A/N - the 4th installment of the Jersey/Jax series will be posted - here is the first chapter! Look for the new story "Jersey Shore to North Shore: The Long Way Home"

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Jersey Shore to North Shore: The Long Way Home

Chapter 1 - Home Sweet Home

Steve glanced in the rear view mirror on the drive from Tripler to the palace, and shook his head.

"What?" Jax asked, sitting cross legged on the seat of the Silverado next to him.

"No criminal would take me seriously right now," Steve said, grinning over at her. "Do you see this goofy grin on my face?"

"I've been seeing it since the ultrasound," Jax said. "It is goofy. Danny will have a name for it by the end of the day. And this is precisely why we planned to just drop the genders on the team immediately after the ultrasound. You have a shit poker face, McGarrett."

"Yeah? I don't care," Steve declared. "Do you have any idea how happy I am right now?"

"Pretty good idea," Jax said. Her voice was quiet over the engine of the truck.

He stopped at a red light and looked over at her. "You're happy, too, right?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm happy," she said. "It's just a little surreal, you know? Light's green, go, don't be that jerk that sits at a green light."

He held her hand as they walked into the building, the sunlight glinting off her hair tumbling in sun-streaked curls around her face. On her days off, she still reached for the comfortable and practical military issue maternity cargo pants that Kono had discovered, but soft leather ankle boots had replaced her customary SWAT issue.

"Those are nice," he said, nodding his head at her feet as they got on the elevator.

She glanced down self-consciously. "After a few days of running shoes for work, my other boots seemed really heavy. Plus, there's not a big need for steel toe reinforcement on my day off."

The entire team was clustered around the smart table, waiting for them when the elevator doors opened.

"Well?" Kono demanded. "What are you having?"

"You know, some couples like to have a moment, revealing the gender of their baby," Danny pointed out. "Make it special, create some drama. Photograph and video the reveal."

"Steve and Jax aren't some couple," Kono said. "Boy? Girl?"

"Yes," Steve said, feeling his cheeks stretch with that same goofy grin.

"Oh, look - New Daddy face," Danny chortled.

"Told you," Jax muttered, before she was engulfed in hugs.

Kono whooped in delight, spinning around the room. "This is gonna be the best baby shower ever . . ."

#*#*#*#*#

Caviness' team took over the weekend shift sifting through surveillance and records for Malia's case.

"You need an extra set of hands?" Kono asked, as Brian collected files and drives from the Five-O office.

"You've been at it all week," Brian said. "Take a break."

Kono shrugged. "Maybe I wanna hang out with you."

"Wouldn't turn down the offer from Hawaii's finest," he said. "You bringing take-out?"

"Pizza or Chinese?" Kono asked.

"Yes," Brian said, laughing. "I know you."

"I do like my cold pizza about midnight," Kono admitted. She looked at the mass of files. "And we'll be at it until at least then. Your office, six o'clock?"

He kissed her forehead. "Perfect. And thank you."

#*#*#*#*#

Mary squealed as the video chat opened.

"You guys are the worst," she said. "I've been waiting for hours."

"We wanted to call you from the hardware store," Steve said. "You helped us pick the paint for our room, and we loved it. We thought you could help us pick a color for the babies' room. See, we're having trouble deciding, now that we have the results of the ultrasound."

"What colors are we talking about?" Mary demanded. "Pink? Blue?"

"Yes!" Jax said, holding up a paint chip in each color as Steve turned to focus his phone on her.

"Oh my God this is the best," Mary said. "Seriously? A boy and a girl?"

"Yes," Jax said, "and also, seriously, what color do you think? Rachel is making curtains for the room like the ones in the Airstream."

"The white gauzy looking ones? That will be perfect," Mary said. "What about furniture?"

"Looks like teak," Steve said. "Like Mamo's counter, when we were kids."

"What about a simple grey?" Mary suggested. "I know it's not babyish, but it would be really peaceful. And if you want to do color coded stuff for the twins, you could do aqua for the boy and, I don't know, maybe that orange color you like for the girl. Wait, names! Have you picked names!"

