AN: I really appreciate all the feedback. I love hear what you think.
Joan's babbling in the baby monitor woke Catherine. There was a note on Steve's pillow telling her he'd gone for a swim, but he'd be back in time for her get one before Maile came at 8 am. Catherine sighed and went to get Joan. Motherhood was going to take some getting used to. Maybe they could get a jogging stroller and start running together.
Changing Joan and getting her dressed made Catherine think they should put a picture of Mary and Joan in Joan's room, so they could point to it and talk about it. She thought that maybe Mary could be Mama, and she could be Mommy or Mom. She knew that Mary and the original adoption should be a simple fact of Joan's life not some "lesson" introduced when Joan was older.
Just as she was walked out of Joan's room, Steve came up and hugged them saying "good morning, my two favorite girls." He took Joan from Catherine's arms and said "I'll feed her if you want to get a swim."
"Yes, thanks!" answered Catherine.
After her swim and shower, Catherine came down stairs and found Steve sitting on the couch while he read "What to Expect the First Year" and kept an eye on Joan as she played on her activity mat.
Steve put down the book and said "Cath; the Governor called to talk about a Homeland Security Conference in DC next month. He wants the two of us to attend since we've got the most anti-terrorism experience, so we need to figure that out. When I told him we were getting married this week, he said he doesn't want to see us in the office for the rest of the week. I invited him and his wife to the wedding. It seemed like the right thing to do."
"My parents are planning to spend next month at Bethesda/Walter Reed. My dad is doing some teaching. My mom would love to watch Joan, and we could take a couple of extra days and make it a family vacation. Maybe the two of us could sneak off to Annapolis overnight," said Catherine.
"If you are sure they won't mind," said Steve.
"Steve, my mom would love it. She's really excited about this whole grandmother thing. And that was before we are engaged."
"Catherine, I need to call the Governor back. I forgot that Kono's probably going to be out a couple of days and confined to the office for a couple more weeks. One of us may need to go in."
While Steve called the Governor; Catherine's phone rang, and she stepped out to take the call. Steve filled the Governor in on the fact that Kono was going to be out, and he still insisted that Steve and Catherine take the week unless Chin or Danny called them in. He was very supportive of the idea of Steve and Catherine taking Joan with them to DC and then taking a couple of extra days as vacation. Then Adam called to update Steve on Kono and said she would call later once she was up.
Catherine walked into the room and said "Steve that was the Governor's wife calling me. She's offered up all the contacts she's made doing political events to help pull this wedding off. She also passed on that her daughter who is a sophomore early childhood education major at UH would love to do some babysitting. The conversation was a little odd."
"But helpful right?" asked Steve.
"Yes, it was helpful, but a woman I met once at that fundraiser just offered to help plan my wedding, so still odd," answered Catherine
"Adam called about Kono. She's still sleeping. It was a long night at the ER. She did dislocate her knee cap but she'll be fine with physical therapy and rest. The doctor wants her to stay home today and tomorrow, she'll be up and around Wednesday, but it will be a couple weeks or more before she can go into the field," said Steve.
"That's great, I'm glad she won't need surgery again. She's going to hate being stuck in the office."
The doorbell rang, and Maile arrived. The three adults sat down in the living room. Joan decided she was tired of her activity mat and crawled over to Steve and started trying to untie his boots, so he picked her up, and she snuggled up against his shoulder.
After a little small talk, Steve said "One thing that has changed since we hired you. Catherine and I got engaged, and we are getting married this week. So this week will be a bit crazy. The Governor has given us both the week off. So we'll be coming and going a bit trying to arrange everything. Plus, there is the memorial service for Joan's mother," said Steve
Joan started to fuss and tried to throw herself out of Steve's arms, so he set her back down on the floor and she crawled over to Maile, who picked her up and began to cuddle with the little girl.
"I'm not sure we explained Joan's full history. Joan was adopted by Steve's sister Mary, who was killed by a drunk driver. We want her to grow up knowing both of those things, but we do plan to raise her as our daughter," said Catherine.
