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Welcome back to another chapter! I have a feeling that part two is going to be more challenging than part one, but thankfully, I already have an outline prepared. As a reminder: you all get to vote on whether Steve and Allie's baby should be a boy or a girl. Your votes have to be in by chapter five, so feel free to review or private message me with your vote! I look forward to tallying them up! (And, yes, you can vote more than once. I've gotten a few messages from people asking, so I decided that the more votes, the better. So, if you're really hoping for one or the other, get your votes in!)

Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this story. Every show of support means so much to me. I appreciate each and every one of you (yes, even the silent readers). You have no idea how much joy it brings me when my e-mail notification goes off, informing me that another person enjoys my story. Thank you.

Happy Reading!

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Chapter Three: Reflections

Steve

Danny met me at the private airport just as I'd asked him to. He approached with his hands in his pockets, nodding a greeting to the people he passed, and it really began to hit me how much I would miss him while I was gone. We'd been partners for years, and I had grown used to his presence and having him by my side in dicey situations. But, this was a whole different ball game, and I knew that Hawaii needed him here.

I handed my bag off to one of the crew members and then approached Danny, forcing myself to smile, despite my inner turmoil. "Thanks for meeting me out here."

He came to a stop and nodded at the plane, which was almost through fueling up. "You're really going, huh? To Paris? City of love and all that."

"I'm really going. As Jordan Alexander."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Well that's a fake name if I've ever heard one."

I shrugged. "There wasn't much time to come up with better names. We were on a time crunch to make the IDs and get them into the system. They did good, though. If I didn't know any better, I'd say my ID was real."

With seriousness that was unusual for him, he said, "We all want to come with you, you know."

"I know." I couldn't help my smile, despite the serious circumstances. "And believe me, I'd love to have you there. But someone has to run this task force while I'm gone, and there's no one that could do as good a job as you. Hawaii needs Five-O, even if it will be down a couple of members for a while."

"I love you, buddy." He clasped my hand and pulled me into a quick hug. "You be careful out there, okay?"

"Always," I promised him.

"And bring Allie and that baby back. I want the opportunity to watch you change a diaper."

I rolled my eyes at him and turned to head for the plane. "I'm going to be just fine."

But I wasn't entirely sure about that. Parenthood wasn't something that I had any experience with, aside from the little time that I'd spent babysitting my niece. Hell, I had more experience with explosives than I did with small children.

Before Danny could tell me about all of the ways that parenthood was not fine, Kono's car pulled up next to his and she and Chin stepped out, both of them sporting somber expressions. It made my heart ache, but I forced myself to smile. "Come to see me off?"

"Wouldn't have missed it," Chin told me and pulled me into a hug. "Be careful out there, okay? We'll look after everything here. Just bring Allie home safe."

"Will do."

Kono stepped forward next, a hundred different emotions warring in her dark eyes. "We could come with you, you know. Allie is our family, too. I'm sure that Duke could look after the island for a few weeks."

"Hawaii needs Five-O," I told her. "It needs you. While I'm gone, there's no one else that I would trust to look after things. I'll be back as soon as I can – and with Allie – I promise."

She nodded with a sigh and stepped into my open arms for a hug. "Don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Like what?" I asked, slightly affronted. "What could I possibly do?"

She stepped away and Danny answered my question. "You could get yourself arrested in Paris. And then we'd have to come to try and break your ass out of jail. So, yeah, what she said: be careful and don't do anything stupid."

I rolled my eyes at them and moved to board the plane. "Maybe you guys shouldn't have come after all."

"We love you, too, sweetheart!" Danny called after me, and I heard Chin and Kono laughing. Good. At least Danny would keep them in good spirits while I was gone. I hated to make them even more sad than they already were after Allie's disappearance.

At the door to the plane, I turned and waved once and then boarded, feeling like I was leaving something behind, but also heading right where I needed to be. I spotted Allie's twin near the back of the plane, so that's where I headed.

"Your uncle has a private plane," I said, still surprised, as I sat down next to Kol.

He popped an M&M into his mouth and offered me the big, family size bag. "He flies it, too."

I declined the candy. "I'm impressed. How much flight experience does he have?"

He laughed and grabbed another handful of M&Ms. "Enough. Anyone ever tell you that you have control issues?"

Danny would have loved that. Yet another reason that it was a good thing he hadn't come along. I wouldn't be able to focus if he and Kol were constantly ganging up on me. "I don't have control issues."

"You could probably get a handle on it if you practiced a little bit of acceptance."

I ignored that. "Do we have a plan yet?"

"Not yet." He sighed. "Hopefully by the time that we land, we'll know more about what's going on. We've got people continuously monitoring and analyzing the situation."

Max and Michael boarded the plane just then and took seats next to each other, speaking not only in low voices, but also in a language that I couldn't understand.

"What are they speaking?" I murmured to Kol, who momentarily turned his attention away from his candy to listen to his elder brothers.

"Korean, I think. I've never been all that great with the Asian languages. Took me forever to become proficient in Mandarin."

"Why so secretive?"

