I have been remiss in thanking those who consistently leave me feedback. Without singling anyone out, this is a general MAHALO! to everyone! Also, some will be pleased to know that while initially I only planned for this to have 16 chapters, I've had an idea for an epilogue of sorts that will be set sometime in the future and will come back to the title of this fic. On with today's chapter. Enjoy!
Over the next week, the doctors released Catherine from the hospital. The day before she left, Danny slipped into her room to have a talk with her. Steve had told him about the abuse that Catherine dealt with and he wanted to know what her plans were as far as her relationship with Nick.
"I don't see how any of this is your business," Catherine said. "Why would you care?"
Danny resisted rolling his eyes and pulled a chair up next to Catherine's bed. "I may not like you very much for how you've treated Steve for almost a year, but you're still a person and you don't deserve to be treated that way. And in case you've forgotten, which I highly doubt, but you've been around cops for at least a year. Why won't you reach out for help in dealing with the abuse from Nick?"
Catherine winced at his words but said nothing. Danny continued speaking.
"If Steve is proven to be the baby's father, I know he's not going to want to deprive his daughter of having both of her parents in her life, but if you stay with Nick, he's not going to allow the baby to be around the both of you…and that's not fair to you or your daughter."
Catherine shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest in an attempt to hide her face. "You don't understand it's not that simple," she murmured.
Danny gently placed a hand on her arm but removed it when she attempted to hide a flinch. "Then help me, or someone understand and get you away from him," he pleaded.
The following day, the doctor okayed Catherine's release from the hospital, and she went back to the hotel with her parents leaving Steve and Nick to watch over the little baby girl. After a couple of days, the doctor said that she was strong enough to be held, so Steve and Nick took turns holding and feeding her.
The initial paternity results were inconclusive, so the test had to be done again. When the little girl was two weeks old, they finally had conclusive DNA results.
"Congratulations, Commander McGarrett," the doctor said. "You are the father."
Nick left the hospital in a huff. His chances of having a family with the woman he loved went up in a ball of smoke when Steve's name was said and not his. Nick was heartbroken; he had bonded with the baby, Janie as he was calling her, during the week he was with her in the hospital.
The loss of the little girl was only the start of his problems. With Steve, the rest of Five-0 and so many other police officers knowing his business, there's no telling who, if anyone, talked Catherine out of staying with him. But he couldn't think of that. He felt the painful edges of the need to shoot up again.
The following weekend, when Keilana Denise was almost three weeks old, the doctors told Steve that he could take his daughter home. Steve asked Chin, Kono, and Mary if they could go to the house and make sure everything was cleaned and ready for him to bring his daughter home.
"Are you ready?" Danny asked Steve as they walked out of the hospital.
Steve looked at his boyfriend, and yes, he and Danny had finally taken that step and were going to try for a relationship, and smiled. "You know I am," he said. "Are you sure everything at the house is ready?"
"Mary and Kono have been working nonstop," Danny said. "Even Kamekona and Gracie have been helping."
Steve laughed. "Grace called me a few hours ago and asked where she could put all the pictures she drew for Keilana," he commented. "Her exact words were, 'Uncle Steve, I've been drawing for two weeks and there's a lot of nice pictures to choose from for Keilana's room'."
Danny nodded his head and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like my Gracie."
They walked out of the hospital towards Kono's car. She graciously offered to let Danny and Steve use it to bring the baby home since Danny's car would be too cramped in the back, and the truck was currently sitting in the parking lot at headquarters.
After a 45 minute drive, they arrived at the house. Danny parked the car in the driveway and sat there a moment. He turned and looked at Steve who was sitting in the back seat next to the baby carrier. "How's she doing?"
"Still sleeping and sucking on her thumb," Steve said with a smile. He opened the door, got out and walked to the other side to get Keilana out.
Danny got out, grabbed the baby bag and waited for Steve at the front of the car. "Come on. We have family waiting to see her," he said
They walked up the pathway to the front door. Danny took the keys from Steve, unlocked the door, opened it and walked in. "We're home!" he called out.
"In the living room!" Mary called back.
They walked to the living room to see their family and close friend sitting or standing around. Above the fireplace was a banner with pink writing:
WELCOME HOME KEILANA AND STEVE!
"Aww, you guys shouldn't have," Steve said as he set the baby carrier on the coffee table. "But thank you."
"So where is she?" Mary asked. "Let's see her."
Steve unbuckled it and took Keilana out. He stood in front of the fireplace and smiled. "Everyone, this is Keilana Denise McGarrett."
"I wonder who got her that adorable pink dress…." Rachel threw a smile and wink Steve's direction.
Steve laughed. "Thank you for the dress, Rachel."
Rachel smile. "You're quite welcome. It was actually Grace who picked it out."