"We're just picking paint at the moment," Steve said firmly. "I like your ideas."

"I do too," Jax said. "We won't get tired of the grey. And I love using something other than blue and pink. Thanks, Mary, it's perfect."

"You won't need to repaint when they get old enough to split them up, either," Mary said. "You can keep the boy in that room, and the girl will move into my room, and maybe she'll want it purple or something by then."

"That's stereotypical," Jax laughed, "and Mary, no, this is your house, you -"

"I know that you'll need two bedrooms for the kids," Mary said, smiling. "I'll . . . well, I'm thinking I'll have my own place, anyway."

Steve grabbed the phone back from Jax. "Mare? What do you mean?"

"I graduated from my program," Mary said. They could see her cheeks tinge pink, even over the video chat. "I did really well, Stevie. I must have picked up legal stuff from Dad, and apparently all the grammar and spelling and research stuff from Mom, and . . . well, I think I'm going to be really good at this. I was thinking . . . I'm ready to look for a job, and maybe it's a good time for me to look in Honolulu. There's a lot of international business, and finance, and -"

She was interrupted by Steve's shout which reverberated through the paint department. A few customers glanced at them, irritated, before seeing the curve of Jax's stomach under her HPD t-shirt. Their scowls softened immediately.

"Sorry," Jax offered to a couple passing by. "Lots of stuff happening."

"You enjoy it, dear," the woman said. "Every minute of it. Let that handsome husband of yours have his moment. Before you know it, you'll be repainting the room after he or she has moved to college."

"Yes, ma'am," Jax said.

"Okay, we gotta go, Mare, before we get kicked out of the store," Steve said. "Tell me when you're coming to start job hunting. You know you can stay with us as long as you need to, and we'll help you get set up."

"I thought . . . I thought maybe I'd try to come around the holidays?" Mary said. "I don't want to intrude . . . but if I can get settled before the babies come, then I could help? With the babies. And Aunt Deb will want to come, of course, and then she can stay with me. But, I don't want to be in the way, it's not like you need -"

"Mary, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing," Jax said. "I don't even know enough to know what I need. It would be great to have you here. The babies will love having Aunt Mary."

"I'll start making plans, then, if you're sure . . ." Mary said.

"Mare," Steve said. "Mary, this is your home. I miss you. Yeah, we're sure. I came back for the funeral and I stayed, and I haven't regretted it, not for a moment. It's time, Mary. Come home."

#*#*#*#*#

"It looks great," Steve said, as they stood admiring the babies' room. He bent and kissed the top of Jax's head, pulling at a streak of grey paint smudged in one of her curls.

She sighed contentedly and leaned against him. "I love it," she said. "You think the babies will like sleeping in here?"

"Hmm," he mumbled. He wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, I think they'll like sleeping in here. I've been doing some research, McGarrett."

"Of course you have, Commander," Jax said. "Share with the class?"

"So, the trick will be getting them to both sleep at the same time," Steve said. "It will require planning. Coordination. Team effort."

"Wow, you have put some thought into this already," she said.

"Well, yes, because if we get them both to sleep at the same time, then we can move on to other things," he said. He trailed the backs of his fingers up her arm, making her shiver.

"Other things?" she asked. "Like . . . doing our taxes?"

He chuckled and unfastened one of the clasps of her overalls. "Maybe . . . or maybe something more like -" he bent and whispered in her ear, then kissed down the side of her neck.

She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hmmm, so if we can get them both to sleep, at the same time . . ."

"Ummhmm," he said. He fumbled for the other clasp on her overalls and released it. They fell to the floor with a muffled thud. "So we'll have to get them nice and tired."

"We can take them outside," Jax suggested, her breath hitching.

"Lots of fresh air," Steve agreed, wrapping his hands around her hips and lifting her. "And then we give them a bath."

She wrapped her legs around his waist. "Nice clean diapers, nice soft jammies . . ."

"Then we give them their bottles," he said. "You see how important it will be to coordinate. Synchronize."

