"What is this? What are those bags? You're staying?" Allison heard Steve exclaim as she opened the front door of his house.

"Yeah, is that okay with you?" A voice belonging to his mother replied.

"Mom!"

Hearing how exasperated Steve was beginning to get with his mother, Allison chose this moment to interrupt.

"Knock, knock," She said as she walked into the dining room. Steve was standing over his mother as she ate her breakfast, but his head snapped over to look at Allison as she walked in the room.

"Ally? What are you doing here?"

"Doris invited me and Sawyer over for breakfast," Allison explained. "I assumed she had cleared that with you, but apparently not. So we can go if this is a bad time?"

"No, no, of course not," He assured her, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm just surprised. How did you even get here?"

"I walked, it's really not that far, Steve."

"By yourself?" He asked as Allison took Sawyer out of his car seat. "You are aware that Wo Fat is still out there somewhere, right? I don't think either of you realize how dangerous this situation is!"

"Oh Steve, you don't even know if he's still on the island!" Doris reminded him as Allison showed her agreement with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah and I'm not being reckless, but walking a few blocks? I think I can handle that,"

Steve sighed, obviously not sharing her sense of security. He chose not to argue though, knowing the two women would never let him win, and simply held out his arms for his son. Allison obliged his silent request and passed Sawyer to his father. It took him a minute to realize who was now holding him, but once he did he flashed his dad a big, toothless grin causing Steve's expression to immediately change from one of annoyance to one that matched his son's.

"He's smiling!" He exclaimed. "When did he start doing that?"

"Just last night," Allison told him, pleased that Sawyer had shown his dad his newfound ability.

"That's so cool," Steve said in amazement before looking back down at Sawyer. "You're growing up so fast!"

"He is," Doris agreed. "He's grown so much since I last saw him."

"He seems to get bigger every day," Allison told her. "And at the last doctor's appointment he had, the doctor said that he's developing right on track and is exactly where he should be at two months despite being premature."

"He's a tough guy already," Steve beamed proudly, but as he spoke he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Adjusting his son slightly, he answered it.

"McGarrett," He said, using his official work voice. "Yeah, okay. I'll be right there." He hung up and slid his phone back in his pocket. "Well as disappointed as I am to miss this lovely family breakfast, I have to go to work so who wants the baby?" He asked, prying Sawyer's fists from his navy shirt.

"I do," Doris volunteered. "But I don't appreciate your sarcasm."

Steve passed the baby to his mother and walked out of the room without responding to her comment. Allison waited a moment to make sure that Sawyer wasn't going to react badly towards the relative stranger that was now holding him before she followed Steve. He was already in his room when she found him and smirked as she walked in.

"As tempting as it is, Ally, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to let you join me in the shower now that we're not together." He teased.

"Ha-ha," Allison said sarcastically. "That's not why I'm here."

"Well what can I help you with?" He asked as he pulled out a clean pair of cargo pants from his drawer.

"Oh, I'm just wondering who the woman that I ran into on your driveway this morning was," Allison explained, trying to sound casual.

"What woman?"

"The one that's about this tall," Allison gestured with her hand. "Brown hair, super pretty. How many women left your house this morning, Steve? I'm assuming she's the only one who was here."

"Oh, you mean Catherine," Steve said as if that was supposed to answer all Allison's questions.

"I guess I do," She replied before crossing her arms and cutting right to the chase. "Are you fucking her?"

Steve's eyes widened slightly as he was caught off guard by her bluntness, but he quickly regained his composure and smirked at her once again.

"I don't think that's any of your business anymore," He told her. "I can do whatever I want with whoever I want."

The words sounded familiar and it didn't take Allison long to figure out that he was using her own words against her. She had said a similar thing to him about a month previous to their current conversation. At the time, Allison had been testing the waters, trying to see just how easily she could make him jealous and she assumed that was just what Steve was doing now, only he had taken it much further. After coming to this conclusion, Allison knew the best course of action was to not give him what he wanted so while biting the inside of her lip to keep her emotions from bubbling over, she simply nodded.

"Sorry, you're right," She told him. "I shouldn't intrude like that."

