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Well, I promised another chapter after either 20 favorites or 50 reviews, and when I checked this morning, I had 20 favorites! So, here's another chapter, as promised. The goal for 50 reviews still stands and I'll only need one more review to get there, so get to reviewing!

Once again, I just have to say how grateful I am for all of the support this story has gotten. When I first decided to start posting it, I didn't think it would get many reads because I'm so new to Hawaii Five-O, so all of the support that it has gotten has blown me away. Thank you all so much for your reads, reviews, private messages, favorites, and follows.

I'm glad that you have enjoyed the story so far, and I hope that this chapter is as enjoyable as the others have been.

Happy reading!

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Chapter Nine: Celebrate

Steve

"How long are we going to sit here?" Danny asked me. "Kol has been inside for two hours. If the kids were in there, surely he would have seen them by now. Maybe they're stashed away somewhere else."

I shook my head and continued to stare at the building in front of us. "I think this is the most likely place. He obviously keeps his criminal men here, so why wouldn't he keep his criminal business here? Maybe Kol just hasn't had a chance to look around."

In the next moment, Allie's voice came over the radio. "Kol just sent me a message. The kids are in there on the second floor, last room on the right. No armed men are in the room, but there are six armed men downstairs playing poker. Right inside the front door."

I nodded. "Let's go. Tell Kol to stay out of the way."

A few minutes later, we were at the door in our full gear, guns at the ready. I signaled to everyone that we were going in, and then I kicked in the door. Luckily, we'd taken everyone by surprise, as they'd been so busy playing poker that it took them a few seconds to realize that we'd even broken in.

A couple of them got shots off, but they were easily taken out and Chin and Kono began to cuff the other three while Danny, Allie, and I headed for the stairs. Kol was waiting for us at the top, and he waved for us to follow him down the hall.

He stopped at the last door, put his finger to his lips, and opened the door quietly. The lights of the room were off, but a lamp glowed in the corner, giving us enough light to see by. I took it all in – the changing table in the corner, the dresser right beside it, and the five cribs scattered across the room.

"They're well taken care of," Kol whispered and led us over to the two cribs closest to the door. Our two missing children were sound asleep inside, despite the noise from downstairs.

"Anyone else here?" I whispered.

"Only the woman that Saldonas hired to care for the babies," he answered me. "Her room is right next door."

"I'll go get her," Allie said and slipped out of the room.

"I'll get a call in to HPD to bring the parents over here," Danny told me. "I think we should let them sleep in the meantime."

I nodded and motioned for Kol and Danny to follow me out of the room. Danny put a call in for units to go and pick up the parents, Allie booked the caretaker, and Chin and Kono booked the men from the ground floor.

"Have any of the others offered to flip on Saldonas?" Danny asked later when we all stood outside, bathed in the flashing lights from the police cars.

"The caretaker did almost immediately," Allie said.

"Nothing from the other perps, but we have all we need," Kono said with a smile. "Thank God this had a happy ending."

"It's not over yet," I told her, hating to be the one to break it to her. "I had to put a call in to the FBI. They'll have to look into Saldonas' records and figure out which adoptions were legit and which ones were illegal."

"And then they'll have to track down all those kids and return them to their parents," Chin realized. "But that could have been years ago."

"He's been running his agency for seven years, so I'd say that's likely," Allie said sadly.

We were all somber for a few moments, until Kol stepped in.

"The parents just got here," he said. "There are a lot of joyous tears and cranky babies inside right now. I say that calls for a celebration."

"It's three in the morning," Kono protested.

"I didn't mean right now," Kol said and rolled his eyes. "I wanted to invite everyone over to Allie's tomorrow night at six for some of my famous pork chops and Allie's famous coconut cake. And alcohol. Of course, there will be alcohol."

Allie shoved her brother's shoulder but laughed. "Who gave you invitation rights?"

"What do you say?" Kol asked everyone.

"Hey, I'm in," Chin was the first to agree. "I never turn down a free meal and I can't wait to taste this famous coconut cake."

"And my pork chops," Kol reminded him. "Kono?"

She laughed. "Sure, I'm in."

