STEVE & SARAH

Three Years Later

Commander Steven J McGarrett had been trained as a SEAL, he had been one of the best. He had been in some of the worst combat situations over the years as both a SEAL and also a cop working with the Five – O Taskforce. But nothing had prepared him for this.

"What do you mean, both heartbeats?" he asked dumbfounded.

The doctor who was conducting Sarah's ultrasound smiled patiently at him, "It means Steven that you are expecting twins. Twin girls, to be exact".

"Girls? Again?" Sarah asked and then laughed, "Sorry Steve, I don't think you have any boy sperm. You're destined to only have girls".

Steve was still dazed from the news that he was going to be a father for the third time to twins. Girls! Damn, now he understood what Danno meant when he said a man could never breath easy if he had a daughter. And Steve didn't have just one, he would have four by the time these two were born!

When he hadn't said anything, Sarah's smiling expression changed into one of worry, "Steve, are you okay?"

He looked down at her. Even after nine years together, she still looked the same and he was still crazy about her, "I'm trying to catch my breath and count how many more shotguns I'm gonna need".

She smiled and touched his hand, "Good, coz I was worried that you would be disappointed that this one wasn't a boy".

"Are you kidding me? Any baby is precious, I was just hoping for a boy because then I could breath a little easy and sleep more peacefully" he said wiping the sweat that had beaded on his forehead, as he imagined the coming years. Years that would be filled with boys sniffing around his baby girls. Evil boys, who could not be trusted!

"Relax Steve. If you start teaching these two and Sylvie the way you've already started with Stephie, they'll be fine" Sarah tried to comfort him.

The thought of his two daughters brought a smile to his face. Eight and half year old Stephania already knew how to throw a punch and was very adept at Karate. Little Sylvie was only three now, but she was due to start her first Karate lesson this week. And as soon as these two were big enough they would be enrolled in something as well. Steve wanted to make sure that his girls could handle themselves when they were older. He knew that he could not be with them twenty – four – seven so he would prepare them as much as he could to defend themselves from any situation that would prove harmful to them.

He hadn't told Sarah yet, but he fully intended to train all his girls in hand-to-hand combat as well as teach them how to handle a gun.

He could feel the cold sweat run down his back at the thought of his daughters being in a situation that would require them to use their skills at all. Ideally he would have loved to wrap them in cotton wool and keep them away from all the harms of the world. But both Sarah and he knew first hand that life could be very harsh and it was better to prepare the girls for what may or may not come their way.

-X-

After they finished with the appointment, Sarah decided to treat Steve lunch. So she drove them to Kamekona's shrimp truck. Even though he himself was not running them anymore, he had managed to become quite the franchise, with his shrimp trucks popping up all over the island.

Over a plate of beautiful Chili Shrimp, she watched her husband chew thoughtfully.

"Steve, are you sure you're okay?" she asked concerned because he had been unusually silent for quite a while now.

He chewed some more then swallowed some of the beer, "Yeah, honestly I'm doing okay. I'm just worried about you?"

She laughed at that, "Why in the world are you worried about me?"

He shrugged and popped another shrimp into his mouth, then offered her one, "You always wanted to travel and see the world, now I've saddled you with four kids and I have a job that doesn't give us much time away from here" he swallowed loudly.

Sarah reached for his hand, "Hey, you didn't saddle me with anything. And you're not the only one who forgot to use protection when these two new babies were made. It just happened and you know what Steve? I wouldn't change my life for the world" she smiled into his face.

"Really?" he asked, almost looking like a little boy.

"Absolutely. And yes I wanted to travel and see the world, but I'm only thirty-three, I have my whole life ahead of me" she kissed his hand, "And when the girls are all grown up, you and I are going on a year long vacation where we're going to travel the world and do everything we've wanted to do".

He laughed at that, "What about your plans to study? You wanted to do your PhD before you were forty, remember?"

Sarah sipped her iced tea, "Well, I did get an acceptance from Columbia University, I was waiting to tell you. They have agreed to let me defer the start date for a year, which means that ma has agreed to come and help with the babies so I can get some of my work done".

Steve smiled at her, "You're sure got everything covered. Congratulations baby" he leaned over and gave her long kiss, his lips lingering making her feel all hot and bothered.

"Well I just have to figure out who my supervisor is going to be and I will be communicating with him or her via Skype and email. So I really don't have to go to New York very often, except maybe to get some resources every few months, or I can get access over the internet or through one of the university link ups here" She smiled, very pleased with herself for figuring everything out. Getting her education complete had been extremely important to her and having Steve's support had made it all the more easy for her to make the decision to do this.

"I am so proud of you. Soon you'll be Dr. Sarah Morrissey McGarrett. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" he fed her a shrimp, winking at her.

She chewed, "Are you sure I'm not taking on too much?" once again needing his reassurance that everything was fine.

"Babe, if you can take on me dying and coming back to life, my crazy job and raising two kids, not to mention the prospect of raising two more kids, you can pretty much do anything" he said sipping his beer. "And did I mention having Doris McGarrett as your mother – in – law?"

"It's true, your mother can be quite a challenge to deal with, although she means well and everything she does, is from love" Sarah said recognizing her mother – in – laws constant need to know exactly what was going on their lives. To say that she was paranoid and high strung was an understatement. If the kids or any of them so much as had a mosquito bite, she was ready to do some damage!

Over the years, she had come to respect the woman and even though she had not agreed with it, she did understand Doris' need to keep herself away from her husband and children. Sarah had very clearly told Steve that if he EVER decided to do something like that to them (as if he already hadn't!) she would be doing some damage of her own.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked her just as his cell phone rang, "Hang on it's Chin". He answered his phone and the next thing she knew she was dropping him off at the HPD headquarters after a lingering kiss.

"Be safe" she said against his lips as she craned her neck out the window to meet him halfway.

"I always am" he smiled.

She grunted, "Yeah right, you ass".

Steve laughed as he ran toward the entrance, turned and blew her a kiss.