A/N: Firstly, I am so, so sorry for the very long wait for this chapter. Too many things have occurred since the last update which have left me next to no time to write. Saying that, I have decided to also split this month into two, just so I could get at least something up now. Also, it was starting to get too long. I promise the second part won't take long! I've already gotten started on it. Massive thanks to everyone who commented. It honestly got me writing quicker. I do hope this delay hasn't put anyone off =) Apologies again if I have missed out on replying to your reviews, and thank you to all the guest/anon reviewers too!
Very big thanks to teenycee for the beta'ing, motivating me to write, allowing me to bounce ideas off her night and day and basically helping me get this chapter done and dusted. Also, thank you to Sidalee for her reassurances and beta'ing too =)
Month 8 (part 1)
"What was that?" Danny asked him in confusion as they began to head out of the building where they had just confronted their latest suspect. The blonde jabbed a thumb over his shoulder in indication to the man who Steve had just left gasping for a breath against the wall in his office after a short but thorough interrogation.
"What was what?" he replied offhandedly, glancing over at his partner to see him watching him almost curiously as if there was something highly wrong with him.
"That!" Danny emphasised the exclamation with a sweeping hand in the direction they had came from, almost hitting him in the chest as he did so.
Merely raising an eyebrow, Steve pushed open the front door of the block of offices and stepped into the beautiful Hawaiian sun that had managed to shine through after hours of rain that morning. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Danny."
"Seriously?" he asked incredulously, somehow managing to keep up with him even as Steve walked with slight hurried steps towards the Camaro parked on the other side of the road. Unfortunately for him, traffic flowed steadily along the road, meaning he couldn't escape his talkative and always observant partner. Instead, he stood by the side of the road and listened with half a mind, eyes on the lookout for a break in the vehicles to give them space to cross over. "You have done so much worse than shoving a gun into someone's face when they know so much less. What happened to the explosives, the hanging from the roof, the throwing stars?"
Steve suddenly turned to face the other man. "Wait, so now you're complaining that I'm playing by the rules?" he asked to clarify.
Danny pursed his lips for a moment before answering. "I wouldn't say that you're 'playing by the rules', but it's a great improvement," he told him, to which Steve subtly rolled his eyes and finally managed to head over to the car. He had a few seconds head start, which meant that he was in the driver's seat before Danny had even reached the other side of the car. However, he was sadly disappointed when he carried on with what he had been saying as soon as the latter's door was shut. "And no, I'm not complaining. I'm just wondering what the hell happened to you that's making you act this way. Did you get hurt? Are you injured or something? Do we need to take you to the hospital?"
"No, Danny, everything's fine," Steve said a bit snappishly, turning on the engine and putting it in gear. He pulled out into the traffic as quickly as he could as soon as he saw an opening, stepping down on the gas pedal to help him create the space he needed before the black car behind them crashed into them.
It took a moment for him to realize that Danny had uncharacteristically become quiet, sitting with hands folded in his lap and eyes focused out of the window in front of him. Sighing, Steve rolled his eyes upwards; silently asking God above for patience, and simply 'why him?', because his partner had more mood swings than a pregnant woman. He should know.
There was only one way to bring Danny out of the sulky shell he climbed into when he got a bit sensitive in response to something he did; tell him what it was that he wanted to hear in the first place. "Kono's got high blood pressure."
It took a minute before he replied, although Steve could see his body tense up and head swivel in his direction as soon as he had said it. "High blood pressure?" Danny repeated in shock.
"Yeah, which is bad for the baby," he added with a nod, and he was fairly sure he was gritting his teeth, or at least fixing his jaw, like he did every time he spoke or thought about the recent diagnosis. It annoyed him to beyond reasoning that there were some things that he simply could not protect not only his wife but also their child from.
"Of course it's bad for the baby!" Danny suddenly exclaimed exasperatedly, bringing Steve out of his own thoughts. "But what's this got to do with what just happened?"
Steve ran a hand over his face before answering. "Well the doc said that the main cause of high blood pressure is stress. Which Kono claims is because I make her worry about me and what I might do in the field," he admitted for the first time to anyone outside of two of them and his sister since they had found out a couple of weeks beforehand.
"Such as treating suspects wrongly?" Danny asked, somewhat rhetorically. Steve ignored it and nodded hesitantly.
"That," he conceded slowly before carrying on. "And getting into situations where I might get killed."
"Yeah, I can see how that would stress her out," Danny remarked dryly, gesticulating to emphasise his opinion on the topic. Not that Steve was arguing or anything, but his partner always felt the need to drill the message into his head repeatedly.
Letting out a breath, Steve shrugged with a single shoulder and found it somewhat lighter all of a sudden, as if an unknown weight had been lifted off of it. "So yeah. I promised her I'd be more careful, and here we are. Being more careful."