"Yes!" he said and turned to Danny. "What about you?"

Danny hesitated for only a moment. "I have Grace tomorrow night. Is it okay if she comes?"

Kol turned to Allie for answers. "Who's Grace?"

"Danny's daughter," Allie told him.

"Oh, yeah, I'm great with kids," Kol said. "I mean, I just rescued two."

Everyone laughed.

"Yeah, sure, I'm in," Danny said and everyone looked at me. "Steve. You in?"

A chance to get inside of Allie's house again and see her in a less formal setting with her brother? Of course I was in. "Yeah, that sounds great. I haven't had a good pork chop in a while. You'd better not disappoint me."

"Trust me, my grilling is just as good as my getaway driving," Kol said.

"Well, then it's gotta be good," Danny said. "So, how did you do that disappearing act earlier?"

Kol just laughed and sauntered away, tossing an, "I'll see you guys tomorrow at six!" over his shoulder.

"I told you," Allie said with a grin. "It's classified." And then she went to follow her brother.

"Let's head home," I told the team. "And I don't want to see anyone in the office before noon." I called out to Allie. "That includes you, Rhodes! No one is coming in before noon tomorrow!"

She raised her hand to let me know that she had heard me.

"Good work today, team," I said, and then Danny and I headed for the Camaro.

Allie

Kol came into the kitchen the next morning at eleven and seemed surprised to find me scrubbing the tile near the back door. "Seriously? How late did you sleep?"

"I got up at five to do my morning run like I always do," I told him. "You can go ahead and get something to eat, just stay away from this area."

He edged around the wet area and headed for the pantry. "We didn't get home until four a.m. last night. Why would you not sleep in? McGarrett said you didn't have to be in until noon."

"My internal clock doesn't let me sleep in."

"So, you got less than an hour of sleep?" He began to pour himself some cereal. "You're a crazy person."

"No, I took a power nap at eight. Now, I'm cleaning because my twin brother invited people over to my house tonight for dinner."

"I don't think they expect your house to be spotless." He took his bowl over to the table, careful to avoid the wet areas.

"Well, it's going to be. Luckily, I tend to keep my house cleaned anyway." I stood, done with my scrubbing. "And you need to keep it clean while you're here alone today, okay?"

Mouth full of cereal, he said, "I notice you're not lecturing Gideon."

Hearing his name, Gideon trotted to the entrance of the kitchen.

"Gideon doesn't make messes." I dumped the dirty water in the sink, rinsed the bucket, and set it on the left side of the sink to dry. "You're also going to have to go and get all the stuff for tonight. What are you serving for sides?"

"Baked potatoes and veggie skewers, just like I always do."

I nodded and pointed to a piece of paper on the counter. "I already wrote down the stuff I'll need you to get for my coconut cake. Just make a list of what you need and then go to the store."

"Roger that."

A glance at the clock told me that it was almost time for me to go. "I need to get ready for work. Do me a favor and play a little fetch with Gideon at some point, okay?"

"You've got it. Gideon and I get along great."

I headed for my bedroom and put my hair up into a cute messy bun before hopping in the shower to rinse the smell of bleach off of me. Once out, I dried off and pulled on jeans and an orange tee, completing the outfit with my best black booties.

Downstairs, Kol was putting his bowl into the dishwasher and Gideon was right behind him, watching.

"He's making sure you pick up after yourself," I laughed.

"Ha, ha," Kol said as he turned around. "I told him we'd go outside and play ball. You ready, Gideon?"

My German Shepherd excitedly ran to the door and began wagging his tail, waiting. "You'd better get going, then," I told Kol. "He's not patient for very long when it comes to playing fetch."

"I'll toss the ball a bit and then clean up and go to the store. I need to get the chops in a marinade as quickly as I can so that they'll be nice and tender. See you when you get home."

"Definitely," I agreed and gave Gideon a pat before I headed out the door and went to work, stopping on the way to grab myself a chicken wrap and a bottle of flavored water.

The only one already in was Kono, who said that she hadn't even heard from the others yet. That wasn't a surprise, really. We'd worked so late the night before that we had surely earned a pass to come in as late as we wanted or even not at all.

