The Five-0 team, as well as Catherine, worked in shifts to make sure Willow and Serenity were protected at all times. The team was following up on every possible lead they could find on Meredith Townsend. It seemed like she had vanished; they spent so much time searching but couldn't find anything.

"Thank you again, Kono," Catherine said for what seemed to be the hundreth time one Saturday morning. Her own team was conducting a search on Meredith Townsend as well and she was going to see if they found anything.

"Anytime," Kono replied. "Is John sleeping?"

Catherine nodded as she picked up her keys. "Yeah, he just fell asleep. Bye, girls."

"Bye, Mom," Serenity and Willow said at the same time.

With one last worried glance at her daughters, Catherine turned to leave.

About fifteen minutes later, Kono started to get the feeling like she was being watched. She shook it off at first, figuring it was just herself stressing over this situation as well as her and Ben's upcoming wedding. But as the seconds passed, turning into minutes, and the feeling still didn't go away, she started to take it seriously.

Rising to her feet, Kono walked around the house, looking out all the windows. She checked on John who was still sleeping and then the girls. Serenity was using her laptop and Willow was drawing.

Kono sat back down in front of her own laptop, picking up where she left off on a case report she was working on. There was nothing wrong. Get it together, Kalakaua, she told herself. But the feeling wasn't going away. She must be going crazy. That had to be it.

Catherine couldn't help worrying. Something was wrong but she didn't exactly know what. She was just...worried.

She picked up her cell phone and quickly dialed a number. She smiled when her husband answered.

"Hey, Cath."

"Steve, I have a bad feeling. I'm worried about the girls."

"Me, too. With everything going on-"

"No," Catherine interjected. "Well, yes, with everything going on, of course I'm worried. But I mean right now. Like at the moment. I have a bad feeling. I want to check on them, make sure they're okay..." She trailed off at the end, realizing how ridiculous she sounded. She just said they should check on the girls because she had a bad feeling. How stupid, she thought, rolling her eyes at herself. "You know what? That's ridiculous. I don't know if anything's wrong. I'm probably worrying over nothing."

"No, you're right. You never know what's happening. But Kono would've called if something was wrong," Steve tried to assure his wife, but he couldn't help sharing the same feeling.

"But what if she can't?"

They were silent for a moment before Steve said, "I think we should check on them. We need to make sure everthing's alright."

Catherine sighed, relieved that she and Steve were going to make sure their daughter were okay. She was never this paranoid before becoming a mother.

The bad feeling wouldn't go away. Finally Kono decided to look further into it. "Girls," she began, looking in their direction. "Go in the basement, okay? I'll be right back."

Serenity and Willow made their way to the door leading to the basement. Serenity made sure her younger sister was downstairs before she turned to look at Kono. "What's going on? I'm fourteen. You can tell me the truth, Auntie Kono."

Kono debated whether or not to tell Serenity about what her sixth sense, so to speak, was telling her since it could turn out to be nothing. If that was the case, Serenity would be worried for nothing. But the girl was fourteen, after all. "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling."

Serenity nodded in understanding, starting to sense the feeling as well. Something wasn't right.

"Go with your sister, sweetie," Kono said with what she tried to make a reassuring smile. She wasn't sure exactly how reassuring she was able to be at the given time.

Serenity smiled back with a hint of worry spreading over her face. She walked downstairs after her sister, closing the door behind her.

Kono slowly walked around the first floor of the house, staring out every window to make sure nobody was there. Just as she was about to go upstairs to check, she noticed a woman walking close to the house. Kono walked forward, closer to a window to see if she could identify the woman. It was Meredith Townsend.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kono knew she should call Steve and Catherine and wait for back up. But she wanted to make sure the girls were safe, so she quietly stepped outside, her gun drawn as she slowly made her way around the house.

Nothing. She found nothing. Meredith was nowhere to be found. Had she really been hallucinating? No, she saw Meredith. Kono knows she did.

Suddenly Kono felt someone wrap an arm around her neck. She struggled against the hold and she was pretty sure she could have gotten away if it wasn't for the knife that cut her skin. She felt it pierce her left arm and continue to make a long wound. Kono held back a scream, only whimpering from the pain. She managed to move her arm away from the knife, her elbow hitting her attacker.

"Bitch," a woman's voice came angrily. She held something in front of Kono's face. Chloroform. Kono was soon laying on the ground, unconscious.

Meredith walked toward the front door. She scowled when she found the door was locked. She had to give that cop she knocked out credit; she was smart. Meredith picked the lock and was soon standing in the house.

"Willow, Serenity," she called out with a smirk on her face. She searched the house, finding no one until she opened the door to the basement and walked down the steps.

As soon as the girls heard Meredith's voice, Serenity turned off the light and pulled her sister behind a set of stacked boxes. Panic spread over them when they heard the basement door open and someone walking down the stairs.

Serenity and Willow stood there, hoping their parents would come home soon.

Meredith was greeted by pitch black when she opened the basement door. She searched for a light switch and soon the room was bright. The girls had to be there somewhere.

She looked around carefully, not wanting to miss a sign of them. Then she noticed a stack of boxes. Perfect hiding place.

"Hello, girls," Meredith said smugly, pulling them away. "It's been too long."

"No it hasn't," Serenity immediately said, glaring back at the woman.

