The next morning Nick searched through the drawers of his hotel room for a phone book of some kind. Once he found it he flipped through to the legal aid section. 'Family court…family lawyers…anything.' he thought to himself. He pointed to one, Friendly Family Aid. 'That's the one.' He picked up the phone and dialed the number. It rang three times before someone picked up.
"Friendly Family Aid, this is Tina, how may I help you?"
"I need some advice about an unborn child that might not be mine," Nick said
"What exactly are your concerns?"
"My girlfriend, well, I guess she's my ex-girlfriend now, signed some papers giving custody of her unborn daughter to her ex-boyfriend. There is some question as to the paternity of the baby."
"Let me get this straight, your ex signed over rights to an unborn child that may or may not be yours?"
Nick sighed. "Yes and my ex's ex have some high powered lawyer who, I'm afraid, is going to snowball me under legal documents and I won't know if the baby is mine."
"Sir, you can come in and we'll try and help you the best we can," Tina said, adding, "and it's also best that you have a paternity test done before you sign anything."
"Okay, I'll be there in thirty minutes." Nick hung up the phone, grabbed his jacket and walked out of his hotel room and the hotel to the parking structure to his rented car. He got in the car, pulled out the paper that he scribbled the address of the Friendly Family Aid building and put it in the car's GPS. Within seconds, he had the directions and he was on his way.
Fifteen minutes later he was pulling into the parking lot and searching for a place to park. Once he found a place, he parked and walked to the building. The bell rang, alerting the person at the front desk that someone entered.
The lady looked up and smiled. "Welcome to Friendly Family Aid."
"Umm, I called about twenty minutes ago needing some child custody advice."
"Oh, Nick?" the lady asked, putting her hand out. "I'm Tina, we spoke on the phone."
Nick walked to her and shook her hand. "I really hope you can help me out here."
"Let's go to the office and we'll talk some more." Tina said, standing up and leading the way to the back office.
Steve was up at the crack of dawn. He made his way down from his room and stopped in the kitchen. He was surprised to see Rachel, Danny, Catherine and another woman sitting around the table looking over some papers.
"What's going on?" he asked as he kissed the corner of Danny's mouth and gave a nod to the others in the room.
Danny pointed to the woman sitting next to Rachel. "This is Lizanne Sawyer, the lawyer that I told you about."
Steve looked at Rachel. "Thank you for helping."
"Don't thank me yet," Rachel said, "Liz might not be able to help."
"I have to be honest with you, Commander McGarrett," Liz began, "I don't know if a judge will be able to legally enforce the papers your attorney and Catherine's attorney drafted."
"Please, call me Steve. Why won't a judge be able to enforce them?" Steve asked.
"Well, there's a possibility that this other man, Nick, could be the father, so until paternity is determined, this document isn't a legally binding contract."
The group stopped talking when Mary walked into the kitchen. "Don't stop your discussion on account of me. I'm just getting some coffee."
Steve went to the coffee maker, grabbed a cup and poured his sister some before handing it to her. "Thanks bro." Mary smiled.
Danny's phone rang and he answered it. "We get a case, Chin?" He paused and listened to what Chin was saying. "Steve and I will be there in thirty." He ended the call.
"I guess work calls," Steve said. He looked at Danny. "Give me ten and we can go."
The others excused themselves and made plans to meet up later to further discuss what course of action they could take should Nick decide to get himself a lawyer.
Tina and the other lawyers of the small family practice spent nearly an hour talking with Nick and eventually had the whole story, at least according to Nick, documented.
"I don't want you to worry about any documents that Ms. Rollins may have signed with her ex. No judge would be able to enforce it until paternity is determined."
"Okay," Nick said with a nod. "How do I keep them from taking the baby before the paternity test is done?"
"It is possible to do pre-natal paternity testing, but that would only be allowed if Ms. Rollins' doctor has the final say. The health of both mother and unborn child takes priority," Tina said.
"There is another option," another lawyer said. "You can try to convince Ms. Rollins to change her mind in regards to what she's signed with her ex."
"I know Catherine, she won't do that." Nick said shaking his head, "If she even thinks there's a possibility that she has to raise the baby, she'll freak and do something."
"Something like what?" Tina asked
"I wouldn't put anything past her." Nick said, "I have to try and convince her to change her mind about things. Thank you for your help."
"Let me give you our business card." Tina pulled a card from the holder and handed it to Nick. "If anything comes up, call and we'll help you as best we can."
Nick took the card and smiled some. "Thank you…all of you…for your help."
The other lawyers nodded their heads and went back to their offices and Tina walked Nick to the door.
Nick walked back to his car and headed to his hotel room. 'I have to find a way to convince Catherine otherwise when it comes to the baby,' he thought to himself as he drove down the street. A thought occurred to him and he made a u-turn and headed to see Catherine. When he got to a stoplight, he pulled his cell phone out and dialed Catherine's number.
"I'm heading to see you. I want to take you away for the weekend so we can talk about all of this." When the light turned green Nick gunned the engine and sped off in the direction of Steve's house.
While Catherine was up in her room, she noticed she had a message. She checked her voicemail and sighed when she heard Nick's voice. 'He wants to take me away for the weekend? Steve won't let me…wait, I'm an adult, and I can do what I want.' She called Nick back and told him she'd be packed and waiting.
Thirty minutes later there was a knock at the door. Mary went to the door and opened it. "Hel…what do you want?" she asked when she saw Nick
"To see my girlfriend." Nick said, "Is she ready?"
"Hold on." Mary closed the door, walked up the stairs and knocked on Catherine's door, "Nick's here." Mary walked back down the stairs and into the living room.