Kono and I sat around the big screen and talked for a while, and I learned a lot about her that I hadn't known, mostly because I had never bothered to try looking her up. She'd been a professional surfer when she was younger, but had gotten out of the competition circuit after an injury to her knee. She still surfed for fun, but she tried to take it easy. She had decided to become a cop because of her cousin, Chin, and before she had even joined the academy she had been drafted into Five-O after she had helped them with their very first case.

"What about you?" she asked me. "Any childhood hobbies I don't know about?"

I thought for a moment. "Actually, I used to really enjoy playing cards. My uncle taught me and he was good. Like… wins a ton of money every time he goes to Vegas kind of good. He taught me everything that he knew and we played all of the time."

"Are you serious?" she asked me and when I nodded, she laughed. "Please hustle Danny. He taught Grace to play poker and anytime someone brings up cards, he brags about how good he is. I would love to see him taken down a few notches."

"Maybe Kol and I could talk him into a game tonight. I have a bunch of poker stuff at the house."

"I need your address, by the way," she told me, and I texted it to her as well as Chin and Danny. Steve already knew where I lived, as he'd been there before.

Finally, everyone else came in and Steve sent us all to our offices to go over some files that the HPD had sent over for a consult.

"We'll go ahead and head out at four," Steve told us. "That way we all have time to get ready and head over to Allie's for dinner."

The cases that I consulted on were incredibly boring, and I found myself darting out of HQ as soon as four rolled around. After all, I had to hurry home so that I could bake the cake and then put it in the fridge to get cold.

When I pulled up to my house, I saw an unfamiliar car parked along the curb. Frowning, I got out and went to the door, hand hovering near my holster. But once inside, I saw Gideon relaxing on his bed, indicating that there was nothing amiss.

"Kol?" I called out.

"We're in the kitchen!" he called back.

We? Once inside the kitchen, I saw the mystery car owner.

"Hey, Allie." Cal – or, Garrison, as he now called himself – stood at the counter slicing a bell pepper. "I hope you don't mind that Kol invited me to join you all for dinner."

"I found Cal wandering around the grocery store," Kol said proudly.

"He goes by Garrison now," I corrected him. "And it's good to see you, too. You're definitely welcome to stay for dinner, but are you sure you're going to be comfortable with all of the cops?"

"Don't worry; I won't let anything slip," he assured me. "And I liked the one that I met. The others can't be that bad."

"You need to start working on your cake?" Kol asked me.

"Yeah. I'll bake it, let it cool, and then fill it. Are you almost done in here?"

"Garrison is helping me put together the veggie skewers and the pork chops are already marinating in the fridge, so you should be good to start."

I moved into the empty space and began to put together the ingredients for the cake. Once it was in the oven, I went upstairs to change into a nicer blouse – a lovely green lace detail knit top. I also changed into shorts and strappy sandals, since it was a casual dinner.

I moved on to makeup and put a little more effort into it than I normally would have, just to look nice for my guests. I wanted to be the perfect host when my coworkers came to my house for the first time. Steve already didn't like me; I didn't any more enemies on the task force.

Back downstairs, Kol and Garrison were in the living room watching some kind of game on TV. When they saw me, their eyes widened.

Kol spoke first. "I wasn't aware that we were supposed to dress to impress. I think we're underdressed, Garrison."

Garrison was dressed in jeans and a Superman shirt and Kol was wearing jeans and a navy blue polo. "You're both dressed just fine."

There was something in Kol's expression that I didn't like, but I knew that I needed to finish my cake so I just let it go. Kol had taken the cake out of the oven for me and it was cooling down, so I began to mix the filling. When that was done, I set it aside and began to clean up the other areas of the kitchen.

Kol passed me on his way to the back door and paused to face me. "I need to turn on the grill to get it heating up."

"Okay," I nodded and continued to scrub a stubborn spot.

"So, is that outfit to impress anyone in particular?"

I looked up at him in surprise. "What are you talking about? I just like this shirt."