Meredith wore a glare of her own as she slapped Serenity across the face. "You better be respectful to your aunt, do you understand me?"

"You're not our aunt," Willow bravely stated with determination written all over her face.

Meredith pulled Willow closer to her by her hair. "Yes I am. You both got that? I named you both! You really think your mother could be bothered to name you? You," she said, looking at Serenity. "I named you Serenity because it was ironic. I knew nothing about your life would be serene. Not with our family." A smirk was on her face. Then she looked in Willow's direction. "Your name makes much more sense. Weeping willow. Sorrow. Sadness. How can you say I'm not your aunt when I named both of you?"

"Step away," Catherine's voice came from the top of the stairs, her gun pointed at Meredith. She descended the steps and Steve right behind her.

"Willow, don't look," Serenity advised, pulling her sister close and covering her eyes. Then she closed her eyes, counting the seconds until everything was over.

Serenity couldn't sleep. She grabbed a blanket before stepping out of her room quietly so she wouldn't wake anybody up. She disabled the house alarm so she could go outside.

Serenity spread the blanket over the sand and sat down on top of it. Pulling her knees to her chest, she stared at the ocean in front of her.

"Hey."

She turned her head to find her father standing there. She gave him a small smile as she replied, "Hi, Daddy."

Steve sat down beside his daughter. "It's almost one-thirty. Couldn't sleep?" he guessed.

Serenity nodded. "I should be happy she's going to prison and she's not going to be able to hurt us. Why don't I feel like that?"

"How do you feel?"

"I don't really know," she admitted with a shrug. "I feel...guilty. Kono got hurt because of us."

"Kono wanted to protect you. Meredith just took her by surprise. She's okay, Serenity."

At the mention of her name, Serenity said, "That's another thing."

"What is?"

"Before you and Mom got here, Meredith told Willow and me she named us. She said Wendy couldn't be bothered to name us. So she chose Serenity because it was ironic and she knew nothing in my life would be serene. She said Willow made more sense because it was associated with sorrow. Like a weeping willow." She paused for a moment before she stated, "I want to change my name."

"Why would you want to do something like that?"

"Because I found out my name is supposed to be ironic."

"You're not changing it."

Serenity snapped her head up at her dad, a bit of anger on her face. "Why not?"

"It has a nice meaning. It's part of who you are. You shouldn't let Meredith be the reason you want to change something about yourself."

It took a few moments before Serenity agreed with a nod. "Okay. You're right."

Steve smiled as he pulled Serenity close to him. "Of course I am." He could tell there was something else on his daughter's mind. "Is something else bothering you?"

Serenity quickly shook her head. "Nope."

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Yeah." She took a deep breath. "Alright. I thought..." When she spoke again, her voice was quieter than before. "I thought you were going to kill Meredith. Then I got mad at myself because I know you wouldn't sink to her level."

"Believe me, after everything she put you and Willow through, I wanted to. So did your mom. But we couldn't. She's going to prison. She's won't hurt you ever again, honey."

After a few more minutes, Serenity was starting to fall asleep. "Are you ready to go back inside?" Steve asked gently.

"Yes," Serenity said quietly as her father lifted her up and carried her back to the house.

"Goodnight," Steve said as he placed a now-sleeping Serenity on her bed and kissed her forehead. "I love you."

He turned to leave, looking once more at the sleeping form of his daughter. Content that she was safe, Steve left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

When he stepped out into the hallway, Willow walked out of her room, rubbing her eyes. "Daddy? I need to go downstairs."

"What's wrong, Willow?"

"I need some water," she explained as she sleepily started to walk toward the stairs.

Seeing that she was about to crash into the railing, Steve lifted her up and carried her down the stairs. He placed her on a chair at the kitchen table before getting a glass of water.

Willow rested her elbow on the table, her chin in her palm as she kicked her legs back and forth. Something was clearly on her mind. "Daddy?"

"Yes, Willow?"

"Why were Meredith and my old Mommy and Daddy so mean?"

Steve wasn't prepared for that question. How did you tell an innocent little girl that her biological parents were cold-hearted murderers and didn't love her? He thought about what to say that wouldn't bring Willow to tears. The last thing he wanted was to make one of his little girls cry. Thankfully Willow came up with an answer on her own.

"It's 'cause they didn't love us, right? They were mean and did bad things and didn't love us. But it's okay because you and Mommy love us."

Steve put down the glass of water in his hand on the table in front of Willow before crouching down in front of his daughter. "That's right, Willow. We love you very much."

Willow extended her arms as a sign for her father to lift her up while at the same time, Steve reached for her and had her in his arms before a second passed.

"I'm tired, Daddy," Willow proclaimed, her words followed by a yawn.

"It's past your bedtime," Steve commented as he lifted her up. He carried Willow upstairs just like he had done with Serenity earlier and brought her to her room.

"Night, Daddy," Willow said, half asleep as Steve placed her on the bed. "Love you."

"I love you, too. Goodnight, sweetheart."

Steve made his way back to the hallway after closing the door behind him. He was surprised to find Catherine standing beside him.

She smiled and put her arms around his neck. "They're safe."

Steve sighed before he agreed, "They're safe."

Catherine gave him a quick kiss, softly laughing at the expression on her husband's face when she pulled away.