"That's really sweet of you, Steven. A bit overdue, but better late than never." A smile began to pull at Steve's lips at Danny's typical response of sneaking in some chastising into his compliments. "Wanna work on the driving too? I hear speed can kill," he said with what Steve thought was a hint of hope when he settled back into his seat, gripping onto the car door when they swerved around a corner.
Smirking, Steve shook his head. "One thing at a time, Danno."
…
Despite the fact she could no longer spend as much time as she would like on her feet anymore, Kono had jumped at the chance to get out of the house and go shopping for the final things that were still needed for the baby such as towels and toiletries. Mary Ann had gladly offered to go with her, seeing as Steve quite literally lost a few years from the stress of her going anywhere alone anymore. Kono was glad to have an ally in Mary Ann; the two of them could win an argument in less than half the time it usually took.
"What about this?" Kono looked up to where her sister-in-law was holding up a pair of red shorts from the rail opposite her. Naturally, they had wandered into the maternity section after spotting a beautiful purple sundress on sale, figuring she could wear it at the dinner they were holding at their house for Steve's birthday the following week.
Shaking her head, she turned back to the tops she was skimming through. "Nah."
"Oh, this?" Mary Ann asked again in her preppy voice, showing her a shorter pair of denim cut offs that she was surely too old and currently out of shape for.
"No," Kono scoffed and shook her head. "It's not my style."
There was a huff from the blonde before a momentary silence that she broke by snatching another pair of black shorts, this time longer, off the racks. "These totally are," she exclaimed.
Raising an eyebrow, Kono left what she was looking at and walked over to stand next to the other woman. "I'm wearing a pair just like those right now," she pointed out in amusement. Spending time with Mary Ann never failed to lighten her up or relax her, whether they were hanging out on the beach, being lazy on the couch or simply grabbing coffee. Having her back on the island had been good for both Steve and herself. Mary Ann herself seemed to be having fun; spending most of her free time with them, teasing, and subsequently getting chided by, her big brother.
"So? It never hurts to have two," she shrugged and threw the pair over the dress Kono was carrying on her arm.
"It does when they're maternity clothes and I've only got about 6 weeks left," Kono retorted, holding up the shorts and frowning at them before hooking them back onto the railing.
"Well, you can just keep them for next time," Mary Ann announced, draping the shorts back over the other woman's arm. Kono couldn't do anything but look at her incredulously at her offhanded words. "What?" she asked when she noticed both the silence and the look.
Kono blinked before arching a brow at her and replacing the shorts back one last time. "'Next time'? I haven't given birth to this one yet, Mary!" she reminded her, subconsciously skimming a hand over her stomach as she began to walk away towards the baby section.
"Yeah, but it'll happen, right?" she heard Mary Ann ask as she caught up with her. It wasn't hard considering, according to her loving elder cousin, she had started to waddle a bit. She didn't even want to think about how Chin knew what waddling was. In her own opinion, it wasn't waddling but simply a slower pace that came with the carrying around of added weight.
"I dunno. I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I'm still trying to get my head about having a baby and trying not to mess it up," Kono admitted with a small shrug and a light-hearted tone. She had hoped the smile she had put on would mask the underlying truth in her words; that she was actually terrified of failing miserably at motherhood. Judging by the reply she got, she hadn't succeeded.
"You won't mess it up," Mary Ann assured her, to which she answered with an affirmative hum. It wasn't enough to satisfy the blonde, however. "Kono, you won't mess it up. You're totally ready for this."
Letting out a sigh, Kono put all of her efforts into going through the different types of baby towels so to stop herself from breaking down and admitting it all in a public store of all places. "I am? How do you even know that? You've only been here for 2 weeks," she asked her nonetheless with a short glance from the corner of her eyes at where the other woman stood next to her.
"I've known you for longer," she reminded her matter-of-factly, carrying on in the same tone to get her point across. "You're great with the kids you teach surfing, and with Grace and your own cousins." By the time Mary Ann had finished with her short list, Kono was shaking her head and had turned towards her, worry etched clearly on her features, as she no longer even bothered to try to hide it. She had spent far too long trying to reassure herself; it was time to allow someone else to help her.
"That's different though, isn't it? They're not my children to bring up and I can just hand them back over to their parents when the fun's over," she said, words getting louder and more abrupt towards the end. Taking in a breath to calm herself down, she averted her eyes as she ran her fingers over the softness of one of the cloths she had picked up and was currently clutching in her other hand with more force than she was aware of. "With our baby, I have to do it all; the good and the bad. Discipline, guide, punish. I can't do that! I'm always the fun one," she stated, looking back up at Mary Ann with apprehension in her eyes.
