A/N: Firstly, I am so sorry for the long delay in this chapter. RL is getting in the way as per usual. Secondly, I've done things a little different for month 7. I'm going to split it into 2 parts, simply because it was getting too long and I hadn't even finished it yet. This way, I can update sooner, and then post part 2 soon. As in a week or so. Not almost a month. It does ruin my plans of having 10 chapters and matching chapter numbers with months, but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer, nor to have an extra long chapter that might get boring by the time you've finished it.

Thank you all for the favs, alerts and reviews again! I am beyond astonished for the response I'm getting. Please keep them coming =D Apologies if I have accidentally missed out on replying to your review! I do appreciate them all. Also, thanks to the anons [H50Lady, Lily, renji, sritia, Annie, kabagirl, Lydia, Michelle, purplenexus, and Guest] I could't reply to!

Mahalo to my own awesome foursome of [in alphabetical oder] cm757, MyMelo, teenycee and Sidalee for their support, encouragement, beta'in, listening to my constant babbles about changing my mind about this or another and a whole lot more!

Month 7 (part 1)

Steve wandered away from the music, bonfire and people to walk along the sand towards where he had thought he had spotted a couple of people sitting against the tree up by a dune. The sun had set over an hour earlier, but the moon was bright enough to light his way, as well as the party lights strewn around from where he had came from casting shadows in front of him.

They were at the luau thrown by Kono's family in celebration of the baby, and true to her word, she had managed to drag as many people as she could with her. Although she had been disappointed not to have gotten Malia to attend because of her hospital shift, or Grace to come along for the fun evening because Rachel and Stan had taken her out of the country for the week, she had settled for the team. But it had still taken a lot of convincing from Steve for her to actually attend herself, even if all he wanted to do was give in to her grumblings and stay at home. However, her family had only just started warming up to him and he felt it was his duty to try and keep it at least at that level for as long as possible.

The sound of rich and warm laughter led his way to where he found Kono and Chin leaning back against the tree trunk he had been spying, sharing a joke about something he had missed.

"I was wondering where you two had disappeared to," he said as he approached them, catching them both off guard when their heads snapped up to him.

"Sorry, but you seemed to be having much more fun with the family than me so I left you there," Kono shrugged with a carefree smile, making her cousin chuckle lightly. Steve shook his head in amusement and passed the older man to sit on the other side of his wife. She had her legs stretched out in front of her and a flower from the lei they had all long taken off tucked behind her ear, looking much more relaxed than she had all night.

"Thanks," he replied dryly, laying a hand on hers as it came to rest on his jean-clad thigh, before smirking. "I've, uh, I've done the same with Danny."

"I thought he didn't like luaus?" she asked, grinning nonetheless.

"He doesn't," Chin confirmed for her with humour lacing his tone. "But I overheard him practically worshiping Auntie Misa and her many foods."

"Of course. Danny and food. A match made in heaven," Kono said whilst rolling her eyes though Steve couldn't blame the man. The Kalakauas did have a mean hand when it came to cooking.

Conversation flowed as he sat there with them, talking about random things from their still incomplete nursery and what was left to buy for it, to rumours they had recently overheard about various subjects floating around HPD. Not that Steve was one to gossip, but Kono and Chin did have their own insights which entertained him far more. He wasn't sure how long it had been since he had left the party, or how long it had been since the other two had, but it must have been a significant amount of time when Danny finally found them.

The blonde man trudged through the sand, not having taken their advice to wear flip-flops so he could go barefoot like the rest of them, before coming to a stop in front of where they sat. Much to Steve's shock, he still had on his colourful lei, lying perfectly over the collar of his shirt. "Hey, looky here. Guest of honour hiding away from her own party, huh?" he quipped as they all craned their heads up to look at him.

Kono made a disgruntled sound in the back of her throat at his comment. "If I had to listen to one more story or have people touch me like I'm some sort of public monument, I was going to shoot someone," she informed him, narrowing her eyes in annoyance to the mere thought of it and curling her free arm around her gradually expanding stomach in a protective manner. Steve stifled a laugh and squeezed her hand instead, hiding his smirk by pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

Danny looked at her in alarm, taking a seat crossed legged opposite them. "You're not actually armed, right?" he asked wearily and Steve backed away enough to catch the sly smile spreading on Kono's lips. "Right. I don't even want to know," he muttered.

"You looked like you were having fun, Danny," Chin changed the subject and Steve caught him nodding towards the area where he had came from to indicate what he meant.

"Yeah," Danny nodded, sounding mildly surprised before turning to Kono. "Hey, why haven't I met your family before? I like them. They're cool, and not once was I called a 'haole'."

"That's because they call you it behind your back," Steve told him jokingly, though by the frown marring his partner's face, it hadn't seemed to have translated well, even if the other two did find it funny.