He shrugged. "They're just like that. Try not to take it personally. Now, about these control issues…"

"That's enough," I warned him and reached out to grab some candy, barely snagging a handful before Kol snatched the bag away with a cry of protest.

"You okay?" he asked me a moment later, his expression unreadable. "I saw you saying goodbye to Five-O. I don't know about you, but goodbyes are always hard for me."

"I'll miss them. The islands, too," I allowed. "But there's nowhere else I'd rather be than helping with Allie's rescue." Every time that I thought about her in the clutches of a man with ties to the Sicilian Mafia, I wanted to lose it. I was angry… mostly at myself. If I'd done just one thing differently – let her come with me to the airport, called to make sure that she'd made it home safely, asked Kol to take a cab or asked Danny to pick him up so that I could have gone home with her… He never could have gotten to her.

"We're fortunate to have someone with your background," said a tall, leggy blonde as she took a seat across the aisle from us. She smiled at me with ruby red lips and crossed her legs slowly, a sure sign of seduction. She was beautiful, yes, but she did nothing for me. My whole heart belonged to Allie.

"Nice of you to join us, G," Kol said, mouth full of M&Ms. Something about the carefully controlled expression on his face gave me the impression that he was purposefully abandoning his manners to annoy her.

She made a face at him. "Your mouth is full, Kol."

"A very astute observation." He swallowed and then gestured to our newest companion. "Steve McGarrett, this is Giselle. She's a cousin on our mother's side. She had also said that she couldn't come because of some situation in Brazil-"

"I finished the job early and caught the next flight to Hawaii," she cut him off. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she grinned at me. "Is it true? Allie's pregnant?"

It was like a punch in the stomach. Allie getting snatched was terrible enough, but when you added in the fact that she was also carrying our child… it was almost unbearable. I tried to keep my mind off of it just so that I could focus, but when it was thrown in my face like that…

"Jesus Christ, Giselle." Kol's voice was full of venom and his expression was harder than I'd ever seen it. "Leave the man alone and be a decent human being for once in your life. Unless, of course, you'd like me to put in a call to your mother."

Giselle's eyes narrowed. "I'm not afraid of my mother. I'm an adult. Grow up, Kol."

Wordlessly, Kol withdrew his cell phone from the pocket of his leather jacket and began to punch in some numbers.

"What are you doing?" Giselle asked him, and I was sure that I detected a hint of fear in her voice, though she masked it pretty well.

"Nothing." Kol's eyes didn't move from his phone's display. "Was it three nine six eight, or three nine four eight? I always forget."

"I told you, I'm not afraid of my mother." But the look in her eyes contradicted her statement. "You're wasting your time."

Kol shrugged. "I'll try both. We'll start with six eight." He finished dialing and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Fine. Fine!" Giselle stood and raised her arms as if in surrender. "I'm going to go and sit by your brothers."

"I'm sure they'll enjoy that." Kol ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket, watching as Giselle walked away. "Sorry about her. We really don't like to claim her."

I nodded, wondering why she would be so afraid of her mother. And also wishing that her mother had joined us on the flight so that we could have entirely avoided the situation. "Why is she here?" I asked him, somehow breathing around the tightness in my chest. "She doesn't seem to be doing it for the compassion."

"She likes the drama." Kol rolled his eyes and dug into his candy again. "Believe me, I'd turn her away if I didn't think that she could be helpful. She's quick on her feet and the very best at creating distractions. If things get dicey, you'll want her around."

"We'll see."

Kol's uncle and father appeared just then, along with several other people that boarded and took their seats. Edward announced that we were ready for takeoff, and everyone began to buckle in and prepare.

"Might as well relax and try to take a nap," Kol told me once we were in the air. He began to recline his own seat. "I don't know about you, but changing time zones always screws me up for a few days unless I nap on the way."

"I'm not sure that I can," I admitted, but I knew that it was a good idea.

Kol shrugged and leaned back, closing his eyes and folding his arms across his chest. "Suit yourself. But if you do decide to sleep, don't try cuddling me. Save that for when we rescue my sister."

Despite the fact that nothing about the situation was funny, I smiled. Kol had a way of providing comic relief even in the most serious of situations. I was really glad that I was going to have him with me in Paris. Otherwise, I didn't know what I would do.

Forty-five minutes into the flight, Kol was in a deep sleep, which I knew because I had managed to steal the bag of candy away from him without waking him up. I had eaten the remainder of the candy, and I was actually starting to feel a little sleepy. It would be best for me to try and get some rest.

So, I reclined my seat and took up a position much like Kol's. And as I drifted off to sleep in Allie's uncle's plane, I sent a plea to the heavens that I could bring her and our child home safely. Because without them, I didn't know how I could live with myself.

Allie

"There's gotta be a better way," I muttered to myself as I examined the blueprints.

Years ago, having the blueprints to the Kingsley Museum would have been like striking gold. I would have been elated, and I would have immediately gathered a team to strike for something that would have made us all a lot of money. The problem now was that I couldn't gather the team that I wanted. I needed my people – people that I knew that I could trust because they'd proven themselves in the past. Not these men that Medici was trying to stick me with.

