"So Oz, what do you want to do today?" Steve asked as he bent down in order to properly look at the four year old boy who was looking at him, blinking on occasion with those big brown eyes of his, the same brown eyes as his mother which Steve had become so fond of. Just because if that, it made Steve even more fond on Oz because here in front of him was the son of the woman he was pretty sure he was slowly falling in love with. Oz was a miniature version of Emma and despite the fact that he wasn't exactly child friendly he was going to make an effort with Oz for Emma's sake and to prove to Danny that he could handle this.
"Fun! Fun!" Harry squeaked before proceeding to bounce around as if he was a rabbit which caused Steve to laugh and after he had shown Oz around the house, they went outside to play in the back yard. Steve decided to go simple so he brought out an old football of his, which seemed to please Harry. "Ball! Football Steve!"
"You like football, huh Oz?" Steve asked as he gently threw the ball to Harry who ran after the ball.
"Momma and I like the giants! Grandpa watches it with me when momma is busy being a lawyer, and he said he'll take me when I'm bigger!" Harry excitedly said as he threw the ball back as best as a four year old could be.
The two of them played around for over an hour and Steve was surprised by the amount of boundless energy that Harry had as the four year old was laughing his tiny little head off as he ran around the back yard until he had a bit of an accident. Steve wasn't exactly sure what happened as one moment Harry was laughing and running around, the next minute he was lying on the floor facing the ground not moving and Steve ran over and was at his side in an instant. "Harry?!"
"Ouchie!" Came a quiet little sob as Harry rolled onto his back and started crying his tiny little eyes out and Steve let out a sigh of relief as he had never been so scared and terrified in his life. He had seen a lot of things which could be considered scary but none of that compared to seeing a child laying on the floor not moving. Steve saw that Harry was fine for the most part until he immediately noticed the cut on his knee that was bleeding.
"Come on buddy, let's get you cleaned up." Steve said as he scooped Harry up and carried him into the kitchen and sat him down on the kitchen counter before going to grab the first aid kit. Harry continued to quietly cry and Steve knew that cleaning the cut with an antiseptic wipe was going to make it worse. "Hey Oz, can you be a brave little soldier for me?"
"Yep." Harry hiccupped.
Going as quickly as he could Steve cleaned up the cut and placed a plaster of it, making a note in his head to pick up some children's plasters for next time something like this happened. "All done, how does that feel buddy?"
"B-Better…" Harry sniffled as he wiped his eyes with his little fists.
"Do you want to take nap? Will that make you feel better?" Steve asked as Harry looked completely worn out and so he figured he could put Harry down for a nap now and then feed him when he got up and apparently the little boy seemed to agree as he nodded his head.
"With Grover?"
"Yes with Grover." Steve chuckled and Harry held his arms out open and Steve picked him up and carried him upstairs where the little boy had no problem falling asleep once he had his faithful companion Grover, not to mention the running and the crying had tired him out.
Just over an hour later Steve woke up a slightly weary eyed and quiet Harry for lunch and the youngster seemed to be in a grumpy and solemn mood as they ate and Steve figured he probably should have let him sleep for another hour. But given that it was too late for that he figured that he'd take Harry out somewhere to cheer him up. And that place was the zoo that miraculously seemed to cheer up grumpy Harry as the kid seem rejuvenated especially when Steve took him to the zoo.
"That monkey kind of looks like you Oz," Steve told Harry who was sitting on his shoulder as the zoo was crowed and it seemed like the smartest thing to so as not to lose Oz in the crowds. Given everything that he had seen in his life during his time in the navy and in Five-0 not to mention his time generally living, Steve knew the world could be a cruel and what people could be capable of. And the last thing he wanted was to lose Emma's pride and joy because she along with Danny would actually kill him.
"NO!" Harry chorused in a loud giggle. "I'm not a monkey… Momma says I am her little… lion, like Simba!"
Steve noted what Harry had just said and if Harry was the lion then it would make Emma the lioness, which sounded just about right considering how protective she was of her only child. "You sure she said lion and not monkey? Because you do look like that monkey.
"Silly Steve!" Harry shrieked with laughter before beckoning Steve to carry and the two of them continued to go around the zoo and when they reached the reptile enclosure Steve put Harry down on the ground and found that Emma was right about Oz, he like any other four year old had the attention of a hummingbird. He was running around looking at all the animals and making impressed noises and pulling Steve over when he wanted to show him something. "Look Steve it's a froggy! A real froggy!"