"He's kidding," Kono assured him, nudging him lightly with her foot. When Danny sighed heavily, frown still clear by the crease on his forehead, she turned to him and dug her fingers into his leg with a bit more pressure than required. "Tell him you're kidding, Steve." He did as he was told if only to stay on her good side, trying his best not to wince at her grip until she let go.

"Oh, hey, before I forget, I think I found something of yours earlier on," Danny suddenly announced, his mood brightening at a disturbing rate which told Steve that this wasn't going to end all that well. True to his thoughts, the corner of his lips began to tug upwards as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Kono.

"What is it?" Chin asked before he got the chance to. She didn't reply as she opened up the small rectangle to form a regular A4 sized paper with writing on it that Steve only recognised because he had jotted down a few things onto it himself.

Kono glared sceptically at the man opposite her, but it did nothing to damper his amusement. "You 'found' this, huh? Did it happen to be on my desk?"

"It may or may not have been in the vicinity of the case file I was looking for in your office," Danny replied after much deliberation, speaking slowly with the smile disappearing as if choosing each word carefully, and using his hands for emphasis whilst waving them around at certain points.

There was a pause in which Steve shared a smirk with Chin over the head of the woman in between them. "So you basically snooped and read it?" she summarised dryly, making the two of them shake with laughter that they tried to keep to themselves.

"Seems to be the running theme with Danny and this pregnancy," Steve commented, recalling his partner initially finding out about the baby in the same way. If he was completely honest, it didn't surprise him much. Danny was a naturally curious person, something that came from both being a great detective and his partner. Not that Steve would ever admit to the latter, but being curious had probably saved their lives a few times in the past years working together.

"You're not funny," Danny retorted sharply at him and then turned back to Kono with a calmer attitude. "I, uh, I took the liberty of adding a few more names that you might have not thought of yet."

Steve immediately removed his hand off of hers and grabbed the other one gently to turn it so that he could see the paper clearer. Surely enough, the list of baby names that they had started compiling not a week earlier had grown significantly in size since he had last seen it the previous day.

"Oh, check that out. They're all alternatives of 'Daniel'," Kono said, rolling her eyes. Steve had had the urge to do the same once he had managed to make them all out in the dim light. "Sorry, not happening."

"Because you're naming her after me, right, cuz?" Chin asked with a hopeful tone that Steve was sure he had never heard before, and a smile that he has noticed was reserved for only her.

Danny scoffed and replied to the question that wasn't meant for him before anyone else could. "I'm sorry, what? Your name cannot be modified for a girl-"

"'Kelly'," Chin cut him off, informing him of what he had meant with an air that dared Danny to argue. Of course, Danny being Danny, he did at least try.

"Well, but-" he faltered before looking at the two of them, and Steve was suddenly reminded about how he was no longer surprised when either him or Kono, or the both of them, were left out of discussions regarding their unborn child. Especially if it was something important, such as names. "You're not, are you?"

Steve glanced over at his wife as she did the same at him, eyes twinkling in the enjoyment of teasing the others for a small moment. "No," she finally said, folding up the paper in her hands and passing it to him to stow away from prying people. "We will decide between us and she won't be named after anyone."

Silence followed her announcement, the disappointment almost tangible though he knew they would get over it fairly quickly. They weren't upset about the names, they were upset that they both lost. But as always, Chin was the first to push it away and move on. "What's the most likely choice?" he asked, curious.

"I like 'Mei," Kono said after a small hesitation from them both as they thought it over.

"Nai'a," Steve said a split second later, catching them both by surprise because they hadn't discussed their favourite names or how they were going to choose what to name their daughter yet. The only reason they had started a list was because they were hopelessly behind on getting the nursery ready and making the house baby proof that they hadn't wanted to have left this until the last minute either.

Leaning away, she raised an eyebrow at him in incredulity, and a hint of amusement if he wasn't wrong, as he merely shrugged and smiled back somewhat bashfully. She rolled her eyes at his actions and sat back again; resting against his side a bit more heavily than before, a sign he knew meant that she was trying to get back into a comfortable position.

"This is going to end well," Danny stated wryly with a laugh, breaking the quietness they had fallen in to. Steve glared at his partner, not taking his eyes off of him even as he began to speak.

"We have time, right?" he asked Kono, looking at her when he turned the sentence into a question, not wanting to get into the argument about baby names right then when it wasn't entirely necessary.

"Yeah, a few months. I'm sure we'll come to an agreement by then," she agreed flippantly just as someone began shouting out her name from near the party they had left behind. All four of them turned to see Kono's mother standing midway between them and the luau, gesturing for them to come back before turning away on her heel when she was sure they had seen her and returning to the festivities.

Steve carefully stood up before Kono leant back into him, brushing the sand off his jeans before turning to the woman who was the only one still sitting. He rolled his eyes and held out a hand to help her up.