Steve tried to hide his surprise at her reaction, or rather lack thereof, as Allison flashed him a weak smile before quickly turning on her heel and heading back to her son.

As Sawyer napped later that afternoon, Allison anxiously paced back and forth across her kitchen, her phone pressed to her ear. Just as the call was about to go to voicemail, it was answered.

"Hey, Ally!" Her friend, Macy greeted her. "How are you?"

"Honestly?" Allison asked, running a hand through her hair. "I think I fucked up."

"Oh honey," Macy sighed. "What have you done now?"

"Well I thought that Steve wanted us to get back together because his coworkers won't shut up about it and I assumed he had asked them to talk to me, but," Allison paused as she teared up. "Obviously that's not the case. He's moved on."

"What?" Macy asked, her tone conveying her disbelief. "No way, Ally."

"Yes way, Mace!" Allison insisted. "His mom invited Sawyer and I over for breakfast this morning and there was some woman sneaking out of his house when I got there!"

"Did you ask him about it? Maybe it's nothing."

"Of course I did. He just flashed me that stupid smirk and reminded me that it wasn't any of my business anymore."

Macy was quiet for a moment.

"Well I guess that's true," She said, trying to be as gentle as possible. "And you can't expect him to stay single forever."

"But so soon?"

"Do you think time would make it any easier?" Macy asked, knowing her friend better than she thought.

Now it was Allison's turn to be quiet. She chewed her lip again anxiously and turned to face the window, looking out over the ocean as she spoke.

"No," She admitted a moment later. "It wouldn't because I love him. And I don't want him to go off and get some hot new girlfriend that Sawyer will spend every weekend with and eventually call 'mom' and probably like more than he likes me because I'll be spending the rest of my life working shitty jobs just to support him, but have no time to actually spend with him. Meanwhile, on weekends, super dad and his sexy girlfriend will swoop in and take him on lots of fun adventures and-"

"Ally, calm down." Macy instructed, interrupting her friends rant. She waited until Allison had stopped talking and taken a breath before continuing. "You can avoid all that if you just talk things out with Steve."

"I can't," Allison insisted, her voice cracking slightly. "We can't get back together."

"So let me get this straight," Macy said. "You don't want to be with Steve, but you also don't want him to be with anyone else?"

"Not exactly..."

"Well what am I missing?" Macy asked, trying her best not to lose her patience with her stubborn friend.

"I still want to be with him." Allison admitted. "But I can't. I have to think about Sawyer and do what's best for him."

Macy sighed. She'd heard the same story the last time she'd talked to Allison and she still wasn't buying it.

"Can I be honest with you?" She asked.

"Of course,"

"Promise you won't get mad?" Allison made a noise of agreement and Macy continued. "I think that's bullshit. Steve broke your heart when he left the first time and then he did it again. You're scared and that's understandable, but you're going to be miserable for the rest of your life if you can't even admit what the real problem is."

The ocean suddenly became a blur in Allison's vision as she lost the battle with her emotions. She wasn't a crier. If a problem was solvable, she had always felt that crying about it was a waste of time, but her friend's words had really struck a chord with her and she knew there was some truth to what she was saying.

"But what am I supposed to do?" She choked out. "I can't trust him anymore, not after he's broken my heart twice!"

"I know, Al, but that's why you need to talk to him. It'll take a lot of work, but you love each other and can get through this. You owe it to Sawyer to at least give it a chance."

"He doesn't love me anymore!" Allison cried. "He already found someone else."

"I have no idea who that woman was, but there is no way that Steve doesn't love you anymore." Macy insisted. "He loved you for a year after you spent one night together. It would make no sense for him to be over you that fast after everything you've been through now."

"But maybe it's not so fast," Allison fretted. "The only reason he was upset when I left was because he thought I was taking Sawyer away. He didn't say anything about the fact that I was going too."

"Talk to him, Allison." Macy repeated. "I'm serious. That's the only way you can work this out."

Allison sighed and was about to reply when she heard Sawyer cry through the baby monitor.

"Okay, I will, but can I call-"

Allison trailed off when she turned around, intending to go and comfort her son. There, leaning against the door frame that led to her kitchen, was the one man that she had just been discussing and the expression on his face clearly told her he had heard everything that she had just said.