"Okay." He grinned, and there was something in his expression that I was having trouble deciphering. "I need to turn on the grill."

He left me staring after him for a moment before I shook my head and went back to work. After the kitchen was clean, I filled the cake and then slipped it into the fridge to get cold. Kol was still outside with the grill, so it was up to me to answer the door when Kono and Chin arrived together.

Time to host.

Steve

"Kol, these pork chops are the best ones I've ever had," Danny told Kol as we all sat around Allie's dinner table eating. Kol had served us perfectly grilled pork chops, grilled veggie skewers, and baked potatoes with all of the fixings. And supposedly, Allie's coconut cake was up for dessert.

"I can't tell you," Kol answered. "It would cease to be a secret."

"Are you ever going to tell me anything?" Danny asked him, to which Kol shook his head.

There was laughter and then Kono said, "Well, I'm impressed. The house is so clean and the food is delicious. I can't cook or clean."

"Yeah, well, Allie is a perfectionist. She gets it from our mother, who never let a speck of dust settle in our house."

Allie laughed fondly and raised her wineglass to her brother. "Even though Kol made it his personal mission to trash the place as soon as she walked out the door."

He shrugged at the laughter around him. "I swear, she could have the place back to normal in half an hour. Nothing I ever did could throw that woman."

"A lesser woman certainly would have dropped you off at an orphanage," Allie agreed.

"I resent that," Kol said, but looked like he also agreed.

"Your mother sounds like an awesome woman," Chin said. "What did she do?"

If I had been an animal, my ears would have perked up as I sat there waiting for any piece of intel they would give.

It was Allie that answered after she swallowed a drink of her wine. "She was an art consultant. Travelled all over the world to authenticate pieces, helped aspiring artists get noticed… that kind of thing."

"Oh, that's how you have so many contacts in the art world," Kono said.

"That would be it," Kol agreed.

The conversation turned to everyone else's parents and even I partook in the sharing; it was only fair, after all. After a while, the dinner plates were cleared away and dessert was brought out.

"Oh my God," Kono groaned after her first bite of cake. "This is amazing! How do you guys do this? Who taught you to cook?"

"We picked up some things growing up from all kinds of different people," Kol answered her. "I mostly grill, though. Stick me in a kitchen and I might make you a grilled cheese."

"You could execute a recipe," Allie disagreed with her brother. "You're just not so great with the ingenuity away from the grill."

"Allie, however, is the ingenuity queen," Kol said, toasting his sister with his beer bottle. "Give her some ingredients and she can create something fabulous. Hell, she even alters every recipe she gets to make it even better. I don't know how she finds the time to perfect that skill, but she obviously has. You should taste her lemonade."

"Maybe when you get back into town, we can all get together again and you can grill," Chin said to Kol.

"Only if Allie makes this cake again," Kono said as she served herself another piece. "I can't get over how perfect it is."

"You know what would really make the evening perfect?" Danny asked and I saw him looking over to the shelf off to the side of the dining room. "I see that you have some playing cards and some poker chips. I, myself, happen to be an excellent poker player, and even Grace here knows how to play a little bit."

Kono and Allie exchanged a look so brief, I would have missed it if I hadn't been looking.

"Uh, sure," Allie said. "Anyone else in?"

"I actually need to get going," Kol and Allie's friend, Garrison, said as he stood up from the table. "But thank you so much for having me over."

Everyone said goodbye, and then Chin stood as well. "I'm going to get going, too. Kono?"

"I'm going to play," she decided.

"Me, too," Kol said. "Right after I clear the plates."

"I'll help with that, and then I'm in," Allie said and they moved to start clearing the plates.

"I'm in," I agreed when all eyes turned to me.

The chips were divided up, an amount was named for each color, and the cards were shuffled. Danny dealt first, and his came of choice was Texas Hold 'Em. I folded immediately, but everyone else stayed in. Kono folded after the first card and Grace after the second.

And then it was only Kol, Danny, and Allie.

Kol ended up folding after the next card, leaving only Danny and Allie.

They were locked in a deadly betting war for a while.

And my night was made when Allie won when her straight was one number higher than Danny's.