So, I got this back from my beta on Saturday, made the corrections, then Sunday evening when I wanted to post it, I kept getting error messages. Let me tell you, I wasn't pleased with that. I was able to post another story, but this one just wouldn't post. But it's finally posted. Happy reading!
"We're able to see Keilana as much as we want." Jean said, "But since you took her without Steve knowing, he's not going to let us see her ever again."
Catherine looked at her mother. "What do you mean you get to see her whenever you want?"
"Your father and I have an agreement with Steve. If he's not able to find a sitter for Keilana, he'll call us. In fact, starting next month, we'll have weekend visits so that he and Danny can have a date night," Jean said.
Catherine slumped into the chair and leaned her head back. "God what have I just done…"
"Lizanne is probably going to tell Steve to take away our visitation," Jean said.
"She's the little pit bull of annoyance that keeps humping my leg," Catherine said. "None of this would have happened if she wouldn't have said anything."
"Don't go blaming this on Lizanne," Nick said out of the blue. "Sure she took your daughter away from you, but that's your fault."
"You were the one who suggested I take Keilana when we talked last week!" Catherine yelled.
"Sarcastically!" Nick said; his voice matching Catherine's. "I was being sarcastic!"
"Sarcastic or not, Catherine needs to call Lizanne and tell her what happened." Mark seemed to be the only voice of reason at the moment.
"And what good could that possibly do?" Catherine asked.
"Maybe she'd sympathize with you and convince Steve not to take away our rights to see Keilana."
"It'd be a cold day in hell before I crawl to Lizanne and ask for anything kind of sympathy."
Jean pulled her cell phone out of her purse and began to dial Lizanne's number and looked at Catherine. "Not even if it means your father and I will not be able to see Keilana?"
Catherine was silent as Jean handed the phone to her and grudgingly took it.
A mini caravan of cars made their way towards the Hawaii Yacht Club. Steve and Danny were in the Camaro, while Lizanne and Mary were in another car. When they turned on to Ala Moana Blvd, they were joined by Chin, Kono and Lori in Chin's car, along with a police cruiser.
Lizanne looked at her cell as it rang then she looked at Mary.
"Who is it?" Mary asked as she glanced from the road to Lizanne then looked back at the road.
"It's Jean again." Lizanne put the call on speaker, "Hello?"
"Lizanne? It's Catherine."
"Why Catherine…what a surprise," Lizanne said.
"I know you talked to my mom and that my mom called Steve, but I just wanted to tell you that she and my dad didn't have anything with me taking Keilana."
"And you're telling me this because?" Lizanne asked.
While Catherine and Lizanne were talking, Nick pointed out the open window at the three cars and police car that were parking in front of the Yacht Club. "Hell just got colder…" he walked to the other side of the room in hopes of not being in the line of fire from Steve or Lizanne.
"Because…because I don't want Steve to take my parents' right to see Keilana away."
"This is something you should talk with Steve about," Lizanne said as she got out of the car, "and not over the phone."
"Okay, I'll be over in five minutes…with Keilana."
"Don't worry about it," Lizanne said. "We've already made the trip." She ended the call as the rest of the group got out of the other cars and walked up the path to the sliding door that led to the private room where Jean, Mark, Catherine, Keilana and Nick were.
Jean unlatched the lock on the door and opened it just as Steve got to it.
"Where's Keilana?" Steve asked when he walked into the room.
Jean pointed to Mark who was sitting on the sofa and feeding Keilana. "She's fine Steve…" Mark said softly.
Steve looked from Mark to Catherine. "Why did you take her?"
Catherine avoided making eye contact with Steve. "I don't know…."
"That's not a good enough answer for me Catherine," Steve responded. He was trying hard to control the anger building in him and he knew that if Mary or Danny, or anyone else who came with him weren't there, he'd be yelling and threatening right now. "I know for a fact that's not the truth!"
"Were you going to take her off the Island?" Danny asked.
"Or out of the country?" Mary added.
Catherine's eyes went wide as she looked at Mary. "How crazy do you think I am?" she asked. "All I wanted was for my parents to see her!"
"Then why did Jean come to my house and tell me I needed to get here soon?" Steve demanded to know.
Catherine looked at Steve. "Did you think I was going to take Keilana out of the country?"
"I don't know what to think," Steve admitted. He walked to Mark and accepted his daughter from him. "You took my daughter and no one knew where you were."
"My mother knew," Catherine said. "Why didn't you ask her?"
All eyes turned to Jean. "I found out an hour ago," she said, "when I saw all the baby stuff that Catherine had in her suitcase."
Everyone looked back at Catherine.