"Hmm," she agreed.

He kicked her overalls out of the way and started toward the stairs.

"But there's one problem we'll need to work on," he said. "Possibly another home improvement project."

"Really?" she asked. He stopped and placed her gently on the second stair and kissed her, threading his hands into her hair.

"We might need to look into soundproofing our bedroom," he said. "Or all that work putting them to sleep will be for nothing."

"What are you saying, Commander?" Jax asked, her lips brushing against the soft skin behind his ear.

"I'm saying you're gonna have to tone it down, McGarrett," he said. "You're a - shit - you're a bit of a screamer."

"Yeah?" she whispered. "Prove it."

#*#*#*#*#

Steve opted for a long run on Sunday morning, pushing himself past the last of the lingering pain from his exterior building exit. The sweat stung his still-healing injuries, but he dismissed the sensation and focused on keeping his pace and breathing steady.

He slipped quietly in the kitchen door, but the sound of the shower upstairs meant Jax was already up and moving. The coffee maker beeped as it finished its timed brew, and he smiled and poured two cups, adding a heaping spoonful of butter to each.

The bedroom door was ajar, and a disheveled Pupule raised his head from the middle of the bed.

"Did she abandon you, buddy?" Steve asked. "I'm sorry. Take it up with her boss."

The sound of running water stopped, and Jax emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in an oversized towel.

"I smell coffee," she said, padding into the bedroom. She smiled as Steve handed her a mug. "And testosterone, and endorphins. I smell those, too."

"Guilty as charged," Steve said. He wiped at his face with the hem of his tshirt.

"And butter," Jax continued, her face buried in her mug. "You put butter in my coffee."

"Healthy fat and calories," Steve argued. "The doc said you were still a little on the light side, and with your new aversion to meat -"

"Just because I don't want to eat things that bleed doesn't mean I have a new aversion," Jax said. "I ate shrimp the other night, too, and that's meat."

"Shrimp is shellfish," Steve said.

"Danny was right, you are incorrigible," Jax said, gesturing, her towel slipping precariously.

Steve smirked at her.

"No," she said firmly, as she hitched her towel back up. "I have to be on time for work. What are you going to do today?"

She pulled on her clothes as he answered her from the bathroom.

"I thought I'd go in to the office," he said, his voice muffled by the shower. "Caviness and his team offered to take the weekend, but we got the babies' room done yesterday, and you have to work today so . . ."

As usual, he was finished in moments, coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped scandalously low around his hips. Jax tilted her head and admired him shamelessly.

"And now you smell good, too," she said absently.

"You need to be on time for work," he pointed out. "Is this still a second trimester thing?"

"Twenty-six weeks," she said. "Almost to the third trimester. So it might just be a thing. You're still -" she gestured helplessly with her hand - "with the muscle and the ink and the . . . but I'm all -"

"You're all curvy and glowy and sexy as hell," Steve said. He cupped one hand around her face and pressed the other gently against the curve of her belly. "Anything exciting going on this morning?"

"Give it a minute," Jax said, grinning up at him. "They like the coffee."

He stood still, smiling down at her, until he felt the flutter under his hand. "Holy shit," he said. "I will never get over that. It's the butter. I bet they like the butter."

"Are you serious right now?" Jax demanded.

"Hey, it's a SEAL thing," he said.

"So?"

"Baby seals," he said triumphantly.

#*#*#*#*#

WoFat stood in front of the closet - such as it was - and examined the contents by the harsh light of the exposed overhead lightbulb. This time, he was leaving nothing to chance. He turned off the light and made his way down the narrow underground corridor to the communications room.

"They're still monitoring this frequency?" he asked.

"Yes," the young man said. "The false cell phone transmission you had me send this morning was definitely intercepted by Pearl Hickam. What next?"

"Prepare the video equipment," WoFat said. "When we send the message, let there be no mistake as to who they are dealing with."

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Look for the rest of the story posted under the NEW title - Jersey Shore to North Shore: The Long Way Home