"Congratulations," says Maile. "I think your plan for making sure Joan knows her past, but raising her as your daughter makes lots of sense. Can you tell me a little about Joan's routine?"
"Well, we are pretty new at this, and it's been a giant roller coaster, so we don't really have one," said Steve.
"I know it's important for her to have one," said Catherine. "We hope you can help us establish one that makes sense for her age. We know we are going to have to cut back on time at the office. On a day without anything too pressing we go in around 8 and leave around 5. But those have been rare days. We'll work on that."
"We've talked about trying to stagger that some, taking turns going in early and coming home early," said. "As you know we are both still in the Navy Reserves, so there is that to factor in too. We are going to work on creating a list of back-up sitters. We do want you to have a life," said Steve.
"We don't want to overschedule Joan, but if there are things that you think both of you would enjoy like baby swimming lessons or a mommy and me class, please let us know. We don't want you to feel stuck here all day with Joan, but we don't want you to feel like ever single minute of her day needs to be specially planned to be enriching," said Catherine.
"Well, why I don't spend some time getting settled with Joan, and we'll work on a routine? I like your philosophy of how to spend the day. Kono considers you ohana, so I'm sure we will manage to work out everything just fine," said Maile.
"That sounds great, Maile. We meet with the lawyer today, and we'll make sure that you have the need permission to make medical decisions for Joan if you can't reach us. That should be rare. Here is a set of keys to the house. The alarm code is 071374. You have both of our phone numbers. We'll also get another car seat," said Steve.
"That sounds fine. We'll figure everything out as we go along," said Maile.
~~HW 5 0~~
One of the many things that Steve and Catherine needed to take care of was another meeting with the lawyer about Mary's estate. The lawyer Craig Reynolds had played football with Steve in high school.
"Craig, Catherine and I have gotten engaged since we spoke last. We'd like to adopt Joan, not just be her legal guardians. We also need to make sure the nanny can authorize medical care if needed," said Steve.
"Congratulations! It will be no problem to adopt to Joan. Given that Mary named you guardian and is deceased, it's a pretty streamlined process. I'll draw up the paperwork and get something scheduled in family court. I can also draw up the permission for the nanny to get Joan medical care. You should give one copy to her pediatrician and have another copy for the nanny to have," said Greg, then he placed a call to the paralegal to ask her to get started on the document.
"Mary had a life insurance policy, Steve you were actually the beneficiary, but the intent was that it be used for Joan's care. She left her interest in the family house to you, Steve. The rest of her assets, which aren't many, she left to Joan. Joan will also be eligible for Social Security Survivors benefits until she is 18. Plus, I'm pretty sure that the Van Horne kid will be offering a settlement to avoid a wrongful death suit. There used to be lots of assets there, but the kid has blown through most of them. I'll do some research and see what to expect. Assuming the offer is something reasonable, I suggest you take it. I don't think you really want to drag this into court. It will be long, drawn out and could get ugly," said Craig.
"I don't really want to drag this into court," said Steve. "Do we want to put the money for Joan in some kind of trust? We don't really need the money to raise Joan. I guess it would be good to be able to access it for her she ever had extraordinary needs. But we have a paid-off house in a good school district, good jobs, good health insurance, hopefully Joan can use this for college and graduate school if she wants to go. I don't want her to be able to indiscriminately spend money as a young adult," said Steve.
"I agree," said Catherine.
"First of all, any offer from Van Horne that I would consider reasonable should easily cover Joan's college education. I can help you set-up a trust that is flexible enough to cover any out of the ordinary things she needs, but won't allow her to go crazy with it in her 20s. You also will probably want to consult a financial advisor that deals with significant assets if you don't have one. I can make a couple of recommendations," said Craig.
"Yes, we can use a financial advisor used to significant assets," said Steve.
"Great, I'll give you some names. You should also make wills. You'll want to name a guardian for Joan. You can name one person to raise Joan and one person to handle the money. I assume that you will want what are called "honey dearest wills" where you each leave everything to each other and if you both die in some kind of trust for Joan and any other children you have. You should also consider living wills," said Craig.