Catherine waited a moment before opening the door, walking out and closing it behind her. She adjusted the overnight bag on her shoulder and quietly walked down the stairs. "I'll be back later," Catherine said before walking out of the house and closing the door.
"Ready?" Nick asked
"Yeah, and I don't want to know where we're going," Catherine said. "Just take me away from here." She walked towards his car and stood by the passenger side door waiting for him to unlock it.
"Is everything okay?" Nick asked when he got to the car.
"Things are just fine. I really enjoy getting chewed out by Danny, his ex, Mary and some bitch lawyer who doesn't know me." She opened the car door and got in.
Nick closed the door and walked to the driver side door, opened it and got in. He started the car and they were on their way, "What exactly happened?"
Catherine shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it."
Nick sighed and continued driving. Soon after they were on the road, Catherine fell asleep and Nick was beginning to get tired himself. He pulled into the parking lot of the first motel he saw. He parked the car, went to the office and asked for a room with two beds. He paid in cash for two nights. He went to the room, unlocked the door and then went back to this car. He woke Catherine up and when she got out, though she wasn't fully awake, he helped her to the room. He helped her into the bed and went back for her bags.
'This'll have to do for now,' he thought to himself.
It was well after midnight when Danny and Steve finished for the day and arrived back at the house. After they finished a case they'd been working on for nearly a month, they were called into a meeting with the Governor that lasted almost an hour. Once they finished there, they had drinks at Mel's on the Beach and caught the end of the Knicks basketball game and the highlights of other games on ESPN. Before they knew it, four hours passed.
They quietly walked into the house not expecting anyone to be up. When they got to the living room, they saw Mary sitting in the chair next to the fireplace and watching the news.
"Mare, what are you doing up?" Steve asked as he pulled his jacket off and sat down.
"Couldn't sleep after all the excitement from today," she said, "Rachel and her lawyer friend came by again. They had some papers they wanted you to look at. I put them in your office."
"Liz is a lovely woman, isn't she?" Danny asked. "Nothing but the best for Rachel, that's for sure."
"They kind of laid it in good on Catherine," Mary commented. She paused, "I kind of laid it in good on Catherine."
Steve glanced up the stairs. "Is Catherine sleep?"
"She left out of here a while ago with Nick."
"That's why it's so quiet," Danny said
"Did she say when she'd be back?" Steve asked
"Worried about her?" Mary asked
"Not so much her, more so the baby."
"It's okay to worry about her, bro," Mary said. "I'm going to bed."
Steve glanced at Danny, who was dozing on the couch, "D, why don't you go on to bed. I'm going to wait up to make sure Catherine comes back okay."
Danny opened an eye and looked at Steve. "Are you sure you aren't worried about her?" Steve gave him a look. "Really, it's okay to be worried about her. She's pregnant after all."
Steve shrugged some and rubbed his hands over his face. "Something just feels…off."
"Super-SEAL senses tingling?" Danny joked.
"I'm serious. Catherine's been here for a while, and short of her time in the hospital, she's never been out this late," Steve said. "I'm just going to make sure she gets in okay."
Danny reached for Steve's arm and pulled him on to the couch. "Nick isn't going to run off with Catherine. He knows that's a sure fire way to have Five-0 hunt his ass down."
Steve nodded. "I know, but still."
"So come to bed with me," Danny said. He rested his head on Steve's shoulder and lightly ghosted his lips against the side of Steve's neck.
"I will in a few hours," Steve assured Danny. He moaned softly and tilted his head to give Danny better access to his neck. "You don't have to wait up with me."
Danny sighed and got up. "Oh well. Guess I won't get to cuddle tonight." He made his way to the stairs, "I don't want to come down here in the morning when I get coffee and see you guys in the middle of heated throes of passion."
Steve looked up, aghast at what Danny said. "Only in the Twilight Zone would that happen. Besides, you're the only one for me now."
"Stranger things have happened," Danny said. "Remember when we saw Lori and Max out that one night…"
Steve laughed. "That was interesting to say the least."
"That's what I'm saying," Danny said with a laugh. He made his way up the stairs, "Don't be up too late."
"Night Danny." Steve said. He grabbed the remote for the TV and put it on the History Channel.
The next morning when Catherine woke up she wasn't in her room. Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness of the room. She sat up in bed and felt for a light switch of some kind. When she couldn't find one she sighed, threw her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. She shuffled her feet as she walked towards the small amount of light she could see that was coming in through a crack in the curtains around the window. She pulled the curtains open and shielded her eyes from the sun's reflection off the pool.
Behind her, Nick groaned and pulled the covers over his head. "Turn the damn light off."
"Kind of hard to shut the sun off," Catherine said walking back to the bed. She sat down and adjusted her wrinkled top. "Where's my bag?"
"In the bathroom," Nick mumbled from under the blankets.
Catherine got up again, walked to the bathroom and closed the door. 'What is this, the Bates Motel?' she thought to herself as she looked at the meager amounts of towels that were left for them to use. She turned on the water, stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower.
Behind her there was a chair so she pulled it under the streaming water, sat down and let the water pelt her body. She stayed under the water until she felt the first droplets of cold water, the she stood up, reached for the small washcloth and bar of soap. She opened the soap, placed it on the cloth, let the water wet both, then washed her body and rinsed off. She turned off the water, grabbed the oversized towel and dried off.
As Catherine was getting dressed, Nick knocked on the door, "Other people do have to use the shower…" he said
Catherine finished getting dressed, yanked the door open and walked out. "All yours," she said. Nick walked in and closed it behind himself.