"It's a good thing you have Steve then, 'cause he can," the blonde retorted instantly with a smirk, helping to break the tension growing between the two of them due to the seriousness of the conversation. Kono laughed at her very truthful remark; having experienced it a lot in the last few weeks between the siblings. "Look, I know you think you couldn't do it, but you can. Everyone can when they need to," Mary Ann added earnestly, and Kono began to wonder why she hadn't turned to her sister-in-law when her doubts had first arisen. "And honestly, you've disciplined Steve enough to turn into a decent husband."
"I don't think it's possible to discipline your brother," Kono scoffed with a smile, turning back to the shelves to choose two more baby towels that she was sure she wouldn't ever use because they were far too soft to ever dampen. "But he'll be a great father, too."
"Yeah, because he has you there as well," Mary Ann informed her, lightly bumping her shoulder with her own as they headed towards the counter before they were tempted to buy more things that they didn't really need. They still had another few stores to hit before their list could be checked off as it was. "You know he's as terrified of this parenthood stuff as you are. Thing is, he knows it'll be ok 'cause you're in it together."
Of course she had known about him being worried about it too. They had spoken about it a handful of times, here and there. It was the reason why she hadn't opened up about her own fears; Steve had reason to doubt his parental skills after the family life he had had. She had had a more balanced and relevantly normal life in comparison.
After allowing her words to sink in, Kono turned towards the other woman as they waited in line. Opening her mouth to ask how she knew that too, she shook her head and offered her a wry smile before asking another question altogether. "When did you get so wise, huh?" she teased.
"His words, not mine," Mary Ann told her in a light, singsong tone, surprising Kono. Sort of. It was just typical that the most reassuring and comforting words that anyone had offered her about parenthood had come from Steve, however indirect. "Between the two of you, though, I'm sure you can handle this. It'll come to you naturally. Just wait and see," she added with a wink and a bright smile that was enough to convince Kono for the time being as she felt the uneasy feeling that had settled deep in her lighten up.
She was grateful for the familiar ringing of Mary Ann's cell phone to break the sudden silence. If it hadn't, she was sure it would have gotten horribly emotional; her hormones were still all over the place at times.
"That's like the forth time you've rejected a call, Mary. Am I keeping you from something? Or someone?" Kono asked with a sly grin, approaching the counter and placing the dress and 3 towels, along with 4 other items that the other woman had picked up, down for the gentleman behind the till to ring up for them.
Mary Ann scoffed. "It's Steve," she informed with a hint of irritation as she typed away on her phone. The smile on Kono's face died own on instant, shock setting in instead as she paid for their shopping and thanked the man before grabbing the bag.
"You're kidding, right?" she asked disbelievingly; eyebrows rising up when Mary Ann showed her the call list. Kono dug out her own phone from her pocket, slightly bemused by the lack of notifications on the home screen. "Wow, and not a single call to me. I'm actually surprised HPD aren't raiding the mall yet."
A laugh from the person next to her as they began to leave the shop made Kono shrug and tuck away her phone again. "I texted him to leave us alone and to focus on his own shopping. It's almost like he doesn't trust me," Mary Ann said petulantly as she threw her cell back into her bag.
Kono shook her head in both disagreement and amusement. "It's not you. He doesn't trust me not to go into labour or be completely safe," she told her offhandedly, somehow not too bothered by the ridiculousness of it.
It wasn't an entirely unfeasible scenario, going into an early labour, and being the super-prepared and wary man that he was, Steve was probably still thinking about it at the back of his mind even as he and Chin were currently picking up the crib they had ordered and some more furniture for the nursery.
"How you haven't shot him yet is beyond me," Mary Ann retorted dryly, making Kono grin before sighing dramatically.
"Guess our kid will need her father," she replied in a teasing nonchalant tone to which they both laughed whilst making their way to the next store that they needed to go to.
"Seriously, though. I expect more kids from you guys down the line somewhere," the blonde reiterated when they entered the baby store, bringing up the conversation that Kono had thought, and had hoped, had been long forgotten. "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to make my niece an only child. She'd get lonely," she added in an upset tone.
"I'm an only child, Mary," Kono reminded her and turning to face her, narrowing her eyes challengingly.
"Weren't you lonely?" she asked sincerely whilst flicking through a pile of multi-coloured baby all-in-one suits.
"No! I had friends and family!" The answer came out a bit too hurriedly to sound entirely truthful. At Mary Ann's silent and brief dubious look thrown her way, Kono sighed and relented. "Yeah, fine, it sucked at times. But that doesn't mean I'm planning on more kids. One is fine for the time being."
"If you say so," Mary Ann grinned slyly, glancing shortly at her through her eyelashes before letting out an exaggerated sigh. "Too bad it's not what Steve wants. And we all know; what Steve wants, Steve gets."
A/N: Part 2 will be up shortly. For updates and more information, visit my tumblr; tiana-p =) The link is on my profile. Please lemme know what you thought of this chapter!