Mari & Ilna: What can I say? I'm enjoying this adventure every bit as much as I was on day one. Maybe more.

REAL Worlders-thanks for all the enthusiastic support. You guys are the best.

Meeting of the Minds (1/1)

"Thanks for coming in to talk," Steve said as he ushered Tanis Good into his office and indicated she should take a seat on the couch. His first instinct was to position himself behind his desk but then he remembered this was meant to be more of an informal than adversarial meeting and took a seat in one of the visitor's chairs in front of his desk which he turned to face her.

"My pleasure," Tanis answered sincerely. "Lieutenant Rollins mentioned on the phone that you had a few ground rules you wanted to go over. I'm happy to do whatever I can to put your mind at ease."

"I'm glad to hear that." Steve leaned forward slightly. "As a rule, my wife and I say no to interview requests automatically."

"I'm aware of that." The young reporter's voice cracked ever so slightly. "When I first pitched the idea of interviewing you for my series everyone at the paper laughed at me. They said there was no way you'd ever sit for an interview. But I had to try because I knew if I could make it happen it would allow me… well … us ... to make the case for adoption to as wide an audience as possible. That's what gave me the courage to approach Lieutenant Rollins to begin with."

Steve immediately saw what it was about Tanis that made Catherine listen to her in the first place. Her passion for the topic, and determination to share that passion with others, was written all over her face. "That's definitely a worthwhile endeavor," he said.

"If I'm being 100% honest though I have to admit that being considered the office rockstar because I got an interview with the two of you is a nice perk." Her eyes sparkled. "It won't last forever I'm sure, but I'm gonna enjoy it for as long as it does."

Steve couldn't help but smile. "Glad we could help."

Tanis reached into her tote bag and pulled out a small, spiral bound notebook. "I shouldn't have said that." She pushed her hair behind her ear. "I don't want you to think I don't take this matter seriously or that I have some sort of ulterior motive." She tapped her pencil against the notebook.

"It's fine." Steve smiled. "I understand."

She took a deep breath. "Thank you."

"And since we're being 100% honest." Steve twisted slightly and grabbed a file off the edge of his desk. "I want to let you know I ran a complete background check on you."

"I expected as much," Tanis replied.

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Your reputation precedes you, Commander," she explained.

"That's not always a bad thing," Steve said and Tanis nodded in agreement. "Everything came back fine except for one problem."

The reporter's back stiffened. She had nothing to hide. She couldn't imagine what might have shown up but panicked that whatever had caught Steve's attention in her past might jeopardize the entire article. "Problem?" she squeaked out.

"Yes." Steve pretended to study the file in front of him but when he looked up the sparkle in his eyes gave him away. "You really need to learn that no parking means no parking." He chuckled. "You had eleven tickets last year."

Tanis exhaled with relief then chuckled. "Who do I talk to about changing the parking regulations downtown? The signs are very confusing."

Steve closed the folder and tossed it on the coffee table in front of him. "That would be more my wife's department than mine."

"Maybe I'll mention it to her," Tanis said, much more relaxed than she had been when the meeting started. "But in the meantime, I know you wanted to discuss some ground rules."

"I do." Steve leaned in and put his elbows on his knees. "First, we will not allow any specific details of our son's past to be discussed. That's his story to tell or not tell and we don't think at six years old he's in a position to make that kind of a decision."

"I understand," Tanis said as she jotted down notes.

"There are also certain security concerns," Steve continued. "DJ's birth family members are not nice people. Their associates are not nice people. While Catherine and I take every security precaution necessary when it comes to our son, we'd still rather not give so many details about his past that some of those unsavory characters connect the dots."

Tanis nodded. She understood Steve's concerns better than he could possibly know.

"This is non-negotiable," Steve continued. "We need your assurance you won't dig into DJ's background."

Tanis placed her notebook on the coffee table and took a deep breath. "I was born in a small town outside of Portland, Oregon. My parents were both drug addicts. They could barely take care of themselves, let alone me so when I was five years old my aunt Celia came to live with us to help out. She was my mother's sister." She swallowed hard. "She was fifteen. Within a few months she was an addict too. There were men in and out of our apartment all day and all night. Both my mother and my aunt were trading sex for a few bucks or for drugs."

"That's awful," Steve said quietly. Unfortunately, it was a story he'd heard too many times.

Tanis bit her lip. "Eventually they all got arrested in a prostitution sting. It was the biggest thing to hit the little town we lived in in decades. When the case went to trial I was called to testify. Not that I knew exactly what was going on at five years old but because I could point to certain men and say that yes, I had seen him at my house. The mayor, the president of the bank, the town mechanic etc… After the trial they had trouble finding any foster families that wanted me. Either they had a connection to one of the men who got busted or they were afraid that someone would come after me for testifying and they'd get caught in the crossfire. I ended up bouncing around from foster home to orphanage to new foster home then back to the orphanage until I was ten. That's when I met my parents."

Steve's heart went out to the young woman. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Thank you." Tanis nodded determinedly. "I didn't tell you that for sympathy."

"I didn't think you did," Steve replied without a trace of doubt.

"I told you because I wanted you to understand that I know what it's like for a child to want to … to need to ... put the past behind them. I have no interest in making this a story about a poor, unfortunate boy plucked from bad circumstances and saved by two of Oahu's most respected citizens. I want to write a story about two very successful people who have a biological child of their own and were living happy, fulfilled lives who decided they wanted to expand their family and chose to do so through adoption."

Steve smiled. He thought back to Catherine's words when they first talked about the possibility of doing the story. "It's not about anyone saving anyone, it's about building a family."

Tanis beamed. "You took the words right out of my mouth. I want to assure I would never …"

Steve waved off the rest of her thought. Catherine's instincts about people were never wrong. Tanis Good was not out to exploit their story, or DJ's. She was a person who had a passionate belief in adoption and saw in Catherine and Steve partners who could help her get the word out to others. Any concerns he had about her motives or her methods disappeared.

"My wife told me that if we wanted to help encourage others with our own story, and we do, that you were the perfect person to work with. And as always, she was right. I've heard everything I need to hear. We'll see you at the house tomorrow evening at 6:00. You can meet the kids and we can talk some more."

"Thank you." The young woman beamed widely as she stood up and extended her hand. "I appreciate your confidence in me, Commander McGarrett. I won't let you down."

THE END

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