AN's in part one.

Part two of the REAL World Thanksgiving Marathon

"Grandma?" Angie took Elizabeth's hand and led her across the field after a quick trip into the school for a bathroom break. "Did you have family picnic day at your school when you were little?"

"No, angel, we had field days but nothing like this. That's another reason Grandpa and I are so happy to be here at yours."

"I'm happy you're here, too. Are you very very sure you don't want to try the bouncy house?"

Elizabeth's delighted laugh preceded her stooping to kiss her granddaughter's cheek. "I'm very very sure, but it's as much fun watching you bounce as it would be for me to try it."

Angie grinned up at her grandmother. "Then I'll bounce extra high for you."

"There's my cousin Grace," DJ said excitedly as he spotted Danny and Grace crossing the playground. "She's the one whose project gave me the idea to make a family tree in the first place."

"Hi, Grace!" Michael waved to the familiar young woman and many of the other children followed suit.

DJ ran to meet Grace and wrapped her in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Thanks for inviting me," Grace said. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Come and meet Mr. Francis," DJ said. "I told him all about you and how your project gave me the idea for me and Angie to make a family tree. I told him you're super smart and go to college and how you're the youngest party planner at the Ko Olina."

Grace chuckled. "That may have been more than he wanted to know about me."

"I told him all about how you organize awesome birthday parties for DJ and Angie that are the funnest parties ever," Michael added.

"He said he definitely wanted to meet you if you got a chance to come today." DJ took her hand and began leading her towards the picnic tables on the edge of the playground where Mr. Francis was. Michael and several other class members followed closely behind.

"I'm here, too," Danny said as they headed off.

"Hi, Uncle Danny. I'll be back to talk to you in a few minutes," DJ called over his shoulder.

Steve sidled up beside his partner. "Face it, buddy. Your daughter is far more popular than you are."

Danny pointed across the way to where Angie had both classmates and adults fully engaged in a game of Follow the Leader. "You have no room to talk."

Steve grinned. "I know I don't."

The two men watched Grace talking to Mr. Francis. Even from a distance they could tell the conversation was flowing easily and at one point Grace said something that made Mr. Francis throw his head back with laughter.

"Grace was never exactly shy," Danny said wistfully. "But she always used to want me close to her if she had to talk to someone she didn't know. Now look at her. Not an ounce of hesitation and she charms everyone she meets."

"She's special. That's for sure," Steve said. "If we had something to drink we could toast to exceptional daughters."

Angie joined her classmates and some of their siblings and sat 'crisscross applesauce' style with a dessert plate of several varieties of cookies in her lap.

"These are knot cookies." She pointed to two on her plate. "They're our nonna's recipe. She lives in New Jersey and Cousin Joanie," her face lit when she turned to indicate her cousin, "and me and DJ helped make them for today."

"They're so good!" a boy named Liam said. "The round one you have is a shortbread coconut. My tutu made them and me and my brother helped."

Angie took a bite. "They are very, very yummy."

"We bake with her a lot." Liam beamed. "We even make dog cookies sometimes."

"Cookies shaped like dogs or cookies for dogs to eat?" Joan asked. "My Aunt 'Lyssa's a veterinarian and I baked cookies for the foster and shelter dogs she volunteers with. Me and my mama and daddy made twelve dozen and she said the dogs loved them so much. We're going to make some for all the dogs in our family while we're here. And some kitty treats too for the cats."

"And Felix my goat can have dog cookies if we make them ourselves because they're all healthy. We can bring enough to the zoo to share with his goat friends and his goat mommy and daddy. Our cousin Kaitlyn said it was okay. She checked the rules. Kaitlyn's in high school and she vol'teers at the zoo."

Catherine smiled and said to Elizabeth, "I think we need to borrow some of your cookie sheets."

"Just name the day and I'll bring them over. I'm excited to help. You know Angie already told Smokey and Gizmo so I'm all in."

Mother and daughter laughed as Angie regaled the other children with a list of the furry friends in her family, and the rest of the kids began discussing the pets they had or the pets they would like to have some day.

"Do you have a pet?" one of the children asked Joan.

"And there we go," Mary said with a chuckle, while elbowing Aaron.

Joan shook her head. "No, but my mama said maybe instead of no last time I asked about one so my Aunt Deb said that means her and Daddy are weakening." She giggled and Steve raised his brows at his sister.

"There may be a little surprise coming in the new year," Mary whispered, "and please file that in the part of your brain where you keep your ninja skills and classified secrets."

Turning back to look at the kids, Steve leaned towards Aaron. "And so it begins."

"Stop right now," Mary teased. "Unlike you, we are not getting two pets and a goat."

Steve and Danny stood near the edge of the playground shouting encouragement to the 4th graders and their siblings, who were playing a game of kickball, when Michael's dad Nick made his way over to them.

"This picnic was a great idea," he said.

"It really was," Steve agreed. "Except that I'm gonna have to swim a few extra miles to work off all the food I ate."

"At least we can be grateful the lowlife criminals decided to take the morning off so we didn't catch a case," Danny said.

"Speaking of that," Nick hesitated as though he was searching for the right words. "Do you remember that night my wife and her brother decided to escalate their insane holiday decorating competition and my neighbor ended up calling the cops?"

Steve chuckled and nodded. "How could I forget? Just promise me you'll never let Angie see that blow up skeleton or I promise you she's gonna want one."

"I'll do my best," Nick replied. "But speaking of that night, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about."

"Good play, Rahul," Steve yelled before turning back to look at Nick. "What's your question?"

"You got to my house like three minutes after the police arrived," Nick said. "I was shocked to see your truck pull in the driveway at that hour of the night. Especially over something that was really just a misunderstanding. It hardly required the attention of the head of 5-0."

"I told you," Steve said matter of factly. "Your address is on my list. Nice catch, Nico!"

"I guess that's kind of what I'm curious about," Nick said. "I didn't know you had a list."

"Oh, he has a list alright," Danny snorted. "There used to be a printed copy on the desk of every dispatcher in HPD until he convinced one of the IT guys to program the addresses directly into the system so he gets called automatically."

"It's more efficient that way," Steve said.

"I appreciate you putting me and my family and our home on the list," Nick said. "A lot. But I just felt bad you got dragged out of bed over something so silly."

Steve shrugged. "No biggie. I'd rather it was silly than something more serious."

"Heaven forbid it ever is something serious, but at least you know he'll be there in a flash," Danny said.

"That's a very comforting thought," Nick said. "I just … I'm not sure what to say. Thanks doesn't seem like enough."

"It's my pleasure," Steve said, with a genuine smile. "We have to take care of the people on our tree."

# End thanks for reading

Join us tomorrow for part three of the marathon

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