"We'll need to think about Joan, but the other stuff sounds right. We both have living wills. Should we bring them in?" asked Catherine.
"Yes, that's great. Why don't you make an appointment for a month from now? Tracy can give you a folder with what kind of information to bring," said Craig.
~~HW 5 0~~
Steve and Catherine stopped at the government center to get a marriage license. Steve had to go back and get his wallet out of the car, since they couldn't take his badge as proof of age. Catherine laughed. Steve was less amused that he needed to prove he was over 18.
Then they went to find a picnic table by the beach and worked on planning their wedding. Several hours later with the help of a their phones and tablets, they had spoken to the Chaplin and confirmed a Saturday late morning wedding, invited all their guests, decided on the groomsmen and the bridesmaids, what they would wear, rented chairs and tables, found a photographer, made arrangements to meet a caterer, baker, and a florist that afternoon. Catherine was going to go dress shopping with her mother the next morning.
Steve, Danny, and Chin were going to wear dark suits, white shirts, sandals they got for Chin's wedding and wedding leis. Catherine knew that Kono and her friend Becky both had the same blue dress which they would wear with sandals (or whatever Kono could walk in) and wedding leis. As a junior bridesmaid, Grace was going to wear something she already owned that Rachel thought was appropriate.
Thanks to Mrs. Denning they found a caterer willing to do an elegant, but informal buffet for their small 50 guest wedding. She also pointed them in the direction of a florist that could make leis. They just had to go meet with the caterer and the florist to confirm their choices.
As they left the florist, which was the last stop, Steve said "I am so lucky. I am marrying an incredible woman, who as the icing on the cake wanted a wedding we could plan in less than a day. Seriously, it's 3pm. Even Malia, who was pretty laid back, started to drive Chin a little nuts with wedding details."
"Thank you. What can I say? I'm a decisive and simple girl," said Catherine.
"Well you are decisive, but I couldn't call you simple," said Steve.
"Let's stop by and visit Kono and then go see how Joan and Maile are getting along," said Catherine.
~~HW 5 0~~
Catherine walked down to the beach where Steve was sitting in one of the chairs, staring at the ocean. She sat down next to him and said "Joan is down for a nap, and I suggested Maile go to the grocery store and get some of her favorite things."
"Good, I want her to be comfortable here," said. Steve.
Catherine sat there in silence listening to the ocean and the occasional snore coming from Joan through the baby monitor. "It's hitting you again about Mary isn't it?"
"It is, I wish we could've finished getting to know each other again. And I worry about Joan, I know what losing a parent does to a kid. Look at what it did to Mary. Aunt Deb tried, but Mary was only just getting over it," said Steve.
"I was enjoying getting to know Mary too. I'll miss her, not like you will, but I'll miss her. I know your mother's "death," was hard on you and Mary, but I suspect it was being sent away and that fact that your father wasn't very good at keeping touch that did the most damage. Joan is going to grow up with two parents that love her. Hopefully, there will be at least on siblings that she will love but also drives her crazy. I'd love to hear more about you and Mary as kids, if you want to tell me." said Catherine.
After awhile Steve said "I wasn't all that excited about having a baby in the house, because as far as I could tell they were just loud and kind of gross. The first time I held her, Mary spit up all over me and started crying, so I figured I was right and thought of her as this mildly annoying thing that lived here. Then when she was a few months older, my mom was teaching me a magic trick, and Mary was in one of those seat things as the audience and she started to smile at me and laugh. For a few weeks, she would only laugh or smile for me, which made me feel really special."
"You were a smart kid, babies are loud and kind of gross. Newborns aren't really my favorite. Although, I'd have been over the moon for a little sister, then probably disappointed when she wasn't like a doll," said Catherine.
