make yummy cookies fo' everybody," Angie confirmed. "Eleventeen cookies. Uncle Danno likes chocolate chip ones."
"Uncle Danno likes anything he doesn't have to cook himself." Steve chuckled. "She offered our baking services."
"Hmmm. Actually," she winked at DJ who covered his mouth and giggled. "Since I was on the task force, I may be owed cookies, too."
"Mommy's right," DJ said, his sense of fairness as noticeable as his smile.
Steve grinned. "What about me? Who's gonna make me cookies for all the bad guys we caught?"
Angie pursed her lips and thought before raising her hand high in the air. "Me! And DJ and Grandma. We make eleventeen cookies fo' everbody."
He kissed the little cheek. "Thank you, baby girl. You, your brother and Grandma, hmm?" As Angie nodded happily and turned her attention to the coloring mat and crayons on the pizzeria table, Steve thought about how eleven years before, he'd assembled a group of people who'd turned into family. Who his daughter was volunteering to bake cookies for because they had caught 'so many bad guys'. They'd put away a lot of very ugly people over the years and became a family while doing it.
Kissing her head as she bent over her drawing, he looked across the table into Catherine's eyes. Knowing she read his thoughts as usual, he smiled.
# End. Thanks for reading!
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