"You still want to stick to your story of not taking Keilana off the Island or out of the country?" Lizanne asked
"I bought those things for my mom to have," Catherine explained. "I was going to leave Keilana with her and then once I was out of the country I was going to call Steve and tell him where she was."
"Did you actually think you could make it out of the country, let alone off the Island?" Steve asked. "That's as stupid as me believing that the idea hadn't crossed your mind."
"Well I wasn't," Catherine said. She put her hands to her head and shook it some. "I wasn't going to leave the country with her. I thought about going to Maui with her and having my mom meet me there, but not out of the country!"
"I don't think anyone in this room believes that," Danny added sarcastically.
"Well it's the truth and whether you believe it or not, is your problem," Catherine sneered at him.
"Oh, it's your problem too," Steve said. "Not only did you just ruin any chances of having anything to do with Keilana, but you ruined any chances of your parents having anything to do with her."
"They had nothing to do with me taking her, Steve!" Catherine yelled. "Don't punish them because you're pissed at me!"
"Funny thing about being a parent…it's my choice who can and can't see my daughter," Steve said putting Keilana back in her carrier. "And I say that no one outside my family can see her."
"Steve that's not fair and you know it," Mary said in a rare defense of Catherine's parents. "Jean and Mark didn't take Keilana so why are you taking her away from them?"
Steve looked at his sister. "How do I know that when I leave her here with them, they wouldn't try to take her away?"
"You have to trust them." Mary said.
"I trusted one Rollins and looked what happened." Steve shook his head, "I'm not going to make that mistake again."
"Taking Keilana away isn't the right thing to do Steve," Mary continued. "Granted, I'm a bit wary about letting there be unsupervised visits, but taking Keilana completely away? That's not fair."
Steve looked back at Mary. "I thought you were on my side."
"We're all on your side," Lizanne said. She stepped closer to Steve and placed a hand on his arm. "I want what's best for Keilana. And what's best for Keilana is for her grandparents to still be in her life. They're the only ones, on the Islands, she has."
The group was very aware of how Danny's family all but adopted Steve, Mary and Keilana into the family despite having not met them, but they were 6,000 miles away. The first time they'd meet Steve or Keilana would be over the summer when Danny, Grace, Steve and Keilana went to New Jersey for a few weeks.
Steve sighed. "I don't know. I need to think about it again."
Mark stood up and walked to Steve. "Take as much time as you need to think about it. We'll go along with whatever you ultimately decide."
"But you need to know, we would never betray your trust in us by trying to take Keilana without you knowing," Jean added. She walked to Keilana's carrier, kissed the little girls head and walked out of the room.
"Do you hate me so much that you would do this to my parents to get back at me?" Catherine asked after her mother left. "I'll give up all my rights to Keilana, I won't ask for anything from you having to do with Keilana. Just let my parents stay in Keilana's life."
"What part of 'I have to think about it' doesn't anyone understand?" he asked to no one in particular, but looked at Catherine. "Plead all you want, but that isn't going to make me change my mind any sooner."
Steve looked at the group who arrived with him. "I'm leaving now if you guys want to leave with me." They nodded their heads, stood up and began to leave the room.
Steve looked at Mark. "You'll have my decision at the end of the week." Mark nodded his head and went to see about his wife.
"You'll be hearing from me in the coming days." Lizanne said to Catherine. "Papers need to be drawn up." Catherine didn't respond.
Steve made sure Keilana was buckled in the carrier before walking out of the yacht club house. The drive back to Steve's house was a quiet one. Steve's need to have Keilana next to him had the group changing the cars they were in. Chin, Mary and Steve were in Chin's car; Lori was dropped off back at HQ by Danny and Lizanne left in her own car. Steve sat in the back of Chin's car next to Keilana's seat and held the pacifier she was frantically sucking on. Once they were back at Steve's house no one knew what to say or if they should say anything.
"I'll be upstairs with Keilana." Steve said. He turned and looked at Lizanne, "How long before those custody papers are ready?"
"It may take a couple days," Lizanne said. "I have to get in contact with your lawyer and Catherine's lawyer so we can sit and talk about this."
"I want them tomorrow." He said as he walked up the stairs.
"And if we had other things we had planned already?"
Steve didn't turn around. "Tomorrow or Jean and Mark won't be able to see Keilana."
Lizanne sighed and shook her head. "Looks like it'll be a long night at the office for me." She grabbed her briefcase, said goodbye to the group and headed back to her office. It was already pretty late, but she hoped Robert Jamison and Cole Paulson were still available and willing to meet.
Sadly, this is the last bit that I have written. The last 2 parts have been giving me a hard time for a few weeks now and I've been bouncing ideas off my beta, so it's a slow going process to get at least chapter 17 finished. I'm probably half way finished with it. I don't think it'll be ready for posting this week, so this will probably be the last chapter for a while.