"She was a fierce little kid and stubborn. She wanted reasons for things. When she was still wearing diapers, Mom just let her run around out here in one when she was going to be in the water. At some point when she outgrew diapers, Mom started insisting she wear a swimming suit. So Mom brought some little pink suit and Mary hated it. She kept saying she wanted a "big kid shorts," which Mom decided meant a two piece. This time she takes Mary shopping. It turns out Mary wanted boardies. Mom bought her a pair from the boys section and thought everything would be fine. When they got home Mom got Mary dressed and put a tank top on her with the boardies. Mary was still not amused. She wanted to wear just boardies. She threw a tantrum and got sent to her room. When Dad came home for dinner, Mary had not let it go, so she asked over dinner why she can't just wear boardies like I did. Dad told her that big girls have to wear tops. Mary wanted to know why. Mom said, "It's what people do." Dad said, "Because we said so." Mary didn't like that answer, so she started talking back and got sent to her room again. I wanted to know how things worked, but didn't push my parents nearly so much on the reasons for things like rules," said Steve.
"I can see that in both of you. Mary would have found following orders without question to be difficult. I think if things had been different you might have been an engineer or science teacher or something," said Catherine.
"Obviously, Joan and any other kids we have will have rules, and but I don't want to be ordering them around like they are mids or a BUD/S class. They should be able to ask questions and disagree respectfully," said Steve.
"You weren't really that kind of officer at least in my experience, so I doubt you'll be that kind of father. I'm glad you aren't planning on subjecting our eight month old to hell week though. Danny is a good role model. He and Rachel have clearly done something right with Grace," said Catherine.
"Yeah, she's a good kid, very caring. Mary could be like that. About six months before Mom "died," I got chicken pox and was pretty miserable. Mary kept bringing me drinks and decided she was going to read to me. So she read me "Farmer Boy" one of the Little House on the Prairie books, it was really nice. We were so far apart in age that we didn't do that much stuff together, so it was kind of special," said Steve.
"It's really your call, but do you think Danny would raise Joan if something happened to both of us? He's like a brother to you. My parents would do it, but I'm not sure how fair it would be to Joan. They aren't exactly young," said Catherine.
"Cath, it's up to you too. You are going to be Joan's mother. I think Danny would do it. He'd certainly be my first choice. He's a great father to Grace. Let's ask him when things calm down a bit," said Steve.
The couple just sat on the beach awhile longer. Eventually, Joan's babbling came over the baby monitor. Catherine said "I'm going to go get Joan dressed, Dad is going to want to take us some place a that requires us to dress a little more formally than boardies."
~~HW 5 0~~
Dinner was going well thought Steve. Bill and Margaret Rollins were enjoying Joan, who was on her best behavior. Steve had genuinely liked Catherine's parents when he had met them before, but he had been a friend, not the husband (or almost husband).
After the appetizers had been cleared, Bill cleared his throat and said "We started a college fund for Catherine when she was born. Then she got an ROTC scholarship to the University of Minnesota. So we didn't need the money, and we kept adding to it, we planned on using it to pay for Catherine's wedding and a contribution to a down payment on a house. Then Catherine used her grandparent's inheritance for a down payment on her place, but we figured there would still be a wedding. It looks like you've got the wedding taken care of too. So we're just going to give you two the money. You can do whatever you want with it. We know you don't need it. You are both capable adults, but we'd really like to do this for you."
Bill pushed a sheet of paper with a very large dollar figure on it towards Steve and Catherine.
"Thank you Mom and Dad, this so wonderful, I'm sure we will be able to use this. If nothing else we'll have a good start on a college fund for our kids," said Catherine.
"Thank you Bill and Margaret. This is really wonderful. I'm sorry if we took throwing a wedding away from you. I didn't even think about that," said Steve.
"Steve, I think you and Catherine are doing what you want and given the circumstances I think it's wonderful," said Margaret. "Now Catherine, you said college fund for your children. Do you have something else to tell us?"
"Mom, I'm not pregnant," said Catherine with a slight huff.
Steve reached over under that table and squeezed her hand and said "we hope that Joan will have at least one brother or sister, relatively close in age, but haven't exactly settled on the timing."
At that point Joan decided she was tired of the high chair; Bill plucked her out of the highchair and began entertaining his granddaughter.
Margaret said "Cat, I was just teasing you. I'm going to love being Joan's grandma, and I'd love more grandkids, but what I want most is for you two to have the family you want. I always wanted to give you a sibling, but it never happened."