Grace came down the stairs when she heard her mother say her name." Mommy! Are Danno, Uncle Steve and Keilana home?"
Steve sat in the chair near the window and smiled. "Yes, we're home."
Grace stepped closer to Steve. "She's sleeping."
Danny nodded his head and picked Grace up. Soon, he wouldn't be able to do that anymore. "Yes she is. She's probably going to be doing a lot of that until she gets older."
The group spent the rest of the afternoon looking at baby pictures, laughing, talking and eating the food that Kamekona brought over. Around seven, everyone began to leave and Steve was finally able to unwind from the two weeks he spent at the hospital and all that had gone on the last eight months. Mary and Danny were the only ones left when Steve took Keilana up to the nursery, turned on the baby monitor and stood at the crib watching his daughter sleep. Eventually he'd have to unpack and put together the portable crib and move it to his room, but for right now, little Keilana Denise was safe in her room.
Danny appeared in the doorway and spoke softly. "If you're hungry, one of Kono's Aunties made dinner and it was just dropped off."
Steve turned and looked at Danny. "I'll eat later. I want to stay in here a while longer."
Danny smiled, walked to him and gave him a hug. "You did well." He gave Steve a soft kiss on the lips, and noticed the portable crib. "Babe, why do you have that?"
"So Keilana can sleep in my…our…room, and we can keep an eye on her," Steve stated. "Keep her safe from anybody who might want to…."
"Steve," Danny interrupted, "I know paranoia is an integral part of your military training, but she'll be fine in here. We have the monitor, though why we need it is anybody's guess, but trust me, you do not want her in the room with you - us."
"One, why don't we need a monitor? And two, don't you want her with us?"
"All right, Steve, I'm going to lay this out for you." Danny took a breath. "One, she's a total of five feet away and you, with your bat-like hearing, will know the moment she wakes up. When you have a monitor, you end up going into the room every time she makes a sound. The moment you're in there, she'll see you and want out, and that, my dear SEAL, will be the end of your sleep for the night. And two," Danny held up two fingers, "if she's in the room with us, the same thing will happen, and I assure you, whatever sex life we have will go straight into the toilet."
"Okay," Steve agreed, "no to the portable crib. But the monitor stays."
'For now,' Danny thought, memories of both Rachel and himself rushing to Grace's room the moment she woke; his mother had taken the monitor and thrown it out the window, pointing out that she didn't have one with four children and they had all been fine. "I'm going to eat, and I'll be sure to save you a plate."
Steve smiled. "Thanks." He went back to watching his daughter sleep. "So perfect," he said softly.
"Just like her daddy," Danny murmured as he headed downstairs.
When things began to have some form of order, Steve requested more time off so that he could take care of Keilana and look for more permanent child care. He didn't want to always rely on Rachel and Mary, despite how much of an asset they were in helping him and teaching him what to do.
In the few years that Steve had known Rachel, he never thought she and Danny would be at a point where they were friendly with each other. Danny no longer had to fear Rachel revoking his limited time with Grace. Likewise, Rachel spent quite a bit of her free time teaching Steve all she knew about caring for a baby.
Rachel laughed at Steve's comment. "Really, Steven. You make it sound like I'm Dr. Spock."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "The Star Trek guy?" This caused Danny, Rachel and Mary to nearly fall over from laughing so hard.
It was in the quiet moments, where it was just him and his daughter, when Steve wished his mother was still alive. To learn from her, to have her meet and spend time with her first granddaughter. He also wished his father was alive, but never as many times as he's wished for his mother.
He knew his mother would absolutely love and adore Keilana, and she'd take Grace on like her own granddaughter as well. The house would always smell of cookies and pies, and not because of the candles Mary brought and left one weekend.
Steve was pleasantly surprised at how natural Mary was in caring for Keilana. Mary had said many times she didn't want children, but knowing the right things seemed to come easy to Mary.
"Just because I don't want kids of my own doesn't mean I won't want to spoil Keilana or Grace," Mary said with a playful shove of her brother's shoulder. "I can return them to their parents when I need a break. You, Danny and Rachel are stuck with them."
Steve smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "You say that now, but I bet when it comes time for you to go back to LA, you're going to have just as hard a time as I will once it's time for me to go back to work."
Another thing that shocked Steve came in the form of Jean Rollins, Catherine's mother. Steve had always been on good terms with Jean, they got along well, but at the hospital, when emotions were running high, things were said by her and Steve as well. Once everyone was more or less calm, Steve and Jean were able to talk in private.
Jean voiced her concern that she wouldn't be able to see her granddaughter because of how the DNA results came out, but Steve assured her that she would be able to see Keilana whenever she wanted. He would never willingly deprive his daughter of spending time with her grandparents. He never got to do much of that when he was growing up and he didn't want the same for his daughter.