"Urgh, no. I can't move," she groaned, resting her head back against the tree to look up at him with a small pout that he assumed was supposed to make him feel bad for her, what with being pregnant and all. If she actually looked like she was 7 months pregnant, he might have given her some leeway and stayed with her, but she didn't and Kono was still pretty active on her feet these days with small intervals, so he knew she wasn't truly tired. "Seriously, I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it back for the rest of the night."

Sharing a look with the other two, all of whom knew about her hatred of being the centre of attention in large gatherings, he sighed and turned back to her. "Yeah, no, you're not getting out of it that easily," he told her with a smirk, holding out both his hands for her this time. "Up."

Sighing loudly, she grabbed one of his hands and pulled herself to her feet without much preamble. It didn't hurt that she spent a lot of time on the beach that was their back yard either. "I hate you," she muttered when he wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her back towards where the people were waiting for her.

"I know," Steve grinned, kissing her temple and letting his lips linger for as long as he could. "I hate you, too."

…

Kono sat with her feet swinging ever so slowly on the edge of the examination table as Dr Lang secured the blood pressure cuff around her upper arm before switching it on and tightening almost painfully. They were at their routine antenatal appointment, the first since she had entered the third trimester, and she could tell by the way Steve stood just a foot away on her other side, feet planted and arms crossed in an observant stance, that despite their numerous appointments since the initial one, he was still as anxious and excited as he had been back then. In her opinion, it would have been cute if he lost the protective persona that she was sure he didn't even know he was portraying.

"What's wrong?" Steve's voice was lined with worry that she could now see upon his face, marred with the beginnings of a frown, breaking Kono out of her thoughts. It took her a moment to realise that he hadn't been talking to her, but rather to the doctor who didn't look to be too happy with what she was seeing on the little device she held.

Dr Lang looked at them both before undoing the cuff from Kono's arm, much to her relief. "It's nothing to be concerned about just yet, but your blood pressure is slightly higher than what would be acceptable," she said diplomatically, directing her words to her patient though she alternated her glances between them.

"What does that mean?" Steve questioned before Kono could get a word out. Her thoughts hadn't really gone past the fact that what had become the boring part of the appointment, the observations before the scan, had suddenly turned into something much more serious.

"Nothing at the moment," the doctor replied with a soft smile that she seemed to always have on hand. Kono reckoned it must be a key skill for her to help with calming down the hormonal women she had to constantly deal with, but right then it did nothing to lessen her panic about what she had been told. "But if it rises then you'll have to go on bedrest."

That last few words got Kono's brain working once again. "Bedrest? But I'm only in the middle of my seventh month," she reminded her in shock, swapping a look with Steve that she was sure was less cool and collected than she had wanted it to be when he stepped closer and slid a hand into hers.

"How do we lower it?" he asked after letting out a deep and slow breath, the same concern and hint of fear that she felt inside clear in his words.

"Well, the most common cause of high blood pressure is stress," Dr Lang explained, turning back to Kono after answering his question. "Has anything changed lately? Work? At home? Family?"

Furrowing her brow, she thought it through carefully even though she was sure of what her reply would be. "No, nothing. I'm barely out of the office anymore, home's fine, and family's normal as they can be."

"And you're eating properly?" she prompted, eyeing her almost knowingly. Due to the fact that Kono hadn't experienced that much of an appetite change, rarely having to use the excuse of 'eating for two', and that she had carried small up until recently, the topic and discussion about what she ate and didn't eat had been brought up in almost all of their meetings. Of course, the majority of the time it had been Steve and his apprehension about it that had led to it being brought up.

"I'm eating perfectly," Kono told her. She didn't miss the subtle averting of eyes from her to her husband and back again within a quick second as if to check what she was saying was true. It should have bothered that her doctor trusted Steve more than her own patient, but right then, there were more important things for her to focus on. "I have three people who practically watch everything that goes into my mouth. Danny's even my new nutritionist," she joked with a roll of the eyes. Dr Lang quirked a smile at her response, having heard many stories over the months about her patients' teammates and their reactions to the pregnancy.

"Ok. Look, all I can recommend you to do is to simply relax a bit more. Put your feet up for a while longer, do some calming exercises, let your husband wait on you. Simple things," she instructed them, a light tone conveying the last few words in a way that actually managed to relax Kono and smirk as she nudged Steve, who merely raised an eyebrow in amusement. She knew what he meant; it was everything he had been wishing she would do since the moment they had found out she was pregnant. Rest, relax and let him take care of her.

"That's it?" Kono asked a bit sceptically as the doctor moved away to set up the ultrasound machine.

"That's it," she assured her, but they must not have looked convinced whatsoever when she pursed her lips with a sympathetic smile before carrying on. "Look, this is all just a precaution. To keep in mind. If you worry about it, it'll only be counterproductive."

It made sense but Kono knew it would be easier said than done. However, when she was urged to lie down for the scan, the subject was dropped and left well alone for the time being for happier things.

A/N: That's part 1 over; part 2 will be up soon. In the meantime, please let me know what you thought =) Thank you for reading!