The family had a pleasant meal, but it was clear that Bill and Margaret were exhausted. They made plans for the next day, and Bill and Margaret headed back to their hotel.
As Steve was buckling Joan into her car seat, Catherine said, "I got a text from Kono, she wants us to stop by for a little while. I think she's bored."
"Do we have time before Joan needs to be in bed? If we do, I think that would be great," said Steve.
"I think we do. We can't stay long, but it would be nice to stop by," said Catherine.
~~HW 5 0~~
It turned out that Kono had the team and Adam come over for a little informal engagement party. Steve and Catherine were touched. At some point, Catherine and Kono went off to the bedroom to figure out what shoes Kono could wear with a knee brace. The men were sitting in the living room drinking beers.
"So Steve, Kono and Becky want to do dinner and some kind of spa thing with Catherine, the moms, and Aunt Deb, I think that means we need to do something. Maybe steaks on the grill and cards are your place, so you can keep an eye on Joan, we'll set-up and clean-up. Maybe we can invite Catherine's dad and anyone else you want?" asked Danny.
"I'll check with Cath, but thanks, I think that sounds good. But Danno, no strippers or anything," said Steve.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Mr. I Am Allergic to Fun, who is totally oblivious to all women who are not Catherine," said Danny.
"Danny, I'm not allergic to fun. You'd freak the hell out if Grace took a job as a stripper when she grew up. Why is it ok for someone else's daughter? With my future father-in-law present? Really? Also, why is being oblivious to women who are not Catherine a bad thing?" said Steve.
"He's got you there, Danny," said Chin.
"Adam, back me up," asked Danny.
"I'm with Steve and Chin. And not just because Kono could easily kick my ass," said Adam.
Chin and Steve nodded at Adam approvingly. Danny got up to grab another beer in the kitchen. While Danny was gone, Steve said, "We need to find Danny a girlfriend." Chin and Adam laughed.
Catherine came in carrying a fussy Joan, followed by Kono hobbling with the brace. "I think we need to get this tired little girl home," said Catherine.
~~HW 5 0~~
Steve came down from putting Joan to bed and found Catherine in the kitchen taking some Advil.
"Cath, what's wrong?
"My back is bothering me a little. I think carrying around 18 pounds of baby on my hip is getting me, especially getting her in and out of the car seat in the truck. Plus, I'm a little crampy."
"Let's go up to bed, I'll give you a massage and we can talk about tomorrow and stuff," said Steve.
"Thanks, Steve. You know it's going to be just a massage right?" said Catherine.
"Yeah, I picked that up from crampy. I just want to make you feel better, and we can talk in bed," said Steve.
Pretty soon they were up in the bedroom and Steve was straddling Catherine's legs just below her butt working on her lower back. "Cath, you've had some serious knots in your shoulders but your lower back is worse."
Catherine just moaned in response.
"Seriously, Cath, I think we need to start using the stroller more and get one of those backpacks. We also probably need to rethink the car situation. I think we should trade in the truck and sell the Mercury. We keep the Stingray. We buy a Traverse crossover, which should be much easier to get Joan in and out of for the main family car. If we have another baby, it shouldn't be bad to get two kids in and out of. It has space to carry stuff, and we can also have two car seats and still carry Grace or pick your parents up at the airport. Then maybe something like a Tahoe or Suburban. Either one would make a decent replacement for the truck and still be ok with car seats," said Steve.
"I'd agree to anything if you just keep this massage up. But a Traverse and Suburban sounds good. At least it's not a minivan. I'm not driving a minivan. But why keep the Stingray and not the Mercury? I love the Stingray, but it's not a family heirloom. Plus, it's worth more," said Catherine
"I'm glad you are enjoying this. There will be no minivans. I will play tea party; I will go to ballet recitals, terrible musical and theatrical performances by small children; I will get spit up on and change diapers. I will do those things gladly, but I will not drive a minivan. I will also not wear pleated front-khakis. I think we should keep the Stingray because as much as I enjoyed rebuilding Mercury, the Stingray drives better. Date night with my sexy wife in the Stingray seems more fun," said Steve.