According to the plaque beside him, the two of them were looking at a Green and Black Poison dart frog although Steve thought it was best to not to mention this bit of information to the small four year old boy that was currently held his hand, which caused Steve to smile. He wasn't exactly big on kids but he liked being around Oz not to mention Grace. "You like frogs Oz?"
"I think so, they go ribbet ribbet and they hop, Ms. Kalei says they are Anfibs." Harry said.
"Do you mean Amphibians?" Steve said laughing at Harry's mistake.
"Na uh! She said Anfibs." Harry said taking his turn to now laugh at Steve who chose to let it go because the last thing he wanted to do was get into an argument with another man from the Williams family even if he was only four years old and believed that Santa lived on fifth avenue. Steve knew better than that after months of working with Danny.
Hours later Steve and Harry were leaving the zoo to head back to the house with Steve driving and Harry sitting in his booster seat with the toy hippo that Steve had brought him. When Steve gave Harry the hippo the four year old did what he called the 'happy dance' with his new friend Wally the Hippo before hugging Steve tightly across his legs in appreciation and singing a song about his happy hippo the entire car journey home. Keeping with mind about what Emma had advised him Steve had made a simple meal that he knew Harry would like, making sure to cut it all up into small edible pieces for him and after dinnertime came bath time, which was less complicated then Steve expected it to be and eventually Oz was in his pajamas talking to Emma on the phone before story time.
"… I got a boo boo today momma!"
"Really? What happened baby?" Emma said over the phone despite knowing full well what happened as Steve had given her a heads up before hand as not to freak her at.
"I was playing football with Steve and I fell, it hurt a lot but I was a brave soldier like daddy." Oz said proudly. "But will you kiss it better like you always do, when you come get me, Grover and Wally tomorrow?"
"Of course I will but whose this new friend of yours?" Emma asked and the moment she did Harry started talking ten miles a minute describing his trip to the zoo with Steve who stood in the doorway and watched as Emma somehow managed to understand every single word that her son was saying, not to mention asking him question about what animals did he like and why he decided to call the hippo Wally and she sounded fully interested and not as if she was feigning interest.
"Love you momma."
"Momma loves you too Sweetpea, now I want you to pass the phone back over to Steve then climb into bed and wait with Grover and Wally for story time." Emma instructed and Harry followed them to the letter t.
"Hello?" Steve asked when he got the phone.
"He's having a great time with you, so whatever it is your doing Steve just keep it up and you'll be fine. Harry's is Harry and happy which is all I can ever ask and he adores so that is also brilliant so you just have to hold on for one more day and then you will be free from it all and I'll be back to take over." Emma said with a small chuckle.
"He's a great kid Em."
"I know, just a little bundle of delight and I wish he could just stay the way he is forever but he can't." Emma said with a small sigh.
"What are you up to?"
"Having cocktails with Cecile or rather I was, when you called she was flirting with the bartender so I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen next, But knowing Cecile it'll be something outrageous and boarding on the lines of being illegal. So if you receive a call late at night, it may be me calling you to bail me out." Emma quipped.
"I'll bare that in mind." Steve replied and moments later the two of them said goodbye and Steve cracked on with bedtime with Harry and the reading of the story book which just so happened to be Curious George confidently. Ten minutes later, there was one finished story and one child ready for bed, so Steve crept back downstairs thinking he was finally done for the day but five minutes after he had come downstairs after putting Oz down for the bed, the youngster came trailing into the living room with his beloved teddy bear Grover. "What's wrong Oz?"
The small boy made his way over to the armchair that Steve was sitting in and climbed onto his lap in order to give him a hug. "Momma always gives me a hug good night so I thought I'd give you one, night night Steve."
"Good night Oz." Steve replied with a small smile as he hugged the small boy back and moments later Harry pulled away and slide off Steve's lap and made his way back up stairs with Grover in tow and Steve could just feel his heart swell. At the moment he had just shared with Harry. There was no doubt about it; Oz was a complete and utter momma's boy, which explained why he was such an affectionate child as Emma was such an affectionate woman herself and was always waving off compliments about how good of a mother she was. But the way Steve saw it was that it took a pretty amazing woman to raise a great kid like Harry and Steve rather liked having the two of them in his life.