The biggest problem was that I didn't know what these men were capable of. Medici could sing their praises all that he wanted, but I had never seen them in action. And I had learned long ago that actions speak much louder than words. Actions scream, words whisper, Kol liked to say.

Kol… if only I could have had my twin brother there with me. He'd always been on my team during high profile hits, and I didn't know what to do without him. I needed his easygoing spirit to help me keep my head on straight, because I was certain that I was losing it more and more with each passing day. Being in captivity – even if that captivity did include one of the world's nicest hotel suites and a credit card with a ridiculous limit – did not suit me at all.

Papers sporting the copious amount of research that I had done were scattered on the table, couch, and floor. I'd been trying to sort through them all, but I had yet to come up with the perfect system. Trent had been the researcher of the family, and it wasn't like Medici was going to let me consult with him. He'd be too afraid that I was secretly trying to figure out how to break my brother out… which, to be fair, I would have been.

As I brought up the Kingsley Museum's website on my laptop, I felt that familiar wave of nausea in my stomach.

"Not again," I muttered and squeezed my eyes shut against the attack, but to no avail. Within seconds, I was rushing to the bathroom and leaning over the toilet with no time to spare. I'd always considered myself a pretty tough person (I mean, come on, I'd grown up with four brothers), but throwing up was something that I absolutely could not stand.

When I was finally done, I flushed and fell to my knees, wiping away the beads of sweat that had formed on my forehead. I hadn't ever pictured myself pregnant, but even once I'd found out about the pregnancy, I had never given a thought to morning sickness. I suppose that I had thought myself immune. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It had hit me out of nowhere and it did not seem to be going away.

There was a knock on the front door of the suite, but I did not yet have the energy to get up and answer it. Whoever it was, I was certain that they had a key.

Moments later, I heard my captor's voice from the front hall. "Allie? Are you ill again?"

I didn't have the energy to answer. It was all I could do to stay on my knees and not fall over onto the tile floor. Although… perhaps the cold would do me some good…

Before I could decide, I spotted a pair of the finest leather shoes that money could buy. They came closer, and then I heard him sigh. "This is the fifth time today that you have been sick, Allie. And it is only…" He paused. To check his watch, I assumed. "Ten minutes after noon. I will call the doctor and we will take you in tomorrow."

Anger bubbled in my veins, but I didn't want to give up the last of my energy for it. "Whatever you think is best." It wasn't like I would have much of a choice anyway, and it probably would be helpful to see what a physician thought of the excessive morning sickness. I had already tried the special candies, yoga, saltines, eating smaller meals more frequently… If he could make it go away, it would be worth it.

"You cannot plan a heist if you're busy throwing up every few minutes," Medici said and headed for the door. "I will let you know when we are to leave for the doctor. Can I get you anything in the meantime?"

"No." I wanted to ask him to bring me a Gatorade from the fridge, but the biggest part of me refused to ask him for anything.

"Very well. Do not hesitate to reach out if you change your mind." But he knew that I wouldn't.

Twenty seconds later, he was gone, and I had decided that the cold tile floor would feel good. And, oh, how it did. I wanted to just stay there forever and not have to think about the heist or my kidnapped brother… To only think about the cold and the peace…

And suddenly, I was far, far away. In the bathroom of my old apartment in Washington D.C. I felt sick to my stomach as I paced in front of the sink, waiting. When I turned, I caught my reflection in the mirror and marveled at how different I was.

My hair was longer and lighter, pulled up into a wavy ponytail. I was dressed in a red tank top and gray sweatpants, definitely not a fashion statement. And though I looked younger, I also looked tired and… worried? Stressed? There was something else there. Something complicated.

The timer on my phone went off and I rushed to the sink, where the white stick sat on top of the pink box.

Ah, yes. I remembered that day quite well. My period hadn't come that month (was it a December?), and I had been so worried that I was pregnant. What would I do? How would I explain that?

I looked down at the stick and as the negative result settled in my brain, I all at once felt relief and… sadness. For, although I knew that it would be complicated to be pregnant with the baby of an assassin from a competing agency, I also kind of wanted there to be a part of me and Ari out there in the world. I hadn't ever wanted kids, but the possibility had caused me to think about expanding my options and…

A knock on the door made me jump and caused the stick to fly out of my hands and right into the trash can where it belonged.

"Al?" Ari called. "I just got here a few minutes ago. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I called back and hastily began to dispose of the box and cover them. "Sorry, you just scared me. Give me a second."

"Okay." I could hear his footsteps moving away. "I brought some of that Swiss chocolate that you like. I'm going to pick out a wine to go with them."

I took a minute to calm myself, knowing that he would be able to tell that something was amiss. Should I tell him? What would he think of me if I said that I wanted a baby? I had to tell him, right? That's how relationships worked. But…

When I opened my eyes, I was back in the suite in Paris. Back in the present, where Ari was dead and I was pregnant with Steve's baby.

The tile floor was cool beneath my cheek and I closed my eyes once more, wishing to be transported away once again. This time, to a happier moment. A moment with Steve.

And miraculously, my mind obliged and I was carried away.