Catherine said "Steve, you're so good at this. I feel so much better. If you want to keep the Stingray, we can keep the Stingray. I'll even let you drive it occasionally. I promise to never buy you pleated front khakis."
Steve finished the massage and kissed Catherine on the cheek.
"Thanks for being cool with taking the money from my parents. I didn't know about it, or I would have mentioned it," said Catherine.
"Your father was so proud of you, when he talked about you not needing it for college or to buy you place or to have the wedding you wanted. Your parents clearly know we can take care ourselves, but saved to help you get somewhere. Why would I deny them the chance to do that? Besides, I've been pricing new cars," said Steve with a grin.
"Well, if you want to talk about cars, I want to talk about houses. I think we could get a really good price for my place and use that money to do some work on this house. I love this house, but we could really use a guest room, a bedroom for another child, office space we can work in without worrying that the kids might stumble over pictures of dead people, and the kitchen could use some upgrading," said Catherine.
"I think that would be great and we should probably do some redecorating. Nothing has really changed here since Mary was a baby. But can we afford that even with the proceeds of your place and the money from your parents?" asked Steve.
"Well, I haven't priced out the renovations, but I have lots of equity in my house. We also might want to take home equity loan. Not having to make mortgage payments would free up a chunk of my budget so the payments wouldn't be a problem and we could write off the interest," said Catherine.
"Sounds good. When things calm down, we'll put your house on the market and talk to an architect. If we can afford it maybe, we want to think about do doing some stuff outside. Maybe add an outdoor shower. Move the laundry room towards the back, fence off the lanai or something to keep little kids contained. That kind of stuff," said Steve.
"I like the idea. So, I'm fading quickly. Can we talk about plans for tomorrow?" asked Catherine.
"Yeah. You are doing dress shopping with your mom in the morning, then we have a meeting with Chaplin Carlson at 12:30, I'm picking Mom and Aunt Deb at the airport at 4, and we have dinner at DeMarco's at 6 right?" asked Steve.
"Yeah, that's it. I guess we can figure out the logistics tomorrow. I'd say Joan and I would meet you at DeMarco's but I can't take her in the Stingray," said Catherine.
"Sure, Catherine. We need to move car shopping to the top of the "to do" list after the wedding. Also, Danny mentioned that you were doing some kind of girl's night on Friday. So he was thinking that they guys could grill out and play cards. He and Chin promised to help clean up and set-up. I said I'd talk to you. I made Danny promise no strippers. Adam and Chin agreed."
"Sounds good Steve; I can't say I love the idea of strippers because I don't, but I'm not going to "forbid" that you have strippers."
"Cath, that's not why I said 'no strippers. I don't want one. There is only one woman I'm interested in getting naked and then only in private, and she's in my bed right now. And we have a daughter who will be in the house, and possibly her nanny if she doesn't have plans. I'm pretty sure that's textbook sexual harassment. And I don't want that kind of life for Joan, so why should I encourage it for anyone's daughter? Plus, the links to human trafficking are too awful to ignore. I'm not going to lie and say I've never seen strippers; that was pretty common in BUD/S, but it's been a long time."
"And that Steven John McGarrett represents one of the many things I love about you, why I want to be your wife and raise children with you. You are concerned about what is right, you are kind; you are honorable, and you are thoughtful," said Catherine as she rolled over, draped herself across Steve and began kissing and caressing him.
"Catherine, not that I'm not enjoying this, because it's becoming very obvious that I am, but I thought you said we couldn't do stuff tonight and that you were tired."
"I didn't feel up to it earlier, but you made me feel better and gave me a second wind. And well, some things might be a little messy, but there are plenty of other things we can do. Plus Commander, isn't adapt and overcome the SEAL motto?"
"Well, Lieutenant as long as you are clear that I don't expect this, I'm happy to adapt and overcome."
"Crystal clear, Commander. Now shut up and kiss me."
Never say that Steve McGarrett did not follow orders or